> For example, erythrocytes (RBCs) don't have nucleus and mitochondria.
They are less of an outlier when you find out that they start out with a nucleus but pinch it off and let white blood cells eat it when they near maturity.
Yep! I vaguely remember my professor mentioning about this in my Immunology class when we were on the topic of recognizing self vs non-self. Something about MHC1 vs CD47 on RBCs. It's been a while. Fascinating stuff!
They are less of an outlier when you find out that they start out with a nucleus but pinch it off and let white blood cells eat it when they near maturity.
https://wi.mit.edu/news/how-red-blood-cells-nuke-their-nucle...
They also shed their mitochondria at about the same time. Both make more room for hemoglobin, optimizing them for oxygen transport.