|
Advertisement | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 282, Issue 31, 22977-22983, August 3, 2007
Mitochondrial Fission and Fusion Mediators, hFis1 and OPA1, Modulate Cellular Senescence*
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ABSTRACT |
|---|
|
|
|---|
-galactosidase activity was elevated, and the rate of cell proliferation was greatly reduced, indicating that cells lacking hFis1 undergo senescence-associated phenotypic changes. Reintroduction of the hFis1 gene into hFis1-depleted cells restored mitochondrial fragmentation and suppressed senescence-associated
-galactosidase activity. Moreover, depletion of both hFis1 and OPA1, a critical component of mitochondrial fusion, resulted in extensive mitochondrial fragmentation and markedly rescued cells from senescence-associated phenotypic changes. Intriguingly, sustained elongation of mitochondria was associated with decreased mitochondrial membrane potential, increased reactive oxygen species production, and DNA damage. The data indicate that sustained mitochondrial elongation induces senescence-associated phenotypic changes that can be neutralized by mitochondrial fragmentation. Thus, one of the key functions of mitochondrial fission might be prevention of the sustained extensive mitochondrial elongation that triggers cellular senescence. | INTRODUCTION |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Despite relatively intensive studies on the components of the mitochondrial fission and fusion machineries, a link between mitochondrial dynamics and cellular function is only partly established. Mitochondria undergo morphological change during mating (12), meiosis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae (13), and during human spermatogenesis (14) and oogenesis (15). Furthermore, dramatic shape changes of mitochondria occur during cell death. During the early step of apoptosis, the mitochondrial network disintegrates, resulting in mitochondrial fragmentation and condensation (16-19). Upon induction of apoptosis, Drp1 translocates to the potential scission sites of mitochondria (20) and Bax co-localizes with Drp1 and Mfn2 at distinct foci on mitochondria (21, 22). Recently, OPA1, along with rhomboid PARL, has been shown to protect cells from apoptosis by controlling the remodeling of mitochondrial cristae (23, 24). In addition, Bax and Bak (25) are essential for mitochondrial morphogenesis in healthy cells. These findings suggest that mitochondrial dynamics plays an important role in both cellular functions involved in cell survival and cell death.
Inhibition of mitochondrial fusion significantly affects cellular function. Disruption of mitochondrial fusion by knockdown of Mfns or OPA1 leads to mitochondrial fragmentation, and targeted null mutations of either Mfn1 or Mfn2 in mice triggered mid-gestational lethality (9). Mfn-null or OPA1-RNAi cells show severe defects in mitochondrial fusion as well as cellular dysfunctions, including poor cell growth and decreased cellular respiration (26). Notably, mutations in genes controlling mitochondrial fusion have been directly associated with several human diseases. Mutations in Mfn2 were found in patients with Charcot-Marie-Tooth neuropathy type 2A (27, 28), and mutations in the OPA1 gene have been shown to cause dominant optic atrophy (29, 30). Thus, defects in mitochondrial fusion cause cellular dysfunctions that relate to different human diseases. So far, however, it is unclear how defects in mitochondrial fission, which result in the formation of elongated net-like structures, affect cellular function.
In this study, we have focused on clarifying the cellular functions of mitochondrial fission by efficiently blocking the fission event using hFis1 RNAi. Our results reveal that hFis1 knockdown leads to sustained mitochondrial elongation and senescence-associated phenotypic changes, and further show that these changes could be suppressed by reconstitution of mitochondrial fission, suggesting that mitochondrial fission opposing mitochondrial fusion is required for normal cell growth in mammalian cells. Here we report and discuss a novel cellular function of mitochondrial fission, a defense role against stress-induced cellular senescence.
| EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES |
|---|
|
|
|---|
-H2AX and
-tubulin was obtained from Upstate%20Biotechnology">Upstate Biotechnology, Inc. (Lake Placid, NY), and Calbiochem. The anti-
-actin and anti-c-Myc antibodies were obtained from Sigma. Cell Culture, RNAi by shRNA Gene Silencing System, and Transfection—Chang (CCL-13, ATCC) and HeLa cells were grown in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DMEM, Invitrogen) supplemented with 10% heat-inactivated fetal bovine serum (Invitrogen), 1% antibiotic-antimycotic (Invitrogen) and maintained in 5% CO2 at 37 °C. RNAi was performed using the short hairpin-activated gene silencing system (31). The plasmids containing hFis1 shRNA or OPA1 shRNA mRNA sequences (31) were expressed under the pREP4 (Invitrogen), which allows for long term suppression of gene expression. These shRNA systems were shown to specifically suppress hFis1 and OPA1 gene expression in HeLa cells (31). One day after transfection with these pREP4 constructs using polyethyleneimine, Chang or HeLa cells were grown in the presence of 200 µg/ml hygromycin B for 2 days. Any dying cells were removed by brief centrifugation, and the cells selected were reseeded on the plates, which is designated as day 0, and further grown in DMEM containing 30 µg/ml hygromycin B for the indicated times.
