Mitochondrial communication: from metabolism to therapies

Mitochondrial dysfunction is a hallmark for multiple metabolic and age-related diseases. Beyond their respiratory capacity, mitochondria constitute cellular centers for the integration of metabolic information, which they communicate with other organelles through direct physical interactions or by exporting metabolites. In this talk we’ll describe how mitochondria communicate among themselves and with other organelles through mechanisms of mitochondrial fusion and fission. In particular, we will focus on the ability of mitochondria to communicate to lipid droplets through the mitofusin-2 (Mfn2) protein. Second, we will recapitulate the evidence suggesting that situations of mitochondrial dysfunction can be therapeutically approached by increasing cellular NAD+ levels through the dietary supplementation with NAD+ precursors. Multiple NAD+ precursors exist, but we’ll argue that not all them will be effective to treat metabolic disorders and highlight the main challenges for clinical translation.