Phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN)-induced putative kinase 1 (PINK1) and PARK2/Parkin mutations cause autosomal recessive forms of Parkinson's disease. Upon a loss of mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨ m ) in human cells, cytosolic Parkin has been reported to be recruited to mitochondria, which is followed by a stimulation of mitochondrial autophagy. Here, we show that the relocation of Parkin to mitochondria induced by a collapse of ΔΨ m relies on PINK1 expression and that overexpression of WT but not of mutated PINK1 causes Parkin translocation to mitochondria, even in cells with normal ΔΨ m . We also show that once at the mitochondria, Parkin is in close proximity to PINK1, but we find no evidence that Parkin catalyzes PINK1 ubiquitination or that PINK1 phosphorylates Parkin. However, co-overexpression of Parkin and PINK1 collapses the normal tubular mitochondrial network into mitochondrial aggregates and/or large perinuclear clusters, many of which are surrounded by autophagic vacuoles. Our results suggest that Parkin, together with PINK1, modulates mitochondrial trafficking, especially to the perinuclear region, a subcellular area associated with autophagy. Thus by impairing this process, mutations in either Parkin or PINK1 may alter mitochondrial turnover which, in turn, may cause the accumulation of defective mitochondria and, ultimately, neurodegeneration in Parkinson's disease.autophagy | Parkinson's disease | phosphatase and tensin homolog-induced putative kinase 1 T he common neurodegenerative disorder Parkinson's disease (PD) occasionally can be inherited (1, 2). Parkinson disease 6/ phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN)-induced putative kinase-1 (PARK6/PINK1) is among the gene products associated with familial PD (2, 3). This 581-amino acid polypeptide is localized to the mitochondria and has only a single recognized functional domain, a serine/threonine kinase with a high degree of homology to that of the Ca 2+ /calmodulin kinase family. Overexpression of WT PINK1 rescues abnormal mitochondrial morphology that has been described in Drosophila carrying Pink1 mutations (4, 5), a finding that supports the notion that the mutated allele gives rise to a loss-of-function phenotype. Loss-offunction mutations in the gene encoding PARK2/Parkin (an E3 ubiquitin ligase) also can cause an autosomal recessive form of familial PD (2, 6). Parkin is thought to operate within the same molecular pathway as PINK1 to modulate mitochondrial dynamics (4, 5, 7). This possibility is intriguing, because Parkin has been reported to be essentially cytosolic (8, 9). However, we have shown that PINK1 spans the outer mitochondrial membrane, with its kinase domain facing the cytoplasm (10). These details of PINK1 topology are relevant to the reported Parkin/PINK1 genetic interaction because they place the only known functional domain of PINK1 in the same subcellular compartment as Parkin.However, the role played by Parkin, PINK1, or both in mitochondrial dynamics is still uncertain. Perhaps, the beginning of an answer to th...

CHCHD10‐related diseases include mitochondrial DNA instability disorder, frontotemporal dementia‐amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (FTD‐ALS) clinical spectrum, late‐onset spinal motor neuropathy (SMAJ), and Charcot–Marie–Tooth disease type 2 (CMT2). Here, we show that CHCHD10 resides with mitofilin, CHCHD3 and CHCHD6 within the “mitochondrial contact site and cristae organizing system” (MICOS) complex. CHCHD10 mutations lead to MICOS complex disassembly and loss of mitochondrial cristae with a decrease in nucleoid number and nucleoid disorganization. Repair of the mitochondrial genome after oxidative stress is impaired in CHCHD10 mutant fibroblasts and this likely explains the accumulation of deleted mtDNA molecules in patient muscle. CHCHD10 mutant fibroblasts are not defective in the delivery of mitochondria to lysosomes suggesting that impaired mitophagy does not contribute to mtDNA instability. Interestingly, the expression of CHCHD10 mutant alleles inhibits apoptosis by preventing cytochrome c release.

Accumulation of indigestible lipofuscin and decreased mitochondrial energy production are characteristic age-related changes of post-mitotic retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells in the human eye. To test whether these two forms of age-related impairment have interdependent effects, we quantified the ATPdependent phagocytic function of RPE cells loaded or not with the lipofuscin component A2E and inhibiting or not mitochondrial ATP synthesis either pharmacologically or genetically. We found that physiological levels of lysosomal A2E reduced mitochondrial membrane potential and inhibited oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) of RPE cells. Furthermore, in media with physiological concentrations of glucose or pyruvate, A2E significantly inhibited phagocytosis. Antioxidants reversed these effects of A2E, suggesting that A2E damage is mediated by oxidative processes. Because mitochondrial mutations accumulate with aging, we generated novel genetic cellular models of RPE carrying mitochondrial DNA point mutations causing either moderate or severe mitochondrial dysfunction. Exploring these mutant RPE cells we found that, by itself, only the severe but not the moderate OXPHOS defect reduces phagocytosis. However, sub-toxic levels of lysosomal A2E are sufficient to reduce phagocytic activity of RPE with moderate OXPHOS defect and cause cell death of RPE with severe OXPHOS defect. Taken together, RPE cells rely on OXPHOS for phagocytosis when the carbon energy source is limited. Our results demonstrate that A2E accumulation exacerbates the effects of moderate mitochondrial dysfunction. They suggest that synergy of sub-toxic lysosomal and mitochondrial changes in RPE cells with age may cause RPE dysfunction that is known to contribute to human retinal diseases like agerelated macular degeneration. Retinal pigment epithelial (RPE)5 cells form a polarized monolayer epithelium between the photoreceptors of the neurosensory retina and the choroidal capillary bed. Daily phagocytosis of outer segment (OS) tips shed by adjacent photoreceptors is a vital task of the RPE (recently reviewed by Strauss (1)). RPE cells are post-mitotic and face each ϳ30 photoreceptor outer segments in the human eye, all of which shed their distal tip containing stacked membrane disks once a day. Diurnal phagocytosis and digestion of thousands of OS disks for life renders RPE cells the most active phagocytes in the body. Photoreceptor function strictly depends on efficient RPE phagocytosis of spent OS. Complete failure of RPE cells to engulf OS causes rapid photoreceptor degeneration in the Royal College of Surgeons rat (2-4). Impaired RPE phagocytosis also contributes to human retinal disease such as retinitis pigmentosa and, likely, age-related macular degeneration (5, 6).The continuous nature of outer segment renewal implies that any delay in OS removal by aged or damaged RPE will gradually cause OS components to accumulate. RPE cells are at risk for oxidative damage due to their location in the highly oxygenated environment of the outer retina and th...

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Mutations in PTEN induced kinase 1 (PINK1), a mitochondrial Ser/Thr kinase, cause an autosomal recessive form of Parkinson's disease (PD), PARK6. Here, we report that PINK1 exists as a dimer in mitochondrial protein complexes that co-migrate with respiratory chain complexes in sucrose gradients. PARK6 related mutations do not affect this dimerization and its associated complexes. Using in vitro cell culture systems, we found that mutant PINK1 or PINK1 knock-down caused deficits in mitochondrial respiration and ATP synthesis. Furthermore, proteasome function is impaired with a loss of PINK1. Importantly, these deficits are accompanied by increased α-synclein aggregation. Our results indicate that it will be important to delineate the relationship between mitochondrial functional deficits, proteasome dysfunction and α-synclein aggregation.