3 ms·
It might just be that any such organism was almost immediately out-competed by anything with an internal chemical energy factory, so we never will.
by Aelinsaar 10y ago
It might just be that any such organism was almost immediately out-competed by anything with an internal chemical energy factory, so we never will.
- gherkin0 10y agoIIRC, mitochondria are only used for aerobic respiration (which requires oxygen). So there might be a chance for such an organism to have survived an an anaerobic/oxygen-free environment.
- Aelinsaar 10y agoThat's a good point, you're right it's definitely oxygen dependent (the electron transport chain just won't work without it). Given the interest in various extremophiles, I think that if it exists we'll find it sooner or later.