Immunofluorescence Staining and Confocal Microscopy—Chang cells expressing appropriate RNAi constructs were seeded onto coverslips and grown in the DMEM containing 30 µg/ml hygromycin B. For visualization of mitochondria, cells were stained for 30 min with 125 nM MitoTracker RedTM and fixed in a solution of methanol:acetone (1:1) for 10 min. Fixed cells were permeabilized for 5 min in PBS containing 0.075% Triton X-100, preincubated in blocking solution (1% bovine serum albumin in PBS), and then incubated overnight with appropriate primary antibodies at 4 °C. The cells were then washed, probed with a fluorescence-conjugated secondary antibody, and mounted for microscopic observation. For analysis of mitochondrial membrane potential, cells were incubated for 20 min in culture medium containing 5 µg/ml JC-1 and analyzed by microscopy. All images were captured with an LSM510 Zeiss confocal microscopy (Carl Zeiss, Thornwood, NY).
Senescence-associated
-Galactosidase Assay—Senescence-associated
-galactosidase was assayed at pH 6.0 (32). Briefly, cells were washed with PBS and fixed in 2% formaldehyde, 0.2% glutaraldehyde (Sigma) for 10 min. After fixation, cells washed with PBS and then incubated overnight in freshly prepared staining solution (40 mM citrate-phosphate buffer, pH 6.0, containing 1 mg/ml 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl-
-D-galactopyranoside (X-gal) (Roche Applied Science), 5 mM potassium ferrocyanide (Sigma), 5 mM potassium ferricyanide (Sigma), 150 mM NaCl, and 2 mM MgCl2). After incubation for 48 h, senescence-associated
-galactosidase-positive cells were counted. The results are the average of at least three independent experiments.
Cell Proliferation Assay—Cell proliferation was determined by evaluating metabolically active cells using an XTT assay kit (Roche Applied Science) according to the manufacturer's protocol. Briefly, RNAi-transfected cells were plated at a density of 1 x 103 cells/well in a 96-well plate in the presence of 30 µg/ml hygromycin B. After incubation for indicated days, 50 µl containing the XTT labeling mixture, XTT labeling reagent, and electron coupling reagent was added to each well, and the plate was incubated for 4 h at 37 °C. Absorbance generated by the formazan product was measured at 450 nm using an automatic microplate reader. The presented results are the average of at least three independent experiments. For viable cell counting, cells were plated in a density of 1 x 104 cells/well in a 12-well plate in the presence of 30 µg/ml hygromycin B. Each indicated day, cell numbers were counted using hemocytometer after trypan blue staining in four independent experiments.
Analysis of Cellular Granularity, Mitochondrial Transmembrane Potential (
m), and Intracellular ROS Levels and by Flow Cytometry—Cellular granularity was quantified by analyzing the 90° side light scatter under flow cytometry. To assess changes in mitochondrial membrane potential (
m), cells transfected with the shRNA constructs were incubated for 20 min with 5 µg/ml of JC-1 fluorescent dye and washed with PBS. For quantification of 
m disruption, JC-1-stained cells were collected by trypsinization, and the green fluorescence intensities (representing the degree of 
m disruption) were measured by flow cytometry (FACS Vantage, BD Biosciences). Intracellular ROS levels were determined by staining cells with 10 mM of DCFH-DA fluorescence dye for 20 min, and the fluorescent intensities were also quantified by flow cytometry. The presented results are the average of at least three independent experiments.
|
RNA Isolation and Reverse Transcription-PCR—Total RNA was extracted using TRIzol reagent (Invitrogen) according to the manufacturer's instructions. To synthesize first strand cDNA, 1 µg of RNA was reverse-transcribed using reverse transcriptase from avian myeloblastosis virus (Takara, Japan). The synthesized cDNAs were amplified in triplicate using specific primers. The primers used were as follows: TGase 2 sense primer, 5'-CTCGTGGAGCCAGTTATCAACAGCTAC-3'; TGase 2 antisense primer, 5'-TCTCGAAGTTCACCACCAGCTTGTG-3'; hFis1 sense primer, 5'-GTCGACATGGAGGCCGTGCTGAAC-3'; hFis1 antisense primer, 5'-CGGCCGTCAGGATTTGGACTTGGA-3'; GAPDH sense primer, 5'-CCATGGAGAAGGCTGGGG-3'; and GAPDH antisense primer, 5'-CAAAGTTGTCATGGATGACC-3'.
