The hundreds of mitochondria present in every cell are critical to cell function. As the descendants of ancient symbiotic bacteria, mitochondria have their own remnant DNA, separate from the chromosomal genomic DNA present in the cell nucleus. Both sorts of DNA suffer similar forms of mutational damage and are attended by broadly similar repair mechanisms, but nuclear DNA is by far the better protected and maintained of the two. Some forms of mitochondrial DNA mutation, particularly the deletion of genes important to the <a href…
Greater Expression of Mitochondrial Base Excision Repair Enzymes in Longer-Lived Mammalian Species
The hundreds of mitochondria present in every cell are critical to cell function. As the descendants of ancient symbiotic bacteria, mitochondria have their own remnant DNA, separate from the chromosomal genomic DNA present in the cell nucleus. Both sorts of DNA suffer similar forms of mutational damage and are attended by broadly similar repair mechanisms, but nuclear DNA is by far the better protected and maintained of the two. Some forms of mitochondrial DNA mutation, particularly the deletion of genes important to the <a href…