Can you elaborate on the part that seems unintuitive?
Eukaryotic cells have multiple copies of their mitochondria, not one. When the cell divides, the mitochondria (roughly) split between the two daughter cells then carry on
Eukaryotic cells have multiple copies of their mitochondria, not one. When the cell divides, the mitochondria (roughly) split between the two daughter cells then carry on
The piece I was missing is that even for large organisms, new life is created by cells (eggs) already containing mitochondria dividing. New cells aren't created from scratch.
For me, the intuitive part is how mitochondria can be created by the body if it's an external structure that's been found. If I take a coin and put it in my pocket, my children don't have any coins at birth. They have to find one themselves. Why is it different for mitochondria?
But to continue the analogy, it's more like you split yourself into two smaller "you"s, and in the process each new "you" gets half a coin in the pocket of each new "you".
An interesting thing about mitochondria too— we receive all of our mitochondria from our mother. So for every human, there is an unbroken line of direct mitochondrial ancestors leading all the way back to the first biologically unique Homo Sapian women
: Mitochondrial replication is controlled by nuclear genes and is specifically suited to make as many mitochondria as that particular cell needs at the time.
: Each human cell contains approximately 100 mitochondria
: The amount of mitochondria per cell also varies by cell type
: Egg cell: Mature metaphase II egg cells can contain 100,000 mitochondria
(so when it comes to passing down mitochondria to descendants, eukaryotes don't fool around)