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The membrane trafficking system is a defining feature of eukaryotes. After the advent of prokaryotes, it took an unusually long amount of time, ~2000 million years for eukaryogenesis. Endosymbiosis of an α-proteobacterium by early archaeal cells resulted in the advent of mitochondria. With these powerhouses, cells could move the energy production from the surface to within. This removed the surface-to-volume constraints possibly allowing eukaryogenesis to take place.
Like present day prokaryotes that release vesicles to their surroundings, present day mitochondria also release mitochondria-derived vesicles (MDVs). While very less is known about their functions in the cell, its likely that these early class of vesicles played a key role in shaping the present endomembrane system.
The focus of my lab is the trafficking of these MDVs, their cargo selection and role in mitochondrial quality control as well as inter-organellar communication. We hope to study this in the cardiac and endothelial cells to discover new ways to help maintain mitochondrial network quality. The research could lead to novel ways of maintaining mitochondrial functionality in various chronic cardiovascular diseases which are characterised by mitochondrial dysfunction. We are also interested in cytoskeletal regulators of mitochondrial function in cardiac and endothelial cells.