Stable transplantation of human mitochondrial DNA by high-throughput, pressurized isolated mitochondrial delivery
Alexander J. Sercel, Alexander N. Patananan, Tianxing Man, Ting‐Hsiang Wu, Amy Yu, Garret W Guyot, Shahrooz Rabizadeh, Kayvan Niazi, Pei‐Yu Chiou, Michael A. Teitell
Abstract
Generating mammalian cells with specific mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA)–nuclear DNA (nDNA) combinations is desirable but difficult to achieve and would be enabling for studies of mitochondrial-nuclear communication and coordination in controlling cell fates and functions. We developed ‘MitoPunch’, a pressure-driven mitochondrial transfer device, to deliver isolated mitochondria into numerous target mammalian cells simultaneousl y . MitoPunch and MitoCeption, a previously described force-based mitochondrial transfer approach, both yield stable isolated mitochondrial recipient (SIMR) cells that permanently retain exogenous mtDNA, whereas coincubation of mitochondria with cells does not yield SIMR cells. Although a typical MitoPunch or MitoCeption delivery results in dozens of immortalized SIMR clones with restored oxidative phosphorylation, only MitoPunch can produce replication-limited, non-immortal human SIMR clones. The MitoPunch device is versatile, inexpensive to assemble, and easy to use for engineering mtDNA–nDNA combinations to enable fundamental studies and potential translational applications.