The Mitochondrial Response to DNA Damage

Abstract

Mitochondria are double membrane organelles in eukaryotic cells that provide energy by generating adenosine triphosphate (ATP) through oxidative phosphorylation. They are crucial to many aspects of cellular metabolism. Mitochondria contain their own DNA that encodes for essential proteins involved in the execution of normal mitochondrial functions. Compared with nuclear DNA, the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is more prone to be affected by DNA damaging agents, and accumulated DNA damages may cause mitochondrial dysfunction and drive the pathogenesis of a variety of human diseases, including neurodegenerative disorders and cancer. Therefore, understanding better how mtDNA damages are repaired will facilitate developing therapeutic strategies. In this review, we focus on our current understanding of the mtDNA repair system. We also discuss other mitochondrial events promoted by excessive DNA damages and inefficient DNA repair, such as mitochondrial fusion, fission, and mitophagy, which serve as quality control events for clearing damaged mtDNA.

Keywords: DNA repair; mitochondrial DNA; mitochondrial fission; mitochondrial fusion; mitophagy.

FIGURE 1

An overview of the mtDNA damage repair. Ionizing radiation, base deamination, replication errors, and DNA damaging agents, such as oxidants, alkylating agents, and crosslinking agents, can cause mtDNA damages. BER is the primary mtDNA damage repair pathway, whereas NER is not observed in mitochondria. In addition, other repair pathways, such as DR, MMR and DSBR, may exist in the mitochondria.

FIGURE 2

The mitochondrial response to unrepaired DNA damages. Unrepaired mtDNA damages can be accumulated and lead to the mitochondrial dysfunction. To maintain its function, the mitochondria have developed several quality control events. TLS is an mtDNA damage tolerance pathway to bypass the mtDNA replication block. Mitochondrial fusion provides mtDNA complementation by mixing damaged and normal mtDNA. Mitochondrial fission segregates the part of a mitochondrion with damaged mtDNA and maintains the integrity of the healthy part of a mitochondrion. Mitochondria with excessive damaged mtDNA are selectively degraded through mitophagy. The interaction between the mitophagy and the mitochondrial fission/fusion has also been reported.