Statistical Analyses—The error bars on figures represent the mean ± S.D. of all determinations. All the experiments were repeated at least three times. Two-sided unpaired t tests were used to assess statistical significance.
| RESULTS |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Notably, the hFis1 knockdown cells exhibited significant cellular morphological changes. The hFis1 knockdown cells started becoming progressively flattened on day 2 and were obviously flattened and enlarged on day 4 (Fig. 2A), showing a phenotype similar to that of cells undergoing senescence. Typically, cells entering senescence remain in a nondividing state and undergo dramatic changes in cellular morphology with increased cellular granularity (33-35). The changes in cell granularity were assessed by flow cytometry. The 90° side light scatter values were significantly higher in the hFis1 knockdown cells than in control cells, showing 2-fold increase on day 2 and
3-fold increase on day 4 (Fig. 2B). Microscopic evaluations revealed that the proliferation of hFis1-depleted cells was noticeably slow. Indeed, cell growth of the hFis1-depleted cells was found to be significantly retarded in measuring cell numbers (Fig. 2C) and by XTT assays (data not shown). To assess whether these senescence phenotypes are caused by an hFis1 depletion-specific event, we established the cell lines stably overexpressing the Mfn1 or Drp1K38A gene. These cells exhibited mild phenotypes in mitochondrial elongation as well as in morphological changes of senescence (data not shown). Collectively, these findings indicate that the sustained extensive elongation of mitochondria accompanies the senescence-associated morphological changes.
|
-galactosidase activity has been used as a reliable biochemical marker for cellular senescence (33-35). On days 4 and 5,
30% of the hFis1 RNAi cells stained positive for senescence-associated
-galactosidase (Fig. 2, D and E; blue-colored cells), whereas no staining was observed in control cells. Reverse transcription-PCR analysis of hFis1 RNAi cells for expression of TGase 2, being up-regulated in senescent cells (36), revealed the increased TGase 2 mRNA expression (Fig. 2F). Together, these results indicate that prolonged depletion of hFis1 can induce senescence-associated phenotypic changes.
Reconstitution of hFis1 to the hFis1-depleted Cells Reduces Positive Senescence-associated
-Galactosidase Staining—To confirm that the observed senescence-associated phenotypic changes in hFis1 RNAi cells were the result of hFis1 depletion, we reconstituted hFis1 expression in the hFis1 RNAi cells using a vector encoding a Myc-tagged wild type hFis1 cDNA. Because the RNAi target sequence corresponds to 3'-untranslated region of hFis1 cDNA, reconstituted hFis1, which does not contain the RNAi target sequence, can be expressed in hFis1 RNAi cells. The myc-hFis1 plasmid was transfected into the hFis1 RNAi cells, and immunoblotting with an anti-Myc antibody confirmed the expression of Myc-tagged hFis1 (Fig. 3C). Microscopy analysis revealed that the reintroduction of hFis1 triggered fragmentation of the extended tubular mitochondrial network induced by hFis1 depletion, and the re-expressed Myc-hFis1 was co-localized to the fragmented mitochondria (Fig. 3A). In contrast, the reintroduction of hFis1 mutant lacking the transmembrane domain (hFis1
TM) could not be recruited to mitochondria nor induce mitochondrial fragmentation (Fig. 3A). Restoration of hFis1 expression in hFis1 RNAi cells caused a significant reduction of senescence-associated
-galactosidase, but no effect was observed by introduction of hFis1
TM (Fig. 3B). In addition, overexpression of Drp1 neither induced mitochondrial fragmentation (data not shown) nor rescued cells from senescence-associated changes in hFis1-depleted cells (Fig. 3B), suggesting that additional Drp1 overexpression without appropriate interaction with hFis1 cannot induce mitochondrial fission. Because hFis1 knockdown by itself did not affect endogenous cellular levels of mitochondrial fission and fusion molecules (data not shown), including Drp1 (Fig. 3D), we conclude that hFis1 depletion did indeed cause the observed senescence-associated phenotypic changes.
