bims-mitlys Biomed News
on Mitochondria and Lysosomes
Issue of 2021–06–27
ten papers selected by
Nicoletta Plotegher, University of Padova



  1. Dev Cell. 2021 Jun 24. pii: S1534-5807(21)00481-0. [Epub ahead of print]
      Mitochondria are critical metabolic and signaling hubs, and dysregulated mitochondrial homeostasis is implicated in many diseases. Degradation of damaged mitochondria by selective GABARAP/LC3-dependent macro-autophagy (mitophagy) is critical for maintaining mitochondrial homeostasis. To identify alternate forms of mitochondrial quality control that functionally compensate if mitophagy is inactive, we selected for autophagy-dependent cancer cells that survived loss of LC3-dependent autophagosome formation caused by inactivation of ATG7 or RB1CC1/FIP200. We discovered rare surviving autophagy-deficient clones that adapted to maintain mitochondrial homeostasis after gene inactivation and identified two enhanced mechanisms affecting mitochondria including mitochondrial dynamics and mitochondrial-derived vesicles (MDVs). To further understand these mechanisms, we quantified MDVs via flow cytometry and confirmed an SNX9-mediated mechanism necessary for flux of MDVs to lysosomes. We show that the autophagy-dependent cells acquire unique dependencies on these processes, indicating that these alternate forms of mitochondrial homeostasis compensate for loss of autophagy to maintain mitochondrial health.
    Keywords:  ATG7; FIP200; SNX9; autophagy; cancer; late endosomes; mitochondria; mitochondrial dynamics; mitochondrial-derived vesicles; mitophagy
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.devcel.2021.06.003
  2. EMBO J. 2021 Jun 21. e100715
      Clearance of mitochondria following damage is critical for neuronal homeostasis. Here, we investigate the role of Miro proteins in mitochondrial turnover by the PINK1/Parkin mitochondrial quality control system in vitro and in vivo. We find that upon mitochondrial damage, Miro is promiscuously ubiquitinated on multiple lysine residues. Genetic deletion of Miro or block of Miro1 ubiquitination and subsequent degradation lead to delayed translocation of the E3 ubiquitin ligase Parkin onto damaged mitochondria and reduced mitochondrial clearance in both fibroblasts and cultured neurons. Disrupted mitophagy in vivo, upon post-natal knockout of Miro1 in hippocampus and cortex, leads to a dramatic increase in mitofusin levels, the appearance of enlarged and hyperfused mitochondria and hyperactivation of the integrated stress response (ISR). Altogether, our results provide new insights into the central role of Miro1 in the regulation of mitochondrial homeostasis and further implicate Miro1 dysfunction in the pathogenesis of human neurodegenerative disease.
    Keywords:  Parkinson’s disease; Rhot1; Rhot2; eIF2α; megamitochondria
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.15252/embj.2018100715
  3. Cell Death Dis. 2021 Jun 19. 12(7): 632
      Dysregulation of the PINK1/Parkin-mediated mitophagy is essential to Parkinson's disease. Although important progress has been made in previous researches, the biochemical reagents that induce global and significant mitochondrial damage may still hinder deeper insights into the mechanisms of mitophagy. The origin of PINK1/Parkin pathway activation in mitophagy remains elusive. In this study, we develop an optical method, ultra-precise laser stimulation (UPLaS) that delivers a precise and noninvasive stimulation onto a submicron region in a single mitochondrial tubular structure. UPLaS excites localized mitochondrial Ca2+ (mitoCa2+) oscillations with tiny perturbation to mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) or mitochondrial reactive oxygen species. The UPLaS-induced mitoCa2+ oscillations can directly induce PINK1 accumulation and Parkin recruitment on mitochondria. The Parkin recruitment by UPLaS requires PINK1. Our results provide a precise and noninvasive technology for research on mitophagy, which stimulates target mitochondria with little damage, and reveal mitoCa2+ oscillation directly initiates the PINK1-Parkin pathway for mitophagy without MMP depolarization.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41419-021-03913-3
  4. J Cell Mol Med. 2021 Jun 23.
      Mitochondria are important organelles in eukaryotic cells. Normal mitochondrial homeostasis is subject to a strict mitochondrial quality control system, including the strict regulation of mitochondrial production, fission/fusion and mitophagy. The strict and accurate modulation of the mitochondrial quality control system, comprising the mitochondrial fission/fusion, mitophagy and other processes, can ameliorate the myocardial injury of myocardial ischaemia and ischaemia-reperfusion after myocardial infarction, which plays an important role in myocardial protection after myocardial infarction. Further research into the mechanism will help identify new therapeutic targets and drugs for the treatment of myocardial infarction. This article aims to summarize the recent research regarding the mitochondrial quality control system and its molecular mechanism involved in myocardial infarction, as well as the potential therapeutic targets in the future.
