Many kinds of mutations in mitochondrial (mt) DNA have been reported to be related to the development of Diabetes Mellitus (DM), this type of diabetes has also been shown to be influenced by other genetic factors and/or environmental factors. Among them, tRNALeu(UUR) and its adjacent mtDNA NADH dehydrogenase subunit 1(ND1) region within the mt genome are linked to high susceptibility to DM. A p...

Homologous recombination is widespread and catalyzes evolution. Nonetheless, its existence in animal mitochondrial DNA is questioned. We designed selections for recombination between co-resident mitochondrial genomes in various heteroplasmic Drosophila lines. In four experimental settings, recombinant genomes became the sole or dominant genome in the progeny. Thus, selection uncovers occurrence...

Eighteen classical mutant strains of Neurospora crassa were subject to whole genome sequence analysis and the mitochondrial genome is analyzed. Overall, the mitochondrial genomes of the classical mutant strains are 99.45 to 99.98 % identical to the reference genome. Two-thirds of the SNPs and three-fourths of indels identified in this analysis are shared among more than one strain. Most of the ...

Electronmicroscopic observation of the denaturation pattern of 130 partially denaturated linear mitochondrial DNA molecules from Saccharomyces carlsbergensis was used to investigate the distribution of AT-rich sequences within the mitochondrial genome. The molecules were observed after heating to 43 degrees C in the presence of 12% formaldehyde. These conditions resulted in an average denaturat...

We consider the effect on the distribution of pairwise differences between mitochondrial DNA sequences of the incorporation into the underlying population genetics model of two particular effects that seem realistic for human populations. The first is that the population size was roughly constant before growing to its current level. The second is that the population is geographically subdivided...

mitochondria are unique organelles with major role in cellular function, not only as a major site of atp production, but also by regulating energy expenditure, apoptosis signaling, and production of reactive oxygen species. they play a central role in determining the point-of-no-return for the apoptotic process. there is accumulating evidence supporting a direct link between mitochondria, oxida...

Multiple human mutational landscapes of normal and cancer conditions are currently available. However, while the unique mutational patterns of tumors have been extensively studied, little attention has been paid to similarities between malignant and normal conditions. Here we compared the pattern of mutations in the mitochondrial genomes (mtDNAs) of cancer (98 sequences) and natural populations...

Recent analyses of ancient Mesopotamian mitochondrial genomes have suggested a genetic link between the Indian subcontinent and Mesopotamian civilization. There is no consensus on the origin of the ancient Mesopotamians. They may be descendants of migrants, who founded regional Mesopotamian groups like that of Terqa or they may be merchants who were involved in trans Mesopotamia trade. To ident...

In eukaryotic cells, the production of cellular energy requires close interplay between nuclear and mitochondrial genomes. The mitochondrial genome is essential in that it encodes several genes involved in oxidative phosphorylation. Each cell contains several mitochondrial genome copies and mitochondrial DNA recombination is a widespread process occurring in plants, fungi, protists, and inverte...