The stressful influence of microbes

摘要

Cellular organelles are simultaneously distinct from the rest of the cell and completely reliant on it for their identity and function. A poignant example of this nebulous individualism comes from the mitochondrion, a subcellular entity that began long ago as an independent organism but which, over millennia, has become increasingly dependent on the rest of the cell, and now serves as its energy-generating centre. Interactions between the mitochondrion and the cell provide this organelle with a direct connection to changes in the contents of its surroundings, allowing it to initiate defence mechanisms when things go awry. In this issue, Liu et al. (page 406) report the effect of cellular and microbial metabolites on the initiation of protective reactions in mitochondria.