**BKCa (***Slo***) Channel Regulates Mitochondrial Function and Lifespan in** *Drosophila melanogaster*

**Shubha Gururaja Rao 1,2, Piotr Bednarczyk 3, Atif Towheed 4, Kajol Shah 2, Priyanka Karekar 1,2, Devasena Ponnalagu 1,2, Haley N. Jensen 1, Sankar Addya 5, Beverly A.S. Reyes 2, ElisabethJ.VanBockstaele2,AdamSzewczyk6, DouglasC.Wallace4,7 andHarpreetSingh1,2,\***

1 Department of Physiology and Cell Biology, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH 43210, USA

2 Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19102, USA


Received: 7 June 2019; Accepted: 20 August 2019; Published: 21 August 2019

**Abstract:** BKCa channels, originally discovered in *Drosophila melanogaster* as *slowpoke* (*slo*), are recognized for their roles in cellular and organ physiology. Pharmacological approaches implicated BKCa channels in cellular and organ protection possibly for their ability to modulate mitochondrial function. However, the direct role of BKCa channels in regulating mitochondrial structure and function is not deciphered. Here, we demonstrate that BKCa channels are present in fly mitochondria, and *slo* mutants show structural and functional defects in mitochondria. *slo* mutants display an increase in reactive oxygen species and the modulation of ROS affected their survival. We also found that the absence of BKCa channels reduced the lifespan of *Drosophila*, and overexpression of human BKCa channels in flies extends life span in males. Our study establishes the presence of BKCa channels in mitochondria of *Drosophila* and ascertains its novel physiological role in regulating mitochondrial structural and functional integrity, and lifespan.

**Keywords:** potassium channel; mitochondria; reactive oxygen species; antioxidants; life span; aging; BKCa channels
