Journal
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF CELL BIOLOGY
Volume 86, Issue 6, Pages 289-302Publisher
ELSEVIER GMBH, URBAN & FISCHER VERLAG
DOI: 10.1016/j.ejcb.2007.04.002
Keywords
mitochondria; mitofusin; Mfn; fusion; fission; DLP1/Drp1; dynamin; apoptosis
Categories
Funding
- NIDDK NIH HHS [DK061991, R01 DK061991] Funding Source: Medline
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Mitochondria change their shapes dynamically mainly through fission and fusion. Dynamin-related GTPases have been shown to mediate remodeling of mitochondrial membranes during these processes. One of these GTPases, mitofusin, is anchored at the outer mitochondrial membrane and mediates fusion of the outer membrane. We found that overexpression of a mitofusin isciform, Mfn2, drastically changes mitochondrial morphology, forming mitochondrial clusters. High-resolution microscopic examination indicated that the mitochondrial clusters consisted of small fragmented mitochondria. Inhibiting mitochondrial fission prevented the cluster formation, Supporting the notion that mitochondrial clusters are formed by fission-mediated mitochondrial fragmentation and aggregation. Mitochondrial clusters displayed a decreased inner membrane potential and mitochondrial function, suggesting a functional compromise of small fragmented rnitochondria produced by Mfn2 overexpression; however, mitochondrial clusters still retained mitochondrial DNA. We found that cells containing clustered mitochondria lost cytochrome c from mitochondria and underwent caspase-mediated apoptosis. These results demonstrate that mitochondrial deformation impairs mitochondrial function, leading to apoptotic cell death and suggest the presence of an intricate form-function relationship in mitochondria. (c) 2007 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available