Isolation of Mitochondria for Mitochondrial Supercomplex Analysis from Small Tissue and Cell Culture Samples

Summary

This protocol describes a technique for the analysis of respiratory supercomplexes when only small amounts of samples are available.

Abstract

Over the last decades, the evidence accumulated about the existence of respiratory supercomplexes (SCs) has changed our understanding of the mitochondrial electron transport chain organization, giving rise to the proposal of the "plasticity model." This model postulates the coexistence of different proportions of SCs and complexes depending on the tissue or the cellular metabolic status. The dynamic nature of the assembly in SCs would allow cells to optimize the use of available fuels and the efficiency of electron transfer, minimizing reactive oxygen species generation and favoring the ability of cells to adapt to environmental changes.

More recently, abnormalities in SC assembly have been reported in different diseases such as neurodegenerative disorders (Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease), Barth Syndrome, Leigh syndrome, or cancer. The role of SC assembly alterations in disease progression still needs to be confirmed. Nevertheless, the availability of enough amounts of samples to determine the SC assembly status is often a challenge. This happens with biopsy or tissue samples that are small or have to be divided for multiple analyses, with cell cultures that have slow growth or come from microfluidic devices, with some primary cultures or rare cells, or when the effect of particular costly treatments has to be analyzed (with nanoparticles, very expensive compounds, etc.). In these cases, an efficient and easy-to-apply method is required. This paper presents a method adapted to obtain enriched mitochondrial fractions from small amounts of cells or tissues to analyze the structure and function of mitochondrial SCs by native electrophoresis followed by in-gel activity assays or western blot.

Introduction

Supercomplexes (SCs) are supramolecular associations between individual respiratory chain complexes^1,2. Since the initial identification of SCs and the description of their composition by the group of Schägger^2,3, later confirmed by other groups, it was established that they contain respiratory complexes I, III, and IV (CI, CIII, and CIV, respectively) in different stoichiometries. Two main populations of SCs can be defined, those containing CI (and either CIII alone or CIII and CIV) and with very high molecular weight (MW, starting ~1.5 MDa for t....

Protocol

NOTE: The composition of all culture media and buffers is specified in Table 1 and details related to all materials and reagents used in this protocol are listed in the Table of Materials.

1. Mitochondria isolation from cell culture

NOTE: The minimum volume of cells assayed has been ~30-50 µL of packed cells (step 1.4). This can correspond approximately to at least two or three 100 mm cell culture plates or to one 150 mm plate at 80-90% of confluence, depending on the cell type (between 5 × 10⁶ and 10⁷ cells in L929-derived cells or ....

Results

The yields of mitochondria obtained following the above-described protocols vary depending on several factors such as the cell line or tissue type, the nature of the samples (i.e., if fresh or frozen tissues are used), or the efficiency of the homogenization process. Expected yields of mitochondria from different cell lines and tissues are collected in Table 2. Once the mitochondrial fractions have been obtained, the next step is the analysis of respiratory SCs pattern, which is performed after the crude.......

Discussion

The methodological adaptations introduced in the protocols described here are intended to avoid losses and increase the yield while maintaining mitochondrial complex activities (which is crucial when the availability of enough amounts of samples is compromised) and reproduce the tissue's or cell line's expected pattern of SCs (see Figure 2C). With this purpose and since a high mitochondrial purity is not required to properly detect the SCs, the number of steps, times, and volume.......

Materials

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Acetic acid	PanReac	131008
Aminocaproic acid	Fluka Analytical	7260
ATP	Sigma-Aldrich	A2383
Bis Tris	Acrons Organics	327721000
Bradford assay	Biorad	5000002
Coomassie Blue G-250	Serva	17524
Coomassie Blue R-250	Merck	1125530025
Cytochrome c	Sigma-Aldrich	C2506
Diamino  benzidine (DAB)	Sigma-Aldrich	D5637
Digitonin	Sigma-Aldrich	D5628
EDTA	PanReac	131669
EGTA	Sigma-Aldrich	E3889
Fatty acids free BSA	Roche	10775835001
Glycine	PanReac	A1067
Homogenizer Teflon pestle	Deltalab	196102
Imidazole	Sigma-Aldrich	I2399
K2HPO4	PanReac	121512
KH2PO4	PanReac	121509
Mannitol	Sigma-Aldrich	M4125
Methanol	Labkem	MTOL-P0P
MgSO4	PanReac	131404
Mini Trans-Blot Cell	BioRad	1703930
MOPS	Sigma-Aldrich	M1254
MTCO1 Monoclonal Antibody	Invitrogen	459600
NaCl	Sigma-Aldrich	S9888
NADH	Roche	10107735001
NativePAGE 3 to 12% Mini Protein Gels	Invitrogen	BN1001BOX
NativePAGE Cathode Buffer Additive (20x)	Invitrogen	BN2002
NativePAGE Running Buffer (20x)	Invitrogen	BN2001
NDUFA9 Monoclonal Antibody	Invitrogen	459100
Nitroblue tetrazolium salt (NBT)	Sigma-Aldrich	N6876
Pb(NO3)2	Sigma-Aldrich	228621
PDVF Membrane	Amersham	10600023
Phenazine methasulfate (PMS)	Sigma-Aldrich	P9625
Pierce ECL Substrate	Thermo Scientific	32106
PMSF	Merck	PMSF-RO
SDHA Monoclonal Antibody	Invitrogen	459200
Sodium succinate	Sigma-Aldrich	S2378
Streptomycin/penicillin	PAN biotech	P06-07100
Sucrose	Sigma-Aldrich	S3089
Tris	PanReac	A2264
UQCRC1 Monoclonal Antibody	Invitrogen	459140
XCell SureLock Mini-Cell	Invitrogen	EI0001