bims-cytox1 2021-08-01 papers

bims-cytox1

Biomed News

on Cytochrome oxidase subunit 1

Issue of 2021–08–01
six papers selected by
Gavin McStay, Staffordshire University

Diverse mitochondrial abnormalities in a new cellular model of TAFFAZZIN deficiency are remediated by Cardiolipin-interacting small molecules.
Assocation Between Leber's Hereditary Optic Neuropathy and MT-ND1 3460G>A Mutation-Induced Alterations in Mitochondrial Function, Apoptosis, and Mitophagy.
A novel MT-CO2 variant causing cerebellar ataxia and neuropathy: The role of muscle biopsy in diagnosis and defining pathogenicity.
Biallelic COA7-Variants Leading to Developmental Regression With Progressive Spasticity and Brain Atrophy in a Chinese Patient.
Super-resolution microscopy reveals the arrangement of inner membrane protein complexes in mammalian mitochondria.
Accessing Mitochondrial Protein Import in Living Cells by Protein Microinjection.

J Biol Chem. 2021 Jul 24. pii: S0021-9258(21)00807-3. [Epub ahead of print] 101005

Diverse mitochondrial abnormalities in a new cellular model of TAFFAZZIN deficiency are remediated by Cardiolipin-interacting small molecules.

Arianna F Anzmann, Olivia L Sniezek, Alexandra Pado, Veronica Busa, Frédéric M Vaz, Simion D Kreimer, Lauren R DeVine, Robert N Cole, Anne Le, Brian J Kirsch, Steven M Claypool, Hilary J Vernon.

  Barth syndrome (BTHS) is an X-linked disorder of mitochondrial phospholipid metabolism caused by pathogenic variants in the gene TAFFAZIN (TAZ), which results in abnormal cardiolipin (CL) content in the inner mitochondrial membrane. To identify unappreciated pathways of mitochondrial dysfunction in BTHS, we utilized an unbiased proteomics strategy and identified that complex I of the mitochondrial respiratory chain and the mitochondrial quality control protease PARL are altered in a new HEK293-based TAZ-deficiency model. Follow-up studies confirmed decreased steady state levels of specific complex I subunits and an assembly factor in the absence of TAZ; this decrease is in part based on decreased transcription, and results in reduced complex I assembly and function. PARL, a rhomboid protease associated with the inner mitochondrial membrane with a role in the mitochondrial response to stress such as mitochondrial membrane depolarization, is increased in TAZ-deficient cells. The increased abundance of PARL correlates with augmented processing of a downstream target, PGAM5, both at baseline and in response to mitochondrial depolarization. To clarify the relationship between abnormal CL content, complex I levels, and increased PARL expression that occurs when TAZ is missing, we used blue-native page and gene expression analysis to determine that these defects are remediated by SS-31 and bromoenol lactone, pharmacologic agents that bind CL or inhibit CL deacylation, respectively. These findings have the potential to enhance our understanding of the cardiac pathology of BTHS, where defective mitochondrial quality control and complex I dysfunction have well-recognized roles in the pathology of diverse forms of cardiac dysfunction.

Keywords:  Barth Syndrome; Cardiolipin; Mitochondrial metabolism

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbc.2021.101005
Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2021 Jul 01. 62(9): 38

Assocation Between Leber's Hereditary Optic Neuropathy and MT-ND1 3460G>A Mutation-Induced Alterations in Mitochondrial Function, Apoptosis, and Mitophagy.

Juanjuan Zhang, Yanchun Ji, Jie Chen, Man Xu, Guoping Wang, Xiaorui Ci, Bing Lin, Jun Q Mo, Xiangtian Zhou, Min-Xin Guan.

