The incorporation of mitochondria in the eukaryotic cell is one of the most enigmatic events
in the course of evolution. This important organelle was thought to be only the powerhouse …

The idea that there is an impenetrable barrier that separates the germline and soma has
shaped much thinking in evolutionary biology and in many other disciplines. However …

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) can undergo double-strand breaks (DSBs), caused by defective
replication, or by various endogenous or exogenous sources, such as reactive oxygen …

The decline of oocyte quality has profound impacts on fertilization, implantation, embryonic
development, and the genetic quality of future generations. One factor that is often ignored …

In Metazoa, four out of five complexes involved in oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) are
formed by subunits encoded by both the mitochondrial (mtDNA) and nuclear (nuDNA) …

The origin of the germline–soma distinction is a fundamental unsolved question. Plants and
basal metazoans do not have a germline but generate gametes from pluripotent stem cells …

Genetic elements encoded in nuclear DNA determine the sex of an individual in many
animals. In certain bivalve lineages that possess doubly uniparental inheritance (DUI) …

Heteroplasmy is the presence of more than one type of mitochondrial genome within an
individual, a condition commonly reported as unfavorable and affecting mitonuclear …

Finding causal links between genotype and phenotype is a major issue in biology, even
more in mitochondrial biology. First of all, mitochondria form complex networks, undergoing …

Typically, animal mitochondria have very compact genomes, with few short intergenic
regions, and no introns. Hence, it may seem that there is little space for unknown functions in …