Advances in Detecting Mitochondrial Diseases and Cures

Previously, mitochondrial diseases were said to be rare because not many people were diagnosed with one. Although with new genetics research, scientists are realizing that mitochondrial diseases are not as rare as they previously thought because they would misdiagnose patients with other diseases. Mitochondrial diseases will injure your cells, knocking out entire organs and eventually leading to death because the mitochondrial struggles to send enough energy/signals to the rest of the cell to be detected in genetic tests. Linlin Zhao, an assistant professor of chemistry at UC Riverside, studied that the TFAM protein could repair or remove damaged pieces of DNA molecules. This is a great step in being able to cure mitochondrial diseases. TFAM is the mitochondrial transcription factor A which is a mtDNA binding protein that maintains genes. New research shows that decreased mtDNA is linked with aging-related hypotheses which is a start to understanding how TFAM abundance and disease are linked. Zhao and his colleagues were not only surprised by TFAM since is known for its different functions, but they also took a step in helping repair cells that mitochondrial diseases damage. With future research, mitochondrial diseases may be easily detected and cured.