Regulation of mitochondrial morphology and cell survival by Mitogenin I and mitochondrial single-stranded DNA binding protein

Biochim Biophys Acta. 2006 Sep;1760(9):1364-72. doi: 10.1016/j.bbagen.2006.05.012. Epub 2006 Jun 10.

Abstract

We found that a mouse homolog of human DNA polymerase delta interacting protein 38, referred to as Mitogenin I in this paper, and mitochondrial single-stranded DNA-binding protein (mtSSB), identified as upregulated genes in the heart of mice with juvenile visceral steatosis, play a role in the regulation of mitochondrial morphology. We demonstrated that overexpression of Mitogenin I or mtSSB increased elongated or fragmented mitochondria in mouse C2C12 myoblast cells, respectively. On the other hand, the silencing of Mitogenin I or mtSSB by RNA interference led to an increase in fragmented or elongated mitochondria in the cells, respectively, suggesting that Mitogenin I and mtSSB are involved in the processes of mitochondrial fusion and fission, respectively. In addition, we showed that the silencing of Mitogenin I resulted in an increase in the number of trypan blue-positive cells and the silencing of mtSSB resulted in an enhancement of the sensitivity of the cells to apoptotic stimulation by etoposide. The present results demonstrated that these proteins play a role in cell survival.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • Cell Line
  • Cell Survival
  • DNA-Binding Proteins / chemistry
  • DNA-Binding Proteins / genetics
  • DNA-Binding Proteins / metabolism*
  • Gene Silencing
  • Mice
  • Mitochondria / metabolism*
  • Mitochondrial Proteins / chemistry
  • Mitochondrial Proteins / genetics
  • Mitochondrial Proteins / metabolism*
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Nuclear Proteins

Substances

  • DNA-Binding Proteins
  • Mitochondrial Proteins
  • Nuclear Proteins
  • mitogenin 1 protein, mouse
  • mtSSB protein, mouse