Mitochondrial Stress Is Passed Between Generations

Researchers identified a novel mechanism by which chemically induced stress is “remembered” by the mitochondria of worms more than 50 generations after the original trigger.

Written byAmanda Heidt

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Caenorhabditis elegans

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The paper
Q. Zhang et al., “The memory of neuronal mitochondrial stress is inherited transgenerationally via elevated mitochondrial DNA levels,” Nat Cell Biol, 23:870–80, 2021.

Under stress, mitochondria rapidly increase their copy number—that is, the number of mitochondrial genomes in each organelle—as part of a process called the mitochondrial unfolded protein response, or UPR^mt. This process prompts the up-regulation of certain stress response genes in the cell’s nucleus. Now, a team has found that roundworms that experienced mitochondrial stress pass on a “memory” of that stress to their descendants by propagating the elevated copy number through the germline.

Chinese Academy of Sciences geneticist Ye Tian and her colleagues had previously found that a signaling molecule called Wnt is involved in the neuronal response to mitochondrial stress. Working with C. elegans, the team created transgenic worm lines that expressed the Huntington’s disease–causing protein Q40 in their neurons, which then started secreting Wnt, ...

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Meet the Author

Amanda Heidt
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Amanda first began dabbling in scicom as a master’s student studying marine science at Moss Landing Marine Labs, where she edited the student blog and interned at a local NPR station. She enjoyed that process of demystifying science so much that after receiving her degree in 2019, she went straight into a second master’s program in science communication at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Formerly an intern at The Scientist, Amanda joined the team as a staff reporter and editor in 2021 and oversaw the publication’s internship program, assigned and edited the Foundations, Scientist to Watch, and Short Lit columns, and contributed original reporting across the publication. Amanda’s stories often focus on issues of equity and representation in academia, and she brings this same commitment to DEI to the Science Writers Association of the Rocky Mountains and to the board of the National Association of Science Writers, which she has served on since 2022. She is currently based in the outdoor playground that is Moab, Utah. Read more of her work at www.amandaheidt.com.
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