Browsing by Author "Kirichok, Yuriy"

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    Mitochondrial Ca2+ Uniporter and CaMKII in heart
    (Nature Publishing Group, 2014-09-25) Fieni, Francesca; Johnson, Derrick E.; Hudmon, Andy; Kirichok, Yuriy; Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, IU School of Medicine
    The influx of cytosolic Ca2+ into mitochondria is mediated primarily by the mitochondrial calcium uniporter (MCU), a small-conductance, Ca2+-selective channel-. MCU modulates intracellular Ca2+ transients and regulates ATP production and cell death. Recently, Joiner et al. reported that MCU is regulated by mitochondrial CaMKII, and this regulation determines stress response in heart. They reported a very large current putatively mediated by MCU that was about two orders of magnitude greater than the MCU current (IMCU) that we previously measured in heart mitochondria. Also, the current traces presented by Joiner et al. showed unusually high fluctuations incompatible with the low single-channel conductance of MCU. Here we performed patch-clamp recordings from mouse heart mitochondria under the exact conditions used by Joiner et al. We confirmed that IMCU in cardiomyocytes is very small and showed that it is not directly regulated by CaMKII. Thus the currents presented by Joiner et al. do not correspond to MCU, and there is no direct electrophysiological evidence that CaMKII regulates MCU.
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    Mitochondrial uncouplers induce proton leak by activating AAC and UCP1
    (Springer Nature, 2022) Bertholet, Ambre M.; Natale, Andrew M.; Bisignano, Paola; Suzuki, Junji; Fedorenko, Andriy; Hamilton, James; Brustovetsky, Tatiana; Kazak, Lawrence; Garrity, Ryan; Chouchani, Edward T.; Brustovetsky, Nickolay; Grabe, Michael; Kirichok, Yuriy; Pharmacology and Toxicology, School of Medicine
    Mitochondria generate heat due to H+ leak (IH) across their inner membrane1. IH results from the action of long-chain fatty acids on uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1) in brown fat2-6 and ADP/ATP carrier (AAC) in other tissues1,7-9, but the underlying mechanism is poorly understood. As evidence of pharmacological activators of IH through UCP1 and AAC is lacking, IH is induced by protonophores such as 2,4-dinitrophenol (DNP) and cyanide-4-(trifluoromethoxy) phenylhydrazone (FCCP)10,11. Although protonophores show potential in combating obesity, diabetes and fatty liver in animal models12-14, their clinical potential for treating human disease is limited due to indiscriminately increasing H+ conductance across all biological membranes10,11 and adverse side effects15. Here we report the direct measurement of IH induced by DNP, FCCP and other common protonophores and find that it is dependent on AAC and UCP1. Using molecular structures of AAC, we perform a computational analysis to determine the binding sites for protonophores and long-chain fatty acids, and find that they overlap with the putative ADP/ATP-binding site. We also develop a mathematical model that proposes a mechanism of uncoupler-dependent IH through AAC. Thus, common protonophoric uncouplers are synthetic activators of IH through AAC and UCP1, paving the way for the development of new and more specific activators of these two central mediators of mitochondrial bioenergetics.