Mitochondrial ROS-Modulated mtDNA: A Potential Target for Cardiac Aging

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) damage is associated with the development of cardiovascular diseases. Cardiac aging plays a central role in cardiovascular diseases. There is accumulating evidence linking cardiac aging to mtDNA damage, including mtDNA mutation and decreased mtDNA copy number. Current wisdom indicates that mtDNA is susceptible to damage by mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (mtROS). This review presents the cellular and molecular mechanisms of cardiac aging, including autophagy, chronic inflammation, mtROS, and mtDNA damage, and the effects of mitochondrial biogenesis and oxidative stress on mtDNA. The importance of nucleoid-associated proteins (Pol γ), nuclear respiratory factors (NRF1 and NRF2), the cGAS-STING pathway, and the mitochondrial biogenesis pathway concerning the development of mtDNA damage during cardiac aging is discussed. Thus, the repair of damaged mtDNA provides a potential clinical target for preventing cardiac aging.

Bigenomic transcriptional regulation of all thirteen cytochrome c oxidase subunit genes by specificity protein 1

Cytochrome c oxidase (COX) is one of only four known bigenomic proteins, with three mitochondria-encoded subunits and 10 nucleus-encoded ones derived from nine different chromosomes. The mechanism of regulating this multi-subunit, bigenomic enzyme is not fully understood. We hypothesize that specificity protein 1 (Sp1) functionally regulates the 10 nucleus-encoded COX subunit genes directly and the three mitochondrial COX subunit genes indirectly by regulating mitochondrial transcription factors A and B ( TFAM , TFB1M and TFB2M ) in neurons. By means of in silico analysis, electrophoretic mobility shift and supershift assays, chromatin immunoprecipitation, RNA interference and over-expression experiments, the present study documents that Sp1 is a critical regulator of all 13 COX subunit genes in neurons. This regulation is intimately associated with neuronal activity. Silencing of Sp1 prevented the upregulation of all COX subunits by KCl, and over-expressing Sp1 rescued all COX subunits from being downregulated by tetrodotoxin. Thus, Sp1 and our previously described nuclear respiratory factors 1 and 2 are the three key regulators of all 13 COX subunit genes in neurons. The binding sites for Sp1 on all 10 nucleus-encoded COX subunits, TFAM , TFB1M and TFB2M are highly conserved among mice, rats and humans.

NRF-1 is the major transcription factor regulating the expression of the human TOMM34 gene

The human TOMM34 gene encodes a cytosolic protein with chaperone-like activity that helps import some preproteins to the mitochondria by keeping them in an unfolded, import-compatible state. TOMM34 was found to be upregulated frequently in colorectal tumors, suggesting that it also has a role in the growth of cancer cells. In this context, TOMM34 is a potential target for novel anticancer drugs, and it might also be used in the diagnosis of colorectal cancer. Nuclear respiratory factors (NRFs) play an important role in governing the nuclear–mitochondrial interactions implicated in mitochondrial biogenesis. Our previous studies revealed that NRFs promote the expression of the major members of the mitochondrial transport machinery, TOMM70 and TOMM20. Here we report the existence of binding sites for NRF-1, Sp1, and NRF-2 in the 5′ region of the human TOMM34 gene. We determined the effects of mutations at these sites on promoter activity in HeLa S3 and A204 cells, in conjunction with chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments, electrophoretic mobility shift assays, and in vivo methylation analysis of the promoter region. We conclude that NRF-1 is the main transcription factor regulating the expression of TOMM34. Sp1 interacts with NRF-1 to stimulate the promoter's full activity.

