Heart Development: Mitochondria in Command of Cardiomyocyte Differentiation

Continuous developmental maturation of cardiomyocytes is essential to meet the functional and metabolic demands of the growing heart. A new study (Hom et al., 2011) reports that embryonic cardiomyocytes are influenced by mitochondrial maturation, such that closure of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore results in decreased levels of reactive oxygen species, thereby inducing differentiation.