Mitochondrial protein interactions that cause dysregulation and disease.

Mitochondria are critical to cellular function, producing cellular bioenergy, but they also have important roles in ion homeostasis, programmed cell death, and in ROS production and consumption. Protein interactions within the mitochondrial membrane are critical to maintaining homeostasis and regulation of cellular functions. Mitochondrial protein overexpression, de-modification and disruption or upregulation of key interactions leads to mitochondrial dysfunction and human disease such as cancer, diabetes, and a host of neurological disorders. Unfortunately, many mitochondrial protein interactions that lead to dysregulation and disease and not understood. Leveraging our recent mitochondrial import findings and our established endogenous protein tagging and in vivo tracking technology, this project aims to decipher key mitochondrial interactions using protein tagging and proteomics, in the goal to further human disease research and identify new potential drug targets.