ABSTRACT
Mitochondria are the site of vital biosynthetic and degradative metabolic pathways and are responsible for generating most of the energy required for function and survival of eukaryotic cells. Studies of mitochondrial function and biogenesis have traditionally involved many disciplines, including bioenergetic studies of metabolism and oxidative phosphorylation, genetic analysis of inheritance and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations, and phylogenetic comparison of mitochondrial genomes. More recently, there has been renewed interest in mitochondria due to the central role they play in programmed cell death (Green and Reed 1998) and the association of mtDNA mutations with several human muscle and neurodegenerative diseases, as well as the aging process (Wallace 1999).
