Author Archives: Ines Martins, PhD

Study Shows Mitochondrial DNA, Nuclear Gene Interaction May Provide Clues to Mitochondrial Diseases

Researchers from New Zealand have shown for the first time that mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) can leave the mitochondria, travel to the nucleus, and establish interactions with specific genes. Findings from the study “Interactions between mitochondrial and nuclear DNA in mammalian cells are non-random,” published in the journal Mitchondrion, may provide…

Mitochondrial Complex I Deficiency May Be Bypassed, Study Shows

Mitochondrial energy production depends on a chain of five main complexes that when mutated could lead to severe energy deprivation and cell death. Recently, researchers at the Faculty of Medicine of Lund University, in Sweden, showed that delivering an agent that activates complex II in cells with mitochondrial complex I deficiency may rescue the…

Mitochondria Transplants Ease Hypoxia-induced Pulmonary Hypertension in Animal Study

Mitochondrial transplants may prevent or ease hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension, according to a study developed at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China. The study, “Mitochondrial transplantation attenuates hypoxic pulmonary hypertension,” published in the journal Oncotarget, took advantage of the different mitochondrial responses to hypoxia (low oxygen levels) in…