Defects Associated with Mitochondrial DNA Damage Can Be Mitigated by Increased Vacuolar pH in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Abstract

While searching for mutations that alleviate detrimental effects of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) damage, we found that disrupting vacuolar biogenesis permitted survival of a sensitized yeast background after mitochondrial genome loss. Furthermore, elevating vacuolar pH increases proliferation after mtDNA deletion and reverses the protein import defect of mitochondria lacking DNA.