Following the Dynamism of the Mitochondrial Network in T Cells

The dynamism of mitochondria, considered as complex and motile organelles, is brought about by mitochondria ability to undergo cycles of fission and fusion events, whose fine balance determines their morphology in a specific physiological context. A huge body of evidence makes it possible to associate mitochondrial organization to regulation of an increasing number of key cellular processes, such as biosynthetic pathways, oxidative phosphorylation and ATP production, calcium buffering, mtDNA homeostasis, autophagy, and cell death. Here, we review the recently developed imaging methods for studying mitochondrial dynamics, including live-cell imaging, by using mitochondrial-targeted fluorescent proteins. In more details, we focus our attention on two different protocols in the T cell model, an example of nonadherent cells, which present some particularities and difficulties in the analysis of mitochondrial shape. Also, we discuss some examples of mouse models carrying mitochondria-targeted fluorescent proteins, which allow to investigate the mitochondrial morphology in vivo.