Mitochondria

Photosynthesis is the process where energy from the sun gets converted into glucose for the plant to use as food. The energy from the sun gets trapped in the chloroplasts and together with carbon dioxide and water, it is turned into glucose and oxygen. The glucose eventually gets used as energy for the plant to live and the oxygen is a waste product that is released. The oxygen is used by humans during cellular respiration. Photosynthesis began over 2 billion years ago when an organism first learned to make its own food and excrete oxygen. This caused too much oxygen in the atmosphere and many organisms could not tolerate this. However, this benefited one organism known as Rickettsia prowazekii (Ricke). Ricke was able to take this oxygen and convert it to energy to live and multiply. But Ricke was too small and eaten by larger organisms. Eventually, Ricke joined a host cell which was big enough to survive by itself but could not use the oxygen. Together, they were able to help each other. Over time, Ricke evolved into what we now know as mitochondria. Although the mitochondria lost its original function and most of its DNA to the nucleus of the host cell, it kept some of its DNA to make energy. This DNA is known as Mitochondrial DNA. …show more content…
This is where cellular respiration - the conversion of glucose into energy - takes place. The mitochondria’s role is to take in the glucose from food and convert it into energy, also known as ATP in a process called Oxidative Phosphorylation. The mitochondria contain an inner and outer membrane, Oxidative Phosphorylation occurs in the inner membrane which has folds that help it create more ATP. This energy is used for cellular