Corrigendum to “Getting in Touch is an Important Step: Control of Metabolism at Organelle Contact Sites”

Metabolic pathways are often spread over several organelles and need to be functionally integrated by controlled organelle communication. Physical organelle contact-sites have emerged as critical hubs in the regulation of cellular metabolism, but the molecular understanding of mechanisms that mediate formation or regulation of organelle interfaces was until recently relatively limited. Mitochondria are central organelles in anabolic and catabolic pathways and therefore interact with a number of other cellular compartments including the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and lipid droplets (LDs). An interesting set of recent work has shed new light on the molecular basis forming these contact sites. This brief overview describes the discovery of unanticipated functions of contact sites between the ER, mitochondria and LDs in de novo synthesis of storage lipids of brown and white adipocytes. Interestingly, the factors involved in mediating the interaction between these organelles are subject to unexpected modes of regulation through newly uncovered Phospho-FFAT motifs. These results suggest dynamic regulation of contact sites between organelles and indicate that spatial organization of organelles within the cell contributes to the control of metabolism.

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Structure of contact sites between the outer and inner mitochondrial membranes investigated by HVEM tomography

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100167299 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 54 ◽

pp. 966-967

Author(s):

C.A. Mannella ◽

K.F. Buttle ◽

K.A. O‘Farrell ◽

A. Leith ◽

M. Marko

Keyword(s):

Liver Mitochondrion ◽

Adenine Nucleotide ◽

Protein Complexes ◽

Mitochondrial Membranes ◽

Electron Microscopic ◽

Contact Sites ◽

Transmission Electron ◽

Precursor Proteins ◽

Membrane Contacts ◽

And Function

Early transmission electron microscopy of plastic-embedded, thin-sectioned mitochondria indicated that there are numerous junctions between the outer and inner membranes of this organelle. More recent studies have suggested that the mitochondrial membrane contacts may be the site of protein complexes engaged in specialized functions, e.g., import of mitochondrial precursor proteins, adenine nucleotide channeling, and even intermembrane signalling. It has been suggested that the intermembrane contacts may be sites of membrane fusion involving non-bilayer lipid domains in the two membranes. However, despite growing interest in the nature and function of intramitochondrial contact sites, little is known about their structure.We are using electron microscopic tomography with the Albany HVEM to determine the internal organization of mitochondria. We have reconstructed a 0.6-μm section through an isolated, plasticembedded rat-liver mitochondrion by combining 123 projections collected by tilting (+/- 70°) around two perpendicular tilt axes. The resulting 3-D image has confirmed the basic inner-membrane organization inferred from lower-resolution reconstructions obtained from single-axis tomography.

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