bims-misrem 2021-07-18 papers

Issue of 2021‒07‒18
six papers selected by
Rafael Antonio Casuso Pérez
University of Granada

J Physiol. 2021 Jul 16.

Regulation of muscle and mitochondrial health by the mitochondrial fission protein Drp1 in aged mice.

Maude Dulac, Jean-Philippe Leduc-Gaudet, Marina Cefis, Marie-Belle Ayoub, Olivier Reynaud, Anwar Shams, Alaa Moamer, Marcos Francisco Nery Ferreira, Sabah Na Hussain, Gilles Gouspillou.

KEY POINTS: The maintenance of mitochondrial integrity is critical for skeletal muscle health. Mitochondrial dynamics play key roles in mitochondrial quality control; however, the exact role that mitochondrial fission plays in the muscle aging process remains unclear. Here we report that both Drp1 knockdown and overexpression late in life in mice is detrimental to skeletal muscle function and mitochondrial health. Drp1 knockdown in 18-month-old mice resulted in severe skeletal muscle atrophy, mitochondrial dysfunction, muscle degeneration/regeneration, oxidative stress, and impaired autophagy. Overexpressing Drp1 in 18-month-old mice resulted in mild skeletal muscle atrophy and decreased mitochondrial quality. Our data indicate that silencing or overexpressing Drp1 late in life is detrimental to skeletal muscle integrity. We conclude that modulating Drp1 expression is unlikely to be a viable approach to counter the muscle aging process.ABSTRACT: Sarcopenia, the aging-related loss of skeletal muscle mass and function, is a debilitating process negatively impacting s the quality of life of afflicted individuals. Although the mechanisms underlying sarcopenia are still only partly understood, impairments in mitochondrial dynamics, and specifically mitochondrial fission, have been proposed as an underlying mechanism. Importantly, conflicting data exist in the field and both excessive and insufficient mitochondrial fission were proposed to contribute to sarcopenia. In D. Melanogaster, enhancing mitochondrial fission in midlife through overexpression of dynamin-1-like protein (Drp1) extended lifespan and attenuated several key hallmarks of muscle aging. Whether a similar outcome of Drp1 overexpression is observed in mammalian muscles remains unknown. In this study, we investigated the impact of knocking down and overexpressing Drp1 protein for 4 months in skeletal muscles of late middle-aged (18 months) mice using intra-muscular injections of adeno-associated viruses expressing shRNA targeting Drp1 or full Drp1 cDNA. We report that knocking down Drp1 expression late in life triggers severe muscle atrophy, mitochondrial dysfunctions, degeneration/regeneration, oxidative stress and impaired autophagy. Drp1 overexpression late in life triggered mild muscle atrophy and decreased mitochondrial quality. Taken altogether, our results indicate that both overexpression or silencing Drp1 in late middle-aged mice negatively impact skeletal muscle mass and mitochondrial health. These data suggest that Drp1 content must remain within a narrow physiological range to preserve muscle and mitochondrial integrity during aging. Altering Drp1 expression is therefore unlikely to be a viable target to counter sarcopenia. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Keywords: autophagy; mitochondrial dynamics; mitochondrial fission; myopathic phenotype; oxidative stress; skeletal muscle aging; skeletal muscle atrophy

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1113/JP281752

Int Rev Cell Mol Biol. 2021 ;pii: S1937-6448(21)00037-X. [Epub ahead of print]362 209-259

The mitochondrial calcium homeostasis orchestra plays its symphony: Skeletal muscle is the guest of honor.

Gaia Gherardi, Agnese De Mario, Cristina Mammucari.

Skeletal muscle mitochondria are placed in close proximity of the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR), the main intracellular Ca2+ store. During muscle activity, excitation of sarcolemma and of T-tubule triggers the release of Ca2+ from the SR initiating myofiber contraction. The rise in cytosolic Ca2+ determines the opening of the mitochondrial calcium uniporter (MCU), the highly selective channel of the inner mitochondrial membrane (IMM), causing a robust increase in mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake. The Ca2+-dependent activation of TCA cycle enzymes increases the synthesis of ATP required for SERCA activity. Thus, Ca2+ is transported back into the SR and cytosolic [Ca2+] returns to resting levels eventually leading to muscle relaxation. In recent years, thanks to the molecular identification of MCU complex components, the role of mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake in the pathophysiology of skeletal muscle has been uncovered. In this chapter, we will introduce the reader to a general overview of mitochondrial Ca2+ accumulation. We will tackle the key molecular players and the cellular and pathophysiological consequences of mitochondrial Ca2+ dyshomeostasis. In the second part of the chapter, we will discuss novel findings on the physiological role of mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake in skeletal muscle. Finally, we will examine the involvement of mitochondrial Ca2+ signaling in muscle diseases.

Keywords: Central core disease; Mitochondrial Ca(2+) uptake; Mitochondrial calcium uniporter; Muscular dystrophy; Skeletal muscle

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.ircmb.2021.03.005

Mol Metab. 2021 Jul 09. pii: S2212-8778(21)00135-6. [Epub ahead of print] 101290

Epigenetic rewiring of skeletal muscle enhancers after exercise training supports a role in whole-body function and human health.

