The intramitochondrial dynamin-related GTPase, Mgm1p, is a component of a protein complex that mediates mitochondrial fusion

Abalance between fission and fusion events determines the morphology of mitochondria. In yeast, mitochondrial fission is regulated by the outer membrane–associated dynamin-related GTPase, Dnm1p. Mitochondrial fusion requires two integral outer membrane components, Fzo1p and Ugo1p. Interestingly, mutations in a second mitochondrial-associated dynamin-related GTPase, Mgm1p, produce similar phenotypes to fzo1 and ugo cells. Specifically, mutations in MGM1 cause mitochondrial fragmentation and a loss of mitochondrial DNA that are suppressed by abolishing DNM1-dependent fission. In contrast to fzo1ts mutants, blocking DNM1-dependent fission restores mitochondrial fusion in mgm1ts cells during mating. Here we show that blocking DNM1-dependent fission in Δmgm1 cells fails to restore mitochondrial fusion during mating. To examine the role of Mgm1p in mitochondrial fusion, we looked for molecular interactions with known fusion components. Immunoprecipitation experiments revealed that Mgm1p is associated with both Ugo1p and Fzo1p in mitochondria, and that Ugo1p and Fzo1p also are associated with each other. In addition, genetic analysis of specific mgm1 alleles indicates that Mgm1p's GTPase and GTPase effector domains are required for its ability to promote mitochondrial fusion and that Mgm1p self-interacts, suggesting that it functions in fusion as a self-assembling GTPase. Mgm1p's localization within mitochondria has been controversial. Using protease protection and immuno-EM, we have shown previously that Mgm1p localizes to the intermembrane space, associated with the inner membrane. To further test our conclusions, we have used a novel method using the tobacco etch virus protease and confirm that Mgm1p is present in the intermembrane space compartment in vivo. Taken together, these data suggest a model where Mgm1p functions in fusion to remodel the inner membrane and to connect the inner membrane to the outer membrane via its interactions with Ugo1p and Fzo1p, thereby helping to coordinate the behavior of the four mitochondrial membranes during fusion

MESSENGER observations of solar energetic electrons within Mercury’s magnetosphere

During solar energetic particle (SEP) events, the inner heliosphere is bathed in MeV electrons. Through magnetic reconnection, these relativistic electrons can enter the magnetosphere of Mercury, nearly instantaneously filling the regions of open field lines with precipitating particles. With energies sufficient to penetrate solid aluminum shielding more than 1 mm thick, these electrons were observable by a number of sensors on the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft. Because of its thin shielding, frequent sampling, and continuous temporal coverage, the Fast Imaging Plasma Spectrometer provided by far the most sensitive measurements of MeV electrons of all MESSENGER sensors. Sharp changes in energetic electron flux coincided with topological boundaries in the magnetosphere, including the magnetopause, polar cap, and central plasma sheet. Precipitating electrons with fluxes equal to ~40% of their corresponding upstream levels were measured over the entire polar cap, demonstrating that electron space weathering of Mercury’s surface is not limited to the cusp region. We use these distinct precipitation signatures acquired over 33 orbits during 11 SEP events to map the full extent of Mercury’s northern polar cap. We confirm a highly asymmetric polar cap, for which the dayside and nightside boundary latitudes range over ~50–70°N and ~30–60°N, respectively. These latitudinal ranges are consistent with average models of Mercury’s magnetic field but exhibit a large variability indicative of active dayside and nightside magnetic reconnection processes. Finally, we observed enhanced electron fluxes within the central plasma sheet. Although these particles cannot form a stable ring current around the planet, their motion results in an apparent trapped electron population at low latitudes in the magnetotail.Key PointsSolar energetic electrons map Mercury’s magnetospheric topologySolar wind electrons likely produce polar rain at MercuryMeV electrons can be quasi‐trapped in Mercury’s magnetotailPeer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/136321/1/jgra52111.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/136321/2/jgra52111_am.pd

Understanding Mercury's Exosphere: Models Derived from MESSENGER Observations

The observations of Mercury's exosphere described in Chapter 14 have led to many modeling efforts. Early models were based upon a few simple assumptions and primarily explored the dynamics of sodium atoms pushed anti-sunward by radiation pressure [Ip, 1986; Smyth and Marconi, 1995]. More recently, these early models have been superseded by simulations with an increasing number of interdependent source processes [Leblanc and Johnson, 2003; Mura et al., 2009; Leblanc and Johnson, 2010; Burger et al., 2010, 2012, 2014]. We briefly summarize the source and loss processes before describing the published exosphere models, first for the three species observed almost continuously during the MESSENGER mission by the Ultraviolet and Visible Spectrometer (UVVS) channel of the Mercury Atmospheric and Surface Composition2Spectrometer (MASCS), (Na, Mg and Ca), and then more briefly for other species that have been observed or for which new upper limits have been derived.15.1 Overview of Source and Loss Processes15.1.1 Source Processes15.1.1.1 Thermal DesorptionThermal desorption (or thermal evaporation) is the release of adsorbed atoms from a surface via heating. Thermal desorption is related to the binding energy of the atom on the surface and the vibrational frequency of the bound atom, such that the rate of thermal desorption is given by, (15.1)where TD

