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A
nanotechnological analogue to
mitochondria, which are small semi-independent bodies inside of human cells, doing work independent of the nucleus.
Nanochondria would be nanomachines existing inside of living cells of the body, participating fully in the biochemical processes of that cell, and/or constantly interacting with the structures inside the cell.
Theoretical uses for these nanomachines would be to monitor, maintain, and alter the DNA of the cell and the mitochondria, or helping to increase the efficiency of cell metabolism.
If nanochondria could be made self-replicating with just the materials and energy sources available to regular cells, it would be possible to imagine inserting a single nanomachine into a human egg, and once the egg is fertilized and growing, the nanochondria would be in every cell in the resulting person, just as regular mitochondria are.
Note that if each nanochondrium had the ability to perform simple computations, and communicate with neighbors, your body's cellular structure would contain a network with elements on the order of 1014.