    Keywords:  ischemia-reperfusion; mitochondrial apoptosis; mitochondrial fission; mitochondrial fusion; mitochondrial quality control; myocardial infarction
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1111/jcmm.16744
  5. Front Cell Dev Biol. 2021 ;9 664896
      Autophagy, an evolutionarily conserved process, plays an important role in maintaining cellular homeostasis under physiological and pathophysiological conditions. It is widely believed that mitochondria influence the development of disease by regulating cellular metabolism. When challenged by different stimuli, mitochondria may experience morphological disorders and functional abnormalities, leading to a selective form of autophagy-mitophagy, which can clear damaged mitochondria to promote mitochondrial quality control. Sepsis is a complex global problem with multiple organ dysfunction, often accompanied by manifold mitochondrial damage. Recent studies have shown that autophagy can regulate both innate and acquired immune processes to protect against organ dysfunction in sepsis. Sepsis-induced mitochondrial dysfunction may play a pathophysiological role in the initiation and progression of sepsis-induced organ failure. Mitophagy is reported to be beneficial for sepsis by eliminating disabled mitochondria and maintaining homeostasis to protect against organ failure. In this review, we summarize the recent findings and mechanisms of mitophagy and its involvement in septic organ dysfunction as a potential therapeutic target.
    Keywords:  autophagy; mitochondria; mitophagy; organ dysfunction; sepsis
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3389/fcell.2021.664896
  6. Front Aging Neurosci. 2021 ;13 687246
      Ischemic stroke is a severe cerebrovascular disease with high mortality and morbidity. In recent years, reperfusion treatments based on thrombolytic and thrombectomy are major managements for ischemic stroke patients, and the recanalization time window has been extended to over 24 h. However, with the extension of the time window, the risk of ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury following reperfusion therapy becomes a big challenge for patient outcomes. I/R injury leads to neuronal death due to the imbalance in metabolic supply and demand, which is usually related to mitochondrial dysfunction. Mitophagy is a type of selective autophagy referring to the process of specific autophagic elimination of damaged or dysfunctional mitochondria to prevent the generation of excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the subsequent cell death. Recent advances have implicated the protective role of mitophagy in cerebral ischemia is mainly associated with its neuroprotective effects in I/R injury. This review discusses the involvement of mitochondria dynamics and mitophagy in the pathophysiology of ischemic stroke and I/R injury in particular, focusing on the therapeutic potential of mitophagy regulation and the possibility of using mitophagy-related interventions as an adjunctive approach for neuroprotective time window extension after ischemic stroke.
    Keywords:  ischemia/reperfusion injury (I/R injury); ischemic stroke; mitochondrial dysfunction; mitophagy; recanalization therapy; therapeutic window
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2021.687246
  7. EMBO J. 2021 Jun 21. e107240
      Efficient degradation of by-products of protein biogenesis maintains cellular fitness. Strikingly, the major biosynthetic compartment in eukaryotic cells, the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), lacks degradative machineries. Misfolded proteins in the ER are translocated to the cytosol for proteasomal degradation via ER-associated degradation (ERAD). Alternatively, they are segregated in ER subdomains that are shed from the biosynthetic compartment and are delivered to endolysosomes under control of ER-phagy receptors for ER-to-lysosome-associated degradation (ERLAD). Demannosylation of N-linked oligosaccharides targets terminally misfolded proteins for ERAD. How misfolded proteins are eventually marked for ERLAD is not known. Here, we show for ATZ and mutant Pro-collagen that cycles of de-/re-glucosylation of selected N-glycans and persistent association with Calnexin (CNX) are required and sufficient to mark ERAD-resistant misfolded proteins for FAM134B-driven lysosomal delivery. In summary, we show that mannose and glucose processing of N-glycans are triggering events that target misfolded proteins in the ER to proteasomal (ERAD) and lysosomal (ERLAD) clearance, respectively, regulating protein quality control in eukaryotic cells.
    Keywords:  ER-phagy; ERAD; ERLAD; N-glycan processing; Protein quality control
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.15252/embj.2020107240
  8. Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2021 Jun 22. pii: S0959-4388(21)00057-X. [Epub ahead of print]69 231-240
      Neural stem cells (NSCs) undergo massive molecular and cellular changes during neuronal differentiation. These include mitochondria and metabolism remodelling, which were thought to be mostly permissive cues, but recent work indicates that they are causally linked to neurogenesis. Striking remodelling of mitochondria occurs right after mitosis of NSCs, which influences the postmitotic daughter cells towards self-renewal or differentiation. The transitioning to neuronal fate requires metabolic rewiring including increased oxidative phosphorylation activity, which drives transcriptional and epigenetic effects to influence cell fate. Mitochondria metabolic pathways also contribute in an essential way to the regulation of NSC proliferation and self-renewal. The influence of mitochondria and metabolism on neurogenesis is conserved from fly to human systems, but also displays striking differences linked to cell context or species. These new findings have important implications for our understanding of neurodevelopmental diseases and possibly human brain evolution.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conb.2021.05.003
  9. Sci Adv. 2021 Jun;pii: eabg3012. [Epub ahead of print]7(26):
      Protein aggregation causes intracellular changes in neurons, which elicit signals to modulate proteostasis in the periphery. Beyond the nervous system, a fundamental question is whether other organs also communicate their proteostasis status to distal tissues. Here, we examine whether proteostasis of the germ line influences somatic tissues. To this end, we induce aggregation of germline-specific PGL-1 protein in germline stem cells of Caenorhabditis elegans Besides altering the intracellular mitochondrial network of germline cells, PGL-1 aggregation also reduces the mitochondrial content of somatic tissues through long-range Wnt signaling pathway. This process induces the unfolded protein response of the mitochondria in the soma, promoting somatic mitochondrial fragmentation and aggregation of proteins linked with neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington's and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Thus, the proteostasis status of germline stem cells coordinates mitochondrial networks and protein aggregation through the organism.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abg3012