mitochondria

Mitochondrial DNA mutations play significant role in prostate cancer

...arate from nuclear DNA, is foundin the hundreds of mitochondria located in the cytoplasm outside ofeach cell's nucleus. The mitochondria often are called the "powerhouse"of the cell because they produce about 90 percent of the body's ene...

Critical role in programmed cell death identified

...artmouth Medical School, reveals the importance of mitochondria in cell death in the roundworm C. elegans, enhanci...ria. Using genetics, we could rigorously show that mitochondria are part of it. It unifies two different hypothesis and makes worms a great model to analyze how cel...

Nano-Probes Allow an Inside Look at Cell Nuclei

...r cellular organelles besides the nucleus, such as mitochondria and Golgi bodies. And because quantum dots emit different colors of light based on their size, they can be used to observe the transfer of material between cells. "We can have two different quantum dots in two different cells, and watch as the cells...

Novel ultrafast laser detection of cancer cells also may improve understanding of stem cells

...g spectrometer, instantly identify cancer-modified mitochondria in cells gone wrong. Mitochondria are known as the... in normal and cancer cells by using intracellular mitochondria as biomarkers for disease. This technique holds promise for detecting cancer at a very early stage a...

A human parasite with a streamlined mitochondrion

...ein, called a mitochondrial carrier, that in human mitochondria exists in many different specialized versions. In humans, these diverse carriers are needed to import and export the varied chemicals required, or produced, by our complex mitochondria. The presence of a single carrier in the Entamoeba mitosome means...

15 generations of untrained jocks, couch potatoes show big physiological adaptations

...d for better transport of the oxygen to the muscle mitochondria of the athletic rats." according to Richard A. Howlett, lead author of one of three papers on the experiment. Howlett and the other two lead authors, Scott D. Kirkton and Patrick G. Giuliano are all from UCSD's Department of Medicine, Division of Phy...

Researchers extend mouse lifespan by protecting against free radicals

...n lifespan. These results fit with the theory that mitochondria can be an important source of free radicals create...ed heart problems seen in wild-type mice. The MCAT mitochondria also had fewer mutations, and the MCAT nuclear DNA had fewer oxidized components. "This study is ve...

New protein vital for immune response is found in surprise location

...nd the study's senior author. "This discovery puts mitochondria on the map in terms of immunity, and it opens up a...Dr. Chen said. First, proteins housed within the mitochondria have been shown by researchers, such as UT Southwestern biochemist Dr. Xiaodong Wang and others, to ...

Elderly mice yield clues to the process of growing old

...ich suggests that accumulated genetic mutations in mitochondria slow metabolism. In turn, that change prompts cells to produce fewer of the reactive free radical molecules. The symptoms of aging become pronounced with the loss of some critical cells, notably adult stem cells from some tissues and that are essent...

Global warming increases oyster sensitivity to pollution

...hanism for this observation is increased damage of mitochondria in cadmium-exposed oysters with increasing tempera... so that cadmium levels which were not damaging to mitochondria at lower temperature become strongly toxic with increasing temperature." Cadmium circulates continu...

Molecular trigger for Huntington's disease found

...cular mechanism linking disturbances of nuclei and mitochondria in HD." Byoung-Il Bae, Shuichi Igarashi, Masahiro Fujimuro, Nishant Agrawal, Yoichi Taya, S. Diane Hayward, Timothy H Moran, Christopher A Ross, Solomon H Snyder, Akira Sawa: "p53 Mediates Cellular Dysfunction and Behavioral Abnormalities in Hunting...

Scientists sequence DNA of woolly mammoth

...the nuclear genome. Analyzing organellar DNA from mitochondria has been the only method of studying ancient DNA in the past, as it is more tractable due to its 1000-fold higher copy number per cell. However, the mitochondrial genome codes for only a tiny fraction of an organism's genetic information -- 0.0006 ...

Getting old? Slowing down? Blame inefficient mitochondria

...nd fuel it burns, you can assess the efficiency of mitochondria by monitoring the amount of ATP produced for every... half as much energy as young muscle, but that the mitochondria used just as much oxygen at both ages. This represents a 50% loss in efficiency. "The best explanat...

Lactic acid not athlete's poison, but an energy source - if you know how to use it

...lar level, Brooks said, training means growing the mitochondria in muscle cells. The mitochondria - often called the powerhouse of the cell - is where lactate is burned for energy. "The world's bes...

Alzheimer's study first to explain death of brain cells

...ination of functional heme deficiency, which harms mitochondria needed to produce energy, together with the increase in oxidative damage caused by the peroxidase, is what eventually kills the cell. "Until now, we didn't understand all the factors that trigger Alzheimer's disease. The discovery of the formation...

