Longevity & AgingCells Survive Without Mitochondria — Revealing Hidden Rules of Pluripotency
Researchers at UT Southwestern developed an enforced mitophagy system to completely eliminate mitochondria from pluripotent stem cells (PSCs), finding that PSCs survived several days without them. Using this tool, they created interspecies PSC fusions carrying either human or non-human hominid (NHH) mitochondrial DNA, revealing that human and NHH mtDNA are largely interchangeable for supporting pluripotency — yet produce subtle species-specific transcriptional and metabolic differences. When applied to mouse embryos via a transgenic approach, reducing mitochondrial abundance delayed pre-implantation development. The study establishes enforced mitophagy as a powerful platform for dissecting mitochondrial roles in development, disease, and interspecies biology.
