the dynamic nature of mitochondria: from ultrastructure to health and disease

Mitochondrial research has exploded over the last 150 years. This book gives an amazing view on a conceptual change in our understanding of mitochondrial biology. It becomes clear that mitochondria are extremely dynamic in nature, controlling life at multiple levels. Mitochondria rule energy conversion, adapt cells well to changing stress and nutrient conditions, and regulate many cellular processes including immunity. The dynamic nature of mitochondria occurs at an intramitochondrial level but also includes its ability to interact with other organelles and to modulate multiple signalling pathways. It is thus not surprising that alterations or inabilities to ensure this dynamic behaviour is linked to ageing and human diseases.

The following sections give an updated view on mitochondria:

• Mitochondrial ultrastructure: molecular mechanisms shaping the inner membrane
• Mitochondrial cristae and lipid dynamics: from super-resolution microscopy to lipid-OXPHOS interplay
• Mitochondrial control of cellular homeostasis: from redox signalling to interorganellar contact sites
• Mitochondria in health and disease: from mtDNA release to Complex I assembly
• Advanced methods in mitochondrial biology and metabolism research
• Integrative view on mitochondrial research and outlook

The field of mitochondrial research has always been full of surprises and has helped science to advance tremendously. It developed hand in hand with landmark developments in technology, such as super-resolution microscopy (nanoscopy), and is currently influencing an increasing number of scientific disciplines. There is still much ’new’ to find out about this ’old’ organelle and I think that you can find interesting and also unexpected aspects of mitochondrial biology in this book. I hope the book will enhance your scientific curiosity and inspire your own research.

Andreas S. Reichert has been a Professor and Director of the Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology I at the Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany since 2014. He’s been a board member of the Biologisch-Medizinisches Forschungszentrum (BMFZ) at Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany since 2016, and a speaker of BMFZ since 2021. Dr. Reichert received his Ph.D. under Prof. Dr. Svante Pääbo at the Institute of Zoology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany in 1999, and was a Post-Doc under Prof. Dr. Svante Pääbo and Prof. Dr. Mario Mörl at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, in Leipzig, Germany from 1999-2000. As the Executive Director of the Center for Membrane Proteomics (CMP) at Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, from 2012-2014, Dr. Reichert simultaneously operated as a professor and Head of Mitochondrial Biology at Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Germany.