Jellyfish-like Parasite Can Live Without Oxygen: The First of Its Kind
The common concept that all organisms need oxygen to live might be wrong as researchers discovered a unique organism that does not need to breathe to survive. This jellyfish-like parasite is the first multicellular organism known that does not have a mitochondrial genome, therefore, living its life without depending on oxygen. This new discovery changes the definition of what an animal can be and can have implications on the search for an extraterrestrial life.
This tiny parasite survived in salmon tissue and evolved so that it does not need oxygen to produce energy. It is a great simplification that sometimes less is more. Over 1.45 billion years ago, life started to develop the ability to metabolize oxygen or to respirate. A larger archaeon and a smaller bacterium developed a symbiotic relationship when the archaeon engulfed the bacterium and discovered that their relationship has become beneficial to both of them.
Eventually, their relationship resulted in the two organisms evolving together, and those bacteria concealed inside became the mitochondria - an organelle essential for energy production in a cell. It plays a vital role in the respiration process and can be found in large numbers in every cell of the body except for red blood cells.
