Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Trafficking

LDLs take a shortcut to mitochondria

Nature Cell Biology volume 25, pages 919–920 (2023)Cite this article

Subjects

Receptor-mediated endocytosis delivers low-density lipoproteins (LDLs) to late endosomes, from where cholesterol is trafficked to mitochondria. Zhou et al. report that LDL-containing endosomes fuse with mitochondria, supplying cholesterol for steroid biosynthesis and enabling mitochondrial degradation of the LDL receptor.

Steroid hormones include glucocorticoids, androgens or estrogens, and mineralocorticoids. These hormones all derive from cholesterol and are essential for organismal stress responses, sexual characteristics, and water–salt balance1. Cholesterol can be synthesized by the mevalonate pathway in the liver and intestine, and in steroidogenic tissues such as adrenal glands, testes and ovaries. In addition, steroidogenic tissues use exogenous cholesterol transported by LDLs for the biosynthesis of steroid hormones.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Endosome–mitochondria fusion delivers LDL-derived cholesterol for mitochondrial steroidogenesis.

References

  1. Miller, W. L. & Auchus, R. J. Endocr. Rev. 32, 81–151 (2011).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Brown, M. S. & Goldstein, J. L. Science 232, 34–47 (1986).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Wasilewski, M. et al. Curr. Biol. 22, 1228–1234 (2012).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Zhou, X. Y. et al. Nat. Cell Biol. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41556-023-01160-6 (2023).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Choi, S. Y. et al. Nat. Cell Biol. 8, 1255–1262 (2006).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Watanabe, T. et al. Dev. Cell 20, 364–375 (2011).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  7. Scorrano, L. et al. Nat. Commun. 10, 1287 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  8. Das, A., Nag, S., Mason, A. B. & Barroso, M. M. J. Cell Biol. 214, 831–845 (2016).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  9. Kurokawa, K., Okamoto, M. & Nakano, A. Nat. Commun. 5, 3653 (2014).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Sugiura, A., McLelland, G. L., Fon, E. A. & McBride, H. M. EMBO J. 33, 2142–2156 (2014).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  11. Calore, F. et al. Cell Death Differ. 17, 1707–1716 (2010).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Wang, T. S., Coppens, I., Saorin, A., Brady, N. R. & Hamacher-Brady, A. Dev. Cell 53, 627–645 (2020).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  13. Delprat, B., Maurice, T. & Delettre, C. Cell Death Dis. 9, 364 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  14. Demory, M. L. et al. J. Biol. Chem. 284, 36592–36604 (2009).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

    Satoko Shinjo & Luca Scorrano

  2. Veneto Institute of Molecular Medicine, Padova, Italy

    Satoko Shinjo & Luca Scorrano

Authors
  1. Satoko Shinjo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Luca Scorrano
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Luca Scorrano.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Shinjo, S., Scorrano, L. LDLs take a shortcut to mitochondria. Nat Cell Biol 25, 919–920 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41556-023-01166-0

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41556-023-01166-0

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing