Thus, taken together, these results suggest that inactivation of the p53/Mieap/BNIP3-regulated mitochondrial quality control pathway results in the accumulation of unhealthy mitochondria in colorectal cancer cells; these unhealthy mitochondria produce high level of ROS under hypoxic conditions, and ROS generated by the unhealthy mitochondria in MALM-deficient colorectal cancer cells could contribute to cancer invasion and metastasis. The gene discussed is BNIP3; the disease is cancer.