The mitochondrion is an organelle found in eukaryotic cells (Tortora 1992). A mitochondrion can occur in different shapes inside one cell. Mitochondrion can be long, like a rod, and filamentous or compact, like a sphere, and granulelike (Wolfe 1993). There are approximately 1700 mitochondria in an average cell. Mitochondrion range from .5 to .1 mm in diameter, which is about the size of a bacterium (Alberts 1983). Mitochondrion contain ribosomes, have their own DNA, can replicate and transcribe their DNA, synthesize …showed first 75 words of 559 total…

…showed last 75 words of 559 total…energy for a cell, and are the key to aerobic respiration in cells. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography** 1. Alberts, Bruce et al. Molecular Biology of the Cell, 1983, Garland Publishing Inc. pp 17,19,486-500. 2. Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2001, (visited March 23, 2001) http://encarta.msn.com 3. Tortora, Gerald J. et al. Microbiology an Introduction, 1992, Benjamin Cummings Publishing Inc. pp 89,90, 93-96. 4. Thinkquest Cellupedia (visited March 24, 2001) http://library.thinkquest.org/C004535/mitochondria.html 5. Wolfe, Stephen L. Molecular and Cellular Biology, 1993, Wadsworth Publishing Co. pp 16.