OPA1 Knockdown Reverses the hFis1 Knockdown-induced Senescence-associated Phenotypic Changes—We next speculated that if the prolonged mitochondrial elongation induced by hFis1 depletion caused senescence-associated changes, then inhibition of mitochondrial fusion leading to mitochondrial fragmentation in these cells might counteract those changes. Inhibition of mitochondrial fusion can be induced either by depletion of Mfns or OPA1 (26). Cells depleted of OPA1 showed severe mitochondrial fragmentation, and simultaneous silencing of the genes encoding OPA1 and hFis1 also triggered extensive mitochondria fragmentation in Chang cells (Fig. 4A), consistent with the previous observation in HeLa cells (31). Notably, the senescent cell morphology (flattening) was significantly decreased in the double RNAi cells (supplemental Fig. 1). Diminished levels of hFis1 and OPA1 were confirmed by immunoblotting (Fig. 4B). Furthermore, hFis1 and OPA1 double-knockdown cells showed significant decreases in positive senescence-associated
-galactosidase staining (Fig. 4C; supplemental Fig. 2) as well as in cellular granularity (Fig. 4D). Furthermore, we also found that a dramatic retardation of cell growth in hFis1 knockdown cells was restored in double RNAi cells (Fig. 4E). This rules out off-target effects of the hFis1 RNAi that could be involved in senescence induction, and indicates that mitochondrial fusion unbalanced by fission is the cause. Moreover, given that elongation of mitochondria would be a causative factor for the senescence, overexpression of OPA1 increasing mitochondrial fusion could induce similar senescence-associated changes of cells. We found that overexpression of YFP-OPA1 fusion protein properly targeted to mitochondria (supplemental Fig. 3) induced mitochondrial fusion and increased senescence-associated
-galactosidase activity (Student's t test, p < 0.05). However, mitochondrial elongation and interconnection induced by OPA1 overexpression was never as serious as those found in hFis1 knockdown cells. It is likely that the intracellular level of OPA1 is not a limiting factor in the control of the mitochondrial fusion process, and under those conditions mitochondrial fission molecules still counteract mitochondrial elongation. Contrary to previous reports (26, 37), we did not observe cell growth inhibition in OPA1 RNAi cells (Fig. 4E; supplemental Fig. 2). This is likely due to the fact that our selection protocol included the removal of early apoptotic cells from the OPA1 RNAi cultures, and we analyzed the cells capable of surviving under the low concentration of hygromycin B. These findings collectively indicate that sustained mitochondrial elongation, not just inhibition of mitochondrial fission per se, may be the primary cause of senescence-associated changes in hFis1 knockdown cells.
|

m; Fig. 5B). In control RNAi cells, high (red fluorescence) and low (green) 
m values were equally abundant (Fig. 5B, right) after staining with the 
m-sensitive JC-1 fluorescence dye. In contrast, mitochondria in the hFis1-depleted cells showed a significant reduction of red fluorescence but an increase of green fluorescence. Flow cytometric increase of green fluorescent intensity in hFis1-depleted cells indicated an increased population of mitochondria with low 
m in these cells. Although both TMRE/TMRM and JC-1 reflect the status of 
m, we experienced that quantification of fluorescent intensities after TMRE/TMRM staining can be interfered with by extensive mitochondrial elongation or by increased mitochondria mass (data not shown). Finally, we examined the possibility of DNA damage in hFis1 RNAi cells. It is known that
-H2AX, a histone H2A variant, is phosphorylated upon DNA damage and moves to the DNA damage foci (38). Likewise, the phosphorylated
-H2AX foci in the nuclei of hFis1-depleted cells were significantly elevated with
40% of the cells on day 4 (Fig. 5C), indicating that DNA strand breakage occurs in these cells. Thus, prolonged depletion of hFis1 induces loss of 
m, accumulation of ROS, and DNA strand breakage, which may at least partly contribute to the observed senescence-associated phenotypic changes. | DISCUSSION |
|---|
|
|
|---|
|
|

m. Interestingly, in cells depleted of both hFis1 and OPA1, senescent-associated changes were significantly suppressed, and cell proliferation rate was restored where mitochondria remained severely fragmented (Fig. 5). Depletion of OPA1 is known to sensitize cells to apoptotic stimuli (31, 37). A recent study revealed that OPA1-mediates regulation of mitochondrial cristae remodeling that is independent of the mitochondrial fusion process (24). Although depletion of OPA1 initially increased the population of apoptotic cells in cultures containing a high concentration of hygromycin B during transfectant selection, in the absence of an external apoptotic stimulus, the remaining cells appeared healthy and showed normal cell proliferation rates in the presence of a lower concentration of antibiotic (Fig. 5). Simultaneous depletion of hFis1 and OPA1 or sequential depletion of OPA1 followed by hFis1 shRNA transfection resulted in the same severe mitochondrial fragmentation, indicating that mitochondria were predominantly fragmented in the absence of an active fusion process as reported previously (31) and, remarkably, blocked senescence induction. This rules out off-target effects of the hFis1 RNAi that could be involved in senescence induction and indicates that mitochondrial fusion unbalanced by fission is the cause. In conclusion, these data suggest that sustained mitochondrial elongation, not just inhibition of mitochondrial fission per se, may be a primary cause for senescence-associated cellular changes and further suggest that dynamic mitochondrial fission is needed to prevent cells from undergoing senescence-associated phenotypic changes.
