Mitochondrial Adaptations Underlying Tetraploidization in Human Cancer, Fungal, and Yeast Models

Whole-genome duplication, or tetraploidization, occurs in cells, tissues, or entire organisms. In human cancers, tetraploidization promotes aneuploidy and genomic instability, accelerating tumor progression, metastasis, and drug resistance. These adaptations demand metabolic rewiring, including mitochondrial plasticity. Here, we investigate the relationship between mitochondrial quantity/activity, including the mitochondrial transmembrane potential, the intracellular calcium, and the oxidative stress in diploid versus tetraploid cancer cells (colon, sarcoma, liver) and fungal and yeast models (C. albicans diploid/tetraploid strains; S. cerevisiae haploid/diploid/tetraploid strains). We demonstrate that tetraploid cells, whether from human carcinomas or yeast, exhibit consistently enlarged cell size, elevated mitochondrial content, and heightened metabolic activity compared to diploids. Our findings underscore mitochondrial adaptation as a hallmark of tetraploidization, offering novel therapeutic targets for chromosomally unstable tumors.