REVIEW: Microbiota and Mitobiota. Putting an Equal Sign between Mitochondria and Bacteria

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D. B. Zorov^1*, E. Y. Plotnikov¹, D. N. Silachev¹, L. D. Zorova², I. B. Pevzner³, S. D. Zorov³, V. A. Babenko³, S. S. Jankauskas³, V. A. Popkov³, and P. S. Savina⁴

¹Lomonosov Moscow State University, Belozersky Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology, 119991 Moscow, Russia; fax: (495) 939-0338; E-mail: zorov@genebee.msu.su; plotnikov@genebee.msu.ru

²Lomonosov Moscow State University, International Laser Center, 119991 Moscow, Russia

³Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of Bioengineering and Bioinformatics, 119991 Moscow, Russia

⁴Eltsyn Ural Federal University, Biological Faculty, 620002 Ekaterinburg, Russia

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received June 11, 2014

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The recent revival of old theories and setting them on modern scientific rails to a large extent are also relevant to mitochondrial science. Given the widespread belief that mitochondria are symbionts of ancient bacterial origin, the processes inherent to mitochondrial physiology can be revised based on their comparative analysis with possible involvement of bacteria. Such comparison combined with discussion of the role of microbiota in pathogenesis allows discussion of the role of “mitobiota” (we introduce this term) as the combination of different phenotypic manifestations of mitochondria in the organism reflecting pathological changes in the mitochondrial genome. When putting an equal sign between mitochondria and bacteria, we find similarity between the mitochondrial and bacterial theories of cancer. The presence of the term “bacterial infection” suggests “mitochondrial infection”, and mitochondrial (oxidative) theory of aging can in some way be transformed into a “bacterial theory of aging”. The possible existence of such processes and the data confirming their presence are discussed in this review. If such a comparison has the right to exist, the homeostasis of “mitobiota” is of not lesser physiological importance than homeostasis of microbiota, which has been so intensively discussed recently.

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KEY WORDS: mitochondria, ultrastructure, bacteria, microbiota, mitobiota, mitohormesis, diseases, inflammation, cancer, infection, aging, death, phenoptosis

DOI: 10.1134/S0006297914100046

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