Investigating the Impact of a Curse: Diseases, Population Isolation, Evolution and the Mother’s Curse

Abstract

The mitochondrion was characterized for years as the energy factory of the cell, but now its role in many more cellular processes is recognized. The mitochondrion and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) also possess a set of distinct properties, including maternal inheritance, that creates the Mother’s Curse phenomenon. As mtDNA is inherited from females to all offspring, mutations that are harmful to males tend to accumulate more easily. The Mother’s Curse is associated with various diseases, and has a significant effect on males, in many cases even affecting their reproductive ability. Sometimes, it even leads to reproductive isolation, as in crosses between different populations, the mitochondrial genome cannot cooperate effectively with the nuclear one resulting in a mito-nuclear incompatibility and reduce the fitness of the hybrids. This phenomenon is observed both in the laboratory and in natural populations, and have the potential to influence their evolution and speciation. Therefore, it turns out that the study of mitochondria is an exciting field that finds many applications, including pest control, and it can shed light on the molecular mechanism of several diseases, improving successful diagnosis and therapeutics. Finally, mito-nuclear co-adaptation, paternal leakage, and kin selection are some mechanisms that can mitigate the impact of the Mother’s Curse.