Skeletal muscle, heart, and brain are high-energy requiring tissues that are severely affected by mitochondrial dysfunction. Recently a novel form of genetic disease affecting mitochondria has been associated with mutations in a mitochondrial protein, CHCHD10 (D10), whose function is still largely unknown. Mutant D10 causes severe autosomal dominant mitochondrial diseases, with diverse phenotypic features, ranging from myopathy and cardiomyopathy to motor neuron disease and frontotemporal dementia. The parent R01 that is linked to this application for Diversity Supplement investigates the normal function of D10 and the mechanisms underlying mitochondrial alterations in D10 S55L mutant mice. The supplement will support the work of Ms. Nneka Southwell, a graduate student in the Neuroscience Program in Dr. Manfredi?s group. The focus of the studies proposed in the supplement is on the metabolic rewiring involving 1C metabolism and nucleotide imbalance, which she has observed in the D10 S55L mutant mouse, starting from the most affected tissue, the heart, but also exploring metabolic alterations in various brain regions. The latter is highly innovative because very little is known about mitochondrial metabolic stress responses in the CNS and it is possible that some pathways are shared with heart and other tissues, while other could differ entirely. Maladaptive metabolic rewiring is an emerging and fascinating field, which holds exciting promise to provide novel disease biomarkers and therapeutic targets, not only for this mitochondrial disorder, but also for many other diseases that share metabolic adaptation mechanisms. The studies proposed for this Diversity Supplement will provide ample opportunities for Ms. Southwell to become an expert in metabolism and disease, an area of research that is gaining tremendous momentum in the biomedical space, as a role for metabolic dysregulation is increasingly being linked to a broad spectrum of diseases. The knowledge and technical skills that she will accumulate working on this project will position her well to being able to develop her independent, cutting-edge research on the role of metabolic dysfunction in degenerative diseases.
This is an application for Diversity Supplement to support and contribute to the scientific and career development training of Ms. Nneka Southwell through her graduate work. The proposed project under this supplement is aimed at understanding the metabolic alterations that underlie the disease pathogenesis in fatal hereditary mitochondrial diseases affecting multiple tissues, including the heart and the brain.
