Abstract 123: Adenoviral RhoA Regulation of Dynamin-related Protein 1 and Cardiac Mitochondrial Fission

Abstract

G protein coupled receptors can signal downstream through various pathways, including activation of the small G protein RhoA. In cardiomyocytes, RhoA signaling is protective against ischemia/reperfusion injury. We have previously shown that this is mediated through downstream activation of Protein Kinase D (PKD), increased phosphorylation of cofilin, and diminished translocation of pro-apoptotic proteins to the mitochondria (Xiang et al, Sci. Signaling 2013). Mitophagy, a process that removes damaged mitochondria and limits mitochondrial death signaling, has also been suggested to be a cardioprotective response to oxidative stress. A step considered to be preliminary to clearance of damaged mitochondria via mitophagy is mitochondrial fission, and we hypothesized that RhoA signaling increases mitochondrial fission in cardiomyocytes. Constitutively active RhoA expressed in neonatal rat ventricular myocytes (NRVMs) was found to accumulate at the mitochondria. This was associated with an increase in small, fragmented mitochondria as observed by fluorescent confocal microscopy and electron microscopy, indicative of increased mitochondrial fission. The main protein involved in mitochondrial fission, dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp1), translocates from the cytosol to the mitochondria when activated. We used a tagged adenoviral Drp1 construct to determine whether expression of active RhoA changes Drp1 levels at the mitochondria. Mitochondrial Drp1 increased within 12 hours of adenoviral expression of active RhoA. Adenoviral RhoA expression also increased phosphorylation of Drp1 at serine-616 in NRVMs. In summary, we show that in cardiomyocytes, RhoA associates with mitochondria, can increase Drp1 phosphorylation and Drp1 mitochondrial localization, and can induce mitochondrial fission. The relationship between these mitochondrial signaling events and the protein kinases that are involved are currently under investigation. We suggest that G protein coupled receptors that stimulate RhoA can induce Drp1 accumulation and mitochondrial fission, which contributes to their cardioprotective effect.