MitoAge: a database for comparative analysis of mitochondrial DNA, with a special focus on animal longevity

Mitochondria are the only organelles in the animal cells that have their own genome. Due to a key role in energy production, generation of damaging factors (ROS, heat), and apoptosis, mitochondria and mtDNA in particular have long been considered one of the major players in the mechanisms of aging, longevity and age-related diseases. The rapidly increasing number of species with fully sequenced mtDNA, together with accumulated data on longevity records, provides a new fascinating basis for comparative analysis of the links between mtDNA features and animal longevity. To facilitate such analyses and to support the scientific community in carrying these out, we developed the MitoAge database containing calculated mtDNA compositional features of the entire mitochondrial genome, mtDNA coding (tRNA, rRNA, protein-coding genes) and non-coding (D-loop) regions, and codon usage/amino acids frequency for each protein-coding gene. MitoAge includes 922 species with fully sequenced mtDNA and maximum lifespan records. The database is available through the MitoAge website (www.mitoage.org or www.mitoage.info), which provides the necessary tools for searching, browsing, comparing and downloading the data sets of interest for selected taxonomic groups across the Kingdom Animalia. The MitoAge website assists in statistical analysis of different features of the mtDNA and their correlative links to longevity.