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MtDNA population variation in Myalgic encephalomyelitis/Chronic fatigue syndrome in two populations: a study of mildly deleterious variants

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Cara Tomas, Dr Ilse Pienaar, Vicki Strassheim, Professor Fai NgORCiD, Emerita Professor Julia Newton, Professor Francois van der Westhuizen, Dr Joanna Elson

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

Abstract

© 2019, The Author(s). Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), also known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) is a debilitating condition. There is growing interest in a possible etiologic or pathogenic role of mitochondrial dysfunction and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variation in ME/CFS. Supporting such a link, fatigue is common and often severe in patients with mitochondrial disease. We investigate the role of mtDNA variation in ME/CFS. No proven pathogenic mtDNA mutations were found. We then investigated population variation. Two cohorts were analysed, one from the UK (n = 89 moderately affected; 29 severely affected) and the other from South Africa (n = 143 moderately affected). For both cohorts, ME/CFS patients had an excess of individuals without a mildly deleterious population variant. The differences in population variation might reflect a mechanism important to the pathophysiology of ME/CFS.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Venter M, Tomas C, Pienaar IS, Strassheim V, Erasmus E, Ng W-F, Howell N, Newton JL, Van der Westhuizen FH, Elson JL

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Scientific Reports

Year: 2019

Volume: 9

Issue: 1

Online publication date: 27/02/2019

Acceptance date: 11/01/2019

Date deposited: 11/03/2019

ISSN (electronic): 2045-2322

Publisher: Nature Publishing Group

URL: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-39060-1

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-39060-1

PubMed id: 30814539

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