The Fate of Mitochondria During Apoptosis

Every day, millions of cells undergo programmed cell-death in our bodies; best known as apoptosis. During apoptosis, an organelle inside the cell, the mitochondria, becomes catastrophically damaged and DNA inside the mitochondria leaks out into the cell. If apoptosis is not functioning appropriately, the leaked mitochondrial DNA is mistakenly sensed as ‘non-self’, and the dying cell behaves as though it is virally infected; generating inflammatory signals and triggering an immune response. This thesis reports a newly defined response to apoptotic mitochondrial damage – called apoptotic mitophagy – and presents a novel phenomenon which may function to restrain mtDNA-induced inflammation during cell death.