A mysterious loophole linked to the mitochondrial DNA might have the answer to why women live longer than their male counterparts.
The mitochondria, which are called the “powerhouses of the cell” comprises of DNA which is different from the nuclear DNA. The mitochondrial DNA is inherited from the mother to the child without any contribution from the dad.
Birth of Healthy Children to Women Carrying Mitochondrial DNA Disease Permitted by PGD | Medindia
Researcher says pre-implantation genetic diagnosis can give women at risk of passing on a mitochondrial DNA disorder to their offspring a good chance of being able to give birth to an unaffected child
Researcher says pre-implantation genetic diagnosis can give women at risk of passing on a mitochondrial DNA disorder to their offspring a good chance of being able to give birth to an unaffected child
Natural selection normally ensures that harmful mutations are kept to the barest minimum by not passing it down to future generations.According to study researcher Damian Dowling, evolutionary biologist, Monash Univeristy, Australia, the mitochondrial DNA mutations, that are usually harmless to females, pass through the gates of natural selection and find their way to the next generation. This usually results in a lot of mutations, that are harmful to the males and affect their longevity, but which are harmles to women.
The phenomenon, nicknamed “mother’s curse”, was tested on the fruit fly drosophila melanogaster. It has always been believed that women outlive men because they take lesser risks than men during life’s journey and also because the male hormone testosterone is linked to reduced longevity.But insects have no testosterone and are not prone to take risks like humans, so it was prudent to start this particular study with them.
Scientists Crack Mitochondrial Genetic Bottleneck | Medindia
scientists have cracked a “mitochondrial genetic bottleneck”, by which a particular family of diseases is passed down from mother to child and leads to the severity of the disease differing widely.
scientists have cracked a “mitochondrial genetic bottleneck”, by which a particular family of diseases is passed down from mother to child and leads to the severity of the disease differing widely.
It was found that in all the strains of flies studied, the males suffered in terms of ageing and longevity while the female parameters did not suffer in any way. This observation provides strong evidence that the mitochondrial genome is riddled with loads of deleterious mutations that affect male aging but does not harm females.
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Source-Medindia
