Housekeeping Benefits

Mitochondria, seen in these human skin cells as turquoise dots, are microscopic power plants creating the molecular energy required for cellular functions. There are many mitochondria within a cell and many cells within a tissue allowing some damage and dysfunction to be tolerated. Nevertheless, detection systems exist to keep a check on mitochondrial damage and one such system is a protein called NLRP10. In response to mitochondrial damage, NLRP10 directs formation of an inflammasome (red colour) – a complex of proteins that drive production of inflammatory molecules to recruit immune cells to dispose of the dysfunctional cell. Interestingly, though the process involves inflammasomes and immune cells, the rapid elimination of damaged cells in this way seems to prevent more serious tissue inflammation. Indeed, people with NLRP10 mutations can develop a persistent skin inflammation called atopic dermatitis. Much like our homes, then, our bodies seem to benefit from timely trash removal too.

Written by Ruth Williams

Ruth Williams

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Ruth is a freelance science journalist based in the US. She's a regular correspondent for The Scientist, and her work has appeared in The Lancet, Nature, Scientific American Mind, BBC Focus and elsewhere. Twitter @rooph

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• Image by Kim S. Robinson, Skin Research Institute of Singapore (SRIS), Singapore
• Research by Tomasz Próchnicki et al, Institute of Innate Immunity, Medical Faculty, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
• Image copyright held by the original authors
• Research published in Nature Immunology, March 2023