Customer Reviews

Power, Sex, Suicide: Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

After the origin of life, the next big step on the way to us was the origin of eukaryotes. These are all the organisms - including people, trees, mushrooms, and slime molds - who package most of our DNA into chromosomes in cell nuclei. Mitochondria, the "powerhouses" of eukaryotes, are descended from bacteria which took to living in a very close relationship with another type of one-celled organism; in fact they came to live inside the other. Nick Lane argues that this merger must have preceded the formation of the nuclear membrane. Hence "Penultimate Roots Trip".

Lane starts with a brief section on the origin of life, in order to present necessary information about how organisms get usable energy. This strongly supports his claim that something like a mitochondrion is necessary for life to become more complex than bacteria. After that he describes how formerly free-living bacteria could have evolved into the vastly stripped-down mitochondria. Then he builds up a picture of how that partnership led to the complexities of modern organisms. And I really do mean "builds". Each chapter draws on material from earlier chapters, and the picture becomes more complex as you go on. Fortunately, there are frequent recaps of the material you're about to need.

Marvelously, he manages to tell this story in mostly plain English. A little bit of technical language is unavoidable, but I am confident that it will not be a problem for anyone who wasn't already scared off by the word "mitochondrion" in the subtitle.

In addition to power, sex, and suicide, the book also discusses aging. Lane presents his ideas on why current attempts to slow aging don't seem to be working and gives some suggestions for research he finds more promising. This is the culmination of the book and I hope it provokes a lot of thought in readers at all levels of technical knowledge.

[Original review 14 Dec 2005; "powerhouse" comment added 25 Jan 2006.]

Few to no equations, not all that many figures, terminology introduced as needed, yet... this book is demanding. It has the capacity to put the reader through the proverbial wringer. It is slow going, not because it is per se difficult to read, but because it brings forth many questions and much thought. When I finish it, I will need to read it again.

It might be worth buying a copy for everyone in the local high school's biology course, in hopes that 2 or 3 people would read it, then be inspired and motivated to study hard toward real science.

How can one not be excited by the quest for a Last Universal Common Ancestor, whether there be one or more? How can one not be fascinated by a reprise on mitochondria, which in (even a very good) high school biology course 36 years ago were too glibly termed "the powerhouse of the cell" (but did we really know much more than this about them)? We now have specific and wonderous mechanisms of energetics, a possibility of discernable origins and history, and a convincing argument for a fundamental and perhaps unique point of departure from the all-microscopic and limited prokaryotic world, toward eukaryotes and rich and complex life.

Lane presents his opinions and speculation in addition to settled science, but these are clearly and responsibly identified. In several instances, opposing views are noted in sufficient detail to allow one to investigate another side of the argument. A Further Reading bibliography cites original journal papers.

Nick Lane tops his previous effort ("Oxygen") in gathering the myriad threads of biological science around a unifiying topic. By writing about all complex life forms from the point of view of their embedded mitochondria he answers open questions (and poses some novel ones) about the rise of complex organisms, the underpinnings of sexual reproduction and programmed cell death, and even our odds of encountering extraterrestial intelligence.

My only quibble is that each chapter seems to have been written for serialized publication -- there is too much summary of past chapters at the start of each.

A great read, for an audience spanning a wide range of previous biology studies.

This is the first accessible book that describes the crucial steps, on a cellular level, that allowed for advanced life forms. It also provides insights on sex and death. His book on Oxygen was remarkable, this more so. Worth a patient read, it is profound, with subject matter not addressed elsewhere.

As another reviewer stated, this really is a life-changing book. I read it after taking a course in biochemistry and it had even more impact on me in tying a lot of fascinating concepts together.

The most amazing thing about this book is how influential mitochondria are on our lives and subsequently how little we (you!) know about them. They're why we(eukaryotes AND warm-blooded animals)'re here, why we're large, why bacteria can't become like us, why we have gender, why we have sex and why we die. Fascinating stuff--definitely a book you should buy (especially considering the title is quite a conversation starter too).

This is an earlier book (2005) by the author of "Life Ascending" (2009). I read it because I liked "Life Ascending" so much. This one expands on the role of mitochondria, and is full of amazing stuff I didn't know. I read a lot of biology, evolution, and genetics and this is definitely one of the very best. Lane keeps up with the very latest research, which I wouldn't be able to understand, and weaves it into a coherent story of our best current understanding of what life is and how it works. Highest recommendation. I have just started reading his even earlier book "Oxygen" (2002).

