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Mitochondria are dynamic organelles that fuse and divide. These changes alter the number and distribution of mitochondrial structures throughout the cell in response to developmental and metabolic cues. We have demonstrated that mitochondrial fission is essential to the maintenance of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) under changing metabolic conditions in wild-type Saccharomyces cerevisiae. While increased loss of mtDNA integrity has been demonstrated for dnm1-∆ fission mutants after growth in a non-fermentable carbon source, we demonstrate that growth of yeast in different carbon sources affects the frequency of mtDNA loss, even when the carbon sources are fermentable. In addition, we demonstrate that the impact of fission on mtDNA maintenance during growth in different carbon sources is neither mediated by retrograde signaling nor mitophagy. Instead, we demonstrate that mitochondrial distribution and mtDNA maintenance phenotypes conferred by loss of Dnm1p are suppressed by the loss of Sod2p, the mitochondrial matrix superoxide dismutase.

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) repair occurs in all eukaryotic organisms and is essential for the maintenance of mitochondrial function. Evidence from both humans and yeast suggests that mismatch repair is one of the pathways that functions in overall mtDNA stability. In the mitochondria of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the presence of a homologue to the bacterial MutS mismatch repair protein, MSH1, has long been known to be essential for mitochondrial function. The mechanisms for which it is essential are unclear, however. Here, we analyze the effects of two point mutations, msh1-F105A and msh1-G776D, both predicted to be defective in mismatch repair; and we show that they are both able to maintain partial mitochondrial function. Moreover, there are significant differences in the severity of mitochondrial disruption between the two mutants that suggest multiple roles for Msh1p in addition to mismatch repair. Our overall findings suggest that these additional predicted functions of Msh1p, including recombination surveillance and heteroduplex rejection, may be primarily responsible for its essential role in mtDNA stability.