Question: @ sj how do our dna in our cell batteries work?

SarahJayne Boulton answered on 22 Jun 2012:

The DNA in the batteries (the mitochondria) is like the mitochondria’s own personal cook book for the parts it needs to make more if itself. It’s separate from the DNA in the nucleus of the cell which codes for pretty much everything else!

Because it takes time for DNA in the nucleus of the cell to be decoded and then the message get out to the mitochondria, it’s faster and more efficient for the mitochondria to keep their own copy close for fast access.

It’s like having all your music at home on your computer, then only taking the music you listen to all the time on your mp3 player so you can listen to it more regularly without having to go back for it all the time.

The DNA is like database for cell parts. Cells have machinery tha read the DNA code to work out which order individual pieces (called amino acids) need to go in to make a new component (like a protein) and if the component then need futher work to be a finished useful cell part. The mitochondria can do this independently of the rest of the cell using it’s own little DNA genome and its own machinery!

Super clever I think.