mitochondrial diseases cover a wide range of conditions caused by genetic mutations in the UK alone they affect thousands mitochondria are the powerhouses of the cell they use a process called oxidative phosphor relation to generate energy but a mitochondrian is a complex piece of machiner and a lot can go wrong it takes around 1,500 proteins for mitochondria to function and problems with many of these can lead to disease the cell's nuclear DNA creates all but 13 of these proteins the rest are coded for by the DNA in the mitochondria themselves and mutations in either can cause
problems a cell has just one nucleus and many mitochondria all the cells mitochondria contain their own DNA if a mutation affects mitochondrial DNA some might be healthy others defective and different cells can have different numbers of defective mitochondria inside them that means that some cells may be less affected than others the diseases caused by damag mitochondria can also be varied they can affect any organ or tissue and they can appear at different times throughout life for example lay syndrome is the most common type to develop in childhood it can affect patients in a number of
ways including loss of skills epilepsy and problems with muscle function mutations in over 75 genes in both nuclear and mitochondrial DNA can lead to this syndrome so what can be done to tackle mitochondrial diseases like lay syndrome treating patients is difficult but in some cases the disease can be stopped before it's passed on mitochondria are inherited from the mother if the mutation is in the mitochondrial DNA this inheritance can be [Music] blocked one approach is to combine the nuclear DNA from an affected egg cell with healthy mitochondria from another woman the embryo would then have
nuclear DNA from the original mother and father and mitochondrial DNA from the egg cell donor this has led some to call such potential infants three parent babies this technique is still very new but it has recently been approved in the UK it may be a controversial approach but techniques like these could finally help combat these devastating [Music] diseases
