OMA1 mediates local and global stress responses against protein misfolding in CHCHD10 mitochondrial myopathy.

Mitochondrial stress triggers a response in the cell's mitochondria and nucleus, but how these stress responses are coordinated in vivo is poorly understood. Here, we characterize a family with myopathy caused by a dominant p.G58R mutation in the mitochondrial protein CHCHD10.

Heterozygous PRKN mutations are common but do not increase the risk of Parkinson's disease.

PRKN mutations are the most common recessive cause of Parkinson's disease and are a promising target for gene and cell replacement therapies. Identification of biallelic PRKN patients at the population scale, however, remains a challenge, as roughly half are copy number variants and many single nucleotide polymorphisms are of unclear significance. Additionally, the true prevalence and disease risk associated with heterozygous PRKN mutations is unclear, as a comprehensive assessment of PRKN mutations has not been performed at a population scale.

Loss of CHCHD2 and CHCHD10 activates OMA1 peptidase to disrupt mitochondrial cristae phenocopying patient mutations.

Dominant mutations in the mitochondrial paralogs coiled-helix-coiled-helix (CHCHD) domain 2 (C2) and CHCHD10 (C10) were recently identified as causing Parkinson's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/frontotemporal dementia/myopathy, respectively. The mechanism by which they disrupt mitochondrial cristae, however, has been uncertain. Using the first C2/C10 double knockout (DKO) mice, we report that C10 pathogenesis and the normal function of C2/C10 are intimately linked.

CHCHD2 accumulates in distressed mitochondria and facilitates oligomerization of CHCHD10.

Mutations in paralogous mitochondrial proteins CHCHD2 and CHCHD10 cause autosomal dominant Parkinson Disease (PD) and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis/Frontotemporal Dementia (ALS/FTD), respectively. Using newly generated CHCHD2, CHCHD10 and CHCHD2/10 double knockout cell lines, we find that the proteins are partially functionally redundant, similarly distributed throughout the mitochondrial cristae, and form heterodimers. Unexpectedly, we also find that CHCHD2/CHCHD10 heterodimerization increases in response to mitochondrial stress.

Comparison of optomotor and optokinetic reflexes in mice.

During animal locomotion or position adjustments, the visual system uses image stabilization reflexes to compensate for global shifts in the visual scene. These reflexes elicit compensatory head movements (optomotor response, OMR) in unrestrained animals or compensatory eye movements (optokinetic response, OKR) in head-fixed or unrestrained animals exposed to globally rotating striped patterns. In mice, OMR are relatively easy to observe and find broad use in the rapid evaluation of visual function.