Rice University researchers create 'nanorice'

...ination of functional heme deficiency, which harms mitochondria needed to produce energy, together with the increase in oxidative damage caused by the peroxidase, is what eventually kills the cell. "Until now, we didn't understand all the factors that trigger Alzheimer's disease. The discovery of the formation...

Chocolate milk could be key to longer, healthier life

...alled mitochondria. As we grow older the amount of mitochondria we have decreases and with it our respiratory capa...th benefits, but our research specifically targets mitochondria since they are a cause of age-related decreases in muscle function. "If successful, we could prove...

Biomarkers may hone anti-aging therapies

...llular aging -- why and how cells age -- center on mitochondria and decreased energetic capacity resulting from mitochondrial DNA mutations, Sligh explained. In addition, mutations in mitochondrial DNA have been associated with tumor development. "We initiated this project with the idea that perhaps there was a ...

First direct mechanical communication of mitochondria, cardiomyocyte nucleus shown

...-French team demonstrated "for the first time that mitochondria are able to induce nuclear deformation, suggesting that mitochondria may mechanically regulate nuclear function." The team, which has been collaborating for over 10 yea...

Cancer virus protein needed for successful infection

... also important to study because it travels to the mitochondria of infected cells." Mitochondria produce the cell's energy supply and store enzymes that carry out the process of natural cell death, or apoptosis. "These findings should help us begin to learn whether this viral protein influences cell survival, p...

Researchers find molecular 'brake' to cell death

...amage, the low levels of CC that came out from the mitochondria were ineffective because they are sequestered by a...xisted to impede apoptosis." They found that cell mitochondria needed to release a large and sustained volume of CC to overcome this nucleotide barrier, and they a...

Attacking cancer's sweet tooth is effective strategy against tumors

...ndent ATP synthesis occurs, are defective. But the mitochondria of cancer cells appear to be mostly intact, which ...ize the importance of the glycolytic switch. The mitochondria do display an intriguing difference, however. Normally, mitochondria turn glucose into ATP through ...

Mitochondrial DNA sequencing tool updated

...ut the cell's cytoplasm. Hundreds to thousands of mitochondria exist in each human cell, occupying up to a quarte...s informally described as "cellular power plants," mitochondria convert organic materials into ATP, the cell's energy currency and without which life would cease. ...

Computational model simulates AZT metabolism in mitochondria

...ferent ways that AZT could possibly interfere with mitochondria to cause the toxic side-effects. Our job is to model these proposed toxicity mechanisms to see which ones could actually lead to the mitochondrial defects found in AIDS patients." He added: "It is possible that no single mechanism is responsible for...

Johns hopkins researchers find link between cell's energy use and genome health

...osomes - rather than in the part of the cell - the mitochondria -- that harvests energy from sugar. But why would an enzyme involved in generating energy live in the "wrong" part of the cell? A closer look at the chromosomal and non-chromosomal parts of the cell showed that although the enzyme itself is found...

New egg freezing technique offers hope to hundreds of women

... These included: changes to the linkages between mitochondria (microscopic respiratory structures in the cytoplasm) and intracellular membranes amongst the EG-treated eggs changes to the amount and density of cortical granules (particles that harden the exterior of the egg once it has been fertilised to preve...

Discovery of agile molecular motors could aid in treating motor neuron diseases

...ns studded along them, and cellular organelles and mitochondria are crammed in. The motor needs to maneuver around those 'obstructions.'" Goldman and Holzbaur suggest that the ability of the dynein-dynactin motor to move in both directions along the microtubule may provide the necessary maneuvering ability to all...

Scientists identify protein with a crucial role in cell death

...heir work, cells need energy. And this is what the mitochondria ?which convert oxygen into the necessary energy ?a...inner workings of a cell depend largely on how the mitochondria function. Therefore, it has been suspected that poorly functioning mitochondria can, among other thi...

The shape of life: research sheds light on how cells take shape

... sorts, moving important bits like chromosomes and mitochondria around inside of cells. As microtubules multiply, they form patterns that can be seen by the naked eye. The pattern is a series of waves that look a bit like zebra stripes. How, Valles and Tang asked, do they form? Working with graduate students ...

Drug dials down the energy within cells, UM researchers find

...rules that we can apply to be able to modulate the mitochondria in new ways that could be therapeutic." Ultimately, the findings may have applications not only for lupus, arthritis and psoriasis, but also for other conditions, Glick believes. "There are other diseases---certain cancers and a number of other immu...

