Pharmacological inhibition of MCL-1 disrupts mitochondrial cristae and depletes the human neural progenitor cell pool
4 affiliations
- 1Vanderbilt University, Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
- 2Vanderbilt University, Cell and Developmental Biology, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
- 3Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Biomedical Informatics, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
- 4Vanderbilt University, Vanderbilt Center for Stem Cell Biology, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
Abstract
Myeloid cell leukemia 1 (MCL-1) is a canonical anti-apoptotic protein crucial for early neurodevelopment. Loss of MCL-1 results in embryonic-lethal neurodevelopmental defects that cannot be rescued by other anti-apoptotic proteins of the B cell lymphoma 2 (BCL-2) family. Here, we pharmacologically inhibit MCL-1 in human neural progenitor cells and find non-apoptotic roles for MCL-1 in sustaining mitochondrial cristae integrity, fatty acid oxidation and neural progenitor identity. MCL-1 inhibition disrupts mitochondrial ultrastructure, leading to a swollen network with disorganized cristae and destabilized OPA1–MICOS machinery that fails to maintain inner mitochondrial membrane architecture. These structural defects are accompanied by displacement of ACSL1 from the outer mitochondrial membrane, impaired fatty acid oxidation, lipid droplet accumulation and reduced mitochondrial oxygen consumption, revealing a tight link between cristae architecture and metabolic competence. Mechanistically, MCL-1 acts through two coordinated functions: maintaining cristae integrity at the inner mitochondrial membrane and retaining ACSL1 at the outer mitochondrial membrane, both independently of caspase activation. Functionally, MCL-1 inhibition selectively depletes intermediate progenitor cells without affecting proliferation, indicating a direct role in lineage progression. Together, our findings position MCL-1 upstream of OPA1, MICOS and ACSL1, and identify it as a critical coordinator of cristae organization, lipid metabolism and neural progenitor fate. This establishes mitochondrial inner membrane architecture as an instructive determinant of human neurogenesis and highlights non-canonical MCL-1 functions as critical regulators of human brain development.
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BibTeX
@article{hanna2026pharmacological,
title = {{Pharmacological inhibition of MCL-1 disrupts mitochondrial cristae and depletes the human neural progenitor cell pool}},
author = {Marina R. Hanna and James Costanzo and Madison Yarbrough and Melanie Gil and Matthew Murrow and Vivian Gama},
journal = {Journal of Cell Science},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1242/jcs.265172},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1242/jcs.265172},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Pharmacological inhibition of MCL-1 disrupts mitochondrial cristae and depletes the human neural progenitor cell pool
AU - Marina R. Hanna
AU - James Costanzo
AU - Madison Yarbrough
AU - Melanie Gil
AU - Matthew Murrow
AU - Vivian Gama
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/15
JO - Journal of Cell Science
DO - 10.1242/jcs.265172
UR - https://doi.org/10.1242/jcs.265172
AB - Myeloid cell leukemia 1 (MCL-1) is a canonical anti-apoptotic protein crucial for early neurodevelopment. Loss of MCL-1 results in embryonic-lethal neurodevelopmental defects that cannot be rescued by other anti-apoptotic proteins of the B cell lymphoma 2 (BCL-2) family. Here, we pharmacologically inhibit MCL-1 in human neural progenitor cells and find non-apoptotic roles for MCL-1 in sustaining mitochondrial cristae integrity, fatty acid oxidation and neural progenitor identity. MCL-1 inhibition disrupts mitochondrial ultrastructure, leading to a swollen network with disorganized cristae and destabilized OPA1–MICOS machinery that fails to maintain inner mitochondrial membrane architecture. These structural defects are accompanied by displacement of ACSL1 from the outer mitochondrial membrane, impaired fatty acid oxidation, lipid droplet accumulation and reduced mitochondrial oxygen consumption, revealing a tight link between cristae architecture and metabolic competence. Mechanistically, MCL-1 acts through two coordinated functions: maintaining cristae integrity at the inner mitochondrial membrane and retaining ACSL1 at the outer mitochondrial membrane, both independently of caspase activation. Functionally, MCL-1 inhibition selectively depletes intermediate progenitor cells without affecting proliferation, indicating a direct role in lineage progression. Together, our findings position MCL-1 upstream of OPA1, MICOS and ACSL1, and identify it as a critical coordinator of cristae organization, lipid metabolism and neural progenitor fate. This establishes mitochondrial inner membrane architecture as an instructive determinant of human neurogenesis and highlights non-canonical MCL-1 functions as critical regulators of human brain development.
SN - 0021-9533
SN - 1477-9137
ER -