Mitotic assembly of respiratory supercomplexes ensures accurate cell division and fuels tumor growth.

Enhanced assembly of mitochondrial respiratory supercomplexes during mitosis is essential for accurate cell division and tumor growth, with a 2.5-fold increase observed in cancer cells.

• Why it matters: Understanding how mitochondria adapt their structure and function during cell division is crucial because disruptions can lead to chromosome segregation errors and tumor progression.
• What they did: The study used proteomic analysis of BN-PAGE fractions to show that supercomplex assembly, driven by upregulation of NDUFA3 and promoted by CDK1, increases markedly during mitosis in cancer cells.
• The result: Disrupting supercomplex formation impairs mitochondrial function, causes ROS buildup, and leads to mitotic errors, while inhibiting this process reduces tumor growth, highlighting its potential as a therapeutic target.