Defective mitochondria ignite the SASP

SASP reflects senescence

Wildfires ignite concern.

Every year in the United States wildfires destroy hundreds of homes and cause millions of dollars in damage. From January through May of this year, for example, 2,702 wildfires scorched 198,228 acres in Florida amidst one of the worst droughts in a century. Although wildfires can actually be good for the environment, helping it to stay healthy and restore itself, they can have harmful human con...

The Research Base of Ignite! Learning

SIN3B, the SASP, and pancreatic cancer

Cellular senescence is classically considered a tumor suppressive mechanism. In addition to having stably exited the cell cycle, senescent cells secrete inflammatory factors. We recently demonstrated that senescence correlates with accelerated cancer progression in a mouse model of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Here, we discuss the implications of this study.

Mutations in Fis1 disrupt orderly disposal of defective mitochondria

Mitochondrial fission is mediated by the dynamin-related protein Drp1 in metazoans. Drp1 is recruited from the cytosol to mitochondria by the mitochondrial outer membrane protein Mff. A second mitochondrial outer membrane protein, named Fis1, was previously proposed as recruitment factor, but Fis1(-/-) cells have mild or no mitochondrial fission defects. Here we show that Fis1 is nevertheless p...