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. 2019 Oct;22(10):1731-1742.
doi: 10.1038/s41593-019-0479-z. Epub 2019 Sep 9.

Cell-type-specific profiling of brain mitochondria reveals functional and molecular diversity

Caroline Fecher #  1   2   3 , Laura Trovò #  1   2 , Stephan A Müller  2   4 , Nicolas Snaidero  1   2 , Jennifer Wettmarshausen  5   6 , Sylvia Heink  7 , Oskar Ortiz  8   9   10 , Ingrid Wagner  11 , Ralf Kühn  8   9   12   13 , Jana Hartmann  14 , Rosa Maria Karl  14 , Arthur Konnerth  14   15   16 , Thomas Korn  7   15 , Wolfgang Wurst  2   8   9   15 , Doron Merkler  11   17 , Stefan F Lichtenthaler  2   4   15 , Fabiana Perocchi  5   6   15 , Thomas Misgeld  18   19   20   21
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Cell-type-specific profiling of brain mitochondria reveals functional and molecular diversity

Caroline Fecher et al. Nat Neurosci. 2019 Oct.

Abstract

Mitochondria vary in morphology and function in different tissues; however, little is known about their molecular diversity among cell types. Here we engineered MitoTag mice, which express a Cre recombinase-dependent green fluorescent protein targeted to the outer mitochondrial membrane, and developed an isolation approach to profile tagged mitochondria from defined cell types. We determined the mitochondrial proteome of the three major cerebellar cell types (Purkinje cells, granule cells and astrocytes) and identified hundreds of mitochondrial proteins that are differentially regulated. Thus, we provide markers of cell-type-specific mitochondria for the healthy and diseased mouse and human central nervous systems, including in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Alzheimer's disease. Based on proteomic predictions, we demonstrate that astrocytic mitochondria metabolize long-chain fatty acids more efficiently than neuronal mitochondria. We also characterize cell-type differences in mitochondrial calcium buffering via the mitochondrial calcium uniporter (Mcu) and identify regulator of microtubule dynamics protein 3 (Rmdn3) as a determinant of endoplasmic reticulum-mitochondria proximity in Purkinje cells. Our approach enables exploring mitochondrial diversity in many in vivo contexts.

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Comment in

  • Many makes of mitochondria.
    Bray N. Bray N. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2019 Nov;20(11):645. doi: 10.1038/s41583-019-0229-y. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2019. PMID: 31554939 No abstract available.

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