|
|
||||
|
Mitochondrial DNA homoplasmy
Point mutations in the mitochondrial genome are very common in aged cells and undergo rapid clonal expansion.
Email: Jonathan B Weitzman - jonathanweitzman@hotmail.com News from The Scientist 2002, 3(1):20020416-01
|
||||
|
|
||||
|
Somatic point mutations in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) have been linked to aging and cancer. Each cell contains a large number of mtDNA molecules, so any mutation requires a process of clonal expansion in order to reach homoplasmy (close to 100%) and to exert a phenotypic influence. In the April 16 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Ekaterina Nekhaeva and colleagues document the frequency of mtDNA mutations in human tissues (Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2002, 99:5521-5526).
|
|
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
|
