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Scientific Correspondence
Nature 400, 125-126 (8 July 1999) | doi:10.1038/22026
Mitochondria and germ-cell death
David C. Krakauer1 & Alex Mira2
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Abstract
In birds and mammals, most of the female germ cells are destroyed before fertilization in a process known as atresia, reducing the population of cells to a small fraction of that present in early fetal life. We suggest that this death of germ cells can be interpreted as a developmental solution to the accumulation of mutations (Müller's ratchet) in mitochondria, an idea that is supported by comparative analysis. Atresia in effect therefore removes oocytes carrying mutant mitochondria1.
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