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Eukaryotic Cell doi:10.1128/EC.00085-08
Copyright (c) 2008, American Society for Microbiology and/or the Listed Authors/Institutions. All Rights Reserved.

Septins stabilize mitochondria in Tetrahymena

D. Woga, I. Strzyewska-Jówko, J. Gaertig^*, and M. Jerka-Dziadosz^*

Department of Cellular Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602-2607, USA; Polish Academy of Sciences., M. Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology Department of Cell Biology, 3 Pasteur Street, 02-093 Warsaw, Poland

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: jgaertig{at}cb.uga.edu. dziadosz{at}nencki.gov.pl.

	Abstract

We describe phylogenetic and functional studies of three septins in the free-living ciliate, Tetrahymena thermophila. Both deletion and overproduction of septins led to vacuolization of mitochondria, destabilization of the nuclear envelope, and increased autophagy. All three GFP-tagged septins localized to mitochondria. Specific septins localized either to the outer mitochondrial membrane, to septae formed during mitochondrial scission or to the mitochondrion-associated endoplasmic reticulum. The only other septins known to localize to mitochondria are the human ARTS and murine M-septin, both alternatively spliced forms of Sep4 (74, 49). It therefore appears that septins have been recruited to mitochondrial functions independently in at least two eukaryotic lineages, and in both cases are involved in apoptotic events.