Rapid blood test for Mitochondrial DNA

A rapid blood test has been developed by the scientist for the severe Covid-19 cases. The test can predict within a day of hospitalisation that which patients with Covid-19 have the highest risk of severe complications or death in advance.

Key Facts

• This test measures the levels of mitochondrial DNA.
• Mitochondrial DNA is a unique type of genetic material which usually found inside the energy factories of cells.
• The researchers studied that, the mitochondrial DNA that spills out of cells and bloodstream indicates that a violent cell death is happening in the body.

How viruses affect the tissue?

• Viruses causes a type of tissue damage called necrosis. Necrosis is a violent, inflammatory response to the infection. This may cause the breaking of the cells and release in their contents including the mitochondrial DNA.
• Such cell and tissue damage in the lungs, heart and kidneys are evident in the Covid-19 patients.

Mitochondrial DNA

• It is the DNA found in mitochondria, cellular organelles within eukaryotic cells.
• It converts the chemical energy from food into adenosine triphosphate (ATP).
• The mitochondrial DNA are only a small portion of the DNA in a eukaryotic cell.
• Most of the DNA are found in the cell nucleus of the plants and algae.
• It is also found in plastids like chloroplasts.
• Human mitochondrial DNA was the first part of the human genome that has to be sequenced.
• The sequencing of the DNA shows that the human mtDNA includes 16,569 base pairs and 13 proteins.

Animal mtDNA

The mtDNA of animals evolves faster than nuclear genetic markers. This DNA represents a mainstay of phylogenetics and evolutionary biology. It permits the examination of the relatedness of populations.

Eukaryotic cells

These cells comprise of the membrane-bound organelles like mitochondria and Golgi apparatus. Chloroplasts can also be found in plants and algae. Eukaryotes may also be multicellular or unicellular. It may also include many cell types that forms different kinds of tissue.