Screen the chemicals that efficiently induce mitophagy

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25560414
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Chemical biology
• Research Institution: Niigata University
• Principal Investigator: KANKI Tomotake 新潟大学, 医歯学系, 教授 (50398088)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): YAMASHITA Tomohiro 九州大学, 薬学研究科(研究院), 特任助教 (30645635)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): YAMASHITA Shun-ichi 新潟大学, 医歯学系, 特任助教 (30529095)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: ミトコンドリア / オートファジー

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Mitophagy is a process that degrades cytoplasmic proteins and organelles. Recent studies revealed that autophagy selectively degrade mitochondria and this process is called mitochondria autophagy or mitophagy. Mitophagy is conserved within almost all eukaryote. Recently, it is known that mitophagy selectively degrade damaged or dysfunctional mitochondria, in another word, mitophagy contribute to maintain cellular mitochondrial homeostasis. In this study, we aim to identify the chemicals that efficiently induce mitophagy and applied the chemicals for clinical use. We identified several candidate chemicals which can induce mitophagy.

Free Research Field

細胞生物学