| FOOTNOTES |
|---|
The on-line version of this article (available at http://www.jbc.org) contains supplemental Figs. 1-3. ![]()
1 Both authors contributed equally to this work. ![]()
2 To whom correspondence should be addressed: Dept. of Biochemistry, Ajou University School of Medicine, 5 Wonchon-dong, Yeongtong-gu, Suwon 443-721, Korea. Tel.: 82-31-219-5052; Fax: 82-31-219-5059; E-mail: hscho{at}ajou.ac.kr.
3 The abbreviations used are: Mfn, mitofusin; JC-1, 5,50,6,60-tetrachloro-1,10,3, 30-tetrathylbenzimidazole carbocyanide iodide; 
m, mitochondrial membrane potential; TGase 2, transglutaminase 2; ROS, reactive oxygen species; DMEM, Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium; PBS, phosphate-buffered saline; GAPDH, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase; RNAi, RNA interference; shRNA, short hairpin RNA; XTT, sodium 3'-1-(phenylaminocarbonyl)-3,4-tetrazolium-bis(4-methoxy-6-nitro)benzene sulfonic acid hydrate. ![]()
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
|---|
| REFERENCES |
|---|
|
|
|---|
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
M. Liesa, M. Palacin, and A. Zorzano Mitochondrial Dynamics in Mammalian Health and Disease Physiol Rev, July 1, 2009; 89(3): 799 - 845. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
P. J. Adhihetty, G. Uguccioni, L. Leick, J. Hidalgo, H. Pilegaard, and D. A. Hood The role of PGC-1{alpha} on mitochondrial function and apoptotic susceptibility in muscle Am J Physiol Cell Physiol, July 1, 2009; 297(1): C217 - C225. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
X. Wang, B. Su, S. L. Siedlak, P. I. Moreira, H. Fujioka, Y. Wang, G. Casadesus, and X. Zhu Amyloid-{beta} overproduction causes abnormal mitochondrial dynamics via differential modulation of mitochondrial fission/fusion proteins PNAS, December 9, 2008; 105(49): 19318 - 19323. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
K.-S. Park, A. Wiederkehr, C. Kirkpatrick, Y. Mattenberger, J.-C. Martinou, P. Marchetti, N. Demaurex, and C. B. Wollheim Selective Actions of Mitochondrial Fission/Fusion Genes on Metabolism-Secretion Coupling in Insulin-releasing Cells J. Biol. Chem., November 28, 2008; 283(48): 33347 - 33356. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
J. Verburg and P. J. Hollenbeck Mitochondrial Membrane Potential in Axons Increases with Local Nerve Growth Factor or Semaphorin Signaling J. Neurosci., August 13, 2008; 28(33): 8306 - 8315. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
D.-F. Suen, K. L. Norris, and R. J. Youle Mitochondrial dynamics and apoptosis Genes & Dev., June 15, 2008; 22(12): 1577 - 1590. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
A. C. Poole, R. E. Thomas, L. A. Andrews, H. M. McBride, A. J. Whitworth, and L. J. Pallanck The PINK1/Parkin pathway regulates mitochondrial morphology PNAS, February 5, 2008; 105(5): 1638 - 1643. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
G. Hudson, P. Amati-Bonneau, E. L. Blakely, J. D. Stewart, L. He, A. M. Schaefer, P. G. Griffiths, K. Ahlqvist, A. Suomalainen, P. Reynier, et al. Mutation of OPA1 causes dominant optic atrophy with external ophthalmoplegia, ataxia, deafness and multiple mitochondrial DNA deletions: a novel disorder of mtDNA maintenance Brain, February 1, 2008; 131(2): 329 - 337. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
J. F. Passos, G. Saretzki, and T. von Zglinicki DNA damage in telomeres and mitochondria during cellular senescence: is there a connection? Nucleic Acids Res., December 3, 2007; 35(22): 7505 - 7513. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
| All ASBMB Journals | Molecular and Cellular Proteomics |
| Journal of Lipid Research | ASBMB Today |