Structural and functional interactions of mitochondrial haemoglobin and ATP synthase in ageing

We recently described the presence of haemoglobin in the mitochondrial organelle (Shephard et al.,2014 and 2016). This finding has major implications in our understanding of energy production in the cell. The Antarctic 'white' ice fish (from the sub-order Notothenioid) have white blood which lacks the protein haemoglobin. Through our collaborators we will be able to analyse tissues from these and closely related red fish that do have haemoglobin. The student will examine the mitochondrial haemoglobin interactome proteins, their expression/distribution and compare mitochondrial enzyme complex function in both the red and white fish. The student will also examine the sub-mitochondrial localisation of these proteins. In parallel, the student will examine the effect of knock-down of the glob in proteins in C.elegans. Globin knockdowns will be examined for changes in mitochondrial form and function using our mitoGFP strain and high resolution respirometry.
The student will carry out molecular/biochemical work as part of the Chakrabarti group. The second part is supervised by Dave Scott in Biosciences/RCaH and will examine the potential interactions of mitochondrial haemoglobin using fluorescent super resolution microscopy techniques. Fifty percent will be based at the Diamond Light Source and supervised by Peijun Zhang. State of the art cryo-electron microscopy techniques will be used to elucidate the mitochondrial phenotype of the mutant species.