Mitochondria behavior affects the health of the cell and vice versa. Mitochondria are involved in energy generation for the host cell. Their behavior is diverse, spanning many arenas including the morphological changes in their structure, their interaction with other sub cellular organelles, and their transformation in and out of connected networks. The state of the host cell is related to the resident mitochondria network’s physical shape, and its change in shape.  

A new dataset sheds light on the nature of these changes in morphology and interactions by showcasing the shape and location of mitochondria over time (Opstad, Birgisdottir, & Agarwal, 2024). For example, the formation of mitochondria networks through acts such as fission and fusion have been witnessed. 

One of the myriad mitochondrial phenomena captured in this dataset is related to the degradation of mitochondria inside lysosomes, also known as a form of mitophagy, in a glucose-rich environment versus a glucose-deprived environment. The mitochondria in glucose scarce environments appear more degraded and produce a higher number of mitochondria derived vesicles. In a rough analogy, this emulates the cell status in a diabetic patient versus someone on a non-carbohydrate diet regime, and it indicates how glucose richness adversely stress the mitochondria. 

This dataset is fluorescently labeled also for other organelles (see an example in the figure), and includes label-free images as well. A machine learning model can be trained on converting label-free data into digitally equivalent fluorescence data specific to mitochondria and other organelles. In this way, the benefits of adding fluorescent markers can be achieved without its negative effects.  

It therefore provides a peek into the everyday life of mitochondria and several other organelles. This is an important piece of the puzzle in training computer vision models. It provides an invaluable resource for anyone curious about the inner workings of the building blocks of life. 

Opstad, Ida S., Åsa B. Birgisdottir, and Krishna Agarwal. "Fluorescence microscopy and correlative brightfield videos of mitochondria and vesicles in H9c2 cardiomyoblasts." Scientific Data 11.1 (2024): 125.