Respiratory chain complexes in dynamic mitochondria display a patchy distribution in life cells.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Mitochondria, the main suppliers of cellular energy, are dynamic organelles that fuse and divide frequently. Constraining these processes impairs mitochondrial is closely linked to certain neurodegenerative diseases. It is proposed that functional mitochondrial dynamics allows the exchange of compounds thereby providing a rescue mechanism.

Methodology/principal findings

The question discussed in this paper is whether fusion and fission of mitochondria in different cell lines result in re-localization of respiratory chain (RC) complexes and of the ATP synthase. This was addressed by fusing cells containing mitochondria with respiratory complexes labelled with different fluorescent proteins and resolving their time dependent re-localization in living cells. We found

SUBMITTER: Muster B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2912852 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature