Hence, increased oxidation of dietary-reducing equivalents by elevated muscle mitochondrial respiration appears to be the mechanism by which ANT1-deficient mice prevent diabetes, demonstrating that the rate of mitochondrial oxidation of calories is important in the etiology of metabolic disease.
MtDNA base substitution and rearrangement mutations can cause myopathy, cardiomyopathy, ophthalmological defects, growth retardation, movement disorders, dementias, and diabetes. nDNA mutations can affect mtDNA replication and transcription, increase mtDNA mutations through defects in the adenine nucleotide translocator isoform 1 (ANT1), or cause Leigh's syndrome, as a result of defects in oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) structural genes.