bims-mikwok 2021-07-11 papers

bims-mikwok

Biomed News

on Mitochondrial quality control

Issue of 2021–07–11
nine papers selected by
Avinash N. Mukkala, University of Toronto

Nrf2 activation induces mitophagy and reverses Parkin/Pink1 knock down-mediated neuronal and muscle degeneration phenotypes.
Sensing, signaling and surviving mitochondrial stress.
Quantitative determination of mitophagy by fluorescence microscope.
DNA repair protein APE1 degrades dysfunctional abasic mRNA in mitochondria affecting oxidative phosphorylation.
Proteostasis failure and mitochondrial dysfunction leads to aneuploidy-induced senescence.
RAB7 activity is required for the regulation of mitophagy in oocyte meiosis and oocyte quality control during ovarian aging.
The E3 ubiquitin ligase TRIM31 is involved in cerebral ischemic injury by promoting degradation of TIGAR.
Label-free two-photon imaging of mitochondrial activity in murine macrophages stimulated with bacterial and viral ligands.
Autophagic flux assessment by immunoblot.

Cell Death Dis. 2021 Jul 03. 12(7): 671

Nrf2 activation induces mitophagy and reverses Parkin/Pink1 knock down-mediated neuronal and muscle degeneration phenotypes.

Sentiljana Gumeni, Eleni-Dimitra Papanagnou, Maria S Manola, Ioannis P Trougakos.

The balanced functionality of cellular proteostatic modules is central to both proteome stability and mitochondrial physiology; thus, the age-related decline of proteostasis also triggers mitochondrial dysfunction, which marks multiple degenerative disorders. Non-functional mitochondria are removed by mitophagy, including Parkin/Pink1-mediated mitophagy. A common feature of neuronal or muscle degenerative diseases, is the accumulation of damaged mitochondria due to disrupted mitophagy rates. Here, we exploit Drosophila as a model organism to investigate the functional role of Parkin/Pink1 in regulating mitophagy and proteostatic responses, as well as in suppressing degenerative phenotypes at the whole organism level. We found that Parkin or Pink1 knock down in young flies modulated proteostatic components in a tissue-dependent manner, increased cell oxidative load, and suppressed mitophagy in neuronal and muscle tissues, causing mitochondrial aggregation and neuromuscular degeneration. Concomitant to Parkin or Pink1 knock down cncC/Nrf2 overexpression, induced the proteostasis network, suppressed oxidative stress, restored mitochondrial function, and elevated mitophagy rates in flies' tissues; it also, largely rescued Parkin or Pink1 knock down-mediated neuromuscular degenerative phenotypes. Our in vivo findings highlight the critical role of the Parkin/Pink1 pathway in mitophagy, and support the therapeutic potency of Nrf2 (a druggable pathway) activation in age-related degenerative diseases.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41419-021-03952-w
Cell Mol Life Sci. 2021 Jul 06.

Sensing, signaling and surviving mitochondrial stress.

Eva-Maria Eckl, Olga Ziegemann, Luisa Krumwiede, Evelyn Fessler, Lucas T Jae.

  Mitochondrial fidelity is a key determinant of longevity and was found to be perturbed in a multitude of disease contexts ranging from neurodegeneration to heart failure. Tight homeostatic control of the mitochondrial proteome is a crucial aspect of mitochondrial function, which is severely complicated by the evolutionary origin and resulting peculiarities of the organelle. This is, on one hand, reflected by a range of basal quality control factors such as mitochondria-resident chaperones and proteases, that assist in import and folding of precursors as well as removal of aggregated proteins. On the other hand, stress causes the activation of several additional mechanisms that counteract any damage that may threaten mitochondrial function. Countermeasures depend on the location and intensity of the stress and on a range of factors that are equipped to sense and signal the nature of the encountered perturbation. Defective mitochondrial import activates mechanisms that combat the accumulation of precursors in the cytosol and the import pore. To resolve proteotoxic stress in the organelle interior, mitochondria depend on nuclear transcriptional programs, such as the mitochondrial unfolded protein response and the integrated stress response. If organelle damage is too severe, mitochondria signal for their own destruction in a process termed mitophagy, thereby preventing further harm to the mitochondrial network and allowing the cell to salvage their biological building blocks. Here, we provide an overview of how different types and intensities of stress activate distinct pathways aimed at preserving mitochondrial fidelity.

