Mitochondrial Malaise

When you’re low on energy, it’s harder to get anything done properly. The same goes for your cells, which rely on energy made by their mitochondria. Structures in mitochondria called cristae create the conditions needed to make energy. With age our mitochondria stop working so well. So what happens to the cristae? Researchers investigate by cryo ET imaging mouse and fruit fly mitochondria. In flies, young mitochondria had well-formed layers of cristae (top row) but old mitochondria, which didn’t work properly, showed defects from circular cristae (bottom left) to small disconnected cristae (bottom right). In mice however some organs, such as the heart, showed no changes in mitochondria with age, while others, including the liver did. How complex an organism is and how well-protected its organs are both seem to affect how mitochondria age. More research is needed to uncover what happens in one of the most complex organisms: humans.

Written by Lux Fatimathas

Lux Fatimathas

Writer

Having pursued science through a career in research, communications and publishing, she is currently a writer and editor for a healthcare marketing agency and also juggles freelance science writing.

• Image from work by Tobias Brandt and Arnaud Mourier, and colleagues
• Department of Structural Biology, Max-Planck-Institute of Biophysics, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
• Image originally published under a Creative Commons Licence (BY 4.0)
• Published in eLife, July 2017