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Metabolic reprogramming in the OPA1-deficient cells

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Abstract

OPA1, a dynamin-related GTPase mutated in autosomal dominant optic atrophy, is essential for the fusion of the inner mitochondrial membrane. Although OPA1 deficiency leads to impaired mitochondrial morphology, the role of OPA1 in central carbon metabolism remains unclear. Here, we aim to explore the functional role and metabolic mechanism of OPA1 in cell fitness beyond the control of mitochondrial fusion. We applied [U-13C]glucose and [U-13C]glutamine isotope tracing techniques to OPA1-knockout (OPA1-KO) mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) compared to OPA1 wild-type (OPA1-WT) controls. Furthermore, the resulting tracing data were integrated by metabolic flux analysis to understand the underlying metabolic mechanism through which OPA1 deficiency reprograms cellular metabolism. OPA1-deficient MEFs were depleted of intracellular citrate, which was consistent with the decreased oxygen consumption rate in these cells with mitochondrial fission that is not balanced by mitochondrial fusion. Whereas oxidative glucose metabolism was impaired, OPA1-deficient cells activated glutamine-dependent reductive carboxylation and subsequently relied on this reductive metabolism to produce cytosolic citrate as a predominant acetyl-CoA source for de novo fatty acid synthesis. Prevention of cytosolic glutamine reductive carboxylation by GSK321, an inhibitor of isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (IDH1), largely repressed lipid synthesis and blocked cell proliferation in OPA1-deficient MEFs. Our data support that, when glucose oxidation failed to support lipogenesis and proliferation in cells with unbalanced mitochondrial fission, OPA1 deficiency stimulated metabolic anaplerosis into glutamine-dependent reductive carboxylation in an IDH1-mediated manner.

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All the metabolic alterations data generated by GC–MS are shown in Supplementary Information.

Abbreviations

OPA1-WT:

OPA1 wild-type

OPA1-KO:

OPA1-knockout

MEFs:

Mouse embryonic fibroblasts

MFA:

Metabolic flux analysis

IDH1/2:

Isocitrate dehydrogenase 1/2

MPC1/2:

Mitochondrial pyruvate carrier 1/2

PDH:

Pyruvate dehydrogenase

LDH:

Lactate dehydrogenase

CTP:

Citrate transport protein

DIC:

Mitochondrial dicarboxylate carrier

FASN:

Fatty acid synthetase

TFAM:

Mitochondrial transcription factor A

MIDs:

Mass isotopologue distributions

SSR:

Sum-of-squared residuals

α-KG:

α-Ketoglutarate

OXPHOS:

Oxidative phosphorylation

OCR:

Oxygen consumption rate

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Light Microscopy Core at City of Hope Medical Center for technical assistance.

Funding

The work was supported by Caltech-City of Hope Biomedical Research Initiative awarded to Lei Jiang, David Chan, and Qiong A. Wang, grant NIH R35 GM127147 to David Chan, and P30CA033572 to City of Hope. Qiong A. Wang was also supported by National Institutes of Health grants R01AG063854, R01HD096152, R01DK128907, and the American Diabetes Association Junior Faculty Development Award 1-19-JDF-023.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology, Arthur Riggs Diabetes and Metabolism Research Institute, City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA, USA

    Wenting Dai, Zhichao Wang, Qiong A. Wang & Lei Jiang

  2. Comprehensive Cancer Center, City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA, USA

    Qiong A. Wang & Lei Jiang

  3. Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA

    David Chan

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  1. Wenting Dai
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Contributions

WTD and LJ conceptualized the study, designed the experiments, interpreted the data, and revised the manuscript. WTD performed the experiments and wrote the original draft. ZCW helped with the INCA modeling analysis. QAW and DC helped revise the manuscript. LJ supervised the whole study. All authors approved the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Lei Jiang.

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Dai, W., Wang, Z., Wang, Q.A. et al. Metabolic reprogramming in the OPA1-deficient cells. Cell. Mol. Life Sci. 79, 517 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-022-04542-5

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