Editor's Summary
30 March 2006
Nuclear options
The notion that the evolution of the eukaryotes (single and multicellular organisms with a nucleus) can be summed up by a single 'universal tree' has taken a battering from recent discoveries. It's looking much more complex now, and the nature of the primitive host that first acquired a free-living microbe as a mitochondrion is as big a mystery as ever. What is certain, though, is that mitochondrial mutations can cause human disease. Some researchers go further, and suggest that the hundreds of 'missing' genes that have moved from mitochondria to other parts of the genome may be linked to common diseases such as diabetes and Parkinson's.
News Feature: Mitochondrial disease: Powerhouse of disease
Many of the genes affecting mitochondria — tiny energy suppliers of cells — reside in the cell nucleus. Nick Lane joins the hunt for these sequences that may underpin diseases such as diabetes.
doi:10.1038/440600a
