A statistical algorithm showing coenzyme Q10 and citrate synthase as biomarkers for mitochondrial respiratory chain enzyme activities

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 6; no. 1; pp. 1 - 7
• Main Authors: Yubero, D., Adin, A., Montero, R., Jou, C., Jiménez-Mallebrera, C., García-Cazorla, A., Nascimento, A., O’Callaghan, M. M., Montoya, J., Gort, L., Navas, P., Ribes, A., Ugarte, M. D., Artuch, R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 05.12.2016; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 631/114/2415; 692/53/2421; 82/16; Algorithms; Citrate synthase; Coenzyme Q; Coenzyme Q10; Data processing; Electron transport; Enzymatic activity; Enzymes; Humanities and Social Sciences; Mitochondria; Mitochondrial DNA; multidisciplinary; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Statistical analysis
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-016-0008-1

Laboratory data interpretation for the assessment of complex biological systems remains a great challenge, as occurs in mitochondrial function research studies. The classical biochemical data interpretation of patients versus reference values may be insufficient, and in fact the current classifications of mitochondrial patients are still done on basis of probability criteria. We have developed and applied a mathematic agglomerative algorithm to search for correlations among the different biochemical variables of the mitochondrial respiratory chain in order to identify populations displaying correlation coefficients >0.95. We demonstrated that coenzyme Q 10 may be a better biomarker of mitochondrial respiratory chain enzyme activities than the citrate synthase activity. Furthermore, the application of this algorithm may be useful to re-classify mitochondrial patients or to explore associations among other biochemical variables from different biological systems.