by cjbrooksjc » Sun Apr 20, 2008 1:00 pm
epfleger: Based on what I have read the problem we have; it seems, is called 'mitochondrial myopathy; not 'mitochondrial disease'. MD is usually degenerative and often uncureable. while MM is shown to be recoverable to varying degrees. I haven't looked at your recommended link yet, but I wanted to share what I have read with this simple statement and the following links.
Here's a good link about mitochondria:
**http://ouroboros.wordpress.com/2007/12/14/mitochondria-on-the-fritz-justreplace-them/#comment-45575
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Here' s another informative link:
**http://www.cytochemistry.net/Cell-biology/mitoch2.htm
Here's a small excerpt from the above (2nd) link
Can damaged mitochondrial DNA be repaired?
* Current studies say yes.
* Meeusen, S, Tieu, Q, Wong E, Weiss, E, Schieltz, D, Yates, JR, and Nunnari, J. Mgm101p is a novel component of the mitochonrial nucleoid that binds DNA and is required for the repair of oxidatively damaged mitochondrial DNA. J Cell Biol 145: 291-304 (1999)
* Mgm stands for "mitochondrial genome maintenance". It was discovered in yeast cells while searching for mutants that caused a temperature sensitive loss of mitochondrial DNA.
* Fused Mgm101 to green fluorescent protein and found that it was localized to the punctate "nucleoid" structures. Localization overlapped with that of DNA detection systems.
* After protein screening found the Mgm101, they studied how its loss affected respiratory competence. Clearly the protein was needed for function, but they do not know exactly what its role is at this point.
* Looked at the COOH terminal region and saw that it was highly basic. That suggested that the Mgm101p might have the ability to bind DNA. Compared its binding to DNA cellulose columns (in high salt conditions) with another known DNA binding protein and confirmed relatively high affinity binding by both proteins.
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Best,
Brooks
Hopefully, we can all look forward to some sort of improvement in our own mitochondria over time.
Best,
Brooks