Jones - What is mt dynamics and why is it essential for good health? Flashcards
What are enlarged mt often indicative of?
- disease state
When/where does mt size and shape vary?
- between cell types and w/ cell cycle stage
Do mts exist as separate organelles?
- no, exist as constantly evolving networks w/in cell cyto → can fuse to form these networks
What is mt length determined by?
- balance between fusion and fission
Why are mts considered ‘dynamic’?
- morphologies can change dramatically by a shift in balance of fusion and fission
Why does mt growth need to be dynamic?
- mt can’t be made, have to be inherited
- accom cell growth
- ATP gen in oxygen poor regions of cell
- redistribution of mt w/ cell division (beneficial to break up so this can happen)
- genetic complementation (some parts might have defect in eg. complex I, so can fuse diff mts to compensate for presence of some mtDNA mutations)
- important for cell survival
What are the 3 central players in mt dynamics?
- mitofusins
- OPA1(/Mgm1)
- Drp1(/Dnm1)
What do mitofusins, OPA1 and Drp1 have in common?
- all GTPases (can hydrolyse GTP) and belong to dynamin superfam
What are each of the 3 central players of mt dynamics responsible for (mitofusins/OPA1/Drp1)?
Mitofusins = responsible for outer mt membrane fusion OPA1(/Mgm1) = responsible for fusion of inner mt membrane Drp1(/Dnm1) = responsible for division of outer and inner mt membrane
What were lots of the the 1st experiments into mt fusion done in?
- yeast
How did an experiment in yeast show mt fusion?
- stained w/ 1 of 2 stains
- 1 selectively localises to mt, by covalently attaching to mem prots
- other exp in only 1 parental strain, under control of Gal promoter (so only expressed when grown on galactose)
- can see after fusion of cells, there is almost complete fusion of 2 diff mt networks
How did further experiments in to mt fusion in Drosophila identify a new gene?
- stained images of dev sperm cells
- as dev get elongation
- during these processes mt bodies fuse and form big network that is reshaped as sperm reshaped (= dramatic reorg of mt)
- sterile male flies observed due to failure in mt fusion
- observed some fertility defects in these sperm
- fzo gene identified
What does fzo gene encode?
- encodes founding member of conserved mitofusin GTPase family
What did looking at fzo equivalent yeast gene show?
- at restrictive temp 2 pops don’t fuse (ie. no mixing of mt networks)
- due to Ts fzo1 mutants
- conclusion: need functional mitofusin for mt fusion to occur
- in mutant cells have unopposed fission, mt able to divide but cant fuse, there is no conjoined network of mt
What is the result of mitofusin KOs in mammals?
- KO mice lacking Mfn1 and/or Mfn2 die due to placental defects → cells have fragmented mt
What condition results in humans from Mfn2 mutations?
- Charcot Marie Tooth disease type 2a
What is Mgm1/OPA1, and where is it found?
- large GTPase localised to IMM
- Mgm1 in yeast
- OPA1 in mammals
How was it discovered experimentally that Mgm1 had a role in IMM fusion, and why is this data not as convincing as it could be?
- Ts mutants tested for fusion in in vitro assay
- looking at no. of fusion events –> decreased at restrictive temp
- therefore mgm1 essential for inner mt membrane fusion
- BUT also decline at permissive temp → not addressed by authors (so not particularly clear data)
- overall prob is a reduction, but data not as convincing as could be
- from timelapse images can see fusion of OMM, but IMM doesn’t fuse
- conclusion: defects in mgm1 mutants specifically relate to problems w/ IMM fusion (and not OMM)
What is the role of mitofusins in docking/tethering?
- mitofusin from 2 membranes come/dock together and tether 2 sections to each other
Why is GTP hydrolysis important in mt fusion?
- allows OMMs of 2 mt bodies fuse
Apart from IMM fusion, what is OPA1/Mgm1 important in?
- important role in maintenance of cristae structure
What is mt fission important for?
- important for remodelling and rearrangement of mt networks, as well as enabling mt seg during cell div
What do mutations to Dnm1 gene result in?
- large nets of mt due to failed mt division
What is the mammalian equivalent of Dnm1 (yeast)?
- Drp1
How does Dnm1/Drp1 perform its role?
- oligomerises and physically assoc w/ other copies of itself in curved structures on outer surface of mt
- forming a scission machine
- curved Drp1/Dnm1 structures constrict and pinch off mt using energy from GTP hydrolysis
How was it determined experimentally that fis1 is important in fission?
- ts mutants grown at restrictive temp
- mt fluorescently labelled
- looked at WT, fzo1 mutants, fis1 del mutant and dnm1 del mutant
- if KO dnm1 get huge networks of mt forming through unopposed fusion
- if KO fzo1 get unopposed fission
- conclusion: role of fis1 important in fission, as look like other fission mutants
How is Drp1 recruited?
- fis1 bound to OMM and recruits it
How is balance to mt fusion and fission determined?
- levels of mitofusins, OPA1/Mgm1 and Drp1/Dnm1
In what diff ways can reg of balance between fusion and fission be determined, in diff cell contexts?
- protein stability
- protein cleavage
- protein conformation
- changes, eg. phosphorylation, ubiquitination, PTMs
- protein localisation via assoc w/ binding partners
What is mitophagy?
- autophagy of mt
Why is mitophagy necessary?
- allows cell to get rid of defective sections of mt, so important for maintaining healthy mt pop
What does mitophagy occur in response to?
- changes in mt membrane pot
How can defective mt prots be removed?
- via ubiquitin proteasome system
How are damaged or defective mt destroyed?
- tagged w/ specific kinases and ubiquitin ligases
- mt fusion disabled
- destruction by mitophagy
What is the mt life cycle?
DIAG
Do mt divide just for cell division?
- no, constantly happening even in normal cell growth
What happens to mt if defective depolarised section?
- fusion not allowed and degrad by mitophagy
- or poss for mem pot to be recovered, if this happens then allowed to rejoin network