Intercellular mitochondria transfer has recently attracted substantial attention, both from a fundamental and therapeutic point of view. At the same time, the topic continues to be met with scepticism. In this Viewpoint, different experts in mitochondrial biology share their personal view on the topic.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$32.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 digital issues and online access to articles
$119.00 per year
only $9.92 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Change history
01 September 2025
In the version of the article initially published, Janine H. Santos’s affiliation was incorrect and has now been amended to “Mechanistic Toxicology Branch, Division of Translational Toxicology, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Durham, NC, USA” in the HTML and PDF versions of the article.
References
Zhou, B. & Tian, R. J. Clin. Invest. 128, 3716–3726 (2018).
Dorn, G. W. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1833, 233–241 (2013).
Gottlieb, R. A. & Gustafsson, A. B. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1813, 1295–1301 (2011).
Emani, S. M., Piekarski, B. L., Harrild, D., Del Nido, P. J. & McCully, J. D. J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. 154, 286–289 (2017).
Emani, S. M. & McCully, J. D. Transl. Pediatr. 2, 169–175 (2018).
Nakai, R. et al. Nat. Metab. 6, 1886–1896 (2024).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
M.J.F. has served as a paid consultant with Minovia Therapeutics (last in 2021) and Imel Therapeutics (last in 2022), and has served as a preclinical stage research collaborator with Minovia Therapeutics (last in 2022) and Imel Therapeutics (last in 2022). M.J.F is also engaged with biopharma companies involved in mitochondrial disease therapeutic preclinical and/or clinical-stage development, including as co-founder and Chief Scientific Advisor of Rarefy Therapeutics; an advisory board member with equity interest in RiboNova; a scientific advisory board member and paid consultant with Khondrion and Larimar Therapeutics; a paid consultant for Astellas (formerly MitoBridge), Ajinomoto Cambrooke, Casma Therapeutics, Cyclerion Therapeutics, Imel Therapeutics, Mayflower, Minovia Therapeutics, Mission Therapeutics, Myto Therapeutics, NeuroVive Pharmaceutical, Precision Biosciences, Primera Therapeutics, Reneo Therapeutics, Saol Therapeutics, Stealth BioTherapeutics, and Vincere Bio; and/or a sponsored research collaborator for Adjuvia Therapeutics, Astellas, Cyclerion Therapeutics, Epirium Bio, Imel Therapeutics, Khondrion, Merck, Minovia Therapeutics, Mission Therapeutics, NeuroVive Pharmaceutical, PTC Therapeutics, Reneo Therapeutics, RiboNova, Saol Therapeutics, Standigm, and Stealth BioTherapeutics. M.J.F has also received royalties from Elsevier, and speaker fees from Agios Pharmaceuticals and GenoMind. J.R.B. is a member of the scientific advisory board of LUCA Science; receives research support from LUCA Science and Edgewise Therapeutics; is a consultant for Columbus Instruments; receives royalties from Springer Nature Group; is an inventor on technology licensed to Columbus Instruments with royalty rights; is an inventor on pending patent applications related to the treatment of metabolic diseases (63/625,555), allergic diseases (US20210128689A1) and mitochondrial transfer (018984/US). The remaining authors declare no competing interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Chandel, N.S., Falk, M.J., Santos, J.H. et al. Mitochondria transfer. Nat Metab 7, 1716–1719 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42255-025-01364-0
Published:
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42255-025-01364-0