APPROACH

We combine genetics, imaging, cell biology and biochemistry to understand how mitochondrial genomes are maintained, selected and transmitted. Using Drosophila and mammalian systems, we uncover the mechanisms that protect mitochondrial inheritance across generations.

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is inherited maternally and accumulates mutations at a relatively high rate. Without mechanisms to remove harmful mutations, they could accumulate across generations and compromise mitochondrial function.

We use Drosophila to understand how the female germline—the cells that give rise to eggs—recognizes and eliminates deleterious mtDNA. Our goal is to uncover the cellular and molecular mechanisms that protect mitochondrial genomes from one generation to the next.

In most animals, mtDNA is inherited almost exclusively from the mother. Although this unusual pattern of inheritance is widespread, why it evolved and how paternal mtDNA is prevented from being transmitted remain incompletely understood.

We use Drosophila to uncover the mechanisms that eliminate mtDNA during sperm development and prevent its transmission to the next generation. This work aims to reveal both how maternal inheritance is enforced and why it may have evolved.