Fig. 1. The S. venezuelae (S. ven) metabolite causes perturbations of mitochondrial fission and fusion, resulting in time-dependent mitochondrial fragmentation in C. elegans.
a Quantification of mitochondrial fragmentation as indicated at young adult (5-day old), middle (7-day old), and older aged (9-day old) nematodes in response to metabolite exposure using Pmyo-3:TOM20:mRFP. S. ven metabolite significantly enhanced mitochondrial fragmentation in aging nematodes. Data represented as mean ± S.E.M.; n = 30 animals per replicate, three independent replicates; two-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post hoc test for multiple comparisons. **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, and ****P < 0.0001. b TOM20::mRFP images of the representative mitochondrial morphology following exposure of solvent or metabolite at day 5 post-hatching. The metabolite causes disordered and small donut-shaped morphology in the mitochondrial outer membrane. The scale bar is 20 μm. c, d Animals exposed to solvent (EtAc) or S. ven metabolite were assessed for drp-1 and fzo-1 mRNA levels by qRT-PCR. Metabolite exposure significantly increased drp-1 expression and reduced fzo-1 expression levels compared to empty vector (EV) solvent control. Relative mRNA expression levels were normalized to EV control. Data represented as mean ± S.E.M.; three replicates comprising at least 100 animals each; one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post hoc test for multiple comparisons. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, and ****P < 0.0001.