Tiago M Bernardino Gomes, Amy E Vincent, Katja E Menger, James B Stewart, Thomas J Nicholls
{"title":"Mechanisms and pathologies of human mitochondrial DNA replication and deletion formation.","authors":"Tiago M Bernardino Gomes, Amy E Vincent, Katja E Menger, James B Stewart, Thomas J Nicholls","doi":"10.1042/BCJ20230262","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Human mitochondria possess a multi-copy circular genome, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), that is essential for cellular energy metabolism. The number of copies of mtDNA per cell, and their integrity, are maintained by nuclear-encoded mtDNA replication and repair machineries. Aberrant mtDNA replication and mtDNA breakage are believed to cause deletions within mtDNA. The genomic location and breakpoint sequences of these deletions show similar patterns across various inherited and acquired diseases, and are also observed during normal ageing, suggesting a common mechanism of deletion formation. However, an ongoing debate over the mechanism by which mtDNA replicates has made it difficult to develop clear and testable models for how mtDNA rearrangements arise and propagate at a molecular and cellular level. These deletions may impair energy metabolism if present in a high proportion of the mtDNA copies within the cell, and can be seen in primary mitochondrial diseases, either in sporadic cases or caused by autosomal variants in nuclear-encoded mtDNA maintenance genes. These mitochondrial diseases have diverse genetic causes and multiple modes of inheritance, and show notoriously broad clinical heterogeneity with complex tissue specificities, which further makes establishing genotype-phenotype relationships challenging. In this review, we aim to cover our current understanding of how the human mitochondrial genome is replicated, the mechanisms by which mtDNA replication and repair can lead to mtDNA instability in the form of large-scale rearrangements, how rearranged mtDNAs subsequently accumulate within cells, and the pathological consequences when this occurs.</p>","PeriodicalId":8825,"journal":{"name":"Biochemical Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.4000,"publicationDate":"2024-06-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11346376/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Biochemical Journal","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1042/BCJ20230262","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"BIOCHEMISTRY & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Human mitochondria possess a multi-copy circular genome, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), that is essential for cellular energy metabolism. The number of copies of mtDNA per cell, and their integrity, are maintained by nuclear-encoded mtDNA replication and repair machineries. Aberrant mtDNA replication and mtDNA breakage are believed to cause deletions within mtDNA. The genomic location and breakpoint sequences of these deletions show similar patterns across various inherited and acquired diseases, and are also observed during normal ageing, suggesting a common mechanism of deletion formation. However, an ongoing debate over the mechanism by which mtDNA replicates has made it difficult to develop clear and testable models for how mtDNA rearrangements arise and propagate at a molecular and cellular level. These deletions may impair energy metabolism if present in a high proportion of the mtDNA copies within the cell, and can be seen in primary mitochondrial diseases, either in sporadic cases or caused by autosomal variants in nuclear-encoded mtDNA maintenance genes. These mitochondrial diseases have diverse genetic causes and multiple modes of inheritance, and show notoriously broad clinical heterogeneity with complex tissue specificities, which further makes establishing genotype-phenotype relationships challenging. In this review, we aim to cover our current understanding of how the human mitochondrial genome is replicated, the mechanisms by which mtDNA replication and repair can lead to mtDNA instability in the form of large-scale rearrangements, how rearranged mtDNAs subsequently accumulate within cells, and the pathological consequences when this occurs.
期刊介绍:
Exploring the molecular mechanisms that underpin key biological processes, the Biochemical Journal is a leading bioscience journal publishing high-impact scientific research papers and reviews on the latest advances and new mechanistic concepts in the fields of biochemistry, cellular biosciences and molecular biology.
The Journal and its Editorial Board are committed to publishing work that provides a significant advance to current understanding or mechanistic insights; studies that go beyond observational work using in vitro and/or in vivo approaches are welcomed.
Painless publishing:
All papers undergo a rigorous peer review process; however, the Editorial Board is committed to ensuring that, if revisions are recommended, extra experiments not necessary to the paper will not be asked for.
Areas covered in the journal include:
Cell biology
Chemical biology
Energy processes
Gene expression and regulation
Mechanisms of disease
Metabolism
Molecular structure and function
Plant biology
Signalling