Keywords:  DELE1; Integrated stress response (ISR); Mitochondria; Mitochondrial unfolded protein response (UPRmt); Mitophagy; Protein import

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-021-03887-7
Methods Cell Biol. 2021 ;pii: S0091-679X(20)30212-0. [Epub ahead of print]164 113-118

Quantitative determination of mitophagy by fluorescence microscope.

Zhiyu Li, Qi Wu, Chenyuan Li, Shengrong Sun, Zhong Wang, Shan Zhu.

  Mitophagy is an evolutionally conserved cellular process that eliminates dysfunctional and excess mitochondria, thereby facilitating mitochondrial quality control and metabolic recycling. In addition, mitophagy is essential for cellular homeostasis and tissue development, and mitophagic dysfunction is related to various pathologies including neurodegenerative diseases and cancer. Thus, accurate quantitative measurement of mitophagy is one of the hot topics in the field of mitochondrial research. Fluorescence microscopical technology, one of the most widely used technologies at present, can well explain the occurrence and activity of mitophagy. Here, we introduce in detail an experimental method for the immunofluorescence-based quantitativ determination of mitophagy, which not only servers the in-depth study of mitochondrial homeostasis regulation, but also allows for the analyzing mitochondrial autophagy pathologies such as aging, neurodegenerative diseases and cancer.

Keywords:  Detection; Fluorescence microscope; Method; MitoTracker; Mitophagy

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.mcb.2020.12.006
J Mol Biol. 2021 Jul 02. pii: S0022-2836(21)00349-1. [Epub ahead of print] 167125

DNA repair protein APE1 degrades dysfunctional abasic mRNA in mitochondria affecting oxidative phosphorylation.

Arianna Barchiesi, Veronica Bazzani, Agata Jabczynska, Lukasz S Borowski, Silke Oeljeklaus, Bettina Warscheid, Agnieszka Chacinska, Roman J Szczesny, Carlo Vascotto.

  APE1 is a multifunctional protein which plays a central role in the maintenance of nuclear and mitochondrial genomes repairing DNA lesions caused by oxidative and alkylating agents. In addition, it works as a redox signaling protein regulating gene expression by interacting with many transcriptional factors. Apart from these canonical activities, recent studies have shown that APE1 is also enzymatically active on RNA molecules. The present study unveils for the first time a new role of the mitochondrial form of APE1 protein in the metabolism of RNA in mitochondria. Our data demonstrate that APE1 is associated with mitochondrial messenger RNA and exerts endoribonuclease activity on abasic sites. Loss of APE1 results in the accumulation of damaged mitochondrial mRNA species, determining impairment in protein translation and reduced expression of mitochondrial-encoded proteins, finally leading to less efficient mitochondrial respiration. Altogether, our data demonstrate that APE1 plays an active role in the degradation of the mitochondrial mRNA and has a profound impact on mitochondrial well-being.

Keywords:  Apurinic/Apyrimidinic Endonuclease 1; Mitochondria; Oxidative phosphorylation; RNA processing

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmb.2021.167125
Dev Cell. 2021 Jun 28. pii: S1534-5807(21)00516-5. [Epub ahead of print]

Proteostasis failure and mitochondrial dysfunction leads to aneuploidy-induced senescence.

Jery Joy, Lara Barrio, Celia Santos-Tapia, Daniela Romão, Nikolaos Nikiforos Giakoumakis, Marta Clemente-Ruiz, Marco Milán.

  Aneuploidy, an unbalanced number of chromosomes, is highly deleterious at the cellular level and leads to senescence, a stress-induced response characterized by permanent cell-cycle arrest and a well-defined associated secretory phenotype. Here, we use a Drosophila epithelial model to delineate the pathway that leads to the induction of senescence as a consequence of the acquisition of an aneuploid karyotype. Whereas aneuploidy induces, as a result of gene dosage imbalance, proteotoxic stress and activation of the major protein quality control mechanisms, near-saturation functioning of autophagy leads to compromised mitophagy, accumulation of dysfunctional mitochondria, and the production of radical oxygen species (ROS). We uncovered a role of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) in driving senescence as a consequence of dysfunctional mitochondria and ROS. We show that activation of the major protein quality control mechanisms and mitophagy dampens the deleterious effects of aneuploidy, and we identify a role of senescence in proteostasis and compensatory proliferation for tissue repair.

