Life (Dec 2021)

HEK293T Cells with TFAM Disruption by CRISPR-Cas9 as a Model for Mitochondrial Regulation

  • Vanessa Cristina de Oliveira,
  • Kelly Cristine Santos Roballo,
  • Clésio Gomes Mariano Junior,
  • Sarah Ingrid Pinto Santos,
  • Fabiana Fernandes Bressan,
  • Marcos Roberto Chiaratti,
  • Elena J. Tucker,
  • Erica E. Davis,
  • Jean-Paul Concordet,
  • Carlos Eduardo Ambrósio

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/life12010022
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 1
p. 22

Abstract

Read online

The mitochondrial transcription factor A (TFAM) is considered a key factor in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) copy number. Given that the regulation of active copies of mtDNA is still not fully understood, we investigated the effects of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing of TFAM in human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293T cells on mtDNA copy number. The aim of this study was to generate a new in vitro model by CRISPR-Cas9 system by editing the TFAM locus in HEK293T cells. Among the resulting single-cell clones, seven had high mutation rates (67–96%) and showed a decrease in mtDNA copy number compared to control. Cell staining with Mitotracker Red showed a reduction in fluorescence in the edited cells compared to the non-edited cells. Our findings suggest that the mtDNA copy number is directly related to TFAM control and its disruption results in interference with mitochondrial stability and maintenance.

Keywords