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Can our mitochondria help to beat long Covid?

Mitochondria, tiny tube-shaped structures that are found in their hundreds, sometimes thousands, in nearly all of our cells, are best known as the body’s power plants, continuously converting the food we eat into ATP, a complex chemical that acts as a form of energy currency for cells. Without ATP, every one of our cells, from the brain to the muscles, would lack the fuel they need to keep churning away, and our organs would swiftly grind to a halt.

One of the complexities of mitochondria is that they have their own DNA, separate from the DNA stored in the nuclei of our cells But while mitochondria are often typecast as energy factories, scientists have repeatedly discovered that…

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 For women with mitochondrial diseases, a step closer to preventing transmission

A technique that could allow women with mitochondrial diseases to have healthy children showed promise in a group of four women — and the research also flagged why it might not work in some cases.

 Mitochondria

In humans, mitochondrial DNA (mDNA) is regarded as the smallest chromosome, coding for 37 genes and containing approximately 16,600 base pairs. Mitochondria are small, single celled organisms that are distantly related to bacteria, but now reside in every cell in your body. Each cell can carry thousands of the tiny mitochondria, which means each human body holds around ten million billion of them.

Articles of Interest

Mitochondria Make A Comeback

It was more than 50 years ago that mitochondria first captured the attention of cell physiologists. Abundant, easy to purify, and a rich source of vital enzymes, these organelles were pivotal in the Nobel Prize-winning research that defined the fundamental principles of cellular energy metabolism. But over the years, as technological advances in molecular biology made nuclear functions more accessible to researchers, interest in mitochondria began to wane. It appears that this lapse was only temporary. Our special section illustrates that mitochondria are once again at the forefront of research—this time in fields as diverse as cell death, evolutionary biology, molecular medicine, and even forensic science.

Science Turns Out Mitochondria Don't Work Like We Thought They Did

They may be the powerhouse of the cell, but mitochondria may not be the powerhouse of genetic ancestry that scientists believed.

Why Do We Inherit Mitochondrial DNA Only From Our Mothers?

For a long time, biologists thought our DNA resided only in the control center of our cells, the nucleus. Then, in 1963, a couple at Stockholm University discovered DNA outside the nucleus. Looking through an electron microscope, Margit and Sylvan Nass noticed DNA fibers in structures called mitochondria, the energy centers of our cells. Our mitochondrial DNA accounts for a small portion of our total DNA.

Breaking News: Mitochondria NOT the Powerhouse of the Cell

The discovery was made by researchers within the Department of Biology at Harvard University. Professor Scien Tist, head of a team studying stem cell transplants before happening upon the this much larger discovery, explained, “You know, for years now we’ve thought that mitochondria were really important to cell function, going so far as to call them the powerhouses of the cell. But our research now shows that mitochondria are not actually that big of a deal.”

Cells and how to run them

The chemical reactions on which life depends need a place to happen. That place is the cell. All the things which biology recognises as indisputably alive are either cells or conglomerations of cells (viruses fall into disputable territory). Since the middle of the 19th century the cell has been seen as the basic unit of life.

Explainer: what are mitochondria and how did we come to have them?

Because the mitochondrial genome is in close proximity to the source of free radicals, it’s more susceptible to their damaging effects. And the mitochondrial genome undergoes replication thousands of times more than the nuclear genome, simply because you have so many in each cell. Making copies of copies introduces mistakes. A combination of these two effects results in the mitochondrial genome mutating up to 50 times faster than the nuclear genome, which is meanwhile kept safely in the nucleus. These mutations can be passed down to maternal offspring, causing devastating metabolic disorders in the next generation.

In a first, children with rare genetic diseases get mitochondrial transplants from their mothers

Currently, no cure exists. But in the last seven years, a group of doctors and researchers in Israel have been working on a potential treatment that takes advantage of mitochondria’s enduring capacity to slip between cellular life forms. It involves augmenting patients’ hematopoietic stem cells — which give rise to all the different kinds of blood cells — with healthy mitochondria donated by their mothers.

Look, Ma! No Mitochondria

Scientists have found a microbe that does something textbooks say is impossible: It's a complex cell that survives without mitochondria. Mitochondria are the powerhouses inside eukaryotic cells, the type of complicated cell that makes up people, other critters and plants and fungi. All eukaryotic cells contain a nucleus and little organelles — and one of the most famous was the mitochondrion.

Mitochondrial Disease Research Makes Progress

In experiments, researchers used cloning and cell reprogramming to make fresh tissue that was a genetic match for patients.

Mitochondria—Fundamental to Life and Health

There is so much more that could be written about mitochondria from the perspective of an integrative medicine clinician. I think we are seeing only the tip of the iceberg of the role of mitochondrial dysfunction in our patients’ disease and ill health.

Study shows mitochondrial DNA can be passed through fathers – what does this mean for genetics?

Some things you learn in school turn out not to be true, for example that there are just five senses or three states of matter. Now cutting-edge research has added to the list by proving the mitochondria (the power sources in our cells) comes from both our parents and not – as biology students are taught – just from our mothers. The research, published in PNAS, showed conclusively that, in three unrelated families, mitochondria from the father’s sperm had been passed to the children over several generations. Overturning scientific understanding about this fundamental “truth”, opens the possibility for better treatment of mitochondrial disorders, which blight many families with devastating disease.

The Mitochondrion

Mitochondria occupy a substantial portion of the cytoplasmic volume of eucaryotic cells, and they have been essential for the evolution of complex animals. Without mitochondria, present-day animal cells would be dependent on anaerobic glycolysis for all of their ATP.

Your Mitochondria: The Importance Of Healthy Stress & More

Mitochondria, famously nicknamed the “powerhouse of the cell,” are responsible for producing 90% of the body’s energy. How? Through a process called cellular respiration, mitochondria utilize food molecules in the form of carbohydrates and combine them with oxygen to produce the ATP (the compound that provides our cells with energy). In other words, by producing energy at a cellular level, mitochondria in turn empower your entire body with the energy you need to function every single day.