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Mitochondria and germ-cell death

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Abstract

In birds and mammals, most of the female germ cells are destroyed before fertilization in a process known as atresia, reducing the population of cells to a small fraction of that present in early fetal life. We suggest that this death of germ cells can be interpreted as a developmental solution to the accumulation of mutations (Müller's ratchet) in mitochondria, an idea that is supported by comparative analysis. Atresia in effect therefore removes oocytes carrying mutant mitochondria1.

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Figure 1: Phylogenetic regressions for the mitochondrial bottleneck.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, 08540, New Jersey, USA

    David C. Krakauer

  2. Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PS, UK

    Alex Mira

Authors
  1. David C. Krakauer
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  2. Alex Mira
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Krakauer, D., Mira, A. Mitochondria and germ-cell death. Nature 400, 125–126 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/22026

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