New Beginnings: Mitochondrial Renewal by Massive Mitochondrial Fusion

Ray J Rose; David W McCurdy

doi:10.1016/j.tplants.2017.06.005

New Beginnings: Mitochondrial Renewal by Massive Mitochondrial Fusion

Trends Plant Sci. 2017 Aug;22(8):641-643. doi: 10.1016/j.tplants.2017.06.005. Epub 2017 Jun 13.

Authors

Ray J Rose¹, David W McCurdy²

Affiliations

¹ School of Environmental and Life Sciences, The University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW 2308, Australia. Electronic address: Ray.Rose@newcastle.edu.au.
² School of Environmental and Life Sciences, The University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW 2308, Australia. Electronic address: David.McCurdy@newcastle.edu.au.

PMID: 28622917
DOI: 10.1016/j.tplants.2017.06.005

Abstract

Massive mitochondrial fusion (MMF) in germinating arabidopsis seeds, together with earlier studies, suggests a significant role for MMF in the life cycle of flowering plants. MMF is likely to facilitate nucleoid transmission, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) recombination, and the homogenization of mitochondrial components, thus providing a type of quality control for mitochondrial populations in new generations.

Keywords: massive mitochondrial fusion; mitochondria; mitochondria quality control; nucleoid transmission.

MeSH terms

Arabidopsis / genetics
Arabidopsis / physiology*
DNA, Mitochondrial / genetics
Magnoliopsida / genetics
Magnoliopsida / physiology*
Mitochondria / genetics
Mitochondria / physiology
Mitochondrial Dynamics*
Recombination, Genetic
Seeds / genetics
Seeds / physiology

Substances

DNA, Mitochondrial