Changes of mitochondrial ultrastructure and function during ageing in mice and Drosophila

  1. Tobias Brandt
  2. Arnaud Mourier
  3. Luke S Tain
  4. Linda Partridge
  5. Nils-Göran Larsson
  6. Werner Kühlbrandt  Is a corresponding author
  1. Max-Planck-Institute of Biophysics, Germany
  2. Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing, Germany
  3. Max Planck Institute of Biophysics, Germany

Abstract

Ageing is a progressive decline of intrinsic physiological functions. We examined the impact of ageing on the ultrastructure and function of mitochondria in mouse and fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) by electron cryo-tomography and respirometry and discovered distinct age-related changes in both model organisms. Mitochondrial function and ultrastructure are maintained in mouse heart, whereas subpopulations of mitochondria from mouse liver show age-related changes in membrane morphology. Subpopulations of mitochondria from young and old mouse kidney resemble those described for apoptosis. In aged flies, respiratory activity is compromised and the production of peroxide radicals is increased. In about 50% of mitochondria from old flies, the inner membrane organization breaks down. This establishes a clear link between inner membrane architecture and functional decline. Mitochondria were affected by ageing to very different extents, depending on the organism and possibly on the degree to which tissues within the same organism are protected against mitochondrial damage.

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Tobias Brandt

    Department of Structural Biology, Max-Planck-Institute of Biophysics, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  2. Arnaud Mourier

    Department of Mitochondrial Biology, Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing, Cologne, Germany
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  3. Luke S Tain

    Department of Biological Mechanisms of Ageing, Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing, Cologne, Germany
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  4. Linda Partridge

    Department of Biological Mechanisms of Ageing, Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing, Cologne, Germany
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  5. Nils-Göran Larsson

    Department of Mitochondrial Biology, Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing, Cologne, Germany
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  6. Werner Kühlbrandt

    Max Planck Institute of Biophysics, Frankfurt, Germany
    For correspondence
    werner.kuehlbrandt@biophys.mpg.de
    Competing interests
    Werner Kühlbrandt, Reviewing editor, eLife.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-2013-4810

Funding

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

  • Werner Kühlbrandt

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

  • Werner Kühlbrandt

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Ethics

Animal experimentation: This study was performed in strict accordance with the recommendations and guidelines of the Federation of European Laboratory Animal Science Associations (FELASA). The protocol was approved by the Landesamt für Natur, Umwelt und Verbraucherschutz in Nordrhein-Westfalen, in Germany (Permit ref: 84-02.05.20.12.086).

Reviewing Editor

  1. Sriram Subramaniam, National Cancer Institute, United States

Publication history

  1. Received: December 24, 2016
  2. Accepted: June 19, 2017
  3. Accepted Manuscript published: July 12, 2017 (version 1)
  4. Version of Record published: September 1, 2017 (version 2)

Copyright

© 2017, Brandt et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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  1. Tobias Brandt
  2. Arnaud Mourier
  3. Luke S Tain
  4. Linda Partridge
  5. Nils-Göran Larsson
  6. Werner Kühlbrandt
(2017)
Changes of mitochondrial ultrastructure and function during ageing in mice and Drosophila
eLife 6:e24662.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.24662

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