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jcb Home » 2009 Archive » 9 March » 184 (5): 707
Article

Bcl-xL increases mitochondrial fission, fusion, and biomass in neurons

Sarah B. Berman, Ying-bei Chen, Bing Qi, J. Michael McCaffery, Edmund B. Rucker, Sandra Goebbels, Klaus-Armin Nave, Beth A. Arnold, Elizabeth A. Jonas, Fernando J. Pineda, J. Marie Hardwick
Sarah B. Berman
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Ying-bei Chen
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Bing Qi
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J. Michael McCaffery
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Edmund B. Rucker
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Sandra Goebbels
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Klaus-Armin Nave
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Beth A. Arnold
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Elizabeth A. Jonas
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Fernando J. Pineda
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J. Marie Hardwick
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DOI: 10.1083/jcb.200809060 | Published March 2, 2009
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Abstract

Mitochondrial fission and fusion are linked to synaptic activity in healthy neurons and are implicated in the regulation of apoptotic cell death in many cell types. We developed fluorescence microscopy and computational strategies to directly measure mitochondrial fission and fusion frequencies and their effects on mitochondrial morphology in cultured neurons. We found that the rate of fission exceeds the rate of fusion in healthy neuronal processes, and, therefore, the fission/fusion ratio alone is insufficient to explain mitochondrial morphology at steady state. This imbalance between fission and fusion is compensated by growth of mitochondrial organelles. Bcl-xL increases the rates of both fusion and fission, but more important for explaining the longer organelle morphology induced by Bcl-xL is its ability to increase mitochondrial biomass. Deficits in these Bcl-xL–dependent mechanisms may be critical in neuronal dysfunction during the earliest phases of neurodegeneration, long before commitment to cell death.

Footnotes

  • Abbreviations used in this paper: cKO, conditional knockout; DIV, days in vitro; dn, dominant negative; DrOF, direct observation of fission/fusion; E, embryonic day; mtPA-GFP, mitochondria-targeted photoactivatable-GFP; mtRFP, mitochondria-targeted red fluorescent protein; VDAC, voltage-dependent anion channel.

    • Submitted: 10 September 2008
    • Accepted: 22 January 2009
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© 2009 Berman et al. This article is distributed under the terms of an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike–No Mirror Sites license for the first six months after the publication date (see http://www.jcb.org/misc/terms.shtml). After six months it is available under a Creative Commons License (Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported license, as described at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/).
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Bcl-xL increases mitochondrial fission, fusion, and biomass in neurons
Sarah B. Berman, Ying-bei Chen, Bing Qi, J. Michael McCaffery, Edmund B. Rucker, Sandra Goebbels, Klaus-Armin Nave, Beth A. Arnold, Elizabeth A. Jonas, Fernando J. Pineda, J. Marie Hardwick
The Journal of Cell Biology Mar 2009, 184 (5) 707-719; DOI: 10.1083/jcb.200809060

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The Journal of Cell Biology: 217 (4)

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April 2, 2018
Volume 217, No. 4

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