TWO GENOMES, ONE CELL
For 1.5 billion years, the mitochondrial and nuclear genomes have been coevolving. Over this time, the mitochondrial genome became reduced, retaining only 37 genes in most animal species, and growing reliant on the nuclear genome to fulfill the organelle’s primary function—to produce ATP by oxidative phosphorylation. Mitochondrial gene products interact with those encoded in nuclear genes.
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