NME3 is a member of the nucleoside diphosphate kinase (NDPK) family that binds to the mitochondrial outer membrane to stimulate mitochondrial fusion. In this study, we showed that NME3 knockdown delayed DNA repair without reducing the cellular levels of nucleotide triphosphates. Further analyses revealed that NME3 knockdown increased fragmentation of mitochondria, which in turn led to mitochondrial oxidative stress-mediated DNA single-strand breaks (SSBs) in nuclear DNA. Re-expression of wild-type NME3 or inhibition of mitochondrial fission markedly reduced SSBs and facilitated DNA repair in NME3 knockdown cells, while expression of N-terminal deleted mutant defective in mitochondrial binding had no rescue effect. We further showed that disruption of mitochondrial fusion by knockdown of NME4 or MFN1 also caused mitochondrial oxidative stress-mediated genome instability. In conclusion, the contribution of NME3 to redox-regulated genome stability lies in its function in mitochondrial fusion.
Keywords: DNA damage; NME3; mitochondrial morphology; oxidative stress.