Figure 7. Average mtDNA point mutation accumulation in wild type and POLG mutator mouse models.

Wild-type mice have a low mutation burden at birth, but they accumulate relatively more mutations during their life. On the other hand, the POLG mice harbor a significant mutation load at birth due to error-prone mtDNA replications during development. In the post-mitotic stage however, the relative accumulation (in comparison to mutations at the birth) is significantly lower due to the slow turnover of mtDNA.