Mitochondrial genotype modulates mtDNA copy number and organismal phenotype in Drosophila

Tiina S Salminen; Marcos T Oliveira; Giuseppe Cannino; Päivi Lillsunde; Howard T Jacobs; Laurie S Kaguni

doi:10.1016/j.mito.2017.02.001

Mitochondrial genotype modulates mtDNA copy number and organismal phenotype in Drosophila

Mitochondrion. 2017 May:34:75-83. doi: 10.1016/j.mito.2017.02.001. Epub 2017 Feb 16.

Authors

Tiina S Salminen¹, Marcos T Oliveira², Giuseppe Cannino¹, Päivi Lillsunde¹, Howard T Jacobs³, Laurie S Kaguni⁴

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Biosciences and Medical Technology, FI-331014, University of Tampere, Finland.
² Institute of Biosciences and Medical Technology, FI-331014, University of Tampere, Finland; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Center for Mitochondrial Science and Medicine, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA; Departamento de Tecnologia, Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias, Universidade Estadual Paulista "Júlio de Mesquita Filho", Jaboticabal, SP 14884-900, Brazil.
³ Institute of Biosciences and Medical Technology, FI-331014, University of Tampere, Finland; Institute of Biotechnology, FI-00014, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
⁴ Institute of Biosciences and Medical Technology, FI-331014, University of Tampere, Finland; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Center for Mitochondrial Science and Medicine, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA. Electronic address: lskaguni@msu.edu.

PMID: 28214560
DOI: 10.1016/j.mito.2017.02.001

Abstract

We evaluated the role of natural mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variation on mtDNA copy number, biochemical features and life history traits in Drosophila cybrid strains. We demonstrate the effects of both coding region and non-coding A+T region variation on mtDNA copy number, and demonstrate that copy number correlates with mitochondrial biochemistry and metabolically important traits such as development time. For example, high mtDNA copy number correlates with longer development times. Our findings support the hypothesis that mtDNA copy number is modulated by mtDNA genome variation and suggest that it affects OXPHOS efficiency through changes in the organization of the respiratory membrane complexes to influence organismal phenotype.

Keywords: Cybrid; Haplotype; Mitochondrial DNA; Respiration; Supercomplexes.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

Animals
Cell Respiration
DNA, Mitochondrial / genetics*
Drosophila / genetics*
Drosophila / physiology*
Female
Gene Dosage
Genotype*
Male
Mitochondria / genetics
Mitochondria / metabolism
Oxidative Phosphorylation
Phenotype*

Substances

DNA, Mitochondrial

Grants and funding

R01 GM045295/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States