Three dimensional ultrastructural background of mitochondrial dynamics using novel CLEM method

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K08165
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: General anatomy (including histology/embryology)
• Research Institution: Kurume University
• Principal Investigator: Ohta Keisuke 久留米大学, 医学部, 准教授 (00258401)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): Nakamura Kei-ichiro 久留米大学, 医学部, 教授 (20172398) ; Iwane Atsuko 大阪大学, 生命機能研究科, 招聘教授 (30252638) ; Togo Akinobu 久留米大学, 医学部, 技術職員 (80569517) ; Okayama Satoko 久留米大学, 医学部, 研究補助員 (90733163)
• Research Collaborator: Miyazono Yoshihiro 久留米大学, 医学部, 助教 (80748674)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: マイトファジー / 膜電位低下 / ストマトサイト / 膜動態 / リングミトコンドリア / CLEM / 3D-CLEM / 電子顕微鏡

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Mitochondria shape is drastically changed by cellular physiology. Mitochondrial dysfunction such as loss of membrane potential induces fragmentation of them, but the meaning of the mitochondrial structural variation has not been established. In this study, we developed a novel observation technique to address the detail structural backbone of mitochodrial dynamics and visualized the 3D microstructure of a moment of mitocondrial structural transformation. Here, we found that uncoupler administrated dysfunctional mitochondria shrank from their tubular shape into a globular shape without any fission and fusion and most of the globular mitochondria had some dents which shape was also referred as stomatocyte shape. This result strongly suggests existanse of hypothetic mitochondrial structural support mechanisms and loss of membrane potential probably trigger dissociation of the mechanisms. So our finding would be a key to understand the unique mitochondrial shape and their dynamics.

Free Research Field

組織学・細胞生物学