Mitochondria cleanup helps communication between cell parts in health and disease

Mitochondria are essential for functional coordination among cellular organelles and engage in diverse processes including ATP production and calcium ion buffering.

• Mitochondria play a central role in bioenergetic and metabolic activity within eukaryotic cells.
• Dysfunctional mitochondria are selectively eliminated through a process called mitophagy, which is a specialized form of macroautophagy.
• Mitophagy maintains the integrity of mitochondria and shapes communication between various organelles.
• Through bidirectional signaling, mitophagy influences the activity of organelles such as the endoplasmic reticulum, nucleus, lysosomes, and peroxisomes.
• This interorganelle communication is crucial for adapting to metabolic stress and making cell fate decisions.
• Emerging small-molecule modulators of mitophagy could provide new therapeutic strategies to enhance organelle communication in disease.

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