Syntabulin-mediated anterograde transport of mitochondria along neuronal processes
Open Access
- 12 September 2005
- journal article
- Published by Rockefeller University Press in The Journal of cell biology
- Vol. 170 (6), 959-969
- https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.200506042
Abstract
In neurons, proper distribution of mitochondria in axons and at synapses is critical for neurotransmission, synaptic plasticity, and axonal outgrowth. However, mechanisms underlying mitochondrial trafficking throughout the long neuronal processes have remained elusive. Here, we report that syntabulin plays a critical role in mitochondrial trafficking in neurons. Syntabulin is a peripheral membrane-associated protein that targets to mitochondria through its carboxyl-terminal tail. Using real-time imaging in living cultured neurons, we demonstrate that a significant fraction of syntabulin colocalizes and co-migrates with mitochondria along neuronal processes. Knockdown of syntabulin expression with targeted small interfering RNA or interference with the syntabulin–kinesin-1 heavy chain interaction reduces mitochondrial density within axonal processes by impairing anterograde movement of mitochondria. These findings collectively suggest that syntabulin acts as a linker molecule that is capable of attaching mitochondrial organelles to the microtubule-based motor kinesin-1, and in turn, contributes to anterograde trafficking of mitochondria to neuronal processes.Keywords
This publication has 48 references indexed in Scilit:
- MARK/PAR1 kinase is a regulator of microtubule-dependent transport in axonsThe Journal of cell biology, 2004
- Cargo‐carrying motor vehicles on the neuronal highway: Transport pathways and neurodegenerative diseaseJournal of Neurobiology, 2003
- Expression of Phosphatidylinositol (4,5) Bisphosphate–specific Pleckstrin Homology Domains Alters Direction But Not the Level of Axonal Transport of MitochondriaMolecular Biology of the Cell, 2003
- The C-Terminal Region of the Stalk Domain of Ubiquitous Human Kinesin Heavy Chain Contains the Binding Site for Kinesin Light ChainBiochemistry, 1998
- Mitochondrial Association of a Plus End–Directed Microtubule Motor Expressed during Mitosis in DrosophilaThe Journal of cell biology, 1997
- Structural and biochemical properties of kinesin heavy chain associated with rat brain mitochondriaCell Motility, 1994
- Association of kinesin with characterized membrane‐bounded organellesCell Motility, 1992
- Changes in microtubule polarity orientation during the development of hippocampal neurons in culture.The Journal of cell biology, 1989
- Polarity orientation of microtubules in hippocampal neurons: uniformity in the axon and nonuniformity in the dendrite.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 1988
- Polarity orientation of axonal microtubules.The Journal of cell biology, 1981