Browsing by Author "Donti, Taraka R."

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    Impaired mitochondrial complex I function as a candidate driver in the biological stress response and a concomitant stress-induced brain metabolic reprogramming in male mice
    (Nature, 2020-06-01) Emmerzaal, Tim L.; Preston, Graeme; Geenen, Bram; Verweij, Vivienne; Wiesmann, Maximilian; Vasileiou, Elisavet; Grüter, Femke; de Groot, Corné; Schoorl, Jeroen; de Veer, Renske; Roelofs, Monica; Arts, Martijn; Hendriksen, Yara; Klimars, Eva; Donti, Taraka R.; Graham, Brett H.; Morava, Eva; Rodenburg, Richard J.; Kozicz, Tamas; Medical and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine
    Mitochondria play a critical role in bioenergetics, enabling stress adaptation, and therefore, are central in biological stress responses and stress-related complex psychopathologies. To investigate the effect of mitochondrial dysfunction on the stress response and the impact on various biological domains linked to the pathobiology of depression, a novel mouse model was created. These mice harbor a gene trap in the first intron of the Ndufs4 gene (Ndufs4GT/GT mice), encoding the NDUFS4 protein, a structural component of complex I (CI), the first enzyme of the mitochondrial electron transport chain. We performed a comprehensive behavioral screening with a broad range of behavioral, physiological, and endocrine markers, high-resolution ex vivo brain imaging, brain immunohistochemistry, and multi-platform targeted mass spectrometry-based metabolomics. Ndufs4GT/GT mice presented with a 25% reduction of CI activity in the hippocampus, resulting in a relatively mild phenotype of reduced body weight, increased physical activity, decreased neurogenesis and neuroinflammation compared to WT littermates. Brain metabolite profiling revealed characteristic biosignatures discriminating Ndufs4GT/GT from WT mice. Specifically, we observed a reversed TCA cycle flux and rewiring of amino acid metabolism in the prefrontal cortex. Next, exposing mice to chronic variable stress (a model for depression-like behavior), we found that Ndufs4GT/GT mice showed altered stress response and coping strategies with a robust stress-associated reprogramming of amino acid metabolism. Our data suggest that impaired mitochondrial CI function is a candidate driver for altered stress reactivity and stress-induced brain metabolic reprogramming. These changes result in unique phenomic and metabolomic signatures distinguishing groups based on their mitochondrial genotype.
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    Increased COUP-TFII expression in adult hearts induces mitochondrial dysfunction resulting in heart failure
    (Springer Nature, 2015-09-10) Wu, San-Pin; Kao, Chung-Yang; Wang, Leiming; Creighton, Chad J.; Yang, Jin; Donti, Taraka R.; Harmancey, Romain; Vasquez, Hernan G.; Graham, Brett H.; Bellen, Hugo J.; Taegtmeyer, Heinrich; Chang, Ching-Pin; Tsai, Ming-Jer; Tsai, Sophia Y.; Department of Medicine, IU School of Medicine
    Mitochondrial dysfunction and metabolic remodelling are pivotal in the development of cardiomyopathy. Here, we show that myocardial COUP-TFII overexpression causes heart failure in mice, suggesting a causal effect of elevated COUP-TFII levels on development of dilated cardiomyopathy. COUP-TFII represses genes critical for mitochondrial electron transport chain enzyme activity, oxidative stress detoxification and mitochondrial dynamics, resulting in increased levels of reactive oxygen species and lower rates of oxygen consumption in mitochondria. COUP-TFII also suppresses the metabolic regulator PGC-1 network and decreases the expression of key glucose and lipid utilization genes, leading to a reduction in both glucose and oleate oxidation in the hearts. These data suggest that COUP-TFII affects mitochondrial function, impairs metabolic remodelling and has a key role in dilated cardiomyopathy. Last, COUP-TFII haploinsufficiency attenuates the progression of cardiac dilation and improves survival in a calcineurin transgenic mouse model, indicating that COUP-TFII may serve as a therapeutic target for the treatment of dilated cardiomyopathy.