Mitophagy and mitoptosis in disease processes.

Mitochondria play a very important role in cellular function, not only through key metabolic reactions and energy generation, but also by being a major site for production of reactive oxygen species and a key player in cell death. Therefore, mitochondrial dysfunction or damage may have severe consequences. Mitophagy (autophagic degradation of mitochondria) and mitoptosis (programmed destruction of mitochondria) are the processes by which cells can deal with impaired mitochondria. The efficiency of these processes may be a contributing factor to the pathogenesis of various diseases.