Mitochondrial transcription factor A (mtTFA) and diabetes

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) content decreased in an age-dependent manner and may be one of the causal factors in age-related type 2 diabetes. Mitochondrial transcription factor A (mtTFA), which provides the replication primer, plays a key role for the regulation of mtDNA replication and its level is proportional to mtDNA. Here, we studied on the regulatory mechanism of mtTFA expression and the factors affecting the transcriptional activity of the mtTFA promoter. The promoter of human mtTFA contains 67 CpG dinucleotides. When the plasmids bearing the mtTFA promoter (2378 bp) linked to luciferase were transiently transfected into HepG2 cells, in vitro methylation of NRF-1 site by HhaI methylase abolished the mtTFA promoter activity up to 90%, implying that the CpG methylation of NRF-1 site inactivate mtTFA promoter-driven transcriptional activity. Besides the promoter methylation, the exogenous hydrogen peroxide or glucose also modulates the promoter activity of mtTFA. The bacterially overexpressed mtTFA protein exhibits a strong binding affinity to circular DNA (perhaps to mtDNA in mitochondria in vivo) and the protection of the DNA from cleavage by a hydrogen peroxide attack. Taken all these results together, age-related alterations of oxidative stress may affect mtDNA replication via regulating mtTFA activity. Furthermore, a vicious cycle may be present between mtTFA protein level and oxidative stress in the sense of DNA damage. Further studies were necessary to prove the presence of methyl cytosine in the mtTFA promoter of either an aged or a diabetic person and the effect of oxidative stress on the mtTFA function and expression resulting in a change of the mtDNA copy number.