Caenorhabditis elegans pathways that surveil and defend mitochondria

Caenorhabditis eleganspathways that surveil and defend mitochondria


Iron is a valuable resource inside the cell. The mitochondrial electron transport chain is rich in haem and iron sulphur proteins, making it an attractive target upon bacterial infection. The authors show that disruption of mitochondrial function, through drugs such as antimycin or interference RNAs (RNAis), induces xenobiotic-detoxification, mitochondrial repair and pathogen response pathways in C. Elegans. They performed an RNAi screen to identify 45 RNAis that are involved in such pathways.