MtDNA sequence features associated with 'selfish genomes' predict tissue-specific segregation and reversion.

ABSTRACT: Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) encodes cellular machinery vital for cell and organism survival. Mutations, genetic manipulation, and gene therapies may produce cells where different types of mtDNA coexist in admixed populations. In these admixtures, one mtDNA type is often observed to proliferate over another, with different types dominating in different tissues. This 'segregation bias' is a long-standing biological mystery that may pose challenges to modern mtDNA disease therapies, leading to substantial recent attention in biological and medical circles. Here, we show how an mtDNA sequence's balance between replication and transcription, corresponding to molecular 'selfishness', in conjunction with cellular selection, can potentially modulate segregation bias. We combine a new replication-tra

SUBMITTER: Royrvik EC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7470939 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature