Seen through a microscope, they are elongated and oval shaped frequentl measuring about half a micron wide and around five micron long. A mitochondria is surrounded by a outer mitochondrial membrane, inside of which is another membrane structure (the inner mitochondrial membrane) formed by infoldings or pleats called mitrochondrial crista.
The mitochondrion act like power plants in that they burn different components to recuperate the energy they have into ATP (adenosine triphosphate), which after being transported to other organelles, is used as fuel in various processes.
Individual Mitochondria
These behave as minute cells within a cell. And, on the contrary of other organelles within the cell, they can reproduce themselves. Furthermore, each one is controlled by their own DNA molecules, not by the genetic material contained in the nucleus. There are close to 2,000 mitochondria per cell, but some cells, that carry out intensive work, such as muscular cells, contain a greater number of these organelles.
Alexander Fleming descubre la Penicilina