Metabolic reprogramming in the OPA1-deficient cells

OPA1, a dynamin-related GTPase mutated in autosomal dominant optic atrophy, is essential for the fusion of the inner mitochondrial membrane. Although OPA1 deficiency leads to impaired mitochondrial morphology, the role of OPA1 in central carbon metabolism remains unclear. Here, we aim to explore the functional role and metabolic mechanism of OPA1 in cell fitness beyond the control of mitochondrial fusion. We applied [U-C-13]glucose and [U-C-13]glutamine isotope tracing techniques to OPA1-knockout (OPA1-KO) mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) compared to OPA1 wild-type (OPA1-WT) controls. Furthermore, the resulting tracing data were integrated by metabolic flux analysis to understand the underlying metabolic mechanism through which OPA1 deficiency reprograms cellular metabolism. OPA1-deficient MEFs were depleted of intracellular citrate, which was consistent with the decreased oxygen consumption rate in these cells with mitochondrial fission that is not balanced by mitochondrial fusion. Whereas oxidative glucose metabolism was impaired, OPA1-deficient cells activated glutamine-dependent reductive carboxylation and subsequently relied on this reductive metabolism to produce cytosolic citrate as a predominant acetyl-CoA source for de novo fatty acid synthesis. Prevention of cytosolic glutamine reductive carboxylation by GSK321, an inhibitor of isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (IDH1), largely repressed lipid synthesis and blocked cell proliferation in OPA1-deficient MEFs. Our data support that, when glucose oxidation failed to support lipogenesis and proliferation in cells with unbalanced mitochondrial fission, OPA1 deficiency stimulated metabolic anaplerosis into glutamine-dependent reductive carboxylation in an IDH1-mediated manner.