Host: The Japanese Society of Toxicology
Name : The 50th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Toxicology
Date : June 19, 2023 - June 21, 2023
Mitochondria are multifunctional organelles that have critical roles not only in energy production by oxidative phosphorylation but also in various cellular signaling pathways. Mitochondria dynamically change their structure with active membrane fusion and fission in response to cellular signaling and differentiation. Dynamin-related GTPase Drp1 plays a key role in mitochondrial fission, and several Drp1 receptors, such as Mff, is an OM-anchored proteins that recruit Drp1 to the mitochondrial fission sites. Mitochondria have their own DNA, mtDNA, which is essential for the respiratory function. We found that distribution of mtDNA was altered in mitochondrial fission deficient cells, which should be related to maintenance of mitochondrial functions. Recently we also found that mitochondrial fission factors play critical roles in cellular signaling in cultured cells and differentiation in vivo. Here we would like to discuss physiological roles of mitochondrial dynamics.
