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1. Mitochondrial nucleoids

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2024.09.078  

   Kakudji, Eve V; Lewis, Samantha C (November 2024, Current Biology)

   Eve Kakudji and Samantha Lewis discuss the structure and function of mitochondrial nucleoids - large nucleoprotein complexes containing mitochondrial DNA and the regulatory factors necessary for its packaging, replication, transcription, and repair. 

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2. Phosphorylation of mitochondrial transcription factor B2 controls mitochondrial DNA binding and transcription

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbrc.2020.05.141  

   Bostwick, Alicia M.; Moya, Gonzalo E.; Senti, Mackenna L.; Basu, Urmimala; Shen, Jiayu; Patel, Smita S.; Dittenhafer-Reed, Kristin E. (July 2020, Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications)
3. Mitochondrial Connexins and Mitochondrial Contact Sites with Gap Junction Structure

   https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24109036  

   Cetin-Ferra, Selma; Francis, Sharon C.; Cooper, Anthonya T.; Neikirk, Kit; Marshall, Andrea G.; Hinton, Antentor; Murray, Sandra A. (May 2023, International Journal of Molecular Sciences)

   Mitochondria contain connexins, a family of proteins that is known to form gap junction channels. Connexins are synthesized in the endoplasmic reticulum and oligomerized in the Golgi to form hemichannels. Hemichannels from adjacent cells dock with one another to form gap junction channels that aggregate into plaques and allow cell–cell communication. Cell–cell communication was once thought to be the only function of connexins and their gap junction channels. In the mitochondria, however, connexins have been identified as monomers and assembled into hemichannels, thus questioning their role solely as cell–cell communication channels. Accordingly, mitochondrial connexins have been suggested to play critical roles in the regulation of mitochondrial functions, including potassium fluxes and respiration. However, while much is known about plasma membrane gap junction channel connexins, the presence and function of mitochondrial connexins remain poorly understood. In this review, the presence and role of mitochondrial connexins and mitochondrial/connexin-containing structure contact sites will be discussed. An understanding of the significance of mitochondrial connexins and their connexin contact sites is essential to our knowledge of connexins’ functions in normal and pathological conditions, and this information may aid in the development of therapeutic interventions in diseases linked to mitochondria. 

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4. One Hundred Mitochondrial Genomes of Cicadas

   https://doi.org/10.1093/jhered/esy068  

   Łukasik, Piotr; Chong, Rebecca A; Nazario, Katherine; Matsuura, Yu; Bublitz, De Anna; Campbell, Matthew A; Meyer, Mariah C; Van Leuven, James T; Pessacq, Pablo; Veloso, Claudio; et al (December 2018, Journal of Heredity)
5. Spatiotemporal Modeling of Mitochondrial Network Architecture

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PRXLife.2.043002  

   Holt, Keaton B; Winter, Julius; Manley, Suliana; Koslover, Elena F (October 2024, PRX Life)

   In many cell types, mitochondria undergo extensive fusion and fission to form dynamic, responsive network structures that contribute to a number of homeostatic, metabolic, and signaling functions. The relationship between the dynamic interactions of individual mitochondrial units and the cell-scale network architecture remains an open area of study. In this work, we use coarse-grained simulations and approximate analytic models to establish how the network morphology is governed by local mechanical and kinetic parameters. The transition between fragmented structures and extensive networks is controlled by local fusion-to-fission ratios, network density, and geometric constraints. Similar fusion rate constants are found to account for the very different structures formed by mammalian networks (poised at the percolation transition) and well-connected budding yeast networks. Over a broad parameter range, the simulated network structures can be described by effective mean-field association constants that exhibit a nonlinear dependence on the microscopic nonequilibrium fusion, fission, and transport rates. Intermediate fusion rate constants are shown to result in the highest rates of network remodeling, with mammalian mitochondrial networks situated in a regime of high turnover. This spatially resolved modeling and simulation framework helps elucidate the emergence of cellular scale network structures, and allows for the quantitative extraction of microscopic kinetic parameters from past and future experimental data. Published by the American Physical Society2024 

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