Support is requested for a Keystone Symposia meeting entitled Mitochondria Communication, organized by Drs. Jared Rutter, Cole M. Haynes and Marcia C. Haigis. The meeting will be held in Taos, New Mexico from January 14-18, 2017. Understanding how mitochondria communicate within the cell will provide important clues to elucidate its roles in normal cell physiology, as well as numerous diseases such as diabetes, neurodegeneration and cancer. The classical view of mitochondria is of an organelle that interacts with other features of cell biology primarily through the provision and consumption of metabolic intermediates and energetic products. Emerging evidence from many areas of science is accumulating to suggest that mitochondria play much more active roles in communication with other organelles, determining cell and organismal behavior. This conference will focus on these integrated behaviors and the resulting communication. The sessions will be organized around the different nodes, modes and destinations of that signaling. It will bring together people and ideas from different areas of cell biology and physiology that typically do not attend the same conferences, resulting in the development of new collaborations and concepts. NIA Relevance: The theme of this meeting is the extensive communication that occurs between mitochondria and the nucleus, other organelles and between cells. All of these phenomena have been intimately linked with aging and age-related dysfunction in several model systems. Moreover, several of the proposed speakers study this process explicitly in the context of organismal aging: Drs. Auwerx, Shadel, Chen, Jasper, Hughes, Mair, Kaeberlein and Tavernarakis. (Others will likely touch on aging as well, including Drs. Chandel, Haigis, Youle and Tu.)
It is becoming increasingly clear that mitochondria touch almost all aspects of cellular biology and, as a result, are intricately associated with many human diseases. This is particularly evident in age-related human diseases, where the connection to mitochondrial dysfunction is particularly evident. The goal of the Keystone Symposia meeting on Mitochondria Communication is to promote understanding of the shared mechanisms of communication and how the failure of these mechanisms might lead to disease.
