Among the 23 mitochondrial dynamic genes, 21 genes (DNM1L, MTFR2, ARL2, MFN1, MIGA1, MIGA2, MTCH2, OMA1, OPA1, PLD6, ARMC10, FIS1, MFF, MIEF1, MIEF2, MTFP1, MTFR1, MUL1, RAB24, SLC25A46, SPIRE1) significantly up-regulated in HCC tissues compared with the normal, and the heatmap of their expression levels displayed in Fig. 2A. The co-expression network of the DEGs shows a positive correlation between the expression level of MTFR2 and DNM1L (Fig. 2B). This evidence concerns the gene ARL2 and hepatocellular carcinoma.