Project description:Dysfunctional Parkin-mediated mitophagic culling of senescent or damaged mitochondria is a major pathological process underlying Parkinson disease and a potential genetic mechanism of cardiomyopathy. Despite epidemiological associations between Parkinson disease and heart failure, the role of Parkin and mitophagic quality control in maintaining normal cardiac homeostasis is poorly understood.We used germline mutants and cardiac-specific RNA interference to interrogate Parkin regulation of cardiomyocyte mitochondria and examine functional crosstalk between mitophagy and mitochondrial dynamics in Drosophila heart tubes. 5 wild-type mouse hearts; 4 germline Parkin knockout mouse hearts Please note that the mouse cardiac examples were an adjunct to the Drosophila studies that comprised most of the associated publication. However, mRNA-sequencing was only performed on the mouse samples, not the Drosophila heart tubes.
Project description:Dysfunctional Parkin-mediated mitophagic culling of senescent or damaged mitochondria is a major pathological process underlying Parkinson disease and a potential genetic mechanism of cardiomyopathy. Despite epidemiological associations between Parkinson disease and heart failure, the role of Parkin and mitophagic quality control in maintaining normal cardiac homeostasis is poorly understood.We used germline mutants and cardiac-specific RNA interference to interrogate Parkin regulation of cardiomyocyte mitochondria and examine functional crosstalk between mitophagy and mitochondrial dynamics in Drosophila heart tubes.
Project description:Clearance of damaged mitochondria via mitophagy is crucial for cellular homeostasis. While the role of ubiquitin (Ub) ligase PARKIN in mitophagy has been extensively studied, increasing evidence suggests the existence of PARKIN-independent mitophagy in highly metabolically active organs such as the heart. Here, we identify a crucial role for Cullin-RING Ub ligase 5 (CRL5) in basal mitochondrial turnover in cardiomyocytes. CRL5 is a multi-subunit Ub ligase comprised by the catalytic RING box protein RBX2 (also known as SAG), scaffold protein Cullin 5 (CUL5), and a substrate-recognizing receptor. Analysis of the mitochondrial outer membrane-interacting proteome uncovered a robust association of CRLs with mitochondria. Subcellular fractionation, immunostaining, and immunogold electron microscopy established that RBX2 and Cul5, two core components of CRL5, localizes to mitochondria. Depletion of RBX2 inhibited mitochondrial ubiquitination and turnover, impaired mitochondrial membrane potential and respiration, and increased cell death in cardiomyocytes. In vivo, deletion of the Rbx2 gene in adult mouse hearts suppressed mitophagic activity, provoked accumulation of damaged mitochondria in the myocardium, and disrupted myocardial metabolism, leading to rapid development of dilated cardiomyopathy and heart failure. Similarly, ablation of RBX2 in the developing heart resulted in dilated cardiomyopathy and heart failure. Notably, the action of RBX2 in mitochondria is not dependent on PARKIN, and PARKIN gene deletion had no impact on the onset and progression of cardiomyopathy in RBX2-deficient hearts. Furthermore, RBX2 controls the stability of PINK1 in mitochondria. Proteomics and biochemical analyses further revealed a global impact of RBX2 deficiency on the mitochondrial proteome and identified several mitochondrial proteins as its putative substrates. These findings identify RBX2-CRL5 as a mitochondrial Ub ligase that controls mitophagy under physiological conditions in a PARKIN-independent, PINK1-dependent manner, thereby regulating cardiac homeostasis.
Project description:Exclusion of Parkin from mitochondria of perinatal cardiomyocytes interrupts structural and molecular transformations essential to normal perinatal-adult mitochondrial replacement. mRNA-sequencing from cardiac total RNA was performed at P1, P21 and 5-week stages of nontransgenic (ntg) and human-Mfn2-overexpressing (Mfn2wt) hearts, and also of tet-off control (tetoff) and human-Mfn2 T111A/S442A-overexpressing (Mfn2AA) hearts.
