Functionally conserved inner mitochondrial membrane proteins CCDC51 and Mdm33 demarcate a subset of fission events

While extensive work has examined the mechanisms of mitochondrial fission, it remains unclear whether internal mitochondrial proteins in metazoans play a direct role in the process. Previously, the yeast inner membrane protein Mdm33 was shown to be required for normal mitochondrial morphology and has been hypothesized to be involved in mitochondrial fission. However, it is unknown whether Mdm33 plays a direct role, and it is not thought to have a mammalian homolog. Here, we use a bioinformatic approach to identify a structural ortholog of Mdm33 in humans, CCDC51 (also called MITOK), whose depletion phenocopies loss of Mdm33. We find that knockdown of CCDC51 also leads to reduced rates of mitochondrial fission. Further, we spatially and temporally resolve Mdm33 and CCDC51 to a subset of mitochondrial fission events. Finally, we show that CCDC51 overexpression promotes its spatial association with Drp1 and induces mitochondrial fragmentation, suggesting it is a positive effector of mitochondrial fission. Together, our data reveal that Mdm33 and CCDC51 are functionally conserved and suggest that internal mitochondrial proteins are directly involved in at least a subset of mitochondrial fission events in human cells.