Power, Sex, Suicide: Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life (67 page)

spare capacity and ageing 306–11

in the story of life 7–8

symbionts 13–17, 124–6

uniparental inheritance 3, 234–41, 244, 245, 247, 261–2

see also
respiration; respiratory chain

mitochondrial DNA:

extinction of sequences 251–3

human population typing 254–6

mutation rate 245–6, 247, 251, 285–8

recombination 245, 247–50

studies 244–7

Mitochondrial Eve 3, 242, 246, 251

mitochondrial genes 15–16

co-adaptation with nuclear genes 259–62

effects of natural selection 253–6, 262–5

gene transfer to the nucleus 16, 47, 131–2

genomic conflict 237–41

human mitochondrial genome sequence 281

rate of evolution 16

retention of specific genes 130–1, 135–9, 141–4,
144

mitochondrial heteroplasmy 240, 249–51, 258–9, 261–2, 282

mitochondrial mutations:

and ageing 284–8, 296–301

diseases caused by 254, 280–4

effects on mitochondrial function 292–6

and free-radical damage 278–80

and longevity 304–5

mutation rate 245–6, 247, 251, 285–8

mitochondrial theory of ageing 4, 272–301

molecular biology, and the origin of life 21

molecular bonds, potential energy 73

molecular genetics, and mitochondria 6–7

Monod, Jacques 107–8

Moyle, Jennifer 89

Müller, Miklós, hydrogen hypothesis 52–61

multicellular colonies 25

method of reproduction 226

the need for apoptosis 224–6

redox gradients 224–5

sequestration of a germ-line 226

multicellular individuals:

evolution of 24–6

imposition of cell death 215

see also
apoptosis; eukaryote evolution

muscle contraction, need for ATP 79–80

muscles:

increased aerobic capacity 180–2

strength-to-weight ratio 170–1

Mycoplasma
, loss of the cell wall 123–5

natural selection 108, 109

on mitochondrial genes 253–6, 262–5

selfish gene concept 192–8

species level 191–2

Neanderthal man 3, 242–3, 247, 252

Neisseria gonorrhoeae
(cause of gonorrhoea) 213, 216–18

Nicholas II, Tzar, identification of 3, 250–1

Nicolle, Charles 116

Nitrosomonas 128
, 128, 145

nucleus 9

mitochondrial genes in 16, 47, 131–2

origin of 133–4

numts (nuclear mitochondrial sequences) 132–3, 252 n.

ocean, stratification due to hydrogen sulphide 62–3

Ochoa, Severo 80

oocytes, cull during development 263–5

ooplasmic transfer 4, 240, 264

organ transplantation, and mitochondrial function 312–14

Orgel, Leslie 69, 91

Orrenius, Sten 210

oxidation 72

oxygen levels in tissues 172–3, 276 n.

Pallister-Hall syndrome 132

Paracelsus 71

parasitic infection, possible origin of eukaryotes 44–6

parasitism 126, 127

Parkinson’s disease 298

Pasteur, Louis 78, 96

Patino, Maria 229

periplasm 122–3, 124, 128,
128

Pflüger, Eduard 72

phagocytosis 34–5, 38, 127

photosynthesis 80, 90, 91, 97

pico-eukaryotes 17, 30

Pitnick, Scott 239

Polynesian people, origins 246–7

porins 210–11, 216–18

Portier, Paul 14

predation 126–7, 130

primordial soup theory 95–8

prokaryotes,
see
Archaea; bacteria

proteins 10–11, 94

α-proteobacteria 48, 49, 52 n., 56–61,
58–9

proticity (proton electricity) 87

proton leak, heat generation 92, 183–4, 254–6, 305–6

proton-motive force 68, 86–93,
87
, 91–3

proton pumps 7, 91–3, 102, 103–4

Prowazek, Stanislaus von 116

quarter-power scaling (Kleiber’s law) 159–60,
160
, 163, 166–8, 184

Racker, Efraim 81–2, 84, 87, 89

rats:

ageing and degenerative diseases 270, 271, 272, 277–8

lack of spare mitochondrial capacity 308, 309–10

metabolic rate 156–7

similarities to humans 156

redox gradients, in multicellular colonies 224–5

redox poise in respiration 139–41

redox reactions 72

in the deep oceans 99–100

reduction 72

Rees, Martin 22

respiration:

