Mitochondrial dysfuction comes primarily from manganese being replaced by iron, from the wrong Fe/Mn ratio (which the body has no way of correcting, as both are

Mitochondrial dysfuction comes primarily from manganese being replaced by iron, from the wrong Fe/Mn ratio (which the body has no way of correcting, as both are absorbed by the same mechanism and iron cannot be excreted.) or a deficiency in general, which results in mismetallation. E-coli has a similar problem with iron/manganese/zinc: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4192467/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4192467/ The general problem with iron is that while it is faster, it's also reactive in its free form, unlike manganese, which only works in proteins. The majority of the world population is supposedly iron deficient, but the numbers are likely based on populations that already suffered from iron overload; it is possible that animal lifespans were substantially shortened as the result of human activity which disrupted the mineral balance to the degree no animal evloved to deal with.