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The association of mitochondria, oxidative metabolism, and malignancy was recognized by Otto Warburg more than 75 years ago. Now, Zhou and colleagues have uncovered a clue to the molecular basis of this interrelationship. The researchers examined 83 tumors of the oral cavity and oral pharynx. Using the mighty MitoChip, they completely sequenced the mitochondrial DNA, revealing many and varied mutations, including coding mutations for mitochondrial respiratory enzymes in 49% of the tumors. Some of these mutations increase reactive oxygen species implicated in the pathogenesis of malignancies, including in the epidermis. Most intriguing was the finding that mitochondrial gene mutations were very high…