Mitochondrial polymorphisms contribute to aging phenotypes in MNX mouse models

Many inbred strains of mice develop spontaneous tumors as they age. Recent awareness of the impacts of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) on cancer and aging has inspired developing a mitochondrial-nuclear exchange (MNX) mouse model in which nuclear DNA is paired with mitochondrial genomes from other strains of mouse. MNX mice exhibit mtDNA influences on tumorigenicity and metastasis upon mating with transgenic mice. However, we also wanted to investigate spontaneous tumor phenotypes as MNX mice age. Utilizing FVB/NJ, C57BL/6J, C3H/HeN, and BALB/cJ wild-type inbred strains, previously documented phenotypes were observed as expected in MNX mice with the same nuclear background. However, aging nuclear matched MNX mice exhibited decreased occurrence of mammary tumors in C3H/HeN mice containing C57BL/6J mitochondria compared to wild-type C3H/HeN mice. Although aging tumor phenotypes appear to be driven by nuclear genes, evidence suggesting that some differences are modified by the mitochondrial genome is presented.