Mitochondrial Mutagenesis in Aging and Disease

Abstract

Shortly after DNA was discovered to be the carrier of hereditary information, a number of peculiar observations were made. It was found that some traits, like the ability of yeast cells to use non-fermentable sources of energy, were inherited through a cytoplasmic, and not a nuclear mechanism[1]. This observation was rather alarming at the time, since DNA was only known to be present in the nucleus. As a result, some researchers started to doubt whether DNA was truly the sole carrier of hereditary information. Could it be that the original hypothesis about DNA was incorrect? Or did the cytoplasm carry DNA molecules that were yet to be discovered? Ultimately, this conflict was resolved when clever mating experiments, biochemical tests and precise electron microscopy culminated in the discovery of a new DNA molecule, present inside mitochondria[2-4].