From Peter Inkpen, Amersham, Buckinghamshire, UK
You report that mitochondria operate at temperatures around 6 to 10° C higher than the rest of the cell (13 May, p 18). There is a broad consensus that the mitochondria within eukaryotic cells are the result of two prokaryotic cells forming a symbiotic relationship around 1.5 billion years ago.
Could the latest finding indicate that the prokaryote that evolved into mitochondria was a thermophile – that is to say that it was already tolerant of a higher operating temperature?
