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Abstract：
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) copy number and telomere length (TL) are dynamic factors that have been linked to the aging process in organisms. However, the causal relationship between these variables remains uncertain. In this research, instrumental variables (IVs) related to mtDNA copy number and TL were obtained from publicly available genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Through bidirectional Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis, we examined the potential causal relationship between these factors. The forward analysis, with mtDNA copy number as the exposure and TL as the outcome, did not reveal a significant effect (B=-0.004, P>0.05). On the contrary, upon conducting a reverse analysis, it was found that there exists a positive causal relationship (B=0.054, P<0.05). Sensitivity analyses further confirmed the reliability of these results. The outcomes of this study indicate a one-way positive causal relationship, indicating that telomere shortening in the aging process may lead to a decrease in mtDNA copy number, providing new perspectives on their biological mechanisms.
摘要：
线粒体DNA（mtDNA）拷贝数和端粒长度（TL）是与生物体衰老过程相关的动态因素。然而,这些变量之间的因果关系仍然不确定。在这项研究中,与mtDNA拷贝数和TL相关的工具变量(IVs)来自公开的全基因组关联研究(GWAS).通过双向孟德尔随机化（MR）分析，我们研究了这些因素之间的潜在因果关系.前瞻性分析，以mtDNA拷贝数作为暴露量，TL作为结果，没有显现出显著的效果（B=-0.004，P>0.05）。相反,在进行反向分析后，结果发现存在正的因果关系(B=0.054,P<0.05)。敏感性分析进一步证实了这些结果的可靠性。这项研究的结果表明了一种单向的正因果关系，表明老化过程中端粒缩短可能导致mtDNA拷贝数减少，为其生物学机制提供新的视角。
