Biomaterial Database

Loss of mitochondrial DNA with aging in Drosophila melanogaster. 1975

H R Massie, and M B Baird, and M M McMahon

The buoyant densities of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA from Drosophila melanogaster lysates has been found to show no change with increasing age in both CsCl and Cs2SO4 equilibrium density gradients. Whole fly homogenates were used to demonstrate no change in nuclear DNA content during adult life. Mitochondrial DNA increased from 1.2 to 4.3% of the total DNA during the first week of adult life and then decreased during senescence to a minimum of 1.5% at 10 weeks of age which represented a 65% loss in mitochondrial DNA content with age. These data are interpreted to support the proposal that mitochondria destruction occurs during senescence.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D002499	Centrifugation, Density Gradient	Separation of particles according to density by employing a gradient of varying densities. At equilibrium each particle settles in the gradient at a point equal to its density. (McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 4th ed)	Centrifugations, Density Gradient,Density Gradient Centrifugation,Density Gradient Centrifugations,Gradient Centrifugation, Density,Gradient Centrifugations, Density
D002586	Cesium	A member of the alkali metals. It has an atomic symbol Cs, atomic number 55, and atomic weight 132.91. Cesium has many industrial applications, including the construction of atomic clocks based on its atomic vibrational frequency.	Caesium,Caesium-133,Cesium-133,Caesium 133,Cesium 133
D004272	DNA, Mitochondrial	Double-stranded DNA of MITOCHONDRIA. In eukaryotes, the mitochondrial GENOME is circular and codes for ribosomal RNAs, transfer RNAs, and about 10 proteins.	Mitochondrial DNA,mtDNA
D004331	Drosophila melanogaster	A species of fruit fly frequently used in genetics because of the large size of its chromosomes.	D. melanogaster,Drosophila melanogasters,melanogaster, Drosophila
D000375	Aging	The gradual irreversible changes in structure and function of an organism that occur as a result of the passage of time.	Senescence,Aging, Biological,Biological Aging
D000818	Animals	Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA.	Animal,Metazoa,Animalia