Mitochondrial Fusion Protein Mfn2 and Its Role in Heart Failure

Lei Chen; Bilin Liu; Yuan Qin; Anqi Li; Meng Gao; Hanyu Liu; Guohua Gong

doi:10.3389/fmolb.2021.681237

Mitochondrial Fusion Protein Mfn2 and Its Role in Heart Failure

Front Mol Biosci. 2021 May 7:8:681237. doi: 10.3389/fmolb.2021.681237. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Lei Chen¹, Bilin Liu¹, Yuan Qin^{1

2}, Anqi Li¹, Meng Gao¹, Hanyu Liu¹, Guohua Gong^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Shanghai East Hospital, School of Life Sciences and Technology, Tongji University, Shanghai, China.
² Department of Pharmacy, Shanghai East Hospital, Tongji University, Shanghai, China.
³ Department of Gastroenterology, Shanghai East Hospital, School of Life Sciences and Technology, Tongji University, Shanghai, China.

Abstract

Mitofusin 2 (Mfn2) is a transmembrane GTPase located on the mitochondrial outer membrane that contributes to mitochondrial network regulation. It is an essential multifunctional protein that participates in various biological processes under physical and pathological conditions, including mitochondrial fusion, reticulum-mitochondria contacts, mitochondrial quality control, and apoptosis. Mfn2 dysfunctions have been found to contribute to cardiovascular diseases, such as ischemia-reperfusion injury, heart failure, and dilated cardiomyopathy. Here, this review mainly focuses on what is known about the structure and function of Mfn2 and its crucial role in heart failure.

Keywords: Mfn2; endoplasmic reticulum–mitochondria contacts; heart failure; mitochondria fusion; mitophagy.

Publication types

Review