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8665614 
Journal Article 
Measuring In Vivo Mitophagy 
Sun, N; Yun, J; Liu, J; Malide, D; Liu, C; Rovira, II; Holmström, KM; Fergusson, MM; Yoo, YH; Combs, CA; Finkel, T 
2015 
1 
Molecular Cell
ISSN: 1097-2765
EISSN: 1097-4164 
60 
4 
685-696 
English 
26549682 
WOS:000368288700017 
Alterations in mitophagy have been increasingly linked to aging and age-related diseases. There are, however, no convenient methods to analyze mitophagy in vivo. Here, we describe a transgenic mouse model in which we expressed a mitochondrial-targeted form of the fluorescent reporter Keima (mt-Keima). Keima is a coral-derived protein that exhibits both pH-dependent excitation and resistance to lysosomal proteases. Comparison of a wide range of primary cells and tissues generated from the mt-Keima mouse revealed significant variations in basal mitophagy. In addition, we have employed the mt-Keima mice to analyze how mitophagy is altered by conditions including diet, oxygen availability, Huntingtin transgene expression, the absence of macroautophagy (ATG5 or ATG7 expression), an increase in mitochondrial mutational load, the presence of metastatic tumors, and normal aging. The ability to assess mitophagy under a host of varying environmental and genetic perturbations suggests that the mt-Keima mouse should be a valuable resource.