Dr. Dunbar et al., DIFFERENT CELLULAR BACKGROUNDS CONFER A MARKED ADVANTAGE TO EITHER MUTANT OR WILD-TYPE MITOCHONDRIAL GENOMES, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United Statesof America, 92(14), 1995, pp. 6562-6566
After the introduction of mitochondria with a mixture of mutant and wi
ld-type mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) into a human rho degrees cell line (
143B,206), Yoneda ct al, [Yoneda, M., Chomyn, A., Martinuzzi, A., Hurk
o, O, and Attardi, G, (1992) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89, 11164-1116
8] observed a shift in the proportion of the two mitochondrial genotyp
es in a number of cybrid clones, In every case where a shift was obser
ved, there was an increase in the proportion of mutant mtDNA, By using
the same cell line (143B,206 rho degrees), we also generated cybrids
that were either stable in their mitochondrial genotype or showed an i
ncrease in the proportion of mutant mtDNA. However, temporal analysis
of the same mutant mtDNA type in another rho degrees cell line reveale
d a quite distinct outcome. Those clones that showed a change shifted
toward higher levels of wild-type rather than mutant mtDNA, These resu
lts indicate that the nuclear genetic background of the recipient (rho
degrees) cell can influence the segregation of mutant and wild-type m
itochondrial genomes in cell cybrids.