Miyuki Kurata

TL;DR: Population-based comparisons confirmed that present-day Japanese have their closest genetic affinity to northern Asian populations, especially to Koreans, which finding is congruent with the proposed Continental gene flow to Japan after the Yayoi period.

TL;DR: It is demonstrated that mitochondria targeted by the SmaI enzyme showed specific elimination of the mutant mtDNA, resulting in restoration of both the normal intracellular ATP level and normal mitochondrial membrane potential.

TL;DR: It is reasonable to speculate that certain mtSNPs that predispose one toward susceptibility to adult‐ or elderly‐onset diseases, such as Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease, have never been a target for natural selection in the past, and thrifty mt SNPs that had been advantageous for survival under severe famine or cold climate conditions might turn out to be related to satiation‐related diseases,such as diabetes mellitus and obesity.

TL;DR: It is suggested that distinct mtSNPs contribute to susceptibility to type-2 diabetes or obesity, pointing out the necessity of large-scale case control studies.

TL;DR: It is indicated that amino acid sequences are less variable for Cytb than for ATP6 in spite of the strong mutational strand asymmetry for the CytB gene.