Gardenia fruit compound starting point for diabetes therapy

...y storage molecules by cellular powerhouses called mitochondria in cells throughout the body. ...

ABCB6 is key to production of heme in hemoglobin

...called the mitochondria; and that it ferries into mitochondria a type of molecule called a porphryin, a molecule ...xins, and so-called "respiratory chain" enzymes in mitochondria that use oxygen to produce energy-rich molecules. The discovery of the location and function of A...

UNC scientists solve mystery of how largest cellular motor protein powers movement

...ws dynein to transport cellular structures such as mitochondria that perform specific jobs such as energy generation, protein production and cell maintenance. Dynein also helps force apart chromosomes during cell division. “Dividing cells must separate their chromosomes and something has to generate the force t...

History-hunting geneticists can still follow familiar trail

... Located within the hundreds of energy-producing mitochondria that lie outside the nucleus of our cells, mtDNA i...ed in the study. "Population geneticists have used mitochondria for all kinds of work for 20 years, and to think that mtDNA didn't correlate with population size wa...

Rising ocean temperatures, pollution have oysters in hot water

...mined the effect of cadmium and temperature on the mitochondria of the oyster's cells. The mitochondria are the cell's power plant, producing energy for the oyster, including for ventilation and circulati...

Single molecule extends fat mice lives by reversing gene pathways associated with disease in obese

...so been previously shown to increase the number of mitochondria in the liver. Mitochondria generate energy in cel...e livers of the HCR fed mice had considerably more mitochondria than the HC group, and were not significantly different from those of the SD group. Links to SIRT...

Protein sensor for fatty acid buildup in mitochondria

...he connection between the location of PanK2 in the mitochondria and its role in as a sensor of energy demand," said Yong-Mei Zhang, Ph.D., a researcher in the Infectious Diseases department at St. Jude and the report's senior author. "This is an ideal location for PanK2 because it can detect acylcarnitine as it e...

Molecular differences between early and advanced melanomas could provide new drug targets

... research showed, however, that these mutations in mitochondria were likely the result of the prolonged exposure to increased oxidative stress caused by Akt overexpression, but that the mitochondrial mutations were not essential for the aggressive growth of melanomas induced by Akt. "Our research shows that A...

How appetite-stimulating brain cells work overtime during fasting

... (UCP2) that boosts the number of power-generating mitochondria in neurons that drive hunger. The increase in mitochondria, in turn, allows the brain's hunger center to remain active when periods of food scarcity result in a "negative energy balance," said Sabrina Diano of Yale University School of Medicine, who ...

'Marathon mice' elucidate little-known muscle type

...rgely determined by the number of energy-producing mitochondria they house. Myosins are motor proteins that consist of both "heavy" and "light" amino acid chains. While most muscles in mammals contain a mixture of slow- and fast-twitch fiber types, some muscle beds are enriched for one type or the other, Spieg...

Power-boosting signal in muscle declines with age

... the production, or biogenesis, of power-producing mitochondria that burn fat and fuel cells, according to the res...ochondrial biogenesis in muscle." The number of mitochondria within muscle largely determines its metabolic capacity. The mitochondrial composition of fibers in ...

Need oxygen? Cells know how to spend and save

... Too little oxygen threatens life by compromising mitochondria that power it, so when oxygen is scarce, cells app...ee radicals" that can damage or destroy cells. The mitochondria are designed to produce energy without excess free radical production at normal oxygen levels. ...

Glucose triggers brain cell death in rats after hypoglycemic coma

...for this enzyme. "It is well-established that mitochondria can be a source of oxidative stress," says Swanson. "But in this setting, oxidative stress comes from an entirely different source." He adds that the normal role of NADPH oxidase in the brain is "completely unknown." The authors also found that th...

Researchers develop marker that identifies energy-producing centers in nerve cells

... structures, called mitochondria, in neurons, from mitochondria in other brain cells, called glia. Defects in mitochondria may be part of the process that leads to Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, as well as changes in ...

Researchers identify protein pathway involved in Parkinson disease development

...urons, they believe it is related to dysfunctional mitochondria and oxidative stress. Mitochondria are the cell's ...ch more about the effect of PINK1 mutations on the mitochondria and how this novel signaling pathway is disrupted in the development of Parkinson disease," says Lia...

Cells re-energize to come back from the brink of death

...During apoptosis, the membrane covering the cell’s mitochondria develop holes and leak a molecule called cytochrom... prevent CICD by supporting the functioning of the mitochondria and triggering the activity of certain genes that prevent or repair cell damage. The findings also s...