Mitochondrial DNA variants influence mitochondrial bioenergetics in Drosophila melanogaster

► We measured mitochondrial respiration, H2O2 production and mtDNA density in fly lines harboring different mtDNA with standardized nuclear DNA ► A small set of naturally occurring mtDNA variants can be expressed at the level of the organism bioenergetics ► The organism might compensate for mild mitochondrial malfunction by increasing mtDNA copy number