Latest Mitochondrial genetics Stories
Diet boosts mitochondrial function, has implications for humansFlies fed an "anti-Atkins" low protein diet live longer because their mitochondria function better. The research, done at the Buck Institute for Age Research, shows that the molecular mechanisms responsible for the lifespan extension in the flies have important implications for human aging and diseases such as obesity, diabetes and cancer.The findings, which appear in the October 2 edition of Cell, also provide a new...
Researchers are delving into abnormal gene function in mitochondria, structures within cells that power our lives. Mitochondria are the place where energy is generated from the most basic molecules of food. Because this function is essential to life, defects in mitochondria may affect a wide range of organ systems in humans and animals.Some names of mitochondrial disorders are Leigh's disease, MELAS syndrome and complex I deficiency. These are often severe and progressive conditions that...
PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Researchers are delving into abnormal gene function in mitochondria, structures within cells that power our lives. Mitochondria are the place where energy is generated from the most basic molecules of food. Because this function is essential to life, defects in mitochondria may affect a wide range of organ systems in humans and animals. Some names of mitochondrial disorders are Leigh's disease, MELAS syndrome and complex I deficiency. These...
WOBURN, Mass., Aug. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. researchers using CRi's Oosight(TM) imaging system have developed a gene transfer technique that has potential to prevent inherited diseases passed on from mothers to their children through mutated DNA in cell mitochondria. The research, which demonstrated the technique in rhesus monkeys, appears in the Aug. 26 issue of the journal Nature. The group, headed by Dr. Shoukhrat Mitalipov of the Oregon National Primate Research Center and the Oregon...
Researchers believe they have found a way to avoid certain genetically inherited disorders through a special kind of in vitro fertilization (IVF). Ethical concerns abound, but experts say that the future of the procedure looks promising.In lab experiments with rhesus macaque monkeys, scientists from the Oregon Health and Science University were recently able to transfer DNA from the nucleus of an unhealthy egg cell into a normal egg cell without a nucleus, ultimately resulting in the...
The normal aging process has long been linked to problems with cell respiration, the process through which the cells extract energy from nutrients. Researchers at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have now shown how certain proteins that are synthesized in the cellular mitochondria "“ popularly known as the cells' power plants "“ become unstable and disintegrate, which in turn can impair cell respiration and cause premature aging.Every time we inhale, the blood...
Gene mutations that once helped humans evolve and survive could increase the risk of cancer and other diseases today, researchers in Israel said. The mutations were found in the genome of the mitochondria, the part of cells responsible for energy production that is passed from mother to child, scientists at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev said. Although mitochondria's role in the emergence of new species has been investigated recently, the idea that they are responsible for our...
 Researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) have discovered that gene mutations that once helped humans survive may increase the possibility for diseases, including cancer.The findings were recently the cover story in the journal Genome Research.The team of researchers from BGU's National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev (NIBN) set out to look for mutations in the genome of the mitochondria, a part of every cell responsible for energy production that is passed...
Highly Sensitive Genetic Test Provides Early Diagnosis of Mitochondrial Diseases LOS ANGELES, June 9 /PRNewswire/ -- MEDomics, LLC (www.medomics.com) announces an innovative test for early diagnosis of mitochondrial diseases, a group of disorders that can result in neurological dysfunction, muscle weakness, gastrointestinal symptoms, migraine headaches, blindness, deafness, and diabetes. The MEDomics mitochondrial genome test, MitoDx(TM), uses the revolutionary NextGen sequencing...
Researchers at the University of Leeds have devised a more accurate method of dating ancient human migration "“ even when no corroborating archaeological evidence exists.Estimating the chronology of population migrations throughout mankind's early history has always been problematic. The most widely used genetic method works back to find the last common ancestor of any particular set of lineages using samples of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), but this method has recently been shown to be...
