Mitochondrial myopathies: genetic defects

Mitochondria and familial predisposition to breast cancer

Mitochondrial genome and functional alterations are related to various diseases including cancer. In all cases, the role of these organelles is associated with defects in oxidative energy metabolism and control of tumor-induced oxidative stress. The present study examines the involvement of mitochondrial DNA in cancer and in particular in breast cancer. Furthermore, since mitochondrial DNA is maternally inherited, hereditary breast cancer has been focused on.

Cardiac mitochondrial complex activity is enhanced by heat shock proteins

1. Prolonged ischaemia and reperfusion in heart transplantation results in mitochondrial dysfunction and loss of cardio-energetics. Improved myocardial tolerance to ischaemia-reperfusion can be increased by de novo synthesis of heat shock protein (Hsp) groups, transiently expressed following mild hyperthermic or oxidative stress. Consideration of the roles of various Hsp in ischaemic-reperfused myocardium can provide new insights into potential therapeutic adjuncts to cardiac surgery. 2. Several Hsp classes have been located within or in association with mitochondrial elements. Cardiac Hsp research has focused primarily on the 70 kDa group, involved in protein folding functions within the cytosol and matrix. Similarly, Hsp 60 and 10 have been shown to form a mitochondrial chaperonin complex conferring protection to ischaemia-challenged myocytes. Equally pertinent is Hsp 32, an isoform of the haem-metabolizing enzyme heme oxygenase. 3. Our studies have shown that mitochondrial respiratory enzyme activity can be protected by Hsp, affording protection to cardiac energetics during preservation for transplantation. Upregulation of Hsp 32, 60 and 72 in rats, achieved by mild hyperthermic stress, improved cardiac function, ultrastructure and mitochondrial respiratory and complex activities in ex vivo perfused hearts subjected to cold cardioplegic arrest and ischaemia-reperfusion. Pre-ischaemic mitochondrial complex activities were increased in heat stress versus sham-treated groups for complex I, IV and V. 4. Investigation of the direct effect of upregulation of Hsp 72 by gene transfection resulted in a similar pattern of response, with increased complex I activity and improved ventricular function. 5. These studies provide the first evidence of Hsp-mediated enhancement of mitochondrial energetic capacity. Enhanced protection of mitochondrial energetics, as a result of increased Hsp expression, contributes to the recovery of myocardial function in ischaemia-reperfusion.

Heat stress contributes to the enhancement of cardiac mitochondrial complex activity

Hyperthermic stress is known to protect against myocardial dysfunction after ischemia-reperfusion injury. It is unclear however, what energetic mechanisms are affected by the molecular adaptation to heat stress. We hypothesized that mild hyperthermic stress can increase mitochondrial respiratory enzyme activity, affording protection to mitochondrial energetics during prolonged cardiac preservation for transplantation. Rat hearts were excised after heat-stress or sham treatment and subjected to cold cardioplegic arrest and ischemia followed by reperfusion in an ex vivo perfusion system. Cardiac function, mitochondrial respiratory, and complex activities were assessed before and after ischemia. Heat shock protein (Hsp 32, 60, and 72) expression was increased in heat-stressed hearts. This was associated with increased mitochondrial complex activities in heat-stress versus sham-treated groups for complex I-V. During reperfusion, higher complex activities and respiratory control ratios were observed in heat-stressed versus sham-treated groups. Recovery of ventricular function was improved in heat-stressed hearts. Furthermore, mitochondria in reperfused heat-stressed myocardium exhibited intact membranes with packed, parallel, lamellar cristae, whereas in sham-treated myocardium, mitochondria were severely disrupted. This study provides the first evidence of heat-stress-mediated enhancement of mitochondrial energetic capacity. This is associated with increased tolerance to ischemia-reperfusion injury. Protection by heat stress against myocardial dysfunction may be partially due to enhancement of mitochondrial energetics.

