As many of us already have studied in the past, the human genome can subdivide itself into two parts. The nuclear genome, which consists of over 26,000 genes and the circular mitochondrial genome, which consist of the only consist of 37 genes (“Organization of the human genome” 257). The human genome is vastly large compared to the mitochondrial genome. Mitochondrial has played a significant role in genetics throughout time. For example, mtDNA helped geneticists understand the past and our ancestors better. Since mtDNA is only inherited through the mother then all mitochondrial lineages are maternal. Thanks to the study of the mitochondrial genome it revealed that all humans carried mitochondrial DNA in their cells that dated back to a single
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Only 5 RLGS spots showed that reintroduction of mtDNA resulted in re-methylation. 18 spots, on the other hand, showed no difference between the cybrid cells and the rho0 cells. That is less than 50% of the spots went back to their initial methylation status. These findings seemed unreliable since t appears they just conducted that one experiment and once they got the results they wanted they did not even bother to conduct the experiment several times with different types of cell lines not only 143B cell-line. They believe they paved the way for other major experiments that will go more into detail as to how mtDNA and methylation are related. In the discussion section, they suggest that future studies might be conducted in order to understand better which mitochondrial signals triggers the epigenetic changes in the nucleus (Smiraglia et al. 1185). They also suggest that the study of specific inhibition of the various steps in oxidative phosphorylation may be the key to understanding the exact signal in mtDNA that triggers epigenetic response (Smiraglia et al. 1185). As you can see although the findings on the research seemed at times unreliable it definitely raises many questions regarding the importance of the relationship between mtDNA and epigenetic modifications. Since it was a 2008 paper I tried to look for studies that have been conducted ever since. Surprisingly it was difficult to find papers that related mtDNA and epigenetic modifications. However, I was able to find some research appears that were interesting that discussed mtDNA and methylation. The paper was titled Mitochondrial DNA methylation as a next-generation biomarker and diagnostic tool. The paper reviews the current advances in mtDNA methylation studies with particular attention to the evidence of mtDNA methylation changes in diseases and physiological conditions so far
Only 5 RLGS spots showed that reintroduction of mtDNA resulted in re-methylation. 18 spots, on the other hand, showed no difference between the cybrid cells and the rho0 cells. That is less than 50% of the spots went back to their initial methylation status. These findings seemed unreliable since t appears they just conducted that one experiment and once they got the results they wanted they did not even bother to conduct the experiment several times with different types of cell lines not only 143B cell-line. They believe they paved the way for other major experiments that will go more into detail as to how mtDNA and methylation are related. In the discussion section, they suggest that future studies might be conducted in order to understand better which mitochondrial signals triggers the epigenetic changes in the nucleus (Smiraglia et al. 1185). They also suggest that the study of specific inhibition of the various steps in oxidative phosphorylation may be the key to understanding the exact signal in mtDNA that triggers epigenetic response (Smiraglia et al. 1185). As you can see although the findings on the research seemed at times unreliable it definitely raises many questions regarding the importance of the relationship between mtDNA and epigenetic modifications. Since it was a 2008 paper I tried to look for studies that have been conducted ever since. Surprisingly it was difficult to find papers that related mtDNA and epigenetic modifications. However, I was able to find some research appears that were interesting that discussed mtDNA and methylation. The paper was titled Mitochondrial DNA methylation as a next-generation biomarker and diagnostic tool. The paper reviews the current advances in mtDNA methylation studies with particular attention to the evidence of mtDNA methylation changes in diseases and physiological conditions so far