Preprint Article Version 2 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

The Charcot Marie Tooth Disease Mutation R94Q in MFN2 Decreases ATP Production but Increases Mitochondrial Respiration under Conditions of Mild Oxidative Stress

Christina Wolf
ORCID logo ,
Rahel Zimmermann
,
Osamah Thaher
,
Diones Bueno
ORCID logo ,
Verena Wüllner
,
Michael K.E. Schäfer
,
Philipp Albrecht
,
Axel Methner
* ORCID logo
Version 1 : Received: 4 September 2019 / Approved: 5 September 2019 / Online: 5 September 2019 (11:11:50 CEST)
Version 2 : Received: 8 September 2019 / Approved: 9 September 2019 / Online: 9 September 2019 (11:46:36 CEST)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Wolf, C.; Zimmermann, R.; Thaher, O.; Bueno, D.; Wüllner, V.; Schäfer, M.K.; Albrecht, P.; Methner, A. The Charcot–Marie Tooth Disease Mutation R94Q in MFN2 Decreases ATP Production but Increases Mitochondrial Respiration under Conditions of Mild Oxidative Stress. Cells 2019, 8, 1289. Wolf, C.; Zimmermann, R.; Thaher, O.; Bueno, D.; Wüllner, V.; Schäfer, M.K.; Albrecht, P.; Methner, A. The Charcot–Marie Tooth Disease Mutation R94Q in MFN2 Decreases ATP Production but Increases Mitochondrial Respiration under Conditions of Mild Oxidative Stress. Cells 2019, 8, 1289.

Abstract

Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease is a hereditary polyneuropathy caused by mutations in Mitofusin-2 (MFN2), a GTPase in the outer mitochondrial membrane involved in the regulation of mitochondrial fusion and bioenergetics. Autosomal-dominant inheritance of a R94Q mutation in MFN2 causes the axonal subtype 2A2A which is characterized by early onset and progressive atrophy of distal muscles caused by motoneuronal degeneration. Here, we studied mitochondrial shape, respiration, cytosolic and mitochondrial ATP content as well as mitochondrial quality control in MFN2-deficient fibroblasts stably expressing wildtype or R94Q MFN2. Under normal culture conditions, R94Q cells had slightly more fragmented mitochondria but a similar mitochondrial oxygen consumption, membrane potential and ATP production as wildtype cells. However, when inducing mild oxidative stress 24 h before analysis using 100 µM hydrogen peroxide, R94Q cells exhibited significantly increased respiration but decreased mitochondrial ATP production. This was accompanied by increased glucose uptake and an upregulation of hexokinase 1 and pyruvate kinase M2 suggesting increased pyruvate shuttling into mitochondria. As these changes coincided with decreased levels of PINK1/Parkin-mediated mitophagy in R94Q cells, we conclude that the disease-causing R94Q mutation in MFN2 causes uncoupling of mitochondrial respiration from ATP production by a less efficient mitochondrial quality control triggered by oxidative stress.

Keywords

Oxidative stress, MFN2, mitochondria, fusion/fission

Subject

Biology and Life Sciences, Cell and Developmental Biology

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Comments (1)

Comment 1
Received: 9 September 2019
Commenter: Axel Methner
Commenter's Conflict of Interests: Author
Comment: Revised abstract, text and author list. New author #8 is #2, I have no idea how this can be changed here.
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