Red blood cell wall and membrane, killing it. As a result of not containing mitochondria, red blood cells use none of the oxygen they transport; instead they produce the energy carrier ATP by the glycolysis of glucose and lactic acid fermentation on the resulting pyruvate. Furthermore, the pentose phosphate pathway plays an important role in red blood cells; see glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency for more. As red blood cells contain no nucleus, protein biosynthesis is currently assumed to be absent in these cells. Because of the lack of nuclei and organelles, mature red blood cells do not contain DNA and cannot synthesize any RNA,
Hematopoietic stem cell Hematopoietic stem cell Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are the stem cells that give rise to other blood cells. This process is called haematopoiesis.<ref name="Birbrair n/a–n/a"></ref> This process occurs in the red bone marrow, in the core of most bones. In embryonic development, the red bone marrow is derived from the layer of the embryo called the mesoderm. Hematopoiesis is the process by which all mature blood cells are produced. It must balance enormous production needs (the average person produces more than 500 billion blood cells every day) with the need to precisely regulate the number of each blood cell type