The role of mitochondrial DNA mutations in a Han Chinese population on sepsis pathogenesis

Individual susceptibility to sepsis has received increasing attention in recent years, and the study of genetic variations has become a hotspot regarding sepsis pathogenesis. We, therefore, investigated the association between mitochondrial genotype and sepsis susceptibility.

One hundred patients admitted with sepsis and registered by five intensive care units (ICUs) in the People's Liberation Army Hospital and the Beijing Aerospace Center Hospital between January 2015 and January 2016 were enrolled as a case group, and 100 healthy persons were recruited as a control group. Patients' general information was obtained, and clinical evaluations and mitochondrial sequence screening were performed.

A total of 718 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were detected in 708 loci in 100 patients. There were 1754 mutations in 456 loci in the coding region and 567 mutations were found in the RNA region. A total of 34 loci (from 40 cases) were novel mutations. A10398G (52.52%), C5178A (24.24%), C150T (17.17%), G3010A (17.17%), and T16189C (16.16%) were the most frequently observed conserved non-synonymous mutations that were differently expressed between the case and control groups (p<0.05). A5863T and C3270 deletion mutations were located on the genes encoding tRNATyr and tRNALeu, respectively. Small changes in the tRNA gene were likely to result in protein level changes.

We suggest that mitochondrial SNPs may be associated with the pathogenesis of sepsis.