Fig. 2
The effect of S. ven metabolite-mediated fission and fusion on the mitochondrial matrix (a) and mitochondrial outer membrane (b) in C. elegans body-wall muscles. Transgenic nematodes expressing P myo-3 ::mitoGFP were analyzed to monitor mitochondrial matrix in response to each treatment, and mitochondrial outer membrane was detected with P myo-3 ::TOM20::mRFP strain. Representative mitoGFP and TOM20 images (left panel in a and b) and quantification of the different mitochondrial morphologies observed (right panel with graphical stacks in a and b, Y axis represents distribution of mitochondrial morphology phenotypes in worm populations in percentage) are shown. Compared with solvent treatment, populations of RNAi-treated fission gene-associated drp-1 and fis-1 animals exhibited significantly more mitochondrial fragmentation following metabolite exposure, characterized by disordered and small circularly shaped mitochondria at day 8 post-hatching. Animals reduced for the fusion regulators, fzo-1 and eat-3, displayed mitochondrial fragmentation following exposure to metabolite in a manner similar to solvent-treated animals, respectively. Arrows indicate representative areas of mitochondrial fusion. These data are presented as mean ± S.E.M.; n = 30 animals per replicate, two independent replicates; one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post hoc test for multiple comparisons. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01. The scale bar is 20 μm.
