Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2009 Jun 8.
Published in final edited form as: Neuron. 2008 Dec 10;60(5):748–766. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2008.10.010

Figure 2.

Figure 2

Mitochondrial fusion and fission mechanisms. Mitochondria can fuse with each other and exchange their membrane, intermembrane and matrix components (upper left). Fusion of the outer mitochondrial membranes is mediated by homophilic and heterophilic interactions of cytosolic domains of mitofusins (Mfn1 and Mfn2) which are proteins located in the outer mitochondrial membrane (upper right). Fusion of the inner mitochondrial membranes is believed to be mediated by OPA1 which is located in the intermembrane space. Mitochondrial fission (lower left) involves recruitment of dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp1) to discrete foci within the mitochondria and also requires Fis1, a protein located in the outer mitochondrial membrane (lower right).