Mitochondria-localized caveolin in adaptation to cellular stress and injury

We show here that the apposition of plasmamembrane caveolae and mitochondria (first noted in electron micrographs >50 yr ago) and caveolae-mitochondria interaction regulates adaptation to cellular stress by modulating the structure and function of mitochondria. In C57Bl/6 mice engineered to overexpress caveolin specifically in cardiac myocytes (Cav-3 OE), localization of caveolin to mitochondria increases membrane rigidity (4.2%; P<0.05), tolerance to calcium, and respiratory function (72% increase in state 3 and 23% increase in complex IV activity; P<0.05), while reducing stress-induced generation of reactive oxygen species (by 20% in cellular superoxide and 41 and 28% in mitochondrial superoxide under states 4 and 3, respectively; P<0.05) in Cav-3 OE vs. TGneg. By contrast, mitochondrial function is abnormal in caveolin-knockout mice and Caenorhabditis elegans with null mutations in caveolin (60% increase free radical in Cav-2 C. elegans mutants; P<0.05). In human colon cancer cells, mitochondria with increased caveolin have a 30% decrease in apoptotic stress (P<0.05), but cells with disrupted mitochondria-caveolin interaction have a 30% increase in stress response (P<0.05). Targeted gene transfer of caveolin to mitochondria in C57Bl/6 mice increases cardiac mitochondria tolerance to calcium, enhances respiratory function (increases of 90% state 4, 220% state 3, 88% complex IV activity; P<0.05), and decreases (by 33%) cardiac damage (P<0.05). Physical association and apparently the transfer of caveolin between caveolae and mitochondria is thus a conserved cellular response that confers protection from cellular damage in a variety of tissues and settings.-Fridolfsson, H. N., Kawaraguchi, Y., Ali, S. S., Panneerselvam, M., Niesman, I. R., Finley, J. C., Kellerhals, S. E., Migita, M. Y., Okada, H., Moreno, A. L., Jennings, M., Kidd, M. W., Bonds, J. A., Balijepalli, R. C., Ross, R. S., Patel, P. M., Miyanohara, A., Chen, Q., Lesnefsky, E. J., Head, B. P., Roth, D. M., Insel, P. A., Patel, H. H. Mitochondria-localized caveolin in adaptation to cellular stress and injury. FASEB J. 26, 4637-4649 (2012). www.fasebj.org