Casler Jason C, Lackner Laura L
Department of Molecular Biosciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.
Curr Opin Cell Biol. 2025 Aug;95:102535. doi: 10.1016/j.ceb.2025.102535. Epub 2025 May 28.
The continuous remodeling of the mitochondrial network through fusion, fission, transport, and turnover events, collectively known as mitochondrial dynamics, is essential for the maintenance of mitochondrial metabolic and genomic health. While the primary molecular machines that mediate these processes were discovered decades ago, the regulation of mitochondrial dynamics clearly involves additional factors. A major breakthrough came from the discovery that sites of close apposition between organelles, known as membrane contact sites (MCSs), serve as critical regulators of organelle function. MCSs between mitochondria and the ER are now universally recognized as important regulatory hubs of mitochondrial dynamics. Despite this, there are still many unknowns pertaining to the mechanisms by which MCSs influence mitochondrial dynamics. In this review, we describe recent progress identifying novel protein and lipid components that regulate mitochondrial dynamics and emphasize clear gaps in our understanding of how mitochondrial dynamics are coordinated at MCSs. Finally, we conclude by discussing progress towards defining the highly biomedically relevant, but enigmatic, role of mitochondrial dynamics in the preservation of mitochondrial DNA integrity.
线粒体网络通过融合、裂变、运输和周转事件进行的持续重塑,统称为线粒体动力学,对于维持线粒体代谢和基因组健康至关重要。虽然介导这些过程的主要分子机器在几十年前就已被发现,但线粒体动力学的调节显然涉及其他因素。一个重大突破来自于发现细胞器之间紧密相邻的位点,即膜接触位点(MCSs),是细胞器功能的关键调节因子。线粒体与内质网之间的MCSs现在被普遍认为是线粒体动力学的重要调节枢纽。尽管如此,关于MCSs影响线粒体动力学的机制仍有许多未知之处。在这篇综述中,我们描述了在鉴定调节线粒体动力学的新型蛋白质和脂质成分方面的最新进展,并强调了我们在理解MCSs如何协调线粒体动力学方面存在的明显差距。最后,我们通过讨论在定义线粒体动力学在保护线粒体DNA完整性方面高度相关但神秘的作用方面的进展来得出结论。