Mitochondria are the descendants of ancient symbiotic bacteria, several hundred of them in every cell. Their primary task is to produce the chemical energy store molecule adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to power cellular operations. With aging, mitochondria throughout the body decline in function. They change their morphology, the balance between fission and fusion shifts, the ability of the cell to remove worn and damaged mitochondria is impaired. Researchers have made some inroads into the proximate causes of these global changes, meaning upregulation or downregulation of specific proteins, but the connecti…
SHMT2 in the Age-Related Decline of Mitochondrial Function
Mitochondria are the descendants of ancient symbiotic bacteria, several hundred of them in every cell. Their primary task is to produce the chemical energy store molecule adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to power cellular operations. With aging, mitochondria throughout the body decline in function. They change their morphology, the balance between fission and fusion shifts, the ability of the cell to remove worn and damaged mitochondria is impaired. Researchers have made some inroads into the proximate causes of these global changes, meaning upregulation or downregulation of specific proteins, but the connecti…