Question

Mitochondria were discovered by
A. Michaelis
B. Benda
C. Kolliker
D. Krebs

Answer 1

Hint: Mitochondria are one of the most important organelles in the cell. It is said to be an endosymbiotic organism that is trapped inside another cell. They have their own genetic material and divide using the budding method. It was discovered in 1857. The discovery was by a Swiss scientist. It was not named mitochondria upon its discovery.

Complete answer:
It was first reported by Kolliker in 1857, but it was dubbed mitochondria after a long time. It was initially called bioblasts by Richard Altman in 1886.
Let’s breakdown the contributions of each scientist given in the options.
> Michaelis – He was a biochemist and a physicist with major contributions to enzyme kinetics. He developed the Michaelis-Menten model for enzyme kinetics, which is still being used.
> Benda – He was a German microbiologist who is one of the first ones to use a microscope to study internal structures of the cell. He also coined the term mitochondria in 1890.
> Kolliker – He was a Swiss biologist who reported the cellular structures which were later named as mitochondria. He also made remarkable contributions in the field of invertebrate zoology and embryology.
> Krebs – He is a German-born British botanist. His main contribution was figuring out the second pathway in cellular respiration. It is adequately called Kreb’s cycle or TCA cycle.

Mitochondria were discovered by Kolliker. So the correct answer is option ( C ).

Note:
It is important to recognize that Benda did not discover mitochondria. The discovery credit goes to the first one who reported it. That is Kolliker. it is possible to get confused between the discoverer and the one coined the name of mitochondria. Many scientists have the moniker of working with mitochondria for the first time.