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Tour-de-Force

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<strong>Tour</strong>-<strong>de</strong>-<strong>Force</strong>: Interplay between Mitochondria and Cell Cycle Progression Fall 2007Background InformationMitochondrial BiogenesisMitochondrial Biogenesis is a vast and very dynamic process within the cell involving a vast plethora ofproteins. Since mitochondrial DNA only enco<strong>de</strong>s 13 subunits of the electron transport chain (Van <strong>de</strong>nBogert et al., 1988) nuclear DNA has to provi<strong>de</strong> the additional essentials for biogenesis. This process thusembodies a complex cross-talk between two genomes (nuclear – mitochondrial).Mitochondrial biogenesis is a crucial process in response to various physiological stimuli such asexposure to cold, it does however also play a pivotal role during the cell cycle. It ensures that throughoutevery cycle, mitochondria supply sufficient ATP as ensuring a<strong>de</strong>quate growth for the mitotic division intorespective daughter cells. The synthesis of mitochondrial proteins occurs in a sequential or<strong>de</strong>r for theproper reduplication of mitochondrial mass. Inhibiting pathways involved in biogenesis such as thesynthesis of mitochondrial proteins during the cell cycle results in an increasing shortage of ATP, whichinitially results in a <strong>de</strong>lay of cell cycle progression and ultimately leads to cell cycle arrest in early G1phase (Van <strong>de</strong>n Bogert et al., 1988).The PPAR family proteins and mitochondrial biogenesisThe Peroxisome Proliferator Activated Gamma Coactivator (PPAR) family proteins are a class of proteinsinvolved in an increasing amount of intracellular pathways in relation to many processes such as thestimulation of mitochondrial biogenesis. They also have the capability to interact with a vast array oftranscription factors and are responsible for mediating efficient interaction between these transcriptionfactors and the general transcription apparatus (Puigserver and Spiegelman, 2003). Furthermore, they arethe key regulators and integrators of external stimuli transduction and are the primary targets in regulationof in relation to mitochondrial biogenesis (Lee et al., 2007; Lin et al., 2005) and are involved in the controlof cellular and systemic metabolism such as mitochondrial oxidative metabolism, maintenance of glucoseand energy homeostasis (Lin et al., 2005).There are 3 isoforms currently i<strong>de</strong>ntified specificto higher eukaryotes namely, PGC-1α, PGC-1βand PRC. There has been no discovery of ahomolog of these proteins in lower eukaryotessuch as worms, flies and yeast (Lin et al., 2005).PGC-1β is the closest homolog to PGC-1α,followed by PRC. These proteins shareextensive sequence i<strong>de</strong>ntity in their functionaldomains (Figure 3.1). The latter two proteinsshare similarities in their N-terminal activationdomain as well as in their C-terminal RNAbinding domain. Specific to PGC-1α and PGC-1β is the central regulatory domain, which is notshared with PRC. The activational domain is thesite of interaction with transcription factorswhere as the LXXLL motif is accountable for theligand-<strong>de</strong>pen<strong>de</strong>nt interaction with certainhormone nuclear receptors (Puigserver andSpiegelman, 2003).Figure 3.1:Sequence homology between PPAR family (PGC-1α,PGC-1β, PRC). Similarities in sequence of (red)acitivation domain, Arg/Ser- rich domain (yellow) andRNA binding domain (green).Source: Puigserver and Spiegelman, 2003PGC-1αAlthough a lot of research has been <strong>de</strong>dicated to the structure and function of PGC-1 in terms of thestimulation of mitochondrial biogenesis in response to thermogenesis, gluconeogenesis or the indirectinteraction of cytokines and other factors, there seems to be a limited amount of knowledge that <strong>de</strong>scribeshow PGC-1α relates to the cell cycle in proliferating cells.SCI 332 Advanced Molecular Cell Biology Research Proposal 59

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