Fig. 6

Tau mutations mimicking post-translational modifications to T231 and K274/281 suppress paraquat-stimulated mitophagy. Mito-mKeima was used to measure mitophagy in C. elegans PLM touch cells following an overnight exposure to 8 mM PQT in Dendra2, TauT4, and PTM mutant strains. a-d are representative merged images where 440-nm excitation was used to detect mitochondria (green) and 550-nm excitation was used to detect mitolysosomes (red). Asterisks in panel B point to mitolysosomes that are clearly more abundant following PQT treatment in TauT4 animals. e, f Quantitative analysis of mitophagy in transgenic worms treated with PQT (8 mM overnight) immediately prior to day 3 and day 10 of adulthood. Scale bar: 5 μm. Data are the mean ± SEM from three independent technical replicates performed on different days (N = 35 ± 5 cells from separate animals). Statistical analysis was by two-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s post hoc test, with *P < 0.05 denoting significance when comparing bracketed samples. #, + denotes P < 0.05 between the PQT-treated T231E or K274/281Q and Dendra2, respectively