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Mitochondrial distress call moves to the cytosol to trigger a response to stress

Cellular stress can result in dysfunction and disease, and mechanisms exist to combat this. Previously unknown steps have been uncovered in a pathway that signals when mitochondrial organelles are dysfunctional.
  1. Bradford P. Tremblay

    1. Bradford P. Tremblay is in the Department of Molecular, Cell and Cancer Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts 01605, USA.

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  2. Cole M. Haynes

    1. Cole M. Haynes is in the Department of Molecular, Cell and Cancer Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts 01605, USA.

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Organelles called mitochondria are responsible for storing energy derived from the food that we eat, in the form of molecules called ATP. Although a mitochondrion has its own genome, 99% of this organelle’s proteins1 are encoded by nuclear genes and imported from the cytosol (the liquid part of the cytoplasm) into the mitochondrion. To function effectively, this process requires coordination and communication, and it must be able to respond to any mitochondrial dysfunction that might occur. Environmental toxins2 and disease-causing agents3, as well as diverse age-associated conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease4 and Parkinson’s disease5, are associated with mitochondrial dysfunction. Writing in Nature, Guo et al.6 and Fessler et al.7 report a previously unknown mechanism that is used by mitochondria to send a signal of their dysfunction to the cytosol and nucleus, enabling the cell to adapt to mitochondrial stress.

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Nature 579, 348-349 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-00552-0

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