Reversible infantile respiratory chain deficiency is characterised by spontaneous recovery of mitochondrial myopathy in infants. We studied whether a physiological isoform switch of nuclear cytochrome c oxidase subunits contributes to the age-dependent manifestation and spontaneous recovery in reversible mitochondrial disease. Some nuclear-encoded subunits of cytochrome c oxidase are present as tissue-specific isoforms. Isoforms of subunits COX6A and COX7A expressed in heart and skeletal muscle are different from isoforms expressed in the liver, kidney and brain. Furthermore, in skeletal muscle both the heart and liver isoforms of subunit COX7A have been demonstrated with variable levels, indicating that the tissue-specific expression of nuclear-encoded subunits could provide a basis for the fine-tuning of cytochrome c oxidase activity to the specific metabolic needs of the different tissues.

We demonstrate a developmental isoform switch of COX6A and COX7A subunits in human and mouse skeletal muscle. While the liver type isoforms are more present soon after birth, the heart/muscle isoforms gradually increase around 3 months of age in infants, 4 weeks of age in mice, and these isoforms persist in muscle throughout life. Our data in follow-up biopsies of patients with reversible infantile respiratory chain deficiency indicate that the physiological isoform switch does not contribute to the clinical manifestation and to the spontaneous recovery of this disease. However, understanding developmental changes of the different cytochrome c oxidase isoforms may have implications for other mitochondrial diseases.

This article is part of a Directed Issue entitled: Energy Metabolism Disorders and Therapies.