Strange Microbe Lacks Cell's 'Powerhouse'

A microbe that lives in the guts of chinchilla is missing mitochondria, the energy-generating cell organelle once thought crucial to the function of eukaryotes. Eukaryotes are cells with membrane-bound organelles, including a nucleus, a feature that makes them different from prokaryotes (which include bacteria and archaea). One of these membrane-bound organelles is the mitochondria.