Mitochondrial fragmentation enables localized signaling required for cell repair.

Plasma membrane injury can cause lethal influx of calcium, but cells survive by mounting a polarized repair response targeted to the wound site. Mitochondrial signaling within seconds after injury enables this response. However, as mitochondria are distributed throughout the cell in an interconnected network, it is unclear how they generate a spatially restricted signal to repair the plasma membrane wound. Here we show that calcium influx and Drp1-mediated, rapid mitochondrial fission at the injury site help polarize the repair response. Fission of injury-proximal mitochondria allows for greater amplitude and duration of calcium increase in these mitochondria, allowing them to generate local redox signaling required for plasma membrane repair. Drp1 knockout cells and patient cells lacking the Drp1 adaptor protein MiD49 fail to undergo injury-triggered mitochondrial fission, preventing polarized mitochondrial calcium increase and plasma membrane repair. Although mitochondrial fission is considered to be an indicator of cell damage and death, our findings identify that mitochondrial fission generates localized signaling required for cell survival.
(© 2020 Horn et al.)