Mercury's Sodium Exosphere: Observations during the MESSENGER Orbital Phase

The MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft entered into orbit about Mercury on March 18,2011. We now have approximately five Mercury years of data from orbit. Prior to the MESSENGER mission, Mercury's surface-bounded exosphere was known to contain H, He, Na. K, and Ca. The Ultraviolet and Visible Spectrometer (UVVS) began routine orbital observations of both the dayside and nightside exosphere on March 29. 2011, measuring altitude profiles for all previously detected neutral species except for He and K. We focus here on what we have learned about the sodium exosphere: its spatial, seasonal, and sporadic variation. Observations to date permit delineation of the relative roles of photon-stimulated desorption (PSD) and impact vaporization (IV) from seasonal and spatial effects, as well as of the roles of ions both as sputtering agents and in their possible role to enhance the efficiency of PSD. Correlations of Mercury's neutral sodium exosphere with measurements from MESSENGER's Magnetometer (MAG) and Energetic Particle and Plasma Spectrometer (EPPS) provide insight into the roles of ions and electrons. Models incorporating MAG observations provide a basis for identifying the location and area of the surface exposed to solar wind plasma, and EPPS observations reveal episodic populations of energetic electrons in the magnetosphere and the presence of planetary He(+), 0(+), and Na(+)

Observations of Mercury's Exosphere: Composition and Structure

Mercury is surrounded by a tenuous exosphere in which particles travel on ballistic trajectories under the influence of a combination of gravity and solar radiation pressure. The densities are so small that the surface forms the exobase and particles in the exosphere are more likely to collide with it rather than with each other. For a planet with a more substantial collision-dominated atmosphere, a population of particles that enters from below the exobase supplies the exosphere. In contrast Mercury's exosphere is supplied both by incoming sources including the solar wind (hydrogen and helium), micrometeoroids (dust), meteoroids and cornets, and by particles released from the surface through a variety of processes that include sputtering by solar wind ions, desorption by solar photons and electrons, impacts by micrometeoroids, and thermal desorption of surface materials. These source processes are balanced by loss processes, which include impact with and sticking to the surface, Jeans (or thermal) escape, ionization followed by transport along magnetic field lines, and acceleration by solar radiation pressure to escape velocity. Ground-based attempts to detect an atmosphere around Mercury before Mariner 10 first visited the planet in 1974 were unsuccessful and led only to increasingly tight upper limits, culminating in a limiting value for surface atmospheric pressure of 0.015 Pascal (Pa) determined by Fink et al. (1974)

Solar wind forcing at Mercury: WSA‐ENLIL model results

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/97237/1/jgra50070.pd

Solar wind forcing at Mercury: WSA-ENLIL model results

Analysis and interpretation of observations from the MESSENGER spacecraft in orbit about Mercury require knowledge of solar wind “forcing” parameters. We have utilized the Wang-Sheeley-Arge (WSA)-ENLIL solar wind modeling tool in order to calculate the values of interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) strength (B), solar wind velocity (V) and density (n), ram pressure (~nV2), cross-magnetosphere electric field (V × B), Alfvén Mach number (MA), and other derived quantities of relevance for solar wind-magnetosphere interactions. We have compared upstream MESSENGER IMF and solar wind measurements to see how well the ENLIL model results compare. Such parameters as solar wind dynamic pressure are key for determining the Mercury magnetopause standoff distance, for example. We also use the relatively high-time-resolution B-field data from MESSENGER to estimate the strength of the product of the solar wind speed and southward IMF strength (Bs) at Mercury. This product VBs is the electric field that drives many magnetospheric dynamical processes and can be compared with the occurrence of energetic particle bursts within the Mercury magnetosphere. This quantity also serves as input to the global magnetohydrodynamic and kinetic magnetosphere models that are being used to explore magnetospheric and exospheric processes at Mercury. Moreover, this modeling can help assess near-real-time magnetospheric behavior for MESSENGER or other mission analysis and/or ground-based observational campaigns. We demonstrate that this solar wind forcing tool is a crucial step toward bringing heliospheric science expertise to bear on planetary exploration programs