1857, Swiss anatomist and physiologist Albert von Crick discovered the granular structure in muscle cells. Other scientists have found the same structure in other cells, confirming Crick's discovery. German pathologist and histologist Richard Altman named these particles "biological mother cells" and invented a staining method to identify these particles in 1886. Altman speculated that these particles may be independent bacteria born in cells.
1898, German scientist Karl Benda named the structure "Mitochondria" by using two words corresponding to "line" and "particle" in Greek, which has been used ever since. A year later, American chemist leonor Michaelis developed a method of dyeing mitochondria with reducing janus green dye solution, and concluded that mitochondria participated in some oxidation reactions. This method was published in 1900 and popularized by American cytologist Edmund Vincent Caudry. German biochemist Otto Heinrich warburg successfully extracted mitochondria and isolated some respiratory enzymes that catalyze oxygen-related reactions, and put forward the conjecture that these enzymes can be inhibited by cyanide (such as hydrocyanic acid).
During the ten years from 1923 to 1933, British biologist David Keeling explored the material basis of redox chain in mitochondria and determined the electron carrier cytochrome in the reaction.
Warburg was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 193 1 for "discovering the essence and mode of action of respiratory enzymes".
A recent study by the University of Virginia shows that mitochondria in animal and plant cells are actually parasitic bacteria. Early parasitic bacteria can provide energy for animals and plants, and exist as energy parasites in cells, which is very beneficial to the host. A new generation of DNA sequencing technology has decoded the genome of 18 bacteria, which are close relatives of mitochondria.