One promising candidate for treatment is the drug rapamycin, which has been shown to extend lifespan in multiple animal models, and which was previously shown to ameliorate mitochondrial disease in a knock-out mouse model lacking a nuclear-encoded gene specifying an OxPhos structural subunit (Ndufs4).
By knocking down ND-18, the unique <i>Drosophila</i> ortholog of NDUFS4, an accessory subunit of the NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase (Complex I), we developed and characterized several dNDUFS4 models that recapitulate key features of mitochondrial disease.
Mice lacking the mitochondrial complex I (CI) subunit Ndufs4 ( Ndufs4<sup>-/-</sup>) develop a fatal progressive encephalopathy and serve as a model for Leigh syndrome, the most common mitochondrial disease in children.