A Bi-fluorescence complementation system to detect associations between the Endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria.

ABSTRACT: Close contacts between the endoplasmic reticulum membrane and the mitochondrial outer membrane facilitate efficient transfer of lipids between the organelles and coordinate Ca²⁺ signalling and stress responses. Changes to this coupling is associated with a number of metabolic disorders and neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and motor neuron disease. The distance between the two membranes at regions of close apposition is below the resolution of conventional light microscopy, which makes analysis of these interactions challenging. Here we describe a new bifluorescence complementation (BiFC) method that labels a subset of ER-mitochondrial associations in fixed and living cells. The total number of ER-mitochondria associations detected by this approach in

SUBMITTER: Harmon M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5727038 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature