The inheritance of viable mitochondria
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Abstract
Mitochondria cannot be produced de novo by the cell, but are inherited across generations. Their peculiar genetics (multiple genomes per cell, no meiosis, replication independent from cell cycle, high mutation rate) and the possible exposition to Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) are predicted to produce a fast accumulation of deleterious mutations, a phenomenon known as Müller’s ratchet. Nonetheless, mitochondrial genomes persist accurately over million years. How is a viable mitochondrial genetic information preserved? To answer this question we review the following relevant topics: 1) the sources of mtDNA mutation (replication and ROS); 2) the origin of mitochondrial membrane potential; 3) the activity of germ line mitochondria; 4) the mitochondrial bottleneck; 5) mtDNA drift and selection. Finally we discuss such topics in the light of an unusual biological system (Doubly Uniparental Inheritance of mitochondria, DUI), in which also sperm mtDNA is regularly transmitted to the progeny.
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2017. The inheritance of viable mitochondria. PeerJ Preprints 5:e3122v1 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.3122v1Author comment
Poster presentation for the Open Symposium of SMBE 2017
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Competing Interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Author Contributions
Liliana Milani conceived and designed the experiments, performed the experiments, analyzed the data, contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools, wrote the paper, prepared figures and/or tables, reviewed drafts of the paper.
Fabrizio Ghiselli conceived and designed the experiments, performed the experiments, analyzed the data, contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools, prepared figures and/or tables, reviewed drafts of the paper.
Data Deposition
The following information was supplied regarding data availability:
All the data will be uploaded to public databases and published in Open Access journals when the work will be completed.
Funding
Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR) SIR2014 Programme RBSI14G0P5 funded to LM; MIUR FIR2013 Programme RBFR13T97A funded to FG. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.