Project description:Down syndrome (DS), a complex genetic disorder caused by chromosome 21 trisomy, is associated with mitochondrial dysfunction leading to the accumulation of damaged mitochondria. Here we report that mitophagy, a form of selective autophagy activated to clear damaged mitochondria is deficient in primary human fibroblasts derived from individuals with DS leading to accumulation of damaged mitochondria with consequent increases in oxidative stress. We identified two molecular bases for this mitophagy deficiency: PINK1/PARKIN impairment and abnormal suppression of macroautophagy. First, strongly downregulated PARKIN and the mitophagic adaptor protein SQSTM1/p62 delays PINK1 activation to impair mitophagy induction after mitochondrial depolarization by CCCP or antimycin A plus oligomycin. Secondly, mTOR is strongly hyper-activated, which globally suppresses macroautophagy induction and the transcriptional expression of proteins critical for autophagosome formation such as ATG7, ATG3 and FOXO1. Notably, inhibition of mTOR complex 1 (mTORC1) and complex 2 (mTORC2) using AZD8055 (AZD) restores autophagy flux, PARKIN/PINK initiation of mitophagy, and the clearance of damaged mitochondria by mitophagy. These results recommend mTORC1-mTORC2 inhibition as a promising candidate therapeutic strategy for Down Syndrome.
Project description:This study aims to investigate the role and mechanism of DEK in asthmatic airway inflammation and in regulating PTEN-induced putative kinase 1 (PINK1)-Parkin mediated mitophagy, NLRP3 (NOD-like receptor family pyrin domain containing 3) inflammasome activation, and apoptosis. We found that recombinant DEK protein (rmDEK) promoted eosinophils recruitment, mitochondrial fragmentation, and outer membrane 20 (TOM20) and LC3 co-localization representing mitophagosomes in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) in house dust mite (HDM) induced-asthma. rmDEK also reduced co-localization of mitochondrial fusion protein mitofusin1 (MFN1) and mitochondria, and the protein level of manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD), enhanced microtubule-associated protein1 light chain 3 (LC3) and voltage-dependent anion channels (VDAC) co-localization which also represent the mitophagosomes in airway epithelial cells, furthermore, increased dynamin-related protein 1 (DRP1) expression, PINK1-Parkin-mediated mitophagy, NLRP3 inflammasome activation, and apoptosis. In the DEK knockout mice, HDM induced asthmatic airway inflammation, MnSOD, PINK1-Parkin protein level, Parkin mediated mitophagy characterized by LC3 and Parkin co-localization in the airways, ROS generation, NLRP3 inflammation and apoptosis were fully reversed. Similar effects of rmDEK were also observed in the BEAS-2B cells, which were rescued by the autophagy inhibitor 3-MA. Moreover, DEK silencing diminished the Parkin, LC3, DRP1 translocation to mitochondria; as well as mitochondrial ROS; TOM20 and mitochondrial DNA mediated mitochondrial oxidative damage. ChIP-sequence analysis showed that DEK was enriched on the AAA domain-containing protein 3A (ATAD3A) promoter and could positively regulate ATAD3A expression. Additionally, ATAD3A was highly expressed in HDM-induced asthma models. Furthermore, ATAD3A interacted with DRP1, and knockdown of ATAD3A could down-regulate DRP1 and mitochondrial oxidative damage. Conclusively, DEK deficiency alleviates airway inflammation in asthma by down-regulating PINK1-Parkin mitophagy, NLRP3 inflammasome activation, and apoptosis. The mechanism may be through the DEK/ATAD3A/DRP1 signaling axis. Our findings may provide new potential therapeutic targets for asthma treatment.
