Analysis of mitochondrial organization and function in the Drosophila blastoderm embryo

Abstract Mitochondria are inherited maternally as globular and immature organelles in metazoan embryos. We have used the Drosophila blastoderm embryo to characterize their morphology, distribution and functions in embryogenesis. We find that mitochondria are relatively small, dispersed and distinctl...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Sayali Chowdhary, Darshika Tomer, Dnyanesh Dubal, Devashree Sambre, Richa Rikhy
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: Nature Portfolio 2017
Materias:
R
Q
Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/e974df33a9c0434a917a1cd7e168c1dc
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
Descripción
Sumario:Abstract Mitochondria are inherited maternally as globular and immature organelles in metazoan embryos. We have used the Drosophila blastoderm embryo to characterize their morphology, distribution and functions in embryogenesis. We find that mitochondria are relatively small, dispersed and distinctly distributed along the apico-basal axis in proximity to microtubules by motor protein transport. Live imaging, photobleaching and photoactivation analyses of mitochondrially targeted GFP show that they are mobile in the apico-basal axis along microtubules and are immobile in the lateral plane thereby associating with one syncytial cell. Photoactivated mitochondria distribute equally to daughter cells across the division cycles. ATP depletion by pharmacological and genetic inhibition of the mitochondrial electron transport chain (ETC) activates AMPK and decreases syncytial metaphase furrow extension. In summary, we show that small and dispersed mitochondria of the Drosophila blastoderm embryo localize by microtubule transport and provide ATP locally for the fast syncytial division cycles. Our study opens the possibility of use of Drosophila embryogenesis as a model system to study the impact of maternal mutations in mitochondrial morphology and metabolism on embryo patterning and differentiation.