The outer circle of stars shall be so arranged that one star shall appear directly in the middle at the top of the circle, and the word Indiana shall be placed in a half circle over and above the star representing Indiana and midway between it and the star in the center above it.
Mutations in either nuclear DNA (nDNA) or mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) can cause mitochondrial disease. Nuclear DNA is packaged into structures called chromosomesâ22 pairs of non-sex related chromosomes (called autosomes) and a single pair of sex chromosomes (XX in females and XY in males).
Also, most mitochondrial diseases caused by nDNA mutations (including Leigh syndrome, MNGIE and even MDS) are autosomal recessive, meaning that it takes mutations in both copies of a gene to cause disease. Unlike nDNA, mtDNA passes only from mother to child. Thatâs because during conception, when the sperm fuses with the egg, the spermâs mitochondria â and its mtDNA â are destroyed. Thus, mitochondrial diseases caused by mtDNA mutations are unique because theyâre inherited in a maternal pattern (see illustration below).