Natalie M Niemi, Lia R Serrano, Laura K Muehlbauer, Catherine E Balnis, Lianjie Wei, Andrew J Smith, Keri-Lyn Kozul, Merima Forny, Olivia M Connor, Edrees H Rashan, Evgenia Shishkova, Kathryn L Schueler, Mark P Keller, Alan D Attie, Jonathan R Friedman, Julia K Pagan, Joshua J Coon, David J Pagliarini
PPTC7 is a resident mitochondrial phosphatase essential for maintaining proper mitochondrial content and function. Newborn mice lacking Pptc7 exhibit aberrant mitochondrial protein phosphorylation, suffer from a range of metabolic defects, and fail to survive beyond one day after birth. Using an inducible knockout model, we reveal that loss of Pptc7 in adult mice causes marked reduction in mitochondrial mass and metabolic capacity with elevated hepatic triglyceride accumulation. Pptc7 knockout animals exhibit increased expression of the mitophagy receptors BNIP3 and NIX, and Pptc7-/- mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) display a major increase in mitophagy that is reversed upon deletion of these receptors...
October 13, 2023: Nature Communications