During the development of the mammalian eye, fiber cells in the center of the lens undergo programmed organelle degradation, losing their nuclei, endoplasmic reticulum, and mitochondria. This process minimizes light scattering to achieve optical transparency.
Which of the following is a correct consequence of this organelle loss on the respiration and function of mature lens fiber cells?
They generate ATP\text{ATP}ATP via aerobic respiration by utilizing alternative, cytosolic electron transport chain complexes that do not require membranes.
They generate ATP\text{ATP}ATP anaerobically via glycolysis in the cytoplasm, which also prevents the production of damaging reactive oxygen species from mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation.
They do not require any metabolic respiration or ATP\text{ATP}ATP because they are completely inert structures designed solely for passive light transmission.
They run the link reaction and Krebs cycle in the cytosol to produce reduced NAD\text{NAD}NAD, which is then transported to outer cortical cells containing mitochondria.
