A mitochondrial bioenergetic etiology of disease

1405 Origins and implications of human mitochondrial genetics The application of Mendelian genetic principles, using the most sophisticated technologies, has failed to adequately explain the genetics or pathophysiology of many common metabolic and degenerative diseases. This shortcoming can now be understood through the discovery that mutations in the maternally inherited mtDNA can cause many of the symptoms associated with “complex” diseases and that the mtDNA codes for the central genes of the mitochondrial energy–generating process oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS). Therefore, the common metabolic and degenerative diseases must be bioenergetic in origin and non-Mendelian in inheritance. The central player in bioenergetics is the mitochondrion. Mitochondria produce about 90% of cellular energy, regulate cellular redox status, produce ROS, maintain Ca 2+ homeostasis, synthesize and degrade high-energy biochemical intermediates, and regulate cell death through activation of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mtPTP). The mitochondrial genome consists of thousands of copies of the maternally inherited mtDNA plus between 1,000 and 2,000 nDNA genes. mtDNA codes for 13 OXPHOS polypeptides, plus the 22 transfer RNAs (tRNAs) and the 12S and 16S rRNAs necessary for the bacteria-like mitochondrial protein synthesis. mtDNA polypeptides encompass seven of the 45 polypeptides of OXPHOS complex I (ND1, ND2, ND3, ND4, ND4L, ND5, and ND6), one of the 11 polypeptides of complex III (cytochrome b), three of the 13 polypeptides of complex IV (COI, COII, and COIII), and two of the approximated 17 polypeptides of complex V (ATPase6 and ATPase8). Complexes I, III, and IV constitute the electron transport chain (ETC), which oxidizes the reducing equivalents (hydrogen-derived electrons) from food with the oxygen we breathe. As the electrons flow sequentially through complexes I, III, and IV, protons are pumped out across the mitochondrial inner membrane through these complexes to generate an electrochemical gradient. This mitochondrial capacitor is the vital force and can be used to drive many biological processes, including the condensation of ADP and Pi to form ATP via complex V. Thus oxidation is coupled with phosphorylation in OXPHOS. The 1,000–2,000 nDNA mitochondrial genes, scattered across the chromosomes, code for the remaining approximately 80 OXPHOS subunits, the intermediary metabolism enzymes, and the mitochondrial biogenesis proteins (1–3). Three factors can perturb mitochondrial bioenergetics and result in disease: variation in the mtDNA sequence, variation in the sequences of nDNA-coded mitochondrial genes or in the expression of these genes, or variation in environmental calories and the caloric demands made on the organism. Since different tissues rely on mitochondrial energy to different extents, partial systemic energy deficiency can result in tissue-specific symptoms. The brain, which represents only 2% of the body weight but consumes 20% of the oxygen, is the organ most sensitive to subtle energy diminution. Other high-energy demand tissues include the heart, muscle, kidney, and endocrine system, the organs commonly affected in metabolic and degenerative diseases (Figure 1). mtDNA mutations