Jumping ‘Numts’ from Mitochondria Can Be Fast and Deadly

Martin Picard, PhD Columbia's Mitochondrial Psychobiologist and Associate Professor of Behavioral Medicine, writes about mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) that a long time ago inserted itself into our chromosomes. Dr. Picard’s lab studies the insertions of mtDNA segments into our nuclear genome, called nuclear mitochondrial DNA insertions (NUMTs). Their findings in collaboration with Dr. Michio Hirano showed that mitochondrial defects can contribute to the release of mtDNA pieces, which then can “infect” chromosomes. Dr. Picard’s research found that people with more numts in their brain prefrontal cortex died at younger ages, linking for the first time NUMTs to human lifespan. [read more]

Source: Scientific American