Page 158 - The Miracle in the Cell

THE MIRACLE IN THE CELL
station. The mitochondria breaks these down even further, releasing
the energy contained within, and converts this energy into ATP, a form
of energy the cell can use. All the events taking place in the cell occur
as a result of the energy this fuel provides. Up till now, what we have
given is a very short summary of the highly complex chemical reac-
tions that actually take place during the production of energy in the
mitochondria. These chemical miracles occur in an area only 100th of
a millimeter-an area too small to even conceive of.
In the cell, oxygen plays the major role in the production of ener-
gy. During each stage, many different enzymes go into action.
Enzymes that finish their duty at one stage give way to other enzymes
for the next. These dozens of minor processes, hundreds of different
enzyme transformations, and endless chemical reactions lead to the
conversion of the energy stored in food into a form the cell can use
(See Figures 8.2, 8.3, and 8.4).
Thus we can state that the cell's power station is much more
complex than a gasoline refinery or hydroelectric station.
An oil refinery is built by engineers who know the technical
information and chemical analyses of crude oil in laboratories. It's dif-
ficult to imagine people who know nothing about petroleum building
a refinery. But this impossibility is no problem when it comes to mito-
chondria's energy production in the cell. Because a fertilized egg
develops in the mother's womb and divides to form a human baby, the
mitochondria in its cells have never had contact with the outside
world, nor-until birth-have they ever encountered a single nutrient.
But despite this, they still know how to harvest the energy inside
foods, and they carry this complex process out without fault.
Where did the mitochondria learn such a skill?
The truth is that no organelle can "learn" a biological function, in
the dictionary meaning of the word. If it did not possess the features
to carry out any such function during the formation of the cell, there
would be no way for it to obtain them later. A precondition for such a

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