CHCHD2 maintains mitochondrial contact site and cristae organizing system stability and protects against mitochondrial dysfunction in an experimental model of Parkinson’s disease

Background:Parkinson’s disease(PD)is the second most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer’s dementia.Mitochondrial dysfunction is involved in the pathology of PD.Coiled-coil-helix-coiled-coil-helix domain-containing 2(CHCHD2)was identified as associated with autosomal dominant PD.However,the mechanism of CHCHD2 in PD remains unclear.Methods:Short hairpin RNA(ShRNA)-mediated CHCHD2 knockdown or lentivirus-mediated CHCHD2 overexpression was performed to investigate the impact of CHCHD2 on mitochondrial morphology and function in neuronal tumor cell lines represented with human neuroblastoma(SHSY5Y)and HeLa cells.Blue-native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis(PAGE)and two-dimensional sodium dodecyl sulfate-PAGE analysis were used to illustrate the role of CHCHD2 in mitochondrial contact site and cristae organizing system(MICOS).Co-immunoprecipitation and immunoblotting were used to address the interaction between CHCHD2 and Mic10.Serotype injection of adeno-associated vector-mediated CHCHD2 and 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine(MPTP)administration were used to examine the influence of CHCHD2 in vivo.Results:We found that the overexpression of CHCHD2 can protect against methyl-4-phenylpyridinium(MPP+)-induced mitochondrial dysfunction and inhibit the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the MPTP-induced mouse model.Furthermore,we identified that CHCHD2 interacted with Mic10,and overexpression of CHCHD2 can protect against MPP+-induced MICOS impairment,while knockdown of CHCHD2 impaired the stability of MICOS.Conclusion:This study indicated that CHCHD2 could interact with Mic10 and maintain the stability of the MICOS complex,which contributes to protecting mitochondrial function in PD.