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MitoLoc: A method for the simultaneous quantification of mitochondrial network morphology and membrane potential in single cells.


Type

Article

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Authors

Vowinckel, Jakob 
Hartl, Johannes 

Abstract

Mitochondria assemble into flexible networks. Here we present a simple method for the simultaneous quantification of mitochondrial membrane potential and network morphology that is based on computational co-localisation analysis of differentially imported fluorescent marker proteins. Established in, but not restricted to, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, MitoLoc reproducibly measures changes in membrane potential induced by the uncoupling agent CCCP, by oxidative stress, in respiratory deficient cells, and in ∆fzo1, ∆ref2, and ∆dnm1 mutants that possess fission and fusion defects. In combination with super-resolution images, MitoLoc uses 3D reconstruction to calculate six geometrical classifiers which differentiate network morphologies in ∆fzo1, ∆ref2, and ∆dnm1 mutants, under oxidative stress and in cells lacking mtDNA, even when the network is fragmented to a similar extent. We find that mitochondrial fission and a decline in membrane potential do regularly, but not necessarily, co-occur. MitoLoc hence simplifies the measurement of mitochondrial membrane potential in parallel to detect morphological changes in mitochondrial networks. Marker plasmid open-source software as well as the mathematical procedures are made openly available.

Description

Keywords

Membrane potential, Mitochondrial morphology, Quantitative microscopy, Super resolution microscopy, Biometry, Genes, Reporter, Imaging, Three-Dimensional, Membrane Potentials, Microscopy, Fluorescence, Mitochondria, Models, Theoretical, Single-Cell Analysis, Staining and Labeling

Journal Title

Mitochondrion

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1567-7249
1872-8278

Volume Title

24

Publisher

Elsevier BV
Sponsorship
Wellcome Trust (093735/Z/10/Z)
European Research Council (260809)
This work was supported by funding from the Wellcome Trust (RG 093735/Z/10/Z) and the ERC (Starting grant 260809). M.R. is a Wellcome Trust Research Career Development and Wellcome-Beit prize fellow.