What Causes Mitochondrial Diseases? Mitochondrial diseases aren’t contagious, and they aren’t caused by anything a person does. They’re caused by mutations, or changes, in genes — the cells’ blueprints for making proteins.

Genes are responsible for building our bodies, and are passed from parents to children, along with any mutations or defects they have. That means that mitochondrial diseases are passed from parents to offspring, although they often affect members of the same family in different ways.

The genes involved in mitochondrial disease normally make proteins that work inside the mitochondria. Within each mitochondrion (singular of mitochondria), these proteins make up part of an assembly line that uses fuel molecules derived from food to manufacture important energy molecules. Proteins at the beginning of the mitochondrial assembly line act like cargo handlers, importing the fuel molecules into the mitochondrion. Next, other proteins break down the sugars and fats, extracting energy in the form of charged particles called electrons. Proteins toward the end of the line harness the energy from those electrons to make the final usable energy molecule needed by the cell.

Which of the following statements would you expect to be true of someone with mitochondrial disease?

Group of answer choices

People with this disease will have low concentrations of ATP in their cells and may be unable to perform important cellular functions.

Those affected by this disease will have low concentrations glucose as it is being over consumed by the cell.

Patients with this disease will not be able to use important energy molecules like ATP in their cells.

Individuals with this disease will use other energy producing organelles such as the chloroplast to produce needed energy.