As I pointed out, upthread, this is incorrect. Cytochrome c is involved in apoptosis. It binds to Apaf-1, and forms the apoptosome.
Fair enough, but this is a pathway for cell death, not cell function or epigenetic function as Mr. Morford has stressed. The only constraint is the ability of proteins in the apoptosis pathway to recognize specific mitochondrial proteins.
Um, no, not so.
edit: (btw: if you think about it you knew this already, how could a mitochondrion trigger the autophagic pathways you mentioned in another post without interacting with other cellular elements?)
I was focused more on cell function, not cell dysfunction followed by cell death (or destruction of dysfunctional mitochondria). The argument put forward by Mr. Morford is that proteins are constrained due to DNA regulatory pathways which are more complex in the vertebrate clades. Cytc has nothing to do with embryonic development. Even the apoptotic pathways used in embryonic development (e.g. destruction of the postanal tail) do not involve cytc (as far as I know).