In this essay, I am going to introduce the mitochondria, its functions and structure and the role it plays in some diseases and disorders.
The cell is the most basic unit of all living organisms. It is defined as being the smallest unit of life that can replicate completely independently, and they are widely known as the "building blocks of life". Each cell has its own characteristics and elements that have specific roles which keep the cell alive and allow for replication. All living cells are divided into two distinct categories, those which lack a membrane bound organelles and those that have membrane bound organelles. These are called prokaryotic cells and eukaryotic cells, respectively. “Organelle” is the word used for the specialized subunit that is within a cell which has a specific function. Mitochondria is one such membrane bound organelle.
The word mitochondrion describes its size and shape and comes from the New Greek for “mitos”, which is the word for “thread" and “chondrion”, which is the word for "small grain". They are normally between 0.75μ and 3μm in diameter but they vary considerably in structure and size. Mitochondria are made up of compartments such as the intermembrane space, the inner membrane, the outer membrane , the cristae and matrix. The number of mitochondria that are present in different organisms, tissues, and cells varies greatly. For example, red blood cells have no mitochondria and liver cells contain over 2000. They are double membrane-bound organelles and for over 50 years mitochondria have been recognized by the scientific community as prominent and essential inhabitants of the cytoplasm of eukaryotic cells. They are known
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This is why mitochondria plays a major role in some diseases and disorders and I will be discussing this in more depth later in the