In rats with signs of onset of organic mercury poisoning, marked changes were noted in the granule cells of the cerebellum. In the initial stage of the disease, selective damage to granule cells was characteristic probably due to disturbance in protein synthesis. Mitochondria showed only relatively mild changes even at a considerably later stage, after disappearance of intracytoplasmic organelles from the granule cells.

Electron microscopical study of experimentally induced poisoning due to organic mercury compound

The cells of higher organisms contain highly differentiated bodies or organelles, each of which is delimited from the surrounding cytoplasm by an outer membrane Organelles carry out specialized cellular functions; they possess complex and unique internal structures and contain a characteristic complement of enzymes and other constitutents Clearly, knowledge of the genetic and metabolic regulatory systems involved in the differentiation of these cellular structures is crucial to our comprehension of the biochemistry of growth and differentiation of the cells of higher organisms

Organelle Biosynthesis: The Chloroplast

Apparently intact mitochondria from ovaries of Xenopus laevis can incorporate high molecular weight polynucleotides which then serve as templates for polypeptide synthesis on mitochondrial ribosomes.

H.K. Das

Papers

Protein Synthesis in Plant Mitochondria I. INCORPORATION OF AMINO ACID IN PEPTIDE LINKAGE

Protein synthesis in plant mitochondria: V. Incorporation of amino acids by submitochondrial fractions.