Project description:Enhancing mitophagy, a naturally-occurring cellular process for elimination of damaged mitochondria, holds great promise for the intervention of many human diseases. Proteolysis-targeting chimeras (PROTACs) are heterobifunctional molecules that induce ubiquitination and subsequent proteasome-mediated degradation of a target protein through simultaneously binding to the target protein and an E3 ubiquitin ligase. However, the narrow cavity of the proteasome prevents the degradation of mitochondria. Here we show that the E3 ubiquitin ligase MAP3K1, when recruited to the outer mitochondria membrane (OMM) protein TSPO by our PROTAC-designed molecules (termed “mitophagy-enhancing chimeras”, or MECs), induced extensive K63 ubiquitination of TSPO and other OMM proteins, reminiscent of the PINK1-activated Parkin, without triggering proteasome-mediated degradation of TSPO. Aided by NBR1 and Nur77, this increased K63 ubiquitination of OMM proteins triggered mitophagy exclusively for damaged mitochondria, leading to improved mitochondria function and diminished cellular ROS. With the capability to enhance mitophagy at low nanomolar concentrations, MECs effectively inhibited NLRP3 inflammasome activation, abrogated acetaminophen-induced acute liver injury and mitigated high-fat diet-induced obesity in mice. Our work provided a proof-of-concept for developing unconventionally-acting PROTACs to achieve degradation of damaged mitochondria and possibly other organelles.
Project description:Mitophagy, the selective degradation of mitochondria by autophagy, affects defective mitochondria following damage or stress. At the onset of mitophagy, parkin ubiquitylates proteins on mitochondrial outer membrane (MOM). While the role of parkin at the onset of mitophagy is well understood, less is known about its activity during later stages of the process. Here we used HeLa cells expressing catalytically active or inactive parkin to perform temporal analysis of the proteome, ubiquitylome and phosphoproteome during 18 hours after induction of mitophagy by mitochondrial uncoupler CCCP. Abundance profiles of proteins downregulated in parkin-dependent manner revealed a stepwise, “outside-in” directed degradation of mitochondrial subcompartments. While ubiquitylation of MOM proteins was enriched among early parkin-dependent targets, numerous mitochondrial inner membrane, matrix and cytosolic proteins were also found ubiquitinated at later stages of mitophagy. Phosphoproteome analysis revealed a possible cross-talk between phosphorylation and ubiquitylation during mitophagy on several key parkin targets, such as VDAC1/2.
Project description:PTEN-induced kinase 1 (PINK1) is a very short-lived protein that is required for the removal of damaged mitochondria through Parkin translocation and mitophagy. Because the short half-life of PINK1 limits its ability to be trafficked into neurites, local translation is required for this mitophagy pathway to be active far from the soma. The Pink1 transcript is associated with and cotransported with neuronal mitochondria. In concert with translation, the mitochondrial outer membrane protein Synaptojanin 2 Binding Protein (SYNJ2BP) and Synaptojanin 2 (SYNJ2) are required for tethering Pink1 mRNA to mitochondria via an RNA-binding domain in SYNJ2. This neuron-specific adaptation for local translation of PINK1 provides distal mitochondria with a continuous supply of PINK1 for activation of mitophagy.
Project description:Exclusion of Parkin from mitochondria of perinatal cardiomyocytes interrupts structural and molecular transformations essential to normal perinatal-adult mitochondrial replacement. mRNA-sequencing from cardiac total RNA was performed at P1, P21 and 5-week stages of nontransgenic (ntg) and human-Mfn2-overexpressing (Mfn2wt) hearts, and also of tet-off control (tetoff) and human-Mfn2 T111A/S442A-overexpressing (Mfn2AA) hearts. Libraries from all P1 samples were prepared and analyzed together, and similarly all P21 libraries, and all 5-week libraries together. To facilitate comparison across time points by accounting for batch effect, new libraries were prepared starting from total RNA from selected P21 ntg and 5-week ntg hearts subjected to prior analysis, during the same batch preparation as all P1 samples, and analyzed together. Correction for differences observed between libraries prepared from the same total RNA, but at different times, allows comparison across timepoints.