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Picturing Molecular Environmental Health From Mitochondria

Chun Zhou

Abstract Environmental factors play an important role in the etiology of various human diseases, such as neurological disorders, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, obesity and cancer. To design new strategies for disease prevention and therapy, it is crucial to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying the toxic effects of environmental factors to the cell, the building block of human. In the past decade, significant scientific progresses have been made in the biology of mitochondria, a key player in regulating cellular functions. Studies indicate that mitochondria play major roles in environment-caused diseases, and that mitochondria have versatile functions in addition to producing the chemical form of energy, adenosine triphosphate. These newly identified mitochondrial functions include regulating redox-sensitive signaling pathways and mediating innate immune responses, making mitochondria critical for a variety of cellular mechanisms under both physiological and pathological conditions. This essay reviews recent advances in mitochondrial functions and summarizes environmental factors that act on mitochondria for detrimental or protective effects. In addition, the essay provides a unified mitochondrial mechanism that may underlie the molecular interaction between environmental factors and the cell.