Purpose: To investigate the molecular mechanism underlying the Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON)-linked MT-ND1 3460G>A mutation.
Methods: Cybrid cell models were generated by fusing mitochondrial DNA-less ρ0 cells with enucleated cells from a patient carrying the m.3460G>A mutation and a control subject. The impact of m.3460G>A mutations on oxidative phosphorylation was evaluated using Blue Native gel electrophoresis, and measurements of oxygen consumption were made with an extracellular flux analyzer. Assessment of reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in cell lines was performed by flow cytometry with MitoSOX Red reagent. Assays for apoptosis and mitophagy were undertaken via immunofluorescence analysis.
Results: Nineteen Chinese Han pedigrees bearing the m.3460G>A mutation exhibited variable penetrance and expression of LHON. The m.3460G>A mutation altered the structure and function of MT-ND1, as evidenced by reduced MT-ND1 levels in mutant cybrids bearing the mutation. The instability of mutated MT-ND1 manifested as defects in the assembly and activity of complex I, respiratory deficiency, diminished mitochondrial adenosine triphosphate production, and decreased membrane potential, in addition to increased production of mitochondrial ROS in the mutant cybrids carrying the m.3460G>A mutation. The m.3460G>A mutation mediated apoptosis, as evidenced by the elevated release of cytochrome c into the cytosol and increasing levels of the apoptotic-associated proteins BAK, BAX, and PARP, as well as cleaved caspases 3, 7, and 9, in the mutant cybrids. The cybrids bearing the m.3460G>A mutation exhibited reduced levels of autophagy protein light chain 3, accumulation of autophagic substrate P62, and impaired PTEN-induced kinase 1/parkin-dependent mitophagy.
Conclusions: Our findings highlight the critical role of m.3460G>A mutation in the pathogenesis of LHON, manifested by mitochondrial dysfunction and alterations in apoptosis and mitophagy.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1167/iovs.62.9.38
Neuromuscul Disord. 2021 Jun 04. pii: S0960-8966(21)00139-5. [Epub ahead of print]

A novel MT-CO2 variant causing cerebellar ataxia and neuropathy: The role of muscle biopsy in diagnosis and defining pathogenicity.

Karen Baty, Maria E Farrugia, Sila Hopton, Gavin Falkous, Andrew M Schaefer, William Stewart, Hugh J Willison, Mary M Reilly, Emma L Blakely, Robert W Taylor, Yi Shiau Ng.

  Pathogenic variants in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) are associated with significant clinical heterogeneity with neuromuscular involvement commonly reported. Non-syndromic presentations of mtDNA disease continue to pose a diagnostic challenge and with genomic testing still necessitating a muscle biopsy in many cases. Here we describe an adult patient who presented with progressive ataxia, neuropathy and exercise intolerance in whom the application of numerous Mendelian gene panels had failed to make a genetic diagnosis. Muscle biopsy revealed characteristic mitochondrial pathology (cytochrome c oxidase deficient, ragged-red fibers) prompting a thorough investigation of the mitochondrial genome. Two heteroplasmic MT-CO2 gene variants (NC_012920.1: m.7887G>A and m.8250G>A) were identified, necessitating single fiber segregation and familial studies - including the biopsy of the patient's clinically-unaffected mother - to demonstrate pathogenicity of the novel m.7887G>A p.(Gly101Asp) variant and establishing this as the cause of the mitochondrial biochemical defects and clinical presentation. In the era of high throughput whole exome and genome sequencing, muscle biopsy remains a key investigation in the diagnosis of patients with non-syndromic presentations of adult-onset mitochondrial disease and fully defining the pathogenicity of novel mtDNA variants.

Keywords:  Mitochondrial DNA; Muscle biopsy; Segregation study

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nmd.2021.05.014
Front Genet. 2021 ;12 685035

Biallelic COA7-Variants Leading to Developmental Regression With Progressive Spasticity and Brain Atrophy in a Chinese Patient.

Rui Ban, Zhimei Liu, Masaru Shimura, Xiao Tong, Junling Wang, Lei Yang, Manting Xu, Jing Xiao, Kei Murayama, Matthias Elstner, Holger Prokisch, Fang Fang.

   Objective: The cytochrome c oxidase assembly factor 7 (COA7) gene encodes a protein localized to mitochondria that is involved in the assembly of mitochondrial respiratory chain complex IV. Here, we report the clinical, genetic and biochemical analysis of a female patient with suspected mitochondrial disorder and novel variants in COA7, that presented with a considerably different phenotype and age of onset than the five COA7 patients reported to date.
Methods: We performed trio-exome sequencing in the affected patient and both parents. To verify the pathogenicity of the detected variants in COA7, mitochondrial enzyme activities and oxygen consumption rate were investigated in fibroblasts of the patient and her parents.
Results: A Chinese girl was referred at 9 months of age with a history of developmental delay and regression since 3 months of age. In the following months, she lost previously acquired skills and developed progressive spasticity of the lower extremities. Trio-exome sequencing revealed compound heterzygous variants in COA7 (c.511G > A/p.Ala171Thr and c.566A > G/p.Asn189Ser). Functional validation experiments revealed isolated complex IV deficiency and a significantly reduced mitochondrial respiration rate in patient-derived fibroblasts.
Interpretation: Hitherto, characteristic features of COA7 patients were described as slowly progressing neuropathy and spinocerebellar ataxia, starting at the toddler age and progressing into adulthood. In contrast, our patient was reported to show developmental delay from 3 months of age, which was found to be due to a rapidly progressive encephalopathy and brain atrophy seen at 9 months of age. Unexpectedly, the genetic investigation revealed a COA7-associated mitochondrial disease, which was confirmed functionally. Thus, this report broadens the genetic and clinical spectrum of this heterogeneous mitochondriopathy and highlights the value of the presented unbiased approach.

