Mitochondrial genetics and disease

Mitochondrial respiratory chain diseases are a highly diverse group of diso rders whose main unifying characteristic is the impairment of mitochondrial function. As befits an organelle containing gene products encoded by both mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and nuclear DNA (nDNA), these diseases can be cau sed by inherited errors in either genome, but a surprising number are spora dic, and a few are even caused by environmental factors.