Super-resolution optical imaging reveals accumulation of small mitochondria in the nucleoli of mouse embryos and stem cells

Abstract

The nuclear mitochondrial DNA (NUMT) is found in cancer cells, but the mitochondrial DNAs entering the nuclei in normal cells have not been captured. Here, we utilized super-resolution optical imaging to capture the phenomenon by the probe PicoGreen and found mitochondrial DNAs and mitochondria accumulated in the nucleoli by four probes and overexpressing the MRPL58-DsRed. Our results provide an new explanation for mtDNA carryover and lay the foundation for the involvement of nuclear export of nucleoli in de novo mitochondrial biogenesis in another of our unpublished articles.