Frataxin activates mitochondrial energy conversion and oxidative phosphorylation

Friedreich's ataxia (FA) is an autosomal recessive disease caused by decreased expression of the mitochondrial protein frataxin. The biological function of frataxin is unclear. The homologue of frataxin in yeast, YFH1, is required for cellular respiration and was suggested to regulate mitochondrial iron homeostasis. Patients suffering from FA exhibit decreased ATP production in skeletal muscle. We now demonstrate that overexpression of frataxin in mammalian cells causes a Ca(2+)-induced up-regulation of tricarboxylic acid cycle flux and respiration, which, in turn, leads to an increased mitochondrial membrane potential (delta psi(m)) and results in an elevated cellular ATP content. Thus, frataxin appears to be a key activator of mitochondrial energy conversion and oxidative phosphorylation.

Friedreich's ataxia protein: phylogenetic evidence for mitochondrial dysfunction

Friedreich's ataxia is the most common inherited spinocerebellar ataxia. A decade of linkage and physical mapping studies have culminated in the identification of the Friedreich's ataxia gene. The presence of homologues in purple bacterial genomes, but not in other bacteria, allows us to infer a mitochondrial location for frataxin (Friedreich's ataxia protein) on the basis of bacterial phylogeny. Frataxin possesses a non-globular N-terminus domain providing a candidate mitochondrial targeting peptide. Clues to the function of frataxin are provided by the mitochondrial location, a clinically similar ataxia with vitamin E deficiency, and certain neuropathies with mitochondrial DNA instability caused by mutations in nuclear genes.

The specificity of mitochondrial complex I for ubiquinones

We report the first detailed study on the ubiquinone (coenzyme Q; abbreviated to Q) analogue specificity of mitochondrial complex I, NADH:Q reductase, in intact submitochondrial particles. The enzymic function of complex I has been investigated using a series of analogues of Q as electron acceptor substrates for both electron transport activity and the associated generation of membrane potential. Q analogues with a saturated substituent of one to three carbons at position 6 of the 2,3-dimethoxy-5-methyl-1,4-benzoquinone ring have the fastest rates of electron transport activity, and analogues with a substituent of seven to nine carbon atoms have the highest values of association constant derived from NADH:Q reductase activity. The rate of NADH:Q reductase activity is potently but incompletely inhibited by rotenone, and the residual rotenone-insensitive rate is stimulated by Q analogues in different ways depending on the hydrophobicity of their substituent. Membrane potential measurements have been undertaken to evaluate the energetic efficiency of complex I with various Q analogues. Only hydrophobic analogues such as nonyl-Q or undecyl-Q show an efficiency of membrane potential generation equivalent to that of endogenous Q. The less hydrophobic analogues as well as the isoprenoid analogue Q-2 are more efficient as substrates for the redox activity of complex I than for membrane potential generation. Thus the hydrophilic Q analogues act also as electron sinks and interact incompletely with the physiological Q site in complex I that pumps protons and generates membrane potential.

Transfection of mitochondria: strategy towards a gene therapy of mitochondrial DNA diseases

Successes in classical gene therapies have been achieved by placing a corrected copy of a defective nuclear gene in cells. A similar gene replacement approach for a mutant mitochondrial genome is invariably linked to the use of a yet unavailable mitochondrial transfection vector. Here we show that DNA coupled covalently to a short mitochondrial leader peptide (chimera) can enter mitochondria via the protein import pathway, opening a new way for gene-, antisense-RNA- or antisense-DNA-delivery in molecular therapies. The import behavior of the purified chimera, composed of the amino-terminal leader peptide of the rat ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC) and a double stranded DNA molecule (17 bp or 322 bp), was tested by incubating with coupled and 'energized' rat liver mitochondria in the presence of reticulocyte lysate. The chimera was translocated with a high efficiency into the matrix of mitochondria utilizing the protein import pathway, independent from the size of its passenger DNA.

