2007_09_01_archive

Farandolae

"Mitochondria are tiny little organisms living in our cells. That

gives you an idea of how tiny they are, doesn't it?"

"Enough."

"A human being is a whole world to a mitochondrion, just the way

our planet is to us. But we're much more dependent on our

mitochondria thn the earth is on us. The earth could get along

perfectly well without people, bu if anything happened to our

mitochondria, we'd die."

- A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L'Engle (1973)

I'm a bit sad that my first "back from vacation" post is in memory of

Madeleine L'Engle, who died last Thursday at the age of 88. A Wrinkle

in Time , a wonderful mixture of science fiction and fantasy, was one

of the favorite books of my girlhood.

In the sequel, A Wind in the Door , L'Engle introduced legions of

elementary school students to mitochondria. And not just the fact that

mitochondria are important organelles inside our cells, but the idea

that our mitochondria are derived from symbiotic prokaryotes. This was

a cutting edge (and controversial) idea when A Wind in the Door was

published in 1973, the endosymbiotic theory of mitochondrial origins

having been proposed by Lynn Margulis just six years earlier.

"Your parents are scientists, aren't they?" She did not wait for an

answer. "Let's see what you have to tell us."

Charles Wallace ("You should have known better!" Meg scolded him

that night) stood and said, "What I'm interested in right now are

the farandolae and the mitochondria."

"What was that, Charles? The mighty what"

"Mitochondria. They and the farandolae come from the prokaryocytes

---"

"The what?"

"Well, billions of years ago they probably swam into what

eventually became our eukaryotic cells and they've just stayed

there. They have their own DNA and RNA, which means they're quite

separate from us. They have a symbiotic relationship with us, and

the amazing thing is that we're completely dependent on them for

our oxygen."

"Now, Charles, suppose you stop making silly things up, and the

next time I call on you, don't try to show off. Now, George, you

tell the class something . . . "

Now, the science isn't quite right: mitochondria don't produce oxygen.

They do use oxygen, though, to generate ATP, which the cell then uses

as a source of chemical energy. Mitochondria are essential to our

utilization of oxygen as an energy source. L'Engle may have confused

mitochondria with chloroplasts, which are found only in plants.

Chloroplasts also are thought to have originated endosymbiotically and

they do produce oxygen as a byproduct of the conversion of carbon

dioxide and water to glucose during photosynthesis.

And that brings us to the farandolae, which are microscopic life forms

inside mitochondria. Just as mitochondria are necessary for our cells,

farandolae are essential for our mitochondria. They are, of course,

entirely fictional and that's where the story slides into fantasy.

Unlike our mitochondria, which are derived from ancient prokaryotes,

the farandolae are living organisms that have names and can

communicate, in a fashion.

Despite - or because of - L'Engle's imaginative take on cell biology,

many kids were inspired to study science. The story inspired blogger

the dubious biologist's PhD work:

Ms. L'Engle is the one of the deities of my childhood pantheon,

right after and essentially tied with Ray Bradbury. I pretty much

wore out the library copy of A Wrinkle in Time. Her Time Trilogy

was the first book set I ever bought with my own money. I learned

about tesseracts and mitochondria from Ms. L'Engle. I even quoted

from A Wind in the Door in my Ph.D. dissertation.

I was fascinated by what she called the "farandolae", living beings

within the mitochondria that were born and grew as freely mobile

slyph (as I envisioned them) organisms but then had to mature and

root themselves in order for the mitochondria to survive. When I

saw my first micrograph of the inner mitochondrial membrane, I was

mesmerized by the small bumps that would eventually be identified

as the FoF1 ATPase or ATP synthase. The key to making the energy of

life in the powerhouse of the cell! In the back of my mind, I've

always thought of them as farandolae.

The power of science fiction - even when the "science" is largely

fictional - to stimulate kids' interest in science is one of the

reasons I think science fiction books should be included in every

elementary and high school reading list.

Thanks for the farandolae Ms. L'Engle!

Tags:A Wind in the Door, Madeleine L'Engle, mitochondria, farandolae