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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Jun 30.
Published in final edited form as: Nature. 2014 Jan 16;505(7483):335–343. doi: 10.1038/nature12985

Figure 1. The organization and distribution of mitochondria and mtDNA in higher eukaryotes.

Figure 1

Mitochondrial organization is a conserved feature. a, mtDNA in a human fibroblast is packaged within nucleoids (green) distributed within tubular mitochondria (red) around the nucleus (blue). Scale bar, 20 microns. Adapted with permission from ref. 40. b, A similar distribution is seen in a yeast cell with nucleoids (green) within mitochondria (red). Scale bar, 2 microns. c, Mitochondrial copy number is controlled by the combined actions of mitochondrial division and fusion. Mitochondrial division is controlled by the assembly of a dynamin-related protein (DRP) on the outside of the organelle into a helical structure, which mediates scission through interactions across helical rungs (marked by orange circles). Mitochondrial fusion is controlled by interactions of outer and inner membrane fusion DRPs (blue and red circles, respectively) across mitochondrial membranes.