This work was a great effort by many in the lab, especially @jonathanpalozzi, Swathi Jeedigunta and Anastasia Minenkova, and we thank so many others in Toronto and elsewhere who have heard the story and provided great insight and suggestions! 9/9.

Our work suggests the exciting idea that mtDNA selection and meiosis, which are required for maintaining mtDNA and nuclear DNA fitness respectively, are genetically and developmentally linked. 8/9.

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In sum—we identified a programmed mitophagy in the germline that is induced at the onset of meiosis and is essential for preventing mutant mtDNA from being inherited. 7/9.

We then checked whether characterized mitophagy genes that appeared in our selection screen were required for germline mitophagy. Several genes, including BNIP3, were required. Surprisingly, Pink1 was not 😮, despite being required for selection. 6/9.

Rather than being triggered by mtDNA mutations themselves, this mitophagy is developmentally induced as germ cells enter meiosis. We identified negative TORC1 regulators, most notably Ataxin-2, as inducers of germline mitophagy and selection. 5/9.

We observed a strong increase in mitophagy in the female germline coincident with the onset of mtDNA selection. To our surprise, this mitophagy occurs not just in the presence of mutant mtDNA, but also in a completely wildtype mtDNA background. 4/9.

Through a large-scale screen, we uncovered a developmentally-programmed mitophagy that is essential for mtDNA selection in Drosophila. 3/9.

mtDNA manages to remain fit over successive generations, but it doesn’t have the advantage of recombination that nuclear DNA has. How does it do it? Work from several labs, including ours, has begun to answer this question. 2/9.

We are excited to share this new story from our lab! We report discovering a crucial piece of the long-standing mystery of how mitochondrial (mt) genomic integrity is maintained across generations. Summary follows: 🧵 1/9

Really exciting to have such a vibrant community of Drosophila researchers here in Canada 🇨🇦!! Looking forward to future meetings!.

Thanks to everyone for a successful #CanFly2019, especially the organizing committee: Julie Brill, Bruce Reed, @RFG_Lab, @tjsmerritt, @kramer_lab, @KimlabFlyroom, @IanDworkin, as well as all the PIs and trainees who shared their great science this past week!.

this cool fly art is courtesy our neighbour Janine in Craig Smibert’s lab. You can find more of them @drosophiladiez on Instagram!.

looks like we caught the playoffs bug! #WeTheNorh

We were able to escape the lab only to be trapped in an escape room - thankfully we made it out!

You can learn about one of the current projects in the lab, mtDNA purifying selection, in this review we published recently:.

Since the lab recently turned one year old, we're celebrating by joining Twitter! Follow us to learn all about mitochondria and the germline in flies!.

*bzz bzz* we tweet in peace 🦟🦟.