{"id":58339,"date":"2018-05-24T09:35:22","date_gmt":"2018-05-24T13:35:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/busm\/?p=58339"},"modified":"2018-05-24T09:35:22","modified_gmt":"2018-05-24T13:35:22","slug":"researchers-discover-that-cells-contain-mitochondria-specialized-to-build-fats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/2018\/05\/24\/researchers-discover-that-cells-contain-mitochondria-specialized-to-build-fats\/","title":{"rendered":"Researchers Discover that Cells Contain Mitochondria Specialized to Build Fats"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new definition of mitochondria has emerged due to research conducted at BUSM.\u00a0 In the past mitochondria have been seen as the cellular organelle where sugars and fats are oxidized to generate energy.\u00a0 Now, because of a study done by researchers including BUSM MD\/PhD candidate Ilan Benador, the study\u2019s first author, we now know that not all mitochondria fit this definition.<\/p>\n

According to the findings published in Cell Metabolism<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> researchers found that within each cell a group of specialized mitochondria can be found attached to fat droplets.<\/p>\n

\"Ilan
Ilan Benador<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe first noticed this when looking at the cells under the microscope,\u201d said Mr. Benador. \u201cWe saw that mitochondria surrounding the lipid droplet had different size and shape and didn\u2019t move around as much as rest of the mitochondria in the cell,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The team then developed a method to separate these mitochondria from the rest of the cell components. \u201cOur method took advantage of the basic principle that fat floats over water,\u201d said BUSM Graduate Kiana Mahdaviani, the study\u2019s second author. The team discovered that a specialized subgroup of mitochondria remained attached to the fat droplets, which could be separated from the rest of the cell mitochondria. \u201cThis really changes how we look at previous mitochondrial research, which routinely discarded the fat droplets,\u201d said Mr. Benador.<\/p>\n

Once isolated, the team found that lipid droplet-associated mitochondria have distinct biochemistry and metabolism. To better understand how these mitochondria work in the body, the team studied brown fat, a type of fat tissue that can activate fat oxidizing to generate heat. \u201cWe expected to have lot more lipid droplet-associated mitochondria in activated brown fat but saw exactly the opposite,\u201d said Mr. Benador. This suggested the fat droplet-associated mitochondria are not specialized for fat oxidation. In fact, manipulation of brown fat cells demonstrated that fat-droplet associated mitochondria promote fat droplet expansion. \u201cWe are very excited to see how this discovery will improve our understanding and treatment of obesity and other metabolic disorders,\u201d said Mr. Benador. The team is now working towards identifying drug candidates that disrupt mitochondrial interaction with fat droplets.<\/p>\n

The two corresponding authors of the study, Drs. Orian Shirihai and Marc Liesa were BUSM Department of Medicine faculty for the majority of the study. The study\u2019s other authors are:\u00a0 BUSM PhD Graduate Kiana Mahdaviani and BUSM Professor Barbara Corkey ; Anton Peterski, Essam Assali, Rebeca Asin-Perez, Michael Shum, William Barshop and James Wohlschlegel, all of UCLA; Jakob Wilkstrom of the Karolinska Institutet; Marcus Oliviera of Universidade Federal do Rio de Janiero; Saviero Cinti of the University of Ancona; and Carole Sztalryd of the University of Maryland Baltimore County.<\/p>\n

Funding for the study and the researchers involved was provided by the Boston University T32 Training Program in Metabolism, Endocrinology and Obesity; the National Institutes of Health; a UCSD\/UCLA Diabetes Research Center grant; and the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnol\u00f3gico.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This new function may lead to new treatments for metabolic diseases.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":903,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[91,90],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58339"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/903"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58339"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58339\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58341,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58339\/revisions\/58341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}