Keywords:  COA7/RESA1; COX assembly factor; biallelic variant; mitochondrial disease; nervous system disorder

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2021.685035
J Cell Sci. 2021 07 01. pii: jcs252197. [Epub ahead of print]134(13):

Super-resolution microscopy reveals the arrangement of inner membrane protein complexes in mammalian mitochondria.

Catherine S Palmer, Jieqiong Lou, Betty Kouskousis, Elvis Pandzic, Alexander J Anderson, Yilin Kang, Elizabeth Hinde, Diana Stojanovski.

  The mitochondrial inner membrane is a protein-rich environment containing large multimeric complexes, including complexes of the mitochondrial electron transport chain, mitochondrial translocases and quality control machineries. Although the inner membrane is highly proteinaceous, with 40-60% of all mitochondrial proteins localised to this compartment, little is known about the spatial distribution and organisation of complexes in this environment. We set out to survey the arrangement of inner membrane complexes using stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (STORM). We reveal that subunits of the TIM23 complex, TIM23 and TIM44 (also known as TIMM23 and TIMM44, respectively), and the complex IV subunit COXIV, form organised clusters and show properties distinct from the outer membrane protein TOM20 (also known as TOMM20). Density based cluster analysis indicated a bimodal distribution of TIM44 that is distinct from TIM23, suggesting distinct TIM23 subcomplexes. COXIV is arranged in larger clusters that are disrupted upon disruption of complex IV assembly. Thus, STORM super-resolution microscopy is a powerful tool for examining the nanoscale distribution of mitochondrial inner membrane complexes, providing a 'visual' approach for obtaining pivotal information on how mitochondrial complexes exist in a cellular context.

Keywords:  COXIV; Mitochondria; Mitochondrial complexes; Nanoscopy; Protein import; STORM; TIM23

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1242/jcs.252197
Front Cell Dev Biol. 2021 ;9 698658

Accessing Mitochondrial Protein Import in Living Cells by Protein Microinjection.

Andrey Bogorodskiy, Ivan Okhrimenko, Ivan Maslov, Nina Maliar, Dmitrii Burkatovskii, Florian von Ameln, Alexey Schulga, Philipp Jakobs, Joachim Altschmied, Judith Haendeler, Alexandros Katranidis, Ivan Sorokin, Alexey Mishin, Valentin Gordeliy, Georg Büldt, Wolfgang Voos, Thomas Gensch, Valentin Borshchevskiy.

  Mitochondrial protein biogenesis relies almost exclusively on the expression of nuclear-encoded polypeptides. The current model postulates that most of these proteins have to be delivered to their final mitochondrial destination after their synthesis in the cytoplasm. However, the knowledge of this process remains limited due to the absence of proper experimental real-time approaches to study mitochondria in their native cellular environment. We developed a gentle microinjection procedure for fluorescent reporter proteins allowing a direct non-invasive study of protein transport in living cells. As a proof of principle, we visualized potential-dependent protein import into mitochondria inside intact cells in real-time. We validated that our approach does not distort mitochondrial morphology and preserves the endogenous expression system as well as mitochondrial protein translocation machinery. We observed that a release of nascent polypeptides chains from actively translating cellular ribosomes by puromycin strongly increased the import rate of the microinjected pre-protein. This suggests that a substantial amount of mitochondrial translocase complexes was involved in co-translational protein import of endogenously expressed pre-proteins. Our protein microinjection method opens new possibilities to study the role of mitochondrial protein import in cell models of various pathological conditions as well as aging processes.

Keywords:  GFP; SNAP-tag; fluorescence microscopy; microinjection; mitochondria; mitochondrial protein import

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3389/fcell.2021.698658