Add two more topics to power, sex and suicide, and you have covered what the book is about, the topics being the origins of life and Lane's primary interest, aging. No, mitochondria were not involved in the origin of life, but just as they power cells by creating a charge differential across their membranes, earliest life is theorized to have begun when ocean and volcanic fluids mixed, creating bubbles (think cells) with a naturally occurring charge differential, and the metals which can catalyze organic reactions.
This work is more polished and unified than Lane's previous effort, "Oxygen", and will bowl you over, whether or not you have read "Oxygen".
Much as Lane loves the theories he is espousing, he loves even more the scientific reasoning which supports the theories: a good thing as the theories are in flux. While Lane is generally clear, and not technical, this can be a little misleading: the reader should have some background in evolution and concepts like the "selfish gene", and know something about how the cell works. Lane has as a small glossary, but I actually had more trouble with some terms which appear self-explanatory on the surface, but which are used differently by different scientists: metabolic efficiency, stress.
I don't buy Lane's conclusion that eukaryotes, or their equivalent, arose only once. Just because all current eukaryotes have one common ancestor is no proof at all to me that there were not unsuccessful lines. I am also struck by the amount of "simple" empirical research which needs to be accomplished; e.g, do we actually make do with fewer cells as we age and some cells die without being replaced?

The author pulls together a lot of information to create a view of biology quite new to me.

This is definitely a harder read than Richard Dawkins' books (such as The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution) which I also enjoyed. Lane is dealing with much more recent discoveries, and is careful to distinguish between what is firmly established consensus, and what is more speculative or controvertial.

I won't try to recapitulate his theses, I would just reveal my ignorance if I tried.

A review aimed at science teachers:

Nick Lane's Power, Sex, Suicide. Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life (Oxford 2005, £10) provided me with every reason to wish I was still the same age as when Monty Python were in their heyday. I nearly poked a fellow Virgin passenger, deep in a Women's Weekly, in the ribs to exclaim, `Guess what! Did you know our endoplasmic reticulum is bacterial in origin!' but I was too scared she would respond with `Guess what! Brittany Spears wore a lace dress to the Oscars,' so I behaved myself, for once.

This book is as remarkable as Oxygen, the Molecule that Made the World. Nearly every page brims with exciting teacher-friendly snippets: mitochondria contribute 10% of our total mass and up to 40% of certain cells. Every chapter encapsulates discussion on long debated issues and reaches out for cross disciplinary intercourse: evolutionary biology and chemistry (iron-sulfur minerals catalysed the pH differential in primordial bacteria, in a semblance to the bioenergetics of the hydrogen pump of the mitochondrial inner membrane), fractal mathematics (power laws in biology), and genetics (the gene transfer `ratchet' which drives mitochondrial (and chloroplast) genes to the nucleus but not the other way round, and why these two organelles always keep a few of their original genes). Best of all, this is a book summarises of 21st century research results and debates, and therefore is highly recommended for any teacher of senior biology, and probably chemistry, too. Here are just some of the highlights (for me) anyway:

* Mitochondria control apoptosis - the process of cell destruction that lies at the heart of embryology - and aging.
* Mitochondria do this by leaking free radicals - but there are checks and balances here, so that a small increase in free radicals simply signals the nuclear mitochondrial genes (a process known as a retrograde response) to be transcribed, enabling more respiratory complexes to be built. Too much free radical leakage for repair and the apoptosis cascade ensues.
* Mitochondria are the reason there are two sexes: it is well known that, in general, paternal mitochondria are excluded during fertilization. However, mitochondrial `fitness' is also tested severely during oocyte development in female fetuses (ie, before birth, when oocytes are culled from around 7 to 2 million.). Early in fetal development, when the fertilized egg divides, the mitochondria do not, so that the original population is reduced from about 100,000 in the zygote to around perhaps only 10 (according to one researcher) per cell. In each cell, these few mitochondria circle the nucleus, as if there is an exchange of information about compatibility of nuclear and mitochondrial genes coding for mitochondrial proteins. All this was news to me.
* Mitochondria have two functions: to produce energy (ATP) and to generate heat. There is general evidence for natural selection in human populations operating at mitochondrial level: people living at the poles have more uncoupling of respiratory pathways, thereby generating more heat and the price for them may be a decreased fertility. People whose genetic history developed in tropical regions (for example, African peoples) have greater aerobic capacity - but the price is greater intolerance of fatty Western diets - making them particularly vulnerable to diseases linked with free radical damage - diabetes and heart disease.
* How did Lane come to realize that mitochondria rule the world? While researching methods for predicting the success of organ transplants, he discovered that if the mitochondria die within minutes of being transplanted (for example, when they come in contact with oxygen again, via the recipient's blood), the organ is doomed, no matter how healthy it looks. This is the kind of story that will rope in the kids, for sure!

Well, all right... Enthusiasm might trump my common sense a little, here. Not everyone will change their outlook on life after reading this highly interesting and eye-opening book, but it certainly convinced me of the central role that mitochondria likely played in the evolution of eukaryotic cells and of multicellular organisms. I had to change my opinion on the relative importance of getting a nucleus or getting mitochondria during our evolutionary journey; mitochondria, which up to now I had unfairly considered as rather boring ATP factories and mere actors in the process of apoptosis, now do indeed seem to be the architects of life as we know it.

Nick Lane does a great job at integrating the relevant scientific literature and weaving it into an all-audience book filled with exciting facts and clever hypotheses. Among popular science writers, he is certainly among the best; the same appears to be true as a theory-builder.

This is a must-read book for all biologists, and a "really, really should be read" book for anyone else.