Rudolf J Wiesner

Our group asks the question if and how malfunction of mitochondria contributes to diseases and, more generally, to degenerative processes during normal ageing. Mitochondria contain their own DNA molecules which are therefore present in many copies in each cell. Inherited mutations of mtDNA or acquired mtDNA mutations, due to malfunction of nuclear encoded proteins involved in mtDNA replication, lead to severe neuromuscular diseases. Such mutations, especially large deletions, arise as well durin