Mitochondria light up a cell.THE CELL
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in colon cancer cells undergoes less frequent mutation than healthy body cell mtDNA, according to a study published in PLoS Genetics this week (June 7). The finding flies in the face of the popular belief that tumor cell DNA is more highly mutated than the genetic code of normal cells, as has been established for nuclear DNA, and suggests a decoupling of nuclear and mitochondrial processes as colon cancer advances.
“The result impacts our understanding of the underlying mechanisms that take place during carcinogenesis,” said Lars Eide, a medical biochemistry professor at the Institute of Clinical Medicine in Oslo who works on mtDNA stability but was not involved in the study, by e-mail. “The increased fidelity of mtDNA during the carcinogenic process ...
