Amazing stuff! A recommendable overview article.
"Mitochondria — the supposedly static energy factories that reside inside cells — seem to actually be expert travellers, skipping from one cell to another.
This ‘mitochondrial transfer’ has been observed in a wide variety of cells and in organisms as diverse as yeast, molluscs and rodents.
Some studies have hinted that cells donate their mitochondria to their neighbours during times of need.
Other research suggests that mitochondrial transfer can be a lethal weapon that cancer cells deploy to gain an advantage.
A handful of researchers have begun developing treatments that would draw on this process to enhance immunotherapies or treat mitochondrial diseases."
"... Ever since they were discovered in the mid-nineteenth century, mitochondria have been known as organelles that reside inside cells.
But that textbook picture now seems to be wrong. An explosion of research is challenging mitochondria’s long-standing image as exclusively cellular organelles. “They may be a multicellular organelle,” ... In other words, the supposedly static energy factories now seem to be expert travellers, skipping from one cell to another on demand. ...
It’s not yet clear why mitochondria are so mobile. Some studies have hinted that cells donate their mitochondria to their neighbours during times of need. In cellular emergencies, newly arrived mitochondria might kick-start tissue repair, fire up the immune system or rescue distressed cells from death. ..."
Cells are swapping their mitochondria. What does this mean for our health? "Researchers are studying why the energy factories are moving between cells and whether the process can be harnessed to treat cancer and other diseases."
Mitochondria, visible in red, travel through a tunnelling nanotube from a type of bone marrow cell (top left) to a T cell that fights infections and cancer (bottom right)
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