Response to Martin and colleagues: mitochondria do not boost the bioenergetic capacity of eukaryotic cells

Abstract

Abstract A recent paper by (Gerlitz et al., Biol Direct 13:21, 2018) questions the validity of the data underlying prior analyses on the bioenergetics capacities of cells, and continues to promote the idea that the mitochondrion endowed eukaryotic cells with energetic superiority over prokaryotes. The former point has been addressed previously, with no resultant changes in the conclusions, and the latter point remains inconsistent with multiple lines of empirical data.

Keywords

• Bioenergetics
• Cell size
• Eukaryogenesis
• Mitochondrion
• Ribosomes