As critical regulators of cellular metabolism, mitochondria activate various pathways in response to stressors
(e.g., aging) and dysfunction (e.g., unfolded proteins). However, little is known about the in vivo pathways
mitochondria use to communicate impaired energy production. Mitochondrial energy dysfunction is a hallmark
of a range of degenerative diseases affecting tissues with high energy demands, thus understanding how
mitochondria respond to energy dysfunction and direct the cellular response to energetic crisis in vivo is critical
for the design of targeted strategies to ameliorate these diseases. Here, we will leverage a unique model of in
vivo mitochondrial energy impairment that we engineered by inducible deletion of the cardiac mitochondrial
phosphate carrier (SLC25A3) in adult mouse cardiomyocytes. This model offers a novel system to model
mitochondrial energy impairment in a terminally differentiated tissue with high energy demands. Intriguingly,
despite the cardiac disease exhibited by these mice, SLC25A3 deficiency does not engage canonical
mitochondrial energy dysfunction pathways like AMPK and ROS signaling, nor is cell death or fibrosis exhibited
by deficient hearts. Instead, loss of SLC25A3 in adult hearts causes a striking increase in mitochondria-specific
protein acylations, particularly acetylation and malonylation. Acylations are dynamic post-translational
modifications derived from metabolic intermediates and subject to removal by sirtuin deacylases. Importantly,
acylations harbor the potential to link metabolism to protein functional regulation, while altered acylation is
associated with disease pathogenesis. Our preliminary data suggest that, in particular, two aspects of the
acylome—the acetylome and the malonylome—are remodeled in response to mitochondrial energy
dysfunction. While the acylome is well known to regulate mitochondrial metabolism, our work suggests that the
converse is also possible: that mitochondrial energy dysfunction directs acylome remodeling. We hypothesize
that acylome modifications represent a mitochondria-intrinsic mechanism to coordinate the cellular response to
energy stress. Using the SLC25A3 deletion mice together with cell biology, biochemistry, proteomics, and
innovative in vivo gene therapy approaches, we will 1) identify the mechanisms underlying SLC25A3 deletion-
mediated acylome remodeling, 2) define how acylations regulate the mitochondrial permeability transition pore
cell death pathway, and 3) determine the physiological impact of aberrant acylations on the mitochondrial
energy-impaired heart. The proposed studies will provide novel insight on the link between mitochondrial
bioenergetics and acylome remodeling and position acylations as an arm of the mitochondrial stress response
that is activated upon mitochondrial energy dysfunction. Ultimately, identification of pathways regulating
mitochondrial dysfunction will facilitate the development of new therapies targeting mitochondrial energy
dysfunction in disease.