Abstract

Mitochondrial dysfunction caused by aberrant Complex I assembly and reduced activity of the electron transport chain is pathogenic in many genetic and age-related diseases. Mice missing the Complex I subunit NADH dehydrogenase [ubiquinone] iron-sulfur protein 4 (NDUFS4) are a leading mammalian model of severe mitochondrial disease that exhibit many characteristic symptoms of Leigh Syndrome including oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, brain lesions, and premature death. NDUFS4 knockout mice have decreased expression of nearly every Complex I subunit. As Complex I normally contains at least 8 iron-sulfur clusters and more than 25 iron atoms, we asked whether a deficiency of Complex I may lead to iron perturbations thereby accelerating disease progression. Consistent with this, iron supplementation accelerates symptoms of brain degeneration in these mice while iron restriction delays the onset of these symptoms, reduces neuroinflammation, and increases survival. NDUFS4 knockout mice display signs of iron overload in the liver including increased expression of hepcidin, and show changes in iron responsive element-regulated proteins consistent with increased cellular iron that were prevented by iron restriction. These results suggest that perturbed iron homeostasis may contribute to pathology in Leigh Syndrome and possibly other mitochondrial disorders.

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All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting files or are publicly available via Dryad (https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.xpnvx0khb).

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Article and author information

Author details

  1. CJ Kelly

    Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  2. Reid K Couch

    Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  3. Vivian T Ha

    Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  4. Camille M Bodart

    Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  5. Judy Wu

    Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  6. Sydney Huff

    Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  7. Nicole T Herrel

    Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  8. Hyunsung D Kim

    Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  9. Azaad O Zimmermann

    Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  10. Jessica Shattuck

    Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  11. Yu-Chen Pan

    Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  12. Matt Kaeberlein

    Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, United States
    For correspondence
    kaeber@uw.edu
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-1311-3421
  13. Anthony S Grillo

    Department of Chemistry, University of Cincinnati, Seattle, United States
    For correspondence
    grilloas@uc.edu
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-3283-6585

Funding

National Institutes of Health (F32 NS110109)

  • Anthony S Grillo

National Institutes of Health (R01 NS098329)

  • Matt Kaeberlein

National Institutes of Health (P30 AG013280)

  • Matt Kaeberlein

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

Ethics

Animal experimentation: Experiments, procedures, and protocols described herein to care for, and handle, mice were reviewed and approved (protocol 4359-03) by the University of Washington Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) and strictly adhered to guidelines described in the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals of the National Institutes of Health.

Copyright

© 2023, Kelly 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. CJ Kelly
  2. Reid K Couch
  3. Vivian T Ha
  4. Camille M Bodart
  5. Judy Wu
  6. Sydney Huff
  7. Nicole T Herrel
  8. Hyunsung D Kim
  9. Azaad O Zimmermann
  10. Jessica Shattuck
  11. Yu-Chen Pan
  12. Matt Kaeberlein
  13. Anthony S Grillo
(2023)
Iron status influences mitochondrial disease progression in Complex I-deficient mice
eLife 12:e75825.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.75825

Share this article

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.75825

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