Keeping mtDNA in Shape between Generations

Since the unexpected discovery that mitochondria contain their own distinct DNA molecules, studies of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) have yielded many surprises. In animals, transmission of the mtDNA genome is explicitly non-Mendelian, with a very high number of genome copies being inherited from the...

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Main Authors:	Stewart, James B., Larsson, Nils-Göran
Format:	Online
Language:	English
Published:	Public Library of Science 2014
Online Access:	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4191934/

id	pubmed-4191934
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	pubmed-41919342014-10-14 Keeping mtDNA in Shape between Generations Stewart, James B. Larsson, Nils-Göran Review Since the unexpected discovery that mitochondria contain their own distinct DNA molecules, studies of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) have yielded many surprises. In animals, transmission of the mtDNA genome is explicitly non-Mendelian, with a very high number of genome copies being inherited from the mother after a drastic bottleneck. Recent work has begun to uncover the molecular details of this unusual mode of transmission. Many surprising variations in animal mitochondrial biology are known; however, a series of recent studies have identified a core of evolutionarily conserved mechanisms relating to mtDNA inheritance, e.g., mtDNA bottlenecks during germ cell development, selection against specific mtDNA mutation types during maternal transmission, and targeted destruction of sperm mitochondria. In this review, we outline recent literature on the transmission of mtDNA in animals and highlight the implications for human health and ageing. Public Library of Science 2014-10-09 /pmc/articles/PMC4191934/ /pubmed/25299061 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1004670 Text en © 2014 Stewart, Larsson http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
repository_type	Open Access Journal
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building	NCBI PubMed
collection	Online Access
language	English
format	Online
author	Stewart, James B. Larsson, Nils-Göran
spellingShingle	Stewart, James B. Larsson, Nils-Göran Keeping mtDNA in Shape between Generations
author_facet	Stewart, James B. Larsson, Nils-Göran
author_sort	Stewart, James B.
title	Keeping mtDNA in Shape between Generations
title_short	Keeping mtDNA in Shape between Generations
title_full	Keeping mtDNA in Shape between Generations
title_fullStr	Keeping mtDNA in Shape between Generations
title_full_unstemmed	Keeping mtDNA in Shape between Generations
title_sort	keeping mtdna in shape between generations
description	Since the unexpected discovery that mitochondria contain their own distinct DNA molecules, studies of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) have yielded many surprises. In animals, transmission of the mtDNA genome is explicitly non-Mendelian, with a very high number of genome copies being inherited from the mother after a drastic bottleneck. Recent work has begun to uncover the molecular details of this unusual mode of transmission. Many surprising variations in animal mitochondrial biology are known; however, a series of recent studies have identified a core of evolutionarily conserved mechanisms relating to mtDNA inheritance, e.g., mtDNA bottlenecks during germ cell development, selection against specific mtDNA mutation types during maternal transmission, and targeted destruction of sperm mitochondria. In this review, we outline recent literature on the transmission of mtDNA in animals and highlight the implications for human health and ageing.
publisher	Public Library of Science
publishDate	2014
url	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4191934/
_version_	1613142763988058112

Keeping mtDNA in Shape between Generations

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