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Autophagy

Shaping the fate of mitochondria

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology volume 12, pages 344–345 (2011)Cite this article

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In mammals, mitochondrial fusion is regulated by the dynamin-related GTPases optic atrophy 1 (OPA1), mitofusin 1 (MFN1) and MFN2, and mitochondrial fission is regulated by dynamin-related protein 1 (DRP1; also known as DNM1L). The authors first assessed the morphology of mitochondria during starvation-induced autophagy using confocal microscopy, observing that they become elongated. As starvation-induced elongation was not observed in cells deficient for OPA1 or MFN1 and MFN2, the authors concluded that elongation depends on mitochondrial fusion.

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References

ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. Gomes, L. C., Di Benedetto, G. & Scorrano, L. During autophagy mitochondria elongate, are spared from degradation and sustain cell viability. Nature Cell Biol. 10 Apr 2011 (doi:10.1038/ncb2220)

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FURTHER READINGS

  1. Westermann, B. Mitochondrial fusion and fission in cell life and death. Nature Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 11, 872–884 (2010)

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  2. Youle, R. J. & Narendra, D. P. Mechanisms of mitophagy. Nature Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 12, 9–14 (2011)

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Authors
  1. Katharine H. Wrighton
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Wrighton, K. Shaping the fate of mitochondria. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 12, 344–345 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrm3116

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