Novel Roles for COX Assembly Factors in Mitochondrial Homeostasis

线粒体是亚细胞区室，负责产生细胞生存所需的大部分能量。线粒体除了在能量生产中发挥核心作用外，对程序性细胞死亡也至关重要，是每个活细胞生死平衡的重要组成部分。我的实验室主要研究细胞色素氧化酶（COX），它是线粒体呼吸链的终端电子受体，是能量产生的机器。除了其蛋白质亚基外，COX还需要一系列辅助蛋白，为酶组装提供铜和血红素a。在最近的研究中，我们发现Cox17在野生型固定期酵母中更丰富，并且Cox17的缺失导致固定期酵母无法诱导细胞凋亡，这首次表明这种小蛋白，也被称为线粒体铜伴侣蛋白，也可能在细胞质量控制中发挥作用。此外，我们发现缺乏组装的COX也会导致氧化应激的增加。

Mitochondria are sub-cellular compartments responsible for producing the bulk of the energy our cells need for survival. In addition to their central role in energy production, mitochondria are crucial for programmed cell death, an important component of the life-death balance for every living cell. My lab is focusing on cytochrome oxidase (COX), the terminal electron acceptor of the mitochondrial respiratory chain, the energy-producing machinery. In addition to its protein subunits, COX also requires a host of accessory proteins that provide copper and heme A for enzyme assembly. In the most recent granting period, we have found that Cox17 is more abundant in wild-type stationary phase yeast and that loss of Cox17 results in an inability to induce apoptosis in stationary phase yeast, suggesting for the first time that this small protein, better known as a mitochondrial copper chaperone, may also have role in cellular quality control. In addition, we have found that a lack of assembled COX also leads to an increase in oxidative stress.