Every cell contains a herd of hundreds of mitochondria, organelles descended from ancient symbiotic bacteria. The primary purpose of mitochondria is to package the chemical energy store molecule adenosine triphosphate (ATP) that is needed to power cellular processes. Each mitochondrion contains one more copies of a small circular genome, the mitochondrial DNA. This mitochondrial DNA is unfortunately poorly protected and repaired in comparison to nuclear DNA. Accumulation of damage in the form of mutations is thought to be an important contributing cause of <a href="https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2017/12/reviewing-the-mitochondrial-con…
Excessive Mitochondrial Point Mutations Do Not Lead to Obvious Metabolic Dysfunction
Every cell contains a herd of hundreds of mitochondria, organelles descended from ancient symbiotic bacteria. The primary purpose of mitochondria is to package the chemical energy store molecule adenosine triphosphate (ATP) that is needed to power cellular processes. Each mitochondrion contains one more copies of a small circular genome, the mitochondrial DNA. This mitochondrial DNA is unfortunately poorly protected and repaired in comparison to nuclear DNA. Accumulation of damage in the form of mutations is thought to be an important contributing cause of <a href="https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2017/12/reviewing-the-mitochondrial-con…