Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 Jan 8.
Published in final edited form as: Front Biosci (Elite Ed). 2013 Jan 1;5:734–747. doi: 10.2741/e654

Figure 2.

Figure 2

The mtDNA mutations accumulation and transcriptional dysregulation both contribute to the process of tissue-specific aging. As there is no synchronization between cell division and mtDNA replication, a mutated mtDNA of different tissue cells may be replicated many times and lead to accumulation of mtDNA mutations and impaired respiratory chain function. On the other side, there is a finely-tuned transcriptional network regulating mitochondrial biogenesis and function. PGC-1α can coactivate several important transcriptional factors such as NRF-1/-2, ERRα and PPARα. These factors play vital role in mitochondrial biogenesis and function. As the expression and regulation of these factors and the mtDNA mutation accumulation are all tissue-specific, there are tissue-specific physiological consequences when people age.