PCR analysis of platelet mtDNA: lack of specific changes in Parkinson's disease

An alteration within the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has been hypothesized to underlie the deficiencies in mitochondrial complex I activity observed in the platelets, striatal muscle, and brain tissue of individuals with Parkinson's disease. Here we utilized the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to analyze mtDNA obtained from the platelets of nonmedicated patients with early Parkinson's disease (n = 8) and aged-matched controls (n = 6) for the presence of deletion(s) or addition(s) equal to or greater than 50-100 base pairs. Initial attention was focused upon detecting a 4.977 kb deletion previously found in the brains of parkinsonian patients and some aged controls. Indeed, a large deletion of approximately 5.0 kb was observed in the platelet mtDNA from all parkinsonian individuals. However, this defect was also found in all age-matched controls as well as in a group of young healthy subjects (n = 5). In addition, we searched for the presence of smaller changes in platelet mtDNA from parkinsonian patients by PCR analysis of four mtDNA segments that code for seven of the complex I polypeptides. No large deletions or additions were detected within these four regions of mtDNA in any of the disease or age-matched control samples. We conclude that (a) a 4.977 kb deletion is apparently present in a subpopulation of platelet mtDNA from all individuals, and (b) no macrosequence alteration in mtDNA is likely to underlie the deficiency in complex I activity reported in platelet mitochondria from parkinsonian patients.

Random cytochrome-C-oxidase deficiency of oxyphil cell nodules in the parathyroid gland. A mitochondrial cytopathy related to cell ageing?

Cytochrome-c-oxidase (complex IV) was histochemically studied in oncocytic adenoma (n = 10) and carcinoma of the thyroid gland (n = 3), cystadenolymphomas and oncocytic adenomas of the major salivary glands (n = 9), oncocytic neoplasia of the kidney (n = 1) and in 21 parathyroid glands with primary hyperparathyroidism and adenomatous proliferation (n = 17) and secondary hyperparathyroidism with hyperplasia (n = 4). Only in the parathyroids defects of cytochrome-c-oxidase were found being expressed in all 4 glands with hyperplasia (14 defects) and in 5 of the 17 adenomas (11 defects). All defects were confined to foci with oxyphil cell differentiation, the defect areas varying from 0.09 to 21.10 sq mm in hyperplastic glands and from 0.11 to 13.88 sq mm in adenomas, the size of the oxyphil foci varying from 0.12 sq mm-105.38 sq mm. However, not every oxyphil nodule of a gland was devoid of cytochrome-c-oxidase activity. Of 6 predominantly oxyphil adenomas, 4 showed no defects. No defects were observed either in 2 adenomas without oxyphil cells. Further enzymes of the respiratory chain, succinate dehydrogenase (complex II) and ATP synthetase, (complex V) were devoid of defects. In parathyroids with hyperplasia and oxyphil areas, defects of cytochrome-c-oxidase occurred significantly more often and tended to be larger than in adenomas, statistical analysis revealing a significant correlation between the occurrence of defects and the number of oxyphil foci but not with the total oxyphil area.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

The NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase (complex I) of respiratory chains

The inner membranes of mitochondria contain three multi-subunit enzyme complexes that act successively to transfer electrons from NADH to oxygen, which is reduced to water (Fig. I). The first enzyme in the electron transfer chain, NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase (or complex I), is the subject of this review. It removes electrons from NADH and passes them via a series of enzyme-bound redox centres (FMN and Fe-S clusters) to the electron acceptor ubiquinone. For each pair of electrons transferred from NADH to ubiquinone it is usually considered that four protons are removed from the matrix (see section 4.1 for further discussion of this point).

Disruption of mitochondrial energetics and DNA synthesis by the anti-AIDS drug dideoxyinosine

The purpose of this study was to clarify the role of the mitochondria as a site for the reported hepatotoxic effects of the anti-AIDS drug dideoxyinosine (ddI). Data show that ddI interfered with the mitochondrial redox state in perfused livers leading to more oxidized mitochondria. This effect was reflected by a significant decrease in the mitochondrial NADH/NAD+ ratios from basal values of 0.40 +/- 0.04 to 0.28 +/- 0.02 within 10 min following the infusion of ddI. In suspensions of isolated mitochondria utilizing succinate as a substrate, ddI diminished state 3 and stimulated state 4 respiration significantly, suggesting an uncoupling effect by ddI. Incubation of mitochondria with ddI resulted in a significant decrease in the mitochondrial respiratory control ratios (state 3/state 4 respiration) to 0.8 +/- 0.02 from corresponding control values of 6.0 +/- 0.40 Data also show that ddI inhibited mitochondrial DNA synthesis as evidenced by the decrease in [3H]thymidine incorporation into mitochondrial DNA. This study confirms the need for a close monitoring of patients receiving the dideoxyinosine anti-AIDS drugs and for prompt discontinuation of these drugs before potential irreversible liver damage occurs.

