In-cell structures of conserved supramolecular protein arrays at the mitochondria-cytoskeleton interface in mammalian sperm.

ABSTRACT: Mitochondria-cytoskeleton interactions modulate cellular physiology by regulating mitochondrial transport, positioning, and immobilization. However, there is very little structural information defining mitochondria-cytoskeleton interfaces in any cell type. Here, we use cryofocused ion beam milling-enabled cryoelectron tomography to image mammalian sperm, where mitochondria wrap around the flagellar cytoskeleton. We find that mitochondria are tethered to their neighbors through intermitochondrial linkers and are anchored to the cytoskeleton through ordered arrays on the outer mitochondrial membrane. We use subtomogram averaging to resolve in-cell structures of these arrays from three mammalian species, revealing they are conserved across species despite variations in mitochondrial dimension

SUBMITTER: Leung MR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8609336 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature