Mitochondrial Events in the Life and Death of Animal Cells: A Brief Overview

Traditionally, mitochondria have been viewed as the “powerhouse” of the cell, i.e., the site of theoxidative phosphorylation machinery involved in ATP production. Consequently, much of theresearch conducted on mitochondria over the past 4 decades has focused on elucidating both thosemolecular events involved in ATP synthesis by oxidative phosphorylation and those involved inthe biogenesis of the oxidative phosphorylation machinery. While monumental achievements havebeen made, and continue to be made, in the study of these remarkable but extremely complexprocesses essential for the life of most animal cells, it has been only in recent years that a largebody of biological and biomedical scientists have come to recognize that mitochondria participatein other important processes. Two of these are cell death and aging which, not surprisingly, are relatedprocesses both involving, in part, the oxidative phosphorylation machinery. This new awareness hassparked a new and growing area of mitochondrial research, that has become of great interest to awide variety of scientists ranging from those involved in elucidating the role of mitochondria incell death and aging to those interested in either suppressing or facilitating these processes as itrelates to identifying new therapies or drugs for human disease. It is the purpose of this briefintroductory review to provide an overview of those mitochondrial events involved in the life anddeath of animal cells and to indicate how these events might relate to the human aging process.Much more is known, much remains controversial, and even more remains to be learned as indicatedin the excellent set of minireviews that follow.