Fig. 9

Mitochondrial membrane potential and DNA methylation underly the relationship between mtDNA and epithelial–mesenchymal transition. Depletion of mtDNA copy number reduces the mitochondrial membrane potential via mitochondrial complexes, and a decrease in the membrane potential induces DNA methylation by increasing DNMT. As a result, a low mtDNA copy number has an impact on epithelial–mesenchymal transition