bims-mitran 2024-09-29 papers

Issue of 2024‒09‒29
three papers selected by
Andreas Kohler, Umeå University

bioRxiv. 2024 Sep 13. pii: 2024.09.13.612863. [Epub ahead of print]

Cytoplasmic ribosomes hitchhike on mitochondria to dendrites.

Corbin J Renken, Susie Kim, Youjun Wu, Marc Hammarlund, Shaul Yogev.

Neurons rely on local protein synthesis to rapidly modify the proteome of neurites distant from the cell body. A prerequisite for local protein synthesis is the presence of ribosomes in the neurite, but the mechanisms of ribosome transport in neurons remain poorly defined. Here, we find that ribosomes hitchhike on mitochondria for their delivery to the dendrite of a sensory neuron in C. elegans. Ribosomes co-transport with dendritic mitochondria, and their association requires the atypical Rho GTPase MIRO-1. Disrupting mitochondrial transport prevents ribosomes from reaching the dendrite, whereas ectopic re-localization of mitochondria results in a concomitant re-localization of ribosomes, demonstrating that mitochondria are required and sufficient for instructing ribosome distribution in dendrites. Endolysosomal organelles that are involved in mRNA transport and translation can associate with mitochondria and ribosomes but do not play a significant role in ribosome transport. These results reveal a mechanism for dendritic ribosome delivery, which is a critical upstream requirement for local protein synthesis.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.09.13.612863

Geroscience. 2024 Sep 23.

Age-induced changes in skeletal muscle mitochondrial DNA synthesis, quantity, and quality in genetically unique rats.

Robert V Musci, Jordan D Fuqua, Frederick F Peelor, Hoang Van Michelle Nguyen, Arlan Richardson, Solbie Choi, Benjamin F Miller, Jonathan Wanagat.

Mitochondrial genomic integrity is a key element of physiological processes and health. Changes in the half-life of the mitochondrial genome are implicated in the generation and accumulation of age-induced mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations, which are implicated in skeletal muscle aging and sarcopenia. There are conflicting data on the half-life of mtDNA, and there is limited information on how aging affects half-life in skeletal muscle. We hypothesized that skeletal muscle mtDNA synthesis rates would decrease with age in both female and male rats concomitant with changes in mtDNA integrity reflected in mtDNA copy number and mutation frequency. We measured mitochondrial genome half-life using stable isotope labeling over a period of 14 days and assessed mtDNA copy number and deletion mutation frequency using digital PCR in the quadriceps muscle of 9-month-old and 26-month-old male and female OKC-HET rats. We found a significant age-related increase in mtDNA half-life, from 132 days at 9 months to 216 days at 26 months of age in OKC-HET quadriceps. Concomitant with the increase in mtDNA half-life, we found an age-related increase in mtDNA deletion mutation frequency in both male and female rats. Notably, 26-month-old female rats had a lower mutation frequency than male rats, and there were no changes in mtDNA copy number with sex, age, or mitochondrial genotype. These data reveal several key findings: (1) mtDNA turnover in rat skeletal muscle decreases with age, (2) mtDNA half-lives in skeletal muscle are approximately an order of magnitude longer than what is reported for other tissues, and (3) muscle mtDNA turnover differs significantly from the turnover of other mitochondrial macromolecules including components of the mitochondrial nucleoid. These findings provide insight into the factors driving age-induced mtDNA mutation accumulation, which contribute to losses of mitochondrial genomic integrity and may play a role in skeletal muscle dysfunction.

Keywords: Aging; Deuterium oxide; Mitochondrial DNA; Mutation; Rats; Skeletal muscle

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11357-024-01344-4

Cell Rep. 2024 Sep 25. pii: S2211-1247(24)01131-8. [Epub ahead of print]43(10): 114780

Macrophage NRF1 promotes mitochondrial protein turnover via the ubiquitin proteasome system to limit mitochondrial stress and inflammation.

Jiawei Yan, Xin Zhang, Huiying Wang, Xinglong Jia, Ruohong Wang, Shuangyang Wu, Zheng-Jiang Zhu, Minjia Tan, Tiffany Horng.

Macrophage elaboration of inflammatory responses is dynamically regulated, shifting from acute induction to delayed suppression during the course of infection. Here, we show that such regulation of inflammation is modulated by dynamic shifts in metabolism. In macrophages exposed to the bacterial product lipopolysaccharide (LPS), an initial induction of protein biosynthesis is followed by compensatory induction of the transcription factor nuclear factor erythroid 2-like 1 (NRF1), leading to increased flux through the ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS). A major target of NRF1-mediated UPS flux is the mitochondrial proteome, and in the absence of NRF1, ubiquitinated mitochondrial proteins accumulate to trigger severe mitochondrial stress. Such mitochondrial stress engages the integrated stress response-ATF4 axis, which limits mitochondrial translation to attenuate mitochondrial stress but amplifies inflammatory responses to augment susceptibility to septic shock. Therefore, NRF1 mediates a dynamic regulation of mitochondrial proteostasis in inflammatory macrophages that contributes to curbing inflammatory responses.

Keywords: CP: Metabolism; CP: Molecular biology; NRF1; immunometabolism; inflammation; integrated stress response; macrophage; mitochondria; proteostasis

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2024.114780