In animals, longevity (maximal lifespan) is inversely related to mass-specific basal metabolic rates. However, contrary to expectation, in several mammalian taxa, exceptional longevity is associated with high basal metabolic rate, and also fast evolution of mtDNA-coded proteins. The association of these traits was suggested to result from adaptive selection of mutations in mtDNA-coded proteins,...

[1] B. Kadenbach, R. Ramzan, L. Wen, S. Vogt, New extension of the Mitchell Theory for oxidative phosphorylation in mitochondria of living organisms, Biochim. Biophys. Acta. 1800 (2010) 205–12. [2] R. Ramzan, K. Staniek, B. Kadenbach, S. Vogt, Mitochondrial respiration and membrane potential are regulated by the allosteric ATP-inhibition of cytochrome c oxidase, Biochim. Biophys. Acta. 1797 (20...

Acquisition of detailed knowledge of the structure and evolution of Trypanosoma cruzi populations is essential for control of Chagas disease. We profiled 75 strains of the parasite with five nuclear microsatellite loci, 24Salpha RNA genes, and sequence polymorphisms in the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit II gene. We also used sequences available in GenBank for the mitochondrial genes c...

Kinetoplast-mitochondrial vesicles from Leishmania tropica promastigotes were prepared by subjecting the particulate fractions from cell lysates to floatation ultracentrifugation in renografin gradients. They formed a distinct band with a density of 1.19 to 1.22 g/ml and appeared homogeneous as judged by phase microscopy. They showed succinate-cytochrome c reductase activity as well as the inco...

Triiodothyronine administration before partial hepatectomy increased the activity of mitochondrial glycerophosphate cytochrome c reductase. The enzyme activity was further activated after partial hepatectomy during the regenerative process. Our findings showed that: a) the increase of glycerophosphate cytochrome c reductase induced by triiodothyronine was further potentiated by the regeneration...

To reconstruct the phylogenetic position of the extinct cave lion (Panthera leo spelaea), we sequenced 1 kb of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene from two Pleistocene cave lion DNA samples (47 and 32 ky B.P.). Phylogenetic analysis shows that the ancient sequences form a clade that is most closely related to the extant lions from Africa and Asia; at the same time, cave lions appear to be highl...

cattle have an important role in primary human civilization, so molecular studies for more accurate recognition of their origin are effective to identify unknown historical aspects. cattle can be divided in to 2 main groups including bos tuarus and bos indicus. both types of cattle can be found in iran; therefore study of their origin has particular importance. the aim of this study was to inve...

Martes species represent a typical example of rapid evolutionary radiation and a recent speciation event. To identify regions of the genome that experienced adaptive evolution, which might provide clues to their functional importance and may be informative about the features that make each species unique, we sought evidence of molecular adaptation in the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) cytochrome b g...

This is the first time that direct PCR - DNA amplification without prior DNA extraction - was successfully developed and fully validated for rapid and economical simultaneous identification of six commonly consumed meat species. To achieve this, six species-specific primers were selected from previous reports and newly designed from the mitochondrial cytochrome b (cyt b), cytochrome oxidase I (...