Control of Mitochondrial Transcription Specificity Factors (TFB1M and TFB2M) by Nuclear Respiratory Factors (NRF-1 and NRF-2) and PGC-1 Family Coactivators

ABSTRACT In vertebrates, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) transcription is initiated bidirectionally from closely spaced promoters, HSP and LSP, within the D-loop regulatory region. Early studies demonstrated that mtDNA transcription requires mitochondrial RNA polymerase and Tfam, a DNA binding stimulatory factor that is required for mtDNA maintenance. Recently, mitochondrial transcription specificity factors (TFB1M and TFB2M), which markedly enhance mtDNA transcription in the presence of Tfam and mitochondrial RNA polymerase, have been identified in mammalian cells. Here, we establish that the expression of human TFB1M and TFB2M promoters is governed by nuclear respiratory factors (NRF-1 and NRF-2), key transcription factors implicated in mitochondrial biogenesis. In addition, we show that NRF recognition sites within both TFB promoters are required for maximal trans activation by the PGC-1 family coactivators, PGC-1α and PRC. The physiological induction of these coactivators has been associated with the integration of NRFs and other transcription factors in a program of mitochondrial biogenesis. Finally, we demonstrate that the TFB genes are up-regulated along with Tfam and either PGC-1α or PRC in cellular systems where mitochondrial biogenesis is induced. Moreover, ectopic expression of PGC-1α is sufficient to induce the coordinate expression of all three nucleus-encoded mitochondrial transcription factors along with nuclear and mitochondrial respiratory subunits. These results support the conclusion that the coordinate regulation of nucleus-encoded mitochondrial transcription factors by NRFs and PGC-1 family coactivators is essential to the control of mitochondrial biogenesis.

Involvement of PPARγ co-activator-1, nuclear respiratory factors 1 and 2, and PPARα in the adaptive response to endurance exercise

Endurance exercise training induces an increase in the respiratory capacity of muscle, resulting in an increased capacity to generate ATP as well as improved efficiency of muscle contraction. Such adaptations are largely the result of a coordinated genetic response that increases mitochondrial proteins, fatty acid oxidation enzymes and the exercise- and insulin-stimulated glucose transporter GLUT4, and shifts the contractile and regulatory proteins to their more efficient isoforms. In recent years a number of the transcriptional regulators involved in this genetic response have been identified and these factors can be classified into two different groups. The first group comprises transcription factors such as nuclear respiratory factors (NRF) 1 and 2 and PPARα that bind DNA in a sequence-specific manner. The second group, referred to as transcriptional co-activators, alter transcription without directly binding to DNA. The PPARγ co-activator (PGC) family of proteins have been identified as the central family of transcriptional co-activators for induction of mitochondrial biogenesis. PGC-1α is activated by exercise, and is sufficient to produce the endurance phenotype through direct interactions with NRF-1 and PPARα, and potentially NRF-2. Furthering the understanding of the activation of PGC proteins following exercise has implications beyond improving athletic performance, including the possibility of providing targets for the treatment of frailty in the elderly, obesity and diseases such as mitochondrial myopathies and diabetes.

Nuclear respiratory factors 1 and 2 utilize similar glutamine-containing clusters of hydrophobic residues to activate transcription.

Nuclear respiratory factors 1 and 2 (NRF-1 and NRF-2) are ubiquitous transcription factors that have been implicated in the control of nuclear genes required for respiration, heme biosynthesis, and mitochondrial DNA transcription and replication. Recently, both factors have been found to be major transcriptional determinants for a subset of these genes that define a class of simple promoters involved in respiratory chain expression. Here, functional domains required for transactivation by NRF-1 have been defined. An atypical nuclear localization signal resides in a conserved amino-terminal region adjacent to the DNA binding domain and consists of functionally redundant clusters of basic residues. A second domain in the carboxy-terminal half of the molecule is necessary for transcriptional activation. The activation domains of both NRF-1 and NRF-2 were extensively characterized by both deletion and alanine substitution mutagenesis. The results show that these domains do not fall into known classes defined by a preponderance of amino acid residues, including glutamines, prolines, or isoleucines, as found in other eukaryotic activators. Rather, in both factors, a series of tandemly arranged clusters of hydrophobic amino acids were required for activation. Although all of the functional clusters contain glutamines, the glutamines differ from the hydrophobic residues in that they are inconsequential for activation. Unlike the NRF-2 domain, which contains its essential hydrophobic motifs within 40 residues, the NRF-1 domain spans about 40% of the molecule and appears to have a bipartite structure. The findings indicate that NRF-1 and NRF-2 utilize similar hydrophobic structural motifs for activating transcription.