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What I was curious about a decade ago was if one could transplant mitochondria from bats into mice (and some day humans) and what effect would it have on their
by scotty79 2y ago
What I was curious about a decade ago was if one could transplant mitochondria from bats into mice (and some day humans) and what effect would it have on their longevity. One of the things that contribute to aging is collateral damage caused by mitochondria operation. Bats due to energy requirements of flight have quite incredible mitochondria.
It probably wouldn't be easy as there's some cellular genetics that influences how given species cells interact with their mitochondria, but recent gene manipulation techniques and successes like "dire wolves" and "woolly mice" give me hope.
Mitochondria are very important and they do gradually wear out. It's so important to have them fresh that all of your mitochondria came from the egg of your mother and were produced in her early development before she was even born and were kept dormant until fertilization so you can get a fresh new set of mitochondria. Male mitochondria that aged (because sperm is produced in adults) and get additionally used up as the sperm moves are completely discarded during the fertilization.
- Ccecil 2y agoAnd that is how the new Batman got his Spiderman backstory...