A marine parasite’s mitochondria lack DNA but still churn out energy
The missing genetic material turned up in the microbe’s nucleus
![an infected ocean alga called Alexandrium](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/042319_TI_mitochondria-dna_feat.jpg?fit=860%2C460&ssl=1)
PARASITE LIFE Parasitic Amoebophyra ceratii, which surprisingly is missing its mitochondrial DNA, can infect an ocean alga called Alexandrium (healthy, left; infected, middle and right). The photosynthetic part of the alga is shown in red and the parasite’s cytoplasm in green.
Yameng Lu