CLPP deficiency ameliorates neurodegeneration caused by impaired mitochondrial protein synthesis.

Mitochondria are essential organelles found in every eukaryotic cell, required to convert food into usable energy. Therefore, it is not surprising that mutations in either mtDNA or nuclear DNA-encoded genes of mitochondrial proteins cause diseases affecting the oxidative phosphorylation system, which are heterogeneous from a clinical, genetic, biochemical and molecular perspective and can affect patients at any age. Despite all this, it is surprising that our understanding of the mechanisms governing mitochondrial gene expression and its associated pathologies remain superficial and therapeutic interventions largely unexplored. We recently showed that loss of the mitochondrial matrix protease caseinolytic protease proteolytic subunit (CLPP) ameliorates phenotypes in cells characterized by defects in oxidative phosphorylation maintenance. Here, we build upon this finding by showing that CLPP depletion is indeed beneficial in vivo for various types of neuronal populations, including Purkinje cells in the cerebellum and cortical and hippocampal neurons in the forebrain, as it strongly improves distinct phenotypes of mitochondria encephalopathy, driven by the deficiency of the mitochondrial aspartyl tRNA synthase DARS2. In the absence of CLPP, neurodegeneration of DARS2-deficient neurons is delayed as they present milder oxidative phosphorylation dysfunction. This in turn leads to a decreased neuroinflammatory response and significantly improved motor functions in both double-deficient models (Purkinje cell-specific or forebrain neuron-specific Dars2/Clpp double knockout mice). We propose that diminished turnover of respiratory complex I caused by the loss of CLPP is behind the improved phenotype in Dars2/Clpp double knockout animals, even though this intervention might not restore respiratory complex I activity but rather improve mitochondrial cristae morphology or help maintain the NAD+/NADH ratio inside mitochondria. These results also open the possibility of targeting CLPP activity in many other mitochondrial encephalopathies characterized by respiratory complex I instability.

DARS2 is indispensable for Purkinje cell survival and protects against cerebellar ataxia.

Leukoencephalopathy with brain stem and spinal cord involvement and lactate elevation disorder (LBSL) arises from mutations in mitochondrial aspartyl-tRNA synthetase (DARS2) gene. The disease has a childhood or juvenile-onset and is clinically characterized by cerebellar ataxia, cognitive decline and distinct morphological abnormalities upon magnetic resonance imaging. We previously demonstrated that neurons and not adult myelin-producing cells are specifically sensitive to DARS2 loss, hence likely the primary culprit in LBSL disorder. We used conditional Purkinje cell (PCs)-specific Dars2 deletion to elucidate further the cell-type-specific contribution of this class of neurons to the cerebellar impairment observed in LBSL. We show that DARS2 depletion causes a severe mitochondrial dysfunction concomitant with a massive loss of PCs by the age of 15 weeks, thereby rapidly deteriorating motor skills. Our findings conclusively show that DARS2 is indispensable for PC survival and highlights the central role of neuroinflammation in DARS2-related PC degeneration.

A salvage pathway maintains highly functional respiratory complex I.

Regulation of the turnover of complex I (CI), the largest mitochondrial respiratory chain complex, remains enigmatic despite huge advancement in understanding its structure and the assembly. Here, we report that the NADH-oxidizing N-module of CI is turned over at a higher rate and largely independently of the rest of the complex by mitochondrial matrix protease ClpXP, which selectively removes and degrades damaged subunits. The observed mechanism seems to be a safeguard against the accumulation of dysfunctional CI arising from the inactivation of the N-module subunits due to attrition caused by its constant activity under physiological conditions. This CI salvage pathway maintains highly functional CI through a favorable mechanism that demands much lower energetic cost than de novo synthesis and reassembly of the entire CI. Our results also identify ClpXP activity as an unforeseen target for therapeutic interventions in the large group of mitochondrial diseases characterized by the CI instability.

Deficiency of WARS2, encoding mitochondrial tryptophanyl tRNA synthetase, causes severe infantile onset leukoencephalopathy.

Pathogenic variants in the mitochondrial aminoacyl tRNA synthetases lead to deficiencies in mitochondrial protein synthesis and are associated with a broad range of clinical presentations usually with early onset and inherited in an autosomal recessive manner. Of the 19 mitochondrial aminoacyl tRNA synthetases, WARS2, encoding mitochondrial tryptophanyl tRNA synthetase, was as of late the only one that had not been associated with disease in humans. A case of a family with pathogenic variants in WARS2 that caused mainly intellectual disability, speech impairment, aggressiveness, and athetosis was recently reported. Here we substantially extend and consolidate the symptomatology of WARS2 by presenting a patient with severe infantile-onset leukoencephalopathy, profound intellectual disability, spastic quadriplegia, epilepsy, microcephaly, short stature, failure to thrive, cerebral atrophy, and periventricular white matter abnormalities. He was found by whole-exome sequencing to have compound heterozygous variants in WARS2, c.938A>T (p.K313M) and c.298_300delCTT (p.L100del). De novo synthesis of proteins inside mitochondria was reduced in the patient's fibroblasts, leading to significantly lower steady-state levels of respiratory chain subunits compared to control and resulting in lower oxygen consumption rates.

Breaking sarcomeres by in vitro exercise.

Eccentric exercise leads to focal disruptions in the myofibrils, referred to as "lesions". These structures are thought to contribute to the post-exercise muscle weakness, and to represent areas of mechanical damage and/or remodelling. Lesions have been investigated in human biopsies and animal samples after exercise. However, this approach does not examine the mechanisms behind lesion formation, or their behaviour during contraction. To circumvent this, we used electrical pulse stimulation (EPS) to simulate exercise in C2C12 myotubes, combined with live microscopy. EPS application led to the formation of sarcomeric lesions in the myotubes, resembling those seen in exercised mice, increasing in number with the time of application or stimulation intensity. Furthermore, transfection with an EGFP-tagged version of the lesion and Z-disc marker filamin-C allowed us to observe the formation of lesions using live cell imaging. Finally, using the same technique we studied the behaviour of these structures during contraction, and observed them to be passively stretching. This passive behaviour supports the hypothesis that lesions contribute to the post-exercise muscle weakness, protecting against further damage. We conclude that EPS can be reliably used as a model for the induction and study of sarcomeric lesions in myotubes in vitro.