Cell

Citric acid cycle

Organelle

Cell physiology

Transcription factor

Biology

Gene

Cell signaling

Function (biology)

Cell fate determination

Cell cycle

Metabolism

Signal transduction

Mitochondrion

Cell biology

Epigenetics

Genetics

Biochemistry

Chromatin

Nature Communications

Mitochondria are signaling organelles that regulate a wide variety of cellular functions and can dictate cell fate. Multiple mechanisms contribute to communicate mitochondrial fitness to the rest of the cell. Recent evidence confers a new role for TCA cycle intermediates, generally thought to be important for biosynthetic purposes, as signaling molecules with functions controlling chromatin modifications, DNA methylation, the hypoxic response, and immunity. This review summarizes the mechanisms by which the abundance of different TCA cycle metabolites controls cellular function and fate in different contexts. We will focus on how these metabolites mediated signaling can affect physiology and disease.

Mitochondrial TCA cycle metabolites control physiology and disease