A Primary Care Physician’s Guide

● 3 ● M itochondrial biology is one of the fastest growing areas in genetics and medicine, connecting scientific disciplines ranging from embryology to cancer, to infectious disease. Indeed, disturbances in mitochondrial metabolism are now known to play a role not only in rare childhood diseases, but have also been implicated in ma ny common diseases of agi n g, i n cl u d i n g h e a rt disease, d i ab e t e s , Pa rkinson disease, and dementia. This art i cle is a brief update on m i t o ch o n d rial biology for pri m a ry care phy s ic i a ns , genetic counselors , and other health c a re pro fessionals who may find themselve s i nvo l ved in the care of ch i l d ren with m i t o ch o n d rial disease and their fa m i l i e s .