Horizontal mitochondrial transfer from microenvironment increases glioblastoma tumorigenicity

Glioblastoma (GBM) cells acquire mitochondria from glial cells in vitro and in vivo. This transfer is accompanied by increased tumor-initiation capacity. Overall design: GFP+ SB28 tumor cells were co-cultured with CellTrace Violet-stained astrocytes from mito::mKate2 mice at a 1:1 ratio for 2 days. Tumors with or without exogenous mitochondria and donor astrocyte population were sorted based on CellTraceViolet-GFP-+mKate- (astrocyte), CellTraceViolet+GFP-mKate2-(mKate_neg) and CellTraceViolet+GFP-mKate2+(mKate_pos) from 3 biological replicates.