it always bugs me that this phrase isn’t even grammatically correct. mitochondria is plural. it should be “the mitochondrion is the powerhouse of the cell”
The number of mitochondria in a cell vary widely by organism, tissue, and cell type. A mature red blood cell has no mitochondria, whereas a liver cell can have more than 2000.
It would be more correct to say “are the powerhouse of the cell”.
it always bugs me that this phrase isn’t even grammatically correct. mitochondria is plural. it should be “the mitochondrion is the powerhouse of the cell”
Pedantry gone too far!
Mitochondria would be grammatically correct because there are multiple mitochondrion in the cell. Referring to only one of them would be inaccurate.
Then it’s the mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell
Unless “the mitochondria” is a singular group noun, like in “The Village People is a band”, or “This [set of] data was collected…”
I, too, love pulling this trick out. :p
But then again British English would still use the plural form so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell
It’s kinda like like the plural form has also become a colloquial singular form
Same with “a bacteria”
Well…a single mitocondrion is not really a powerhouse of anything except really simple single celled organisms.
Wikipedia:
It would be more correct to say “are the powerhouse of the cell”.