# Identifying Regulators of Degeneration due to Defective Mitochondrial DNA

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · 2020 · $772,432

## Abstract

Program Director/Principal Investigator (Last, First, Middle): Guo, Ming
Project Summary/Abstract
Neurodegenerative disorders affect 50% of the population over the age of 85. The
strongest risk factor for most neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer’s
disease is aging. Accumulation of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations leads to
cellular dysfunction, contributes to human aging and can be observed in age-related
diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and sarcopenia. Strategies
that reduce the mtDNA deleterious mutation load and improve mtDNA quality control
are likely to reduce the age-related pathologies of neurodegenerative diseases. We
have generated unique transgenic tools in living Drosophila melanogaster post-mitotic
tissues that contain engineered mixed mtDNA deletion mutations (deleterious
heteroplasmy models). We aim to use these systems and system biology approaches to
identify genes and compounds that lead to suppression or enhancement of the
mitochondrial DNA quality control.
OMB No. 0925-0001/0002 (Rev. 03/16 Approved Through 10/31/2018) Page Continuation Format Page

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9963133
- **Project number:** 5R01AG061405-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES
- **Principal Investigator:** MING GUO
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $772,432
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-09-30 → 2023-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9963133

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9963133, Identifying Regulators of Degeneration due to Defective Mitochondrial DNA (5R01AG061405-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9963133. Licensed CC0.

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