Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Commentary
  • Published:

Is there a link between mitochondrial DNA and blood pressure?

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 31, pages 761–762 (2017)Cite this article

Subjects

Years before the advent of the DNA era, mitochondria were described in 1898 by microbiologist Carl Benda and named from a combination of the two Greek words mitos ‘thread’+khondrion ‘little granule’. Mitochondria are the cell’s powerhouse responsible for energy metabolism to keep the cell alive and for the regulation of cell death. Mitochondria generates the bulk of ATP required to sustain many cellular processes. Besides energy, mitochondria are also involved in the production of intracellular reactive oxygen species leading to oxidative stress in addition to the biosynthesis of heme and iron-sulfur clusters. Because of their central importance to the cell, mitochondria have been associated to many diseases throughout the years.1

The mitochondrion is also unique in the mammalian cell because it is the only organelle to contain its own genomic DNA. In fact, it was 65 years after the term mitochondria was coined that the first study describing mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) was published.2 Adding to its unique location in the cell, mtDNA is thought to be derived from the circular genomes of bacteria that were engulfed by early ancestors of today's eukaryotic cells and is inherited only from the mother.3 This maternal inheritance, high copy number, lack of recombination and high mutation rate, makes mtDNA a useful tool for unveiling degrees of kinship and ancestral origin.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Ott M, Gogvadze V, Orrenius S, Zhivotovsky B . Mitochondria, oxidative stress and cell death. Apoptosis 2007; 12: 913–922.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Nass MM, Nass S . Intramitochondrial fibers with DNA characteristics. I. Fixation and electron staining reactions. J Cell Biol. 1963; 19: 593–611.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Gray MW . Origin and evolution of mitochondrial DNA. Annu Rev Cell Biol. 1989; 5: 25–50.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Anderson S, Bankier AT, Barrell BG, de Bruijn MH, Coulson AR, Drouin J et al. Sequence and organization of the human mitochondrial genome. Nature 1981; 290: 457–465.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Marques FZ, Prestes PR, Pinheiro LB, Scurrah K, Emslie KR, Tomaszewski M et al. Measurement of absolute copy number variation reveals association with essential hypertension. BMC Med Genomics 2014; 7: 44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Boon-Peng H, Mat Jusoh JA, Marshall CR, Majid F, Danuri N, Basir F et al. Rare copy number variants identified suggest the regulating pathways in hypertension-related left ventricular hypertrophy. PLoS ONE 2016; 11: e0148755.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Balaban RS, Nemoto S, Finkel T . Mitochondria, oxidants, and aging. Cell 2005; 120: 483–495.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Huang J, Tan L, Shen R, Zhang L, Zuo H, Wang DW et al. Decreased peripheral mitochondrial DNA copy number is associated with the risk of heart failure and long-term outcomes. Medicine 2016; 95: e3323.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Knez J, Marrachelli VG, Cauwenberghs N, Winckelmans E, Zhang Z, Thijs L et al. Peripheral blood mitochondrial DNA content in relation to circulating metabolites and inflammatory markers: a population study. PLoS ONE 2017; 12: e0181036.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Lei L, Guo J, Zhang G, Kang H, Sun C, Huang J et al. Mitochondrial DNA copy number in peripheral blood cell and hypertension risk among mining workers: a case–control study in Chinese coal miners. J Hum Hyperten 2017; 31: 585–590.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Mills KT, Bundy JD, Kelly TN, Reed JE, Kearney PM, Reynolds K et al. Global disparities of hypertension prevalence and control: a systematic analysis of population-based studies from 90 countries. Circulation 2016; 134: 441–450.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Eirin A, Saad A, Tang H, Herrmann SM, Woollard JR, Lerman A et al. Urinary mitochondrial DNA copy number identifies chronic renal injury in hypertensive patients. Hypertension 2016; 68: 401–410.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Eirin A, Saad A, Woollard JR, Juncos LA, Calhoun DA, Tang H et al. Glomerular hyperfiltration in obese African American hypertensive patients is associated with elevated urinary mitochondrial-DNA copy number. Am J Hypertens 2017.

  14. Tin A, Grams ME, Ashar FN, Lane JA, Rosenberg AZ, Grove ML et al. Association between mitochondrial DNA copy number in peripheral blood and incident CKD in the atherosclerosis risk in communities study. J Am Soc Nephrol 2016; 27: 2467–2473.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Dikalov SI, Ungvari Z . Role of mitochondrial oxidative stress in hypertension. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 2013; 305: H1417–H1427.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Applied and Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, Federation University Australia, Ballarat, Victoria, Australia

    P R Prestes & F J Charchar

  2. Department of Physiology, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    F J Charchar

  3. Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK

    F J Charchar

Authors
  1. P R Prestes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. F J Charchar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to F J Charchar.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Prestes, P., Charchar, F. Is there a link between mitochondrial DNA and blood pressure?. J Hum Hypertens 31, 761–762 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/jhh.2017.73

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/jhh.2017.73

Search

Advanced search

Quick links