Independent regulation of mitochondrial DNA quantity and quality in Caenorhabditis elegans primordial germ cells

• DOI: 10.7554/elife.80396
• Publication Date: 2022-10-06T12:00:55Z
• Authors: Aaron ZA Schwartz; Nikita Tsyba; Yusuff Abdu; Maulik R Patel; Jeremy Nance
• Keywords: Caenorhabditis

Mitochondria harbor an independent genome, called mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), which contains essential metabolic genes. Although mtDNA mutations occur at high frequency, they are inherited infrequently, indicating that germline mechanisms limit their accumulation. To determine how is regulated, we examined the control of quantity and quality in C. elegans primordial germ cells (PGCs). We show PGCs combine strategies to generate a low point number by segregating mitochondria into lobe-like protrusions cannibalized adjacent cells, concurrently eliminating through autophagy, reducing overall content twofold. As exit quiescence divide, mtDNAs replicate maintain set ~200 per stem cell. Whereas cannibalism autophagy eliminate stochastically, kinase PTEN-induced 1 (PINK1), operating independently Parkin preferentially reduces fraction mutant mtDNAs. Thus, employ parallel both founding population