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Regulation of mitochondrial dynamics by Aurora A kinase

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

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Authors

Lindon, AC 

Abstract

Aurora A kinase (AURKA) is a major regulator of mitosis and an important driver of cancer progression. The roles of AURKA outside of mitosis, and how these might contribute to cancer progression, are not well understood. Here we show that a fraction of cytoplasmic AURKA is associated with mitochondria, co-fractionating in cell extracts and interacting with mitochondrial proteins by reciprocal co-immunoprecipitation. We have also found that the dynamics of the mitochondrial network are sensitive to AURKA inhibition, depletion or overexpression. This can account for the different mitochondrial morphologies observed in RPE1 and U2OS cell lines, which show very different levels of expression of AURKA. We identify the mitochondrial fraction of AURKA as influencing mitochondrial morphology, since an N-terminally truncated version of the kinase that does not localize to mitochondria does not affect the mitochondrial network. We identify a cryptic mitochondrial targeting sequence in the AURKA N-terminus and discuss how alternative conformations of the protein may influence its cytoplasmic fate.

Description

Keywords

AURKA, mitochondrial dynamics, mitochondria

Journal Title

Open Biology

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

2046-2441
2046-2441

Volume Title

8

Publisher

The Royal Society
Sponsorship
Isaac Newton Trust (unknown)
Medical Research Council (MR/M01102X/1)
MRC (982635)
Cancer Research UK (18795)
Cancer Research Uk (None)