Mitochondria are small compartments inside almost every cell that turn food and oxygen into the chemical energy a cell can spend. One cell may hold anywhere from a handful to several thousand, with the busiest tissues such as muscle and heart carrying the most. They have jobs beyond energy as well, including a role in deciding when a damaged cell shuts itself down.

Why it matters here

A sizeable group of compounds here is filed under mitochondrial mechanisms, and those entries are describing events inside these compartments. Mitochondria are also unusual in carrying a small amount of their own DNA, kept separate from the cell's main set.

Also called

• mitochondria
• mitochondrion
• mitochondrial
• mito
• powerhouse of the cell

Widely called the powerhouse of the cell, a school-textbook phrase that captures the energy role and none of the others.

Compounds carrying this term

None on file yet. This term is in the controlled vocabulary but no compound record currently uses it — which is a statement about our coverage, not about the term.

See also

• Mitochondrial Biogenesis — Mechanism of Action
• Metabolic pathway — Body and drug basics
• Energy Sensing — Biological Pathway