A tether (gray) holds together mitochondria (red) and the ER (yellow).
Indirect evidence suggested that the mitochondria and ER were physically tied to one another, but what such a connection might be was obscure. Using electron tomography, Csordás et al. saw thin threads that ran between the organelles, ranging in size from 6 to 15 nm at the smooth ER, and 19 to 30 nm at the rough ER.
Limited protease digestion lengthened the ties and made the mitochondria less sensitive to Ca2+ release from the ER. By contrast, when the group engineered a 5-nm linker to narrow the gap between the organelles, mitochondria took in apoptosis-inducing amounts of Ca2+....
The Rockefeller University Press
2006
The Rockefeller University Press
2006
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