PARK2/Parkin-expressing mammalian cells treated with CCCP have been reported to undergo high levels of mitophagy and clearance of all mitochondria during extensive treatment with CCCP. We showed that CCCP interfered with lysosomal function and autophagosomal degradation in both yeast and mammalian cells, inhibited starvation-induced mitophagy in mammalian cells, and blocked the induction of mitophagy in yeast cells. Localization of mitochondrial dyes to lysosomal compartments was caused by retargeting of the dye, rather than delivery of mitochondrial components to the lysosome. Using live-cell fluorescence microscopy we found that treatment of HeLa cells with CCCP caused redistribution of mitochondrially targeted dyes, including DiOC6, TMRM, MTR, and MTG, from mitochondria to the cytosol, and subsequently to lysosomal compartments. Depolarization of mitochondria by the protonophore CCCP is a strategy increasingly used to experimentally trigger not only mitophagy, but also bulk autophagy.

Mitophagy is a selective pathway, which targets and delivers mitochondria to the lysosomes for degradation.

What is cccp in biochem