In the occurrence of mitochondrial and cardiac changes induced by diabetes, a key role seems to be played by the regulation of signaling pathways targeting mitogen-activated protein kinases (e.g., extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 -ERK1/2, n-terminal protein kinase c-Jun -JNK and p38 MAP kinase) (Xu et al., 2016). The gene discussed is MAPK3; the disease is diabetes mellitus.