Isoforms of human cytochrome-c oxidase. Subunit composition and steady-state kinetic properties

The subunit pattern and the steady-state kinetics of cytochrome-c oxidase from human heart, muscle, kidney and liver were investigated. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of immunopurified cytochrome-c oxidase preparations suggest that isoforms of subunit VIa exist, which show differences in staining intensity and electrophoretic mobility. No differences in subunit pattern were observed between the other nucleus-encoded subunits of the various cytochrome-c oxidase preparations. Tissue homogenates, in which cytochrome-c oxidase was solubilised with laurylmaltoside, were directly used in the assays to study the cytochrome-c oxidase steady-state kinetics. Cytochrome-c oxidase concentrations were determined by immunopurification followed by separation and densitometric analysis of subunit IV. When studied in a medium of low ionic strength, the biphasic kinetics of the steady-state reaction between human ferrocytochrome c and the four human cytochrome-c oxidase preparations revealed large differences for the low-affinity TNmax (maximal turnover number) value, ranging from 77 s-1 for kidney to 273 s-1 for liver cytochrome-c oxidase at pH 7.4, I = 18 mM. It is proposed that the low-affinity kinetic phase reflects an internal electron-transfer step. For the steady-state reaction of human heart cytochrome-c oxidase with human cytochrome c, Km and TNmax values of 9 microM and 114 s-1 were found, respectively, at high ionic strength (I = 200 mM, pH 7.4). Only minor differences were observed in the steady-state activity of the various human cytochrome-c oxidases. The interaction between human cytochrome-c oxidase and human cytochrome-c proved to be highly specific. At high ionic strength, a large decrease in steady-state activity was observed when reduced horse, rat or bovine cytochrome c was used as substrate. Both the steady-state TNmax and Km parameters were strongly affected by the type of cytochrome c used. Our findings emphasize the importance of using human cytochrome c in kinetic assays performed with tissues from patients with a suspected cytochrome-c oxidase deficiency.

Fatal infantile mitochondrial cardiomyopathy and myopathy with heterogeneous tissue expression of combined respiratory chain deficiencies

A 5-month-old boy died of progressive heart failure that started at the age of 3 months. Autopsy revealed a mitochondrial cardiomyopathy and a mitochondrial myopathy of the limb muscle and diaphragm. Cytochemically random defects of cytochrome c oxidase were visualized by light and electron microscopy in the diaphragm and especially the heart muscle, the limb muscle showing a diffuse attenuation whereas the liver and kidneys reacted normally. The activities of NADH-dehydrogenase (complex I) and cytochrome c oxidase (complex IV) were severely diminished (20% residual activity of controls) in the skeletal and heart muscle. In the heart, succinate cytochrome c reductase (complex II/III) was additionally decreased to the same degree. Loss of cytochrome c oxidase activity was based on a reduction of both mitochondrial and nuclear derived subunits in the heart and diaphragm as revealed by immunohistochemical analysis, whereas the limb muscle showed a normal immunoreactive protein content. The results illustrate heterogeneous tissue expression of respiratory chain enzyme defects and demonstrate that a cardiomyopathy may be the leading presentation of a mitochondrial disorder in early infancy.

The molecular pathology of respiratory-chain dysfunction in human mitochondrial myopathies

Some of the different molecular pathologies of respiratory-chain dysfunction in human mitochondrial myopathies will be reviewed in relation to the findings in 58 cases. Deletions of mitochondrial DNA were identified in 21 cases [36%]. There was some correlation between the sites of the deletion and the mitochondrial biochemistry in patients with defects of Complex I but not in cases with more extensive loss of respiratory chain activity. Complex I and Complex IV polypeptides were usually normal in deleted cases. Non-deleted cases, however, often showed specific subunit deficiencies which involved the products of both nuclear and mitochondrial genes. Immunoblots of respiratory-chain polypeptides in one case pointed to defective translocation of the Rieske precursor from the cytosol into the mitochondria. The pathogenic role of circulating autoantibodies to specific matrix proteins and the nature of the target antigens in two patients with mitochondrial encephalomyopathies and respiratory-chain dysfunction will also be discussed.