Transformer: The Deep Chemistry of Life and Death

Most amino acids are made directly or indirectly from molecules in the Krebs cycle. So are the long-chain lipid molecules needed to make cell membranes.

To be alive means to have a continuous flow of energy and materials through this whole network, nanosecond by nanosecond, minute by minute, generation after generation.

Subtle mitonuclear mismatches probably have little effect in youth but can be amplified by damage or stress as we age.

Crosses between species do indeed cause ‘hybrid breakdown’, attributed to incompatibilities between mitochondrial and nuclear genes.

We want to form amino acids, fatty acids and sugars from Krebs-cycle intermediates – they are the real building blocks of cells.

It’s not really a cycle so much as a roundabout, where traffic enters and exits as well as going around.

now in my mid-fifties, so my wrinkles and aches and pains are the product of about 1032 reactions to date, roughly a billion times the number of stars in the known universe.

mitochondrial DNA is selected for how well it works in females, but not in males.

In short, when there is a sudden need for explosive action, the Krebs cycle is powered by multiple engines working together, ramping up its power.