Mitofusin 2 is involved in chemotaxis of neutrophil-like differentiated HL-60 cells

Abstract

Neutrophils rapidly migrate to infection sites after the recognition of invaders. During chemotaxis, neutrophils require energy supplied by mitochondria oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS), whereas neutrophils rely heavily on glycolysis under normal conditions. Mitochondrial OXPHOS correlates with mitochondrial morphology. Here, we examined the mitochondrial morphology of neutrophil-like differentiated HL-60 cells after chemoattractant N-formyl-Met-Leu-Phe (fMLP) stimulation. We found that mitochondrial morphology changes to a tubular form after fMLP stimulation. Mitochondrial OXPHOS activity and mitochondrial complex II significantly increased after fMLP stimulation. On the other hand, the silencing of mitochondrial fusion protein mitofusin 2 (MFN2) suppresses mitochondrial morphological changes. Furthermore, MFN2 silencing suppressed OXPHOS activation and chemotaxis after fMLP stimulation. These results suggest that MFN2 is involved in chemotaxis of differentiated HL-60 cells depending on mitochondria.

Keywords: Chemotaxis; Mitofusin 2; Neutrophil; Oxidative phosphorylation.