Mitochondrial DNA methylation and copy number predict body composition in a young female population

Background Since both genomic and environmental factors are involved in obesity etiology, several studies about the influence of adiposity on both nuclear DNA and mitochondrial DNA methylation patterns have been carried out. Nevertheless, few evidences exploring the usage of buccal swab samples to study mitochondrial DNA epigenetics can be found in literature. Methods In this study, mitochondrial DNA from buccal swabs collected from a young...