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Mitochondria & disposition to DoC?

Nagelfar

Nagelfar

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I wonder, might there be any research which shows disposition/aversion to certain drugs and ones genetic mitochondrial haplogroup? Mitochondria does affect the basis of ones cellular "power supply", although I know more would have to do with it than that (autosomal DNA etc). Yet I wonder if there are specific drug dispositions which have been linked directly to ones haplogroup via research of any kind. Me & my mother share a migraine reaction to even being near marijuana, and seem to share a disposition toward stimulants.

For those who don't know, mitochondria is the non-recombinant (doesn't change generation to generation) DNA that is passed down the maternal line to all offspring, but continued by the female lines exclusively. Many disorders, diseases and genetically inherited traits have been linked to specific "lines" of mitochondria called haplogroups.
 
No, there isn't any evidence of that. There's at least one gene linked to addiction, though, but to my knowledge, it's not haplogroup specific. Especially considering how prevalent it must be.
 
Thank you for the response.

It seems eventually they might find some links to such things since there are so many functions being discovered to be associated with mtDNA, for example; Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy in mt Haplogroup J (& possibily longer human life spans). Late-onset Alzheimer's disease in mt Haplogroup H, the possibility of mt haplogroup T to be connected to reduced sperm motility in men. etc.

I think the lack of evidence is only because of how involved a process it would be just to test the mitochondria in drug users who display simply disposition. But it would be valuable probably in the future nonetheless.

It would be more useful than Y-DNA haplogroups anyhow, as many scientists simply regard that kind of haploid DNA to be mostly "junk" DNA in it's different groupings.
 
They're looking at specific genes, how is that easier than looking at entire haplogroups? Haplogroups would be way easier to study.
 
Mitochondria has it's own genetic material hence that theory that in the past chloroplasts and mitochondria were primitive bacteria that started living in symbiosis with us on a mutualistic relation and so have been ever since (i dunno many of the english terms when it comes to specific subjects so discard any misemployed terms). seems very unlikely that drug related phenomena would manifest itself through mitochondrial DNA and not your own DNA; that's what i mean.
 
Ham-milton said:
They're looking at specific genes, how is that easier than looking at entire haplogroups? Haplogroups would be way easier to study.
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Haplogroups are defined by specific gene polymorphisms, so there's no difference. It would be the specific mutation common and definitional to each haplogroup which would have to be found to relate to it, and there are so many downstream subclades that one would have to get very specific in testing to know what specific haplogroup related to each.

I didn't say there was anything which was not easy per se. Rather there would be the effort and financial constraints of doing mtDNA tests on people for a study of "disposition" only, and linking it to a specific polymorphism which defines any specific haplogroup.

narutokun said:
Mitochondria has it's own genetic material hence that theory that in the past chloroplasts and mitochondria were primitive bacteria that started living in symbiosis with us on a mutualistic relation and so have been ever since (i dunno many of the english terms when it comes to specific subjects so discard any misemployed terms). seems very unlikely that drug related phenomena would manifest itself through mitochondrial DNA and not your own DNA; that's what i mean.
Click to expand...

Being that mitochondrial DNA consists of coding regions of DNA that display phenotypes it is as much your own DNA as any other. But yes I was trying to get at that idea by saying there probably are more factors within autosomal DNA. There is a looped section in mitochondria which scientists theorize was a vestigial symbiosis of some kind, but the same is said of all DNA in general; DNA itself has been theorized to be a one time symbiont which became common to all life. Mitochondria effects health and genetic disposition just as other forms of DNA do.
 
I highly doubt the CNS is affected much by mitochondrial DNA, if you have any reason to suspect, please post it, but there is a much greater likelihood that your genetic dispositions are carried on normal chromosomal DNA, I see no reason why it would be from the mitochondria.
 
Well Alzheimer's disease certainly effects the central nervous system, and that's one of the more solid links to increased tendecy within particular haplotypes. Yet I wasn't necessarily thinking the central nervous system to be related to mtDNA, I mean, mu receptors exist in the gut, I was thinking more of a cellular reaction in general contributing to effects, which led me to think of mtDNA. There have been articles here associating the damage of MDMA to mtDNA, for example. http://www.bluelight.ru/vb/showthread.php?t=342069
 
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