Sabharwal Lab
Principal Investigator: Ankit Sabharwal
Institution: The University of Texas at Austin (Austin, TX)
Primary Subfield: Molecular & Cell Bio
Recruitment Status: Inquire for rotation/fellowship opportunities
Research Focus
Project Summary Mitochondria are dynamic organelles essential for diverse cellular functions and encode a highly conserved genome across vertebrates, where even a single nucleotide variation can cause mitochondrial dysfunction. These variations often exist in the state of heteroplasmy (co-existence of wild-type and mutant mtDNA), and mitochondrial function is impaired when the mutant level exceeds a tissue-specific threshold. The rules governing how mitochondrial information is maintained both somatically and in the germline, as well as tissue-specific heteroplasmy dynamics, remain an open question. Historically, the lack of efficient animal models has severely limited our knowledge of mitochondrial genetics. Leveraging recent advancements in mitochondrial-targeted base editing technologies, we have successfully established zebrafish (Danio rerio) models to precisely recapitulate human mtDNA dysfunction and track mtDNA variants in vivo. The human and zebrafish mitochondrial genome are not only nearly identical in size but share high sequence similarity, gene complement and 100% synteny, making them as an ideal platform for investigating mtDNA biology with direct relevance to all ve…
Active NIH Awards
- 1R35GM166237-01: Elucidating the mechanisms of mtDNA heteroplasmy quality control (2026)
Explore 700+ US Biology Labs on FindBioLabs.com