Kristine Williams, Germán D Carrasquilla, Lars Roed Ingerslev, Mette Yde Hochreuter, Svenja Hansson, Nicolas J Pillon, Ida Donkin, Soetkin Versteyhe, Juleen R Zierath, Tuomas O Kilpeläinen, Romain Barrès.

OBJECTIVES: Regular physical exercise improves health by reducing the risk of a plethora of chronic disorders. We hypothesized that endurance exercise training remodels the activity of gene enhancers in skeletal muscle, and that this remodeling contributes to the beneficial effects of exercise on human health.METHODS AND RESULTS: By studying changes in histone modifications, we mapped the genome-wide positions and activities of enhancers in skeletal muscle biopsies collected from young sedentary men before and after 6 weeks of endurance exercise. We identified extensive remodeling of enhancer activities after exercise training, with a large subset of the remodeled enhancers located in the proximity of genes transcriptionally regulated after exercise. By overlapping the position of enhancers with genetic variants, we identified an enrichment of disease-associated genetic variants within the exercise-remodeled enhancers.
CONCLUSION: Our data provide evidence of a functional link between epigenetic rewiring of enhancers to control their activity after exercise training and the modulation of disease risk in humans.

Keywords: Enhancers; Exercise; GWAS; Skeletal muscle

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molmet.2021.101290

FEBS J. 2021 Jul 16.

On the offense and defense: mitochondrial recovery programs amidst targeted pathogenic assault.

Siraje A Mahmud, Mohammed A Qureshi, Mark W Pellegrino.

Bacterial pathogens employ a variety of tactics to persist in their host and promote infection. Pathogens often target host organelles in order to benefit their survival, either through manipulation or subversion of their function. Mitochondria are regularly targeted by bacterial pathogens owing to their diverse cellular roles, including energy production and regulation of programmed cell death. However, disruption of normal mitochondrial function during infection can be detrimental to cell viability because of their essential nature. In response, cells use multiple quality control programs to mitigate mitochondrial dysfunction and promote recovery. In this review, we will provide an overview of mitochondrial recovery programs including mitochondrial dynamics, the mitochondrial unfolded protein response (UPRmt ), and mitophagy. We will then discuss the various approaches used by bacterial pathogens to target mitochondria which result in mitochondrial dysfunction. Lastly, we will discuss how cells leverage mitochondrial recovery programs beyond their role in organelle repair, to promote host defense against pathogen infection.

Keywords: UPRmt; defense; infection; mitochondria; mitochondrial dynamics; mitochondrial fission; mitochondrial fusion; mitophagy; pathogen

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/febs.16126

Cell Death Dis. 2021 Jul 15. 12(7): 711

Effect of the mitochondrial unfolded protein response on hypoxic death and mitochondrial protein aggregation.

Junyi Yan, Chun-Ling Sun, Seokyung Shin, Marc Van Gilst, C Michael Crowder.

Mitochondria are the main oxygen consumers in cells and as such are the primary organelle affected by hypoxia. All hypoxia pathology presumably derives from the initial mitochondrial dysfunction. An early event in hypoxic pathology in C. elegans is disruption of mitochondrial proteostasis with induction of the mitochondrial unfolded protein response (UPRmt) and mitochondrial protein aggregation. Here in C. elegans, we screen through RNAis and mutants that confer either strong resistance to hypoxic cell death or strong induction of the UPRmt to determine the relationship between hypoxic cell death, UPRmt activation, and hypoxia-induced mitochondrial protein aggregation (HIMPA). We find that resistance to hypoxic cell death invariantly mitigated HIMPA. We also find that UPRmt activation invariantly mitigated HIMPA. However, UPRmt activation was neither necessary nor sufficient for resistance to hypoxic death and vice versa. We conclude that UPRmt is not necessarily hypoxia protective against cell death but does protect from mitochondrial protein aggregation, one of the early hypoxic pathologies in C. elegans.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41419-021-03979-z

J Cell Biol. 2021 Sep 06. pii: e202005193. [Epub ahead of print]220(9):

Long-lived mitochondrial cristae proteins in mouse heart and brain.

Ewa Bomba-Warczak, Seby L Edassery, Timothy J Hark, Jeffrey N Savas.

Long-lived proteins (LLPs) have recently emerged as vital components of intracellular structures whose function is coupled to long-term stability. Mitochondria are multifaceted organelles, and their function hinges on efficient proteome renewal and replacement. Here, using metabolic stable isotope labeling of mice combined with mass spectrometry (MS)-based proteomic analysis, we demonstrate remarkable longevity for a subset of the mitochondrial proteome. We discovered that mitochondrial LLPs (mt-LLPs) can persist for months in tissues harboring long-lived cells, such as brain and heart. Our analysis revealed enrichment of mt-LLPs within the inner mitochondrial membrane, specifically in the cristae subcompartment, and demonstrates that the mitochondrial proteome is not turned over in bulk. Pioneering cross-linking experiments revealed that mt-LLPs are spatially restricted and copreserved within protein OXPHOS complexes, with limited subunit exchange throughout their lifetimes. This study provides an explanation for the exceptional mitochondrial protein lifetimes and supports the concept that LLPs provide key structural stability to multiple large and dynamic intracellular structures.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.202005193