Buch, Englisch, 368 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm
Mitochondria and the meaning of life
Buch, Englisch, 368 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm
ISBN: 978-0-19-280481-5
Verlag: Oxford University Press
The first popular science book on the nature and function of these tiny, yet fascinating structures.
- Up-to-date: The nature and central role of mitochondria in the evolution of complex life has only recently been fully recognized.
- Engages with major areas of debate, in which the author presents his own views and contributes to biological thought.
- Nick Lane, the author of Oxygen, is a rising star in top-level popular science writing.
- Of interest not only to non-specialist readers of popular science but also to students and professional biologists.
Power, Sex, Suicide, Complexity, Individuality, Fertility, Prehistory, Ageing, Death.
These universal themes are all linked by mitochondria - the tiny structures located inside our cells - miniature powerhouses that use oxygen to generate power. There are hundreds of them in each cell, some 10 million billion in a human being. Once considered menial slaves, mere workhorses for complex cells with nuclei, their significance is now undergoing a radical revision. Mitochondria are now seen as the key ingredient that made complex life possible at all.
For two billion years, bacteria ruled the earth without ever generating true complexity - a stasis that may still grip life on other planets. Then the union of two bacterial cells led to an evolutionary big bang, from which algae, fungi, plants and animals emerged. For mitochondria were once free-living bacteria, and still retain unmistakable traits of their ancestry, including some of their original DNA. Ever since their fateful absorption, the tortuous and unpredictable relationship between the mitochondria and their host cells has forced one evolutionary innovation after another. Without mitochondria, nothing would exist of the world we know and love. Their story is the story of life itself.
Today, mitochondria are central to research into human prehistory, genetic diseases, cell suicide, fertility, ageing, bioenergetics, sex and the eukaryotic cell. Piecing together puzzles from the forefront of research, this book paints a sweeping canvas that will thrill all who are interested in biology, while also contributing to evolutionary thinking and debate.
This is a book full of startling insights into the nature and evolution of life, and should be read by anyone who wants to know why we're here.
Contents
- 1 Introduction: Mitochondria - clandestine rulers of the world
- 2 Hopeful monster - the origin of the eukaryotic cell
- 3 The vital force: Proton power and the origin of life
- 4 Insider deal: Why mitochondria are needed for the evolution of complexity
- 5 Power laws: Size and the ramp of ascending complexity
- 6 Power, sex, suicide: The troubled birth of the individual
- 7 Battle of the sexes: Human prehistory and the nature of gender
- 8 Clock of life: Why mitochondria kill us in the end
Zielgruppe
Non-specialist readers interested in popular science, and especially in biology, evolution in particular. Students and professionals in the life sciences.
