Nature Genetics pp 515 - 520

Two new studies published in the May issue of Nature Genetics present evidence associating damage to DNA molecules contained in mitochondria (known as mitochondrial DNA, or mtDNA) with aging and Parkinson disease.

These studies find that deletions in mtDNA accumulate with aging and are found at high levels in the dopamine producing neurons within the primary site of neurodegeneration in Parkinson disease.

In one study, Konstantin Khrapko and colleagues show that these dopamine producing neurons have high levels of deleted mtDNA in aged brains and that there is an association between mtDNA deletion and loss of mitochondrial function. In an accompanying study, Douglas Turnbull and colleagues show that these neurons have high levels of deleted mtDNA in aged brains and brains of patients with Parkinson's disease.