Elucidation of the molecular mechanims of Parkin-PINK1 triggered mitophagy by using budding yeast

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

In eukaryotic cells, aberrant mitochondria are selectively removed by a process called mitophagy, and PINK1 and Parkin, causative gene products for Parkinsonism, mediate this process in mammalian cells while yeast cells lack the Parkin-PINK1 system. Here we expressed Parkin and a PINK1 fusion protein that is artificially targeted to the mitochondrial outer membrane in yeast cells. Parkin expressed in the cytosol was recruited to the mitochondrial outer membrane by PINK1 in a manner that depends on the kinase activity of PINK1. The recruited Parkin was further phosphorylated and ubiquitinated like the case for mammalian cells. The yeast cells with artificially expressed Pakin-PINK1 can thus offer a useful tool to analyze the functions of the Parkin-PINK1 system.