Keywords:  Drosophila; aneuploidy; autophagy; chromosomal instability; mitochondrial dysfunction; mitophagy; proteotoxic stress; senescence; tissue repair

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.devcel.2021.06.009
Autophagy. 2021 Jul 07. 1-18

RAB7 activity is required for the regulation of mitophagy in oocyte meiosis and oocyte quality control during ovarian aging.

Xin Jin, Kehan Wang, Lu Wang, Wenwen Liu, Chi Zhang, Yuexin Qiu, Wei Liu, Huiyu Zhang, Dong Zhang, Zhixia Yang, Tinghe Wu, Jing Li.

  There is increasing evidence that mitophagy, a specialized form of autophagy to degrade and clear long-lived or damaged mitochondria, is impaired in aging and age-related disease. Previous study has demonstrated the obesity-exposed oocytes accumulate and transmit damaged mitochondria due to an inability to activate mitophagy. However, it remains unknown whether mitophagy functions in oocyte and what's the regulatory mechanism in oocyte aging. In the study, when fully grown oocytes were treated with CCCP, an uncoupling agent to induce mitophagy, we found the activation of the PRKN-mediated mitophagy pathway accompanied the blockage of meiosis at metaphase I stage. Our result then demonstrated its association with the decreased activity of RAB7 and all the observed defects in CCCP treated oocytes could be effectively rescued by microinjection of mRNA encoding active RAB7Q67L or treatment with the RAB7 activator ML098. Further study indicated PRKN protein level as a rate-limiting factor to facilitate degradation of RAB7 and its GEF (guanine nucleotide exchange factor) complex CCZ1-MON1 through the ubiquitin-proteasome system. In GV oocytes collected during ovarian aging, we found the age-related increase of PINK1 and PRKN proteins and a significant decrease of RAB7 which resulted in defects of mitophagosome formation and the accumulation of damaged mitochondria. The age-related retardation of female fertility was improved after in vivo treatment of ML098. Thus, RAB7 activity is required to maintain the balance between mitophagy and chromosome stability and RAB7 activator is a good candidate to ameliorate age-related deterioration of oocyte quality.Abbreviations: ATG9: autophagy related 9A; ATP: adenosine triphosphate; CALCOCO2/NDP52: calcium binding and coiled-coil domain 2; CCCP: carbonyl cyanide 3-chlorophenylhydrazone; CCZ1: CCZ1 vacuolar protein trafficking and biogenesis associated; GAPDH: glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase; GAPs: GTPase-activating proteins; GEF: guanine nucleotide exchange factor; GV: germinal vesicle; GVBD: germinal vesicle breakdown; LAMP1: lysosomal-associated membrane protein 1; MI: metaphase I stage of meiosis; MII: metaphase II stage of meiosis; Mito: MitoTracker; mtDNA: mitochondrial DNA; MON1: MON1 homolog, secretory trafficking associated; OPTN: optineurin; PINK1: PTEN induced putative kinase 1; PRKN: parkin RBR E3 ubiquitin protein ligase; RAB7: RAB7, member RAS oncogene family; ROS: reactive oxygen species; TEM: transmission electron microscopy; TOMM20/TOM20: translocase of outer mitochondrial membrane 20; TUBB: tubulin, beta; UB: ubiquitin.

Keywords:  Aging; PRKN; RAB7; meiosis; mitophagy; oocyte

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1080/15548627.2021.1946739
Redox Biol. 2021 Jun 29. pii: S2213-2317(21)00217-2. [Epub ahead of print]45 102058

The E3 ubiquitin ligase TRIM31 is involved in cerebral ischemic injury by promoting degradation of TIGAR.

Shenglan Zeng, Ze Zhao, Shengnan Zheng, Mengting Wu, Xiaomeng Song, Yiquan Li, Yi Zheng, Bingyu Liu, Lin Chen, Chengjiang Gao, Huiqing Liu.

