
First eukaryotes found without a normal cellular power supply - Amorymeltzer
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/05/first-eukaryotes-found-without-normal-cellular-power-supply
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vdr
I'm a little surprised they were afraid to say "mitochondria" in the headline.
No more obscure than "eukaryote".

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Amorymeltzer
It's probably intentional. From skimming the paper[1] they basically sequenced
the organism and failed to find traditional mitochondrial DNA protein-coding
sequences. They found a separate mechanism, but this alone doesn't prove the
non-existance of a mitochondria, just that the typical machinery isn't there.
As they say,

"In principle, we cannot exclude the possibility that a mitochondrion exists
in Monocercomonoides sp. whose protein composition has been altered entirely.
However, such a hypothetical organelle could not be recognized as a
mitochondrion homolog by any available means. Without any positive evidence
for the latter scenario, we suggest that the complete absence of mitochondrial
markers and pathways points to the bona fide absence of the organelle."

Science probably could've gotten away with "First eukaryotes found without
normal mitochondria" but that may be fudging a little too much.

1: [http://www.cell.com/current-
biology/fulltext/S0960-9822%2816...](http://www.cell.com/current-
biology/fulltext/S0960-9822%2816%2930263-9)

