MITOCHONDRIAL DNA: INHERITANCE AND POSSIBLE ROLE IN MALE INFERTILITY

摘要

We now generally accept that the mitochondria of eukaryotes arose through an endosymbiotic relationship that assisted ancestrally anaerobic cells to survive a rapid increase in environmental oxygen (Margulis & Sagan, 1986). Mitochondria gradually acquired the status of peripheral cytoplasmic "slave" organelles, relegated to the dangerous business of oxidative metabolism (OXPHOS) in the cytoplasm, away from the somatic genome with its extreme sensitivity to oxidative damage. Nevertheless, mitochondria retain considerable autonomy and replicate by fission independently of the somatic cell cycle(Lodish et al., 1995).