Mitochondrial DNA's role in metastatic potential of tumors.(News From The Lab)

A study by a team of, Japanese researchers led b, Jun-Ichi hayashi of University of Tsukuba, in the April 3, 2008, online edition of Science, reported on the contribution of mitochondrial DNA to the metastasis potential of tumors. The team first compared the mitochondrial respiratory chain, which is responsible for ATP (cells' energy currency) production, in several cell lines with differing metastatic potential. The respiratory chain is unusual in that several of the complexes are coded for by both mitochondrial and nuclear DNA The team found that some, but not all, of the highly metastatic cell lines had defects in complex I of the respiratory chain that appeared to lead to high …