Weidberg, H. | bioRxiv Science

bioRxiv2023

ATAD1 and the integrated stress response prevent clogging of TOM and damage caused by un-imported mitochondrial proteins

Mitochondria require the constant import of nuclear-encoded proteins for proper functioning. Impaired protein import not only depletes mitochondria of essential factors but also leads to toxic accumulation of un-imported proteins outside the organelle. Defects in mitochondrial protein import are associated with neurodegenerative and bioenergetic diseases. Here, we investigated the consequences of mitochondrial protein import stress in human cells. We demonstrated that un-imported proteins can clog the mitochondria by stalling inside the translocase of the outer membrane (TOM). We found that the integrated stress response (ISR) acted as the first line of defense to mitochondrial clogging by attenuating global protein translation and preventing excessive accumulation of un-imported proteins. A second mechanism, mediated by a mitochondrial ATPase, ATAD1, acted specifically to remove proteins from TOM and clear the entry gate into the mitochondria. ATAD1 interacted with both TOM and stalled proteins, and its knockout resulted in extensive accumulation of mitochondrial precursors as well as decreased protein import. Increased ATAD1 expression improved tolerance of cells to defective mitochondrial protein import, demonstrating the importance of this quality control pathway in surveilling protein import and its contribution to cellular health.

cell biology↗

bioRxiv2020

UPRmt scales mitochondrial network expansion with protein synthesis via mitochondrial import

As organisms develop, individual cells generate mitochondria to fulfill physiologic requirements. However, it remains unknown how mitochondrial network expansion is scaled to cell growth and impacted by environmental cues. The mitochondrial unfolded protein response (UPRmt) is a signaling pathway mediated by the transcription factor ATFS-1 which harbors a mitochondrial targeting sequence (MTS)1. Here, we demonstrate that ATFS-1 mediates an adaptable mitochondrial expansion program that is active throughout normal development. Developmental mitochondrial network expansion required the relatively inefficient MTS2 in ATFS-1, which allowed the transcription factor to be responsive to parameters that impact protein import capacity of the entire mitochondrial network. Increasing the strength of the ATFS-1 MTS impaired UPRmt activity throughout development due to increased accumulation within mitochondria. The insulin-like signaling-TORC13 and AMPK pathways affected UPRmt activation4,5 in a manner that correlated with protein synthesis. Manipulation to increase protein synthesis caused UPRmt activation. Alternatively, S6 kinase inhibition had the opposite effect due to increased mitochondrial accumulation of ATFS-1. However, ATFS-1 with a dysfunctional MTS6 constitutively increased UPRmt activity independent of TORC1 function. Lastly, expression of a single protein with a strong MTS, was sufficient to expand the muscle cell mitochondrial network in an ATFS-1-dependent manner. We propose that mitochondrial network expansion during development is an emergent property of the synthesis of highly expressed mitochondrial proteins that exclude ATFS-1 from mitochondrial import, causing UPRmt activation. Mitochondrial network expansion is attenuated once ATFS-1 can be imported.

molecular biology↗