In the cells of extant organisms, the vast majority of the proteins in the
mitochondria (numbering approximately 1500 different types in mammals) are
coded by nuclear DNA, but the genes for some, if not most, of them are
thought to be of bacterial origin, having been transferred to the eukaryotic
nucleus during evolution. (citing [2])
mito is like <100k bp vs 3000000k bp in human genome (bp = base pair = "character" in a string)
principle derives from the concept of "the selfish gene" or "the red queen" these famous books on the topic. Arms races between X and Y chromosome. Arms race between nucleus and mitochondria, and so on.
or put it this way. why do all animals have sex? because it generates gene sequences that confer fitness more efficiently than self-replication (which is the typical repro method of unix programmers)... .. generates such gene sequences for NUCLEAR DNA that is, mito DNA comes from mom only (the red queen.. .. "mitochondrial eve" ... "y chromosomal adam".. etc). and thus the mito is fundamentally unable to wield the power of evolution, completely evolutionarily outclassed by those nuclear chromosomes. thus exporting all its genes to the nucleus, conferring advantage to all such progeny with their superior power supply
Energy flow is the difference. but then everything has an energy flow. Losing and gaining electrons. So it is possible that literally everything is alive, don’t you think? Maybe the problem is is that we’re trying to make a definition where none ultimately really exists.
Are they? I was under the impression that mitochondria are closer to pseudo-cells living inside human cells.
Wikipedia seems to confirm this [1]:
> Although most of a eukaryotic cell's DNA is contained in the cell nucleus, the mitochondrion has its own genome ("mitogenome") that is substantially similar to bacterial genomes.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitochondrion