Organelle fusion in fertility

Abstract

Reproduction The fertility of organisms as diverse as male fruit flies and mice requires a mitochondrial fusion gene. But what for? Mitochondria cluster and fuse during early sperm development with the help of guanosine triphosphatases called mitofusins. When mitochondrial fusion fails, oxidative phosphorylation decreases, and mitochondrial transport and degradation are also affected. Varuzhanyan et al. tested how reliant the success of male germ cell development in mice is on mitofusins. Mitofusins are needed to trigger a metabolic shift during meiosis. When mitofusins are eliminated, germ cells display damage to the cristae ultrastructure, increased apoptosis, reduced oxidative phosphorylation, and a loss of mitochondrial ribosomes. Thus, mitofusins are vital for maintaining translation of respiratory chain and mitochondrial proteins to enable male fertility. eLife 8 , e51601 (2019).