• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • The Newspaper
  • The Team
  • PDF Books
  • Archive
  • Gallery
  • Contact Us

Scena Criminis

L'Informazione al servizio della Legalità

  • EnglishEnglish
    • ItalianoItaliano
    • EnglishEnglish
    • EspañolEspañol
  • News & History
    • History of Crime
    • Criminal Words
    • Gender Violence
    • News
    • Organized Crime
  • Quotes, Interviews, Videos
    • Interviews
    • Quotes
    • Videos
  • Crime & Art
    • Recommended Books
    • Criminal Portraits
    • The Eye that Kills: Cinema and Crime
    • Violent Art
  • Crimes and Criminal Biographies
    • Caserta: Crimes from the Past
    • Criminal Biographies
    • Most Wanted
    • Mysteries and Unsolved Crimes
    • Serial Killer
    • Snapshots from a Crime
  • Forensic Sciences
    • Criminalistics
      • Ballistics: Rifles and Guns
    • Criminology
      • Psychology
      • Sociology
    • Law
    • Nonverbal Communication
You are here: Home / Forensic Sciences / Scientists find clue to why mitochondrial DNA comes only from mom

Scientists find clue to why mitochondrial DNA comes only from mom

26 June 2016 da Webmaster Leave a Comment

0Shares

 23,572 total views,  1 views today

Scientists have found a clue to why one type of DNA is passed down to children by their mothers — but not their fathers.

DNA inside energy-producing organelles called mitochondria is destroyed in a dad’s sperm shortly after it fertilizes an egg, researchers report online June 23 inScience. A protein called CPS-6 cuts apart the mitochondrial DNA in the male sperm so that the DNA can’t make the proteins that the mitochondria need to power the cell. Lingering paternal mitochondrial DNA might hurt developing embryos, the researchers say.

“This is a very long-standing mystery in biology — why in so many organisms, [only] the maternal mitochondria are inherited” says Ding Xue, a geneticist at the University of Colorado Boulder who led the work.

Millions of years ago, mitochondria were their own simple cells. Now they produce energy for more complex cells, but they’ve held on to their own genomes. Their DNA is simpler and shorter than the regular DNA found in the nucleus of the cell.

Xue and his collaborators used electron microscopes to watch as sperm from the worm Caenorhabditis elegans fertilized eggs. The images showed the paternal mitochondria breaking down from the inside out. To figure out what gene might be responsible, the researchers then looked at what changed when certain genes weren’t working. The culprit gene they identified produces the protein CPS-6.

CPS-6 normally controls a process of programmed cell death that helps organisms keep old cells and new cells in balance. But Xue’s team found that during fertilization, CPS-6 could also move into the innermost part of the mitochondria and chop the mitochondrial DNA stored there into pieces. That DNA spells out instructions for critical tasks carried out by the mitochondria. Without the instructions, the mitochondria can’t do their job.

CPS-6 doesn’t work alone, though. Other scientists had previously identified a different process, called autophagy, that helps break down paternal mitochondria after fertilization (SN: 1/1/2000, p. 5). Autophagy recruits specialized structures in the egg that carry away pieces of the paternal mitochondria and break them down, like a garbage collection team. The two seem to work together: Without CPS-6 acting as a flag, the autophagy machinery didn’t cart away the unwanted mitochondria as quickly.

“Our study for the first time shows that paternal mitochondria actually cooperate with maternal degradation machinery to ensure that they’re all removed” Xue says.

When the mitochondria removal process was delayed, the resulting embryos were more likely to die. The finding suggests that paternal mitochondrial DNA somehow interferes with normal development, but scientists don’t yet know why that might be.

It’s also not yet clear how directly the mechanism carries over to humans. “You could imagine there’s a similar mechanism, but there’s no demonstration yet” says Vincent Galy, a biologist at the Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris who was not involved in the work.

The CPS-6 protein is similar to one found in humans, and it controls cell death similarly in both species. But because research in flies and mice suggests that exactly when sperm lose their mitochondria varies from species to species, the process itself probably varies slightly.

Source: www.sciencenews.org

Related posts:

Laser comb system maps 3D surfaces remotely for manufacturing, forensics
Dependent Personality Disorder (DPD)
Race has a very Strong Impact on how a Person is Treated in USA
Would you Lie to me?
0Shares

Filed Under: Criminalistics, Forensic Sciences

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Stay updated in real time

Subscribe to the Newsletter
Loading

Follow us

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Search

Safe and prudent use of Internet

Make a donation to support our activities

Categorie Articoli

Last Articles

Info

  • Business Contacts
  • Disclaimer

Tags

America american most wanted art artist Chicago crime crimen crime scene criminal Criminalistics criminology CSI disorder Dna fbi forensics forensic science homicide killer law most wanted Murder Nonverbal Communication oil on canvas painting paintings police prison psicólogia psychology psychology today research reward scena criminis science serial killer sex sex offender terrorism terrorist united states US USA violence violent art

Footer

Privacy Policy
Cookie Policy

Scene Criminis aims to bring together – around a “round table” – experts, students and simple onlookers, who want to confront, update and find new stimuli.

The largest Italian Community on Forensic Sciences that collects news, studies, curiosities and contributions on Criminology, Criminalistics, Crime Report and Law.

Scena Criminis is also a Non-profit Association, active throughout the province of Caserta (Italy), which has 3 fundamental purposes: Defense of Legality, Fight against all forms of Violence, Education to Gender Differences.

Follow us

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Instagram

scenacriminis

#networking #criminology #criminalistics #law 😎
Ci trovi anche su Facebook, Twitter e Youtube. 😉
Scena Criminis: un Crimine non seguirci! 😷👮🕵

scenacriminis
Controlli e autocertificazione... 😆 Controlli e autocertificazione... 😆
15 Gennaio 1993, una data da ricordare! 😉 15 Gennaio 1993, una data da ricordare! 😉
Alla fine dell'anno tutti promossi col massimo dei Alla fine dell'anno tutti promossi col massimo dei voti 😆🔪🤣
Mah! 😑 Mah! 😑
Quanto ti parte il CSI...😆 Quanto ti parte il CSI...😆
La #dignità, per molti una sconosciuta. 😡 La #dignità, per molti una sconosciuta. 😡
Serial killers and their Signs ♈♉♋ Serial killers and their Signs ♈♉♋
Il vecchio "Hotel del Salto" si trova in #Colombia Il vecchio "Hotel del Salto" si trova in #Colombia su una rocca sporgente nella vallata di Tequendama. È chiamato così perchè è stato costruito a 157 metri di altezza sopra il letto del fiume che scorre sotto di esso e nel secolo scorso sono molte le persone che per propria volontà, o con una “spinta”, hanno provato l’ebrezza di saltare nel vuoto. 😱
Mi raccomando, non fate come lei. 😉 Mi raccomando, non fate come lei. 😉
Carica altro… Segui su Instagram

Copyright Scena Criminis Testata giornalistica registrata presso il Tribunale di Santa Maria Capua Vetere (CE) n. 849 del 26/04/2016 © 2021 ·

Direttore Responsabile: Gianfrancesco Coppo

Created by BDM | Log in