chemiosmotic hypothesis of respiration 86–91

co-adaptation of mitochondrial and nuclear genes 259–62

dual-control hypothesis 259–62

evolution of 96–7, 98, 102

generation of ATP 80

and the origin of life 96–7

proton-motive force 68, 86–93,
87
, 91–3

redox poise 139–41

role of the membrane 84, 86–7,
87
, 88, 89

search for the site of 71–2

speed of 139–41

view of Lavoisier 71–2

respiratory chain 75–7,
77

free-radical formation 140–2, 221–2, 274, 277, 290–1, 305–6

pumping protons across a membrane 86–93,
87

uncoupling 84, 88, 89, 92, 183, 254–5, 305–6

respiratory pigments 73–5

retrograde response in mitochondria 293

Rhodobacter
56, 63

ribosomes 11

ribozymes 95

Ricketts, Howard 116

Rickettsia prowazekii
(cause of typhus) 44–5, 49, 56, 116–17, 213

Ridley, Mark 113 n., 153, 186–7

Rivera, Maria 48

RNA 11, 94–5

Roger, Andrew 46–7

Ross, Ian 265 n.

Rothman, Dan 167

Ruben, John 180–1

Rubner, Max 158, 159, 160 n., 167

Russell, Mike 98–9, 100–2,
101
, 103

Sagan, Carl 14

Sagan, Dorion 197

Sanger, Fred 16, 281

Sapp, Jan 14

Schopenhauer, Arthur 232

Schwartz, Marianne 249–50

sex:

advantages of 232

benefits for the species 191–2

and complexity 153

evolution of 192, 219–21

sex determinators 229–31

sexes:

asymmetry of 233–4

the need for more than one 6, 232–41, 261–2

uniparental inheritance of organelles 234–41

sexual fusion:

in early eukaryotes 219–21

initiation by free-radical production 221–5

Seymour, Roger 167 n.

sight, evolution of 23–4

size increase:

benefits of 185–6

and complexity 151–5

and energy efficiency 185–7

and gene accumulation 186–7

see also
body mass

Slater, Bill 87–8

Smith, Noel 248–9

Speakman, John 183

Star Wars, ‘midichlorians’ (mitochondria) 5

Stoneking, Mark 242, 244–7

sulphate-reducing bacteria 28–9, 62–3

sun, importance in the origin of life 103

supply networks:

fractal model 161–70, 171, 181 n.

and tissue demand 171–3

Sykes, Bryan 245 n., 254

symbiosis 13–14, 16–17, 109–13,
112

Szathmáry, Eörs 111

Takács, Krisztina 117–18

Tanaka, Masashi 304

Tattersall, Ian 243

Taxol (anticancer drug) 135

terpenoids (terpenes) 135

thermodynamics 73

Thermoplasma
, loss of cell wall 124–5

Thiomargarita namibiensis
(giant sulfur bacterium) 122

Thomson, William (Lord Kelvin) 73

Thyagarajan, Bhaskar 248

Tiedje, James 115

Timmis, Jeremy 132

tissue oxygen levels 172–3, 276 n.

Tooby, John 237

Trichomonas vaginalis
(cause of vaginitis) 43–4, 52

tumours, growth and spread 200–1

Turner, Clesson 132

ubiquinone
77

uncoupling,
see
respiratory chain, uncoupling

uniparental inheritance 3, 234–41, 244, 245, 247, 261–2

Urey, Harold 95

Uribe, Ernest 89–90

van den Ent, Fusinita 38

Vellai, Tibor 117–18, 121, 127

Vida, Gábor 117–18, 121, 127

viruses 67–8

Vissing, John 249–50

vitalism 78–9

Vogt, Karl 203

volcanic activity, and the origin of life 103

Wächterschäuser, Gunter 100, 102

Wallace, Douglas 253–6

Wallin, Ivan 14

Wang, Xiaodong 209

Warburg, Otto 74–7, 97

warm-bloodedness,
see
endothermy

Watson, James 9, 68

Weismann, August 203

Weitz, Joshua 167

West, Geoffrey 160–6, 168

White, Craig 167 n.

Williams, George C. 192

Wilson, Alan 242, 244–7