  Tripartite motif (TRIM) 31 has been implicated in diverse biological and pathological conditions. However, whether TRIM31 plays a role in ischemic stroke progression is not clarified. Here we demonstrated that TRIM31 was significantly downregulated in the ischemic brain and the deficiency of TRIM31 alleviated brain injury induced by middle cerebral artery occlusion by reducing reactive oxygen species production and maintaining mitochondrial homeostasis. Mechanistically, we found that TRIM31 is an E3 ubiquitin ligase for TP53-induced glycolysis and apoptosis regulator (TIGAR), which confers protection against brain ischemia by increasing the pentose phosphate pathway flux and preserving mitochondria function. TRIM31 interacted with TIGAR and promoted the polyubiquitination of TIGAR, consequently facilitated its degradation in a proteasome-dependent pathway. Furthermore, TIGAR knockdown effectively abolished the protective effect of TRIM31 deficiency after cerebral ischemia. In conclusion, we identified that TRIM31 was a novel E3 ubiquitin ligase for TIGAR, played a critical role in regulating its protein level, and subsequently involved in the ischemic brain injury, suggesting TRIM31 as a potential therapeutic target for ischemic stroke.

Keywords:  Ischemic stroke; Mitochondria; Reactive oxygen species; TIGAR; TRIM31

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.redox.2021.102058
Sci Rep. 2021 Jul 07. 11(1): 14081

Label-free two-photon imaging of mitochondrial activity in murine macrophages stimulated with bacterial and viral ligands.

Christian Harry Allen, Duale Ahmed, Olivia Raiche-Tanner, Vinita Chauhan, Leila Mostaço-Guidolin, Edana Cassol, Sangeeta Murugkar.

Mitochondria are the metabolic hub of the cell, playing a central role in regulating immune responses. Dysfunction of mitochondrial reprogramming can occur during bacterial and viral infections compromising hosts' immune signaling. Comparative evaluation of these alterations in response to bacterial and viral ligands can provide insights into a cell's ability to mount pathogen-specific responses. In this study, we used two-photon excitation fluorescence (TPEF) imaging to quantify reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NAD(P)H) and flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) levels in the cell and to calculate the optical redox ratio (ORR), an indicator of mitochondrial dysfunction. Analyses were performed on RAW264.7 cells and murine bone marrow derived macrophages (BMM) stimulated with bacterial (LPS) and viral (Poly(I:C)) ligands. Responses were cell type dependent, with primary cells having significantly higher levels of FAD and higher oxygen consumption rates suggesting BMM may be more dependent on mitochondrial metabolism. Our findings also suggest that FAD-TPEF intensity may be a better predictor of mitochondrial activity and localization since it demonstrates unique mitochondrial clustering patterns in LPS vs. Poly(I:C) stimulated macrophages. Collectively, we demonstrate that TPEF imaging is a powerful label-free approach for quantifying changes in mitochondrial function and organization in macrophages following bacterial and viral stimuli.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-93043-9
Methods Cell Biol. 2021 ;pii: S0091-679X(20)30188-6. [Epub ahead of print]164 63-72

Autophagic flux assessment by immunoblot.

Qi Wu, Ai-Ling Tian, Hui Pan, Oliver Kepp, Guido Kroemer.

  Autophagy is one of the main adaptive mechanisms to maintain cellular homeostasis in response to multiple stresses. During autophagy diverse cellular components such as damaged organelles or superfluous proteins are targeted for lysosomal degradation. Importantly, during the initiation of autophagy MAP1LC3B (better known as LC3) lipidates into the membrane of the forming phagophore, which facilitates the formation and lengthening of autophagosomes. In addition, the autophagy receptor SQSTM1 (better known as p62) selectively recruits various cargos to autophagosomes for lysosomal degradation. Both, the conversion of LC3 as well as the degradation of p62 can be assessed as means of monitoring autophagy. Here we detail a protocol for assessing these key events of the autophagic flux via immunoblot.

Keywords:  Autophagic cargo; Drug discovery; LC3; Lipidation; Lysosomal degradation

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.mcb.2020.10.005