Journal
PLOS GENETICS
Volume 9, Issue 4, Pages -Publisher
PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1003478
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Funding
- Marie Curie Excellence Grant [MEXT-CT-2006-042267]
- ERC Starting Grant [260678]
- Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) [G053913, G079013, G095511, G074709]
- Methusalem grant of the Flemish Government
- Francqui Foundation
- Hercules Foundation [AKUL/09/037]
- Instutuut voor Wetenschap en Technologie (IWT OO)
- Interuniversity Attraction Pole program
- BELSPO [IAP P7/16]
- research fund KU Leuven [GOA/13/017]
- European Research Council (ERC) [260678] Funding Source: European Research Council (ERC)
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The PTEN-induced kinase 1 (PINK1) is a mitochondrial kinase, and pink1 mutations cause early onset Parkinson's disease (PD) in humans. Loss of pink1 in Drosophila leads to defects in mitochondrial function, and genetic data suggest that another PD-related gene product, Parkin, acts with pink1 to regulate the clearance of dysfunctional mitochondria (mitophagy). Consequently, pink1 mutants show an accumulation of morphologically abnormal mitochondria, but it is unclear if other factors are involved in pink1 function in vivo and contribute to the mitochondrial morphological defects seen in specific cell types in pink1 mutants. To explore the molecular mechanisms of pink1 function, we performed a genetic modifier screen in Drosophila and identified aconitase (acon) as a dominant suppressor of pink1. Acon localizes to mitochondria and harbors a labile iron-sulfur [4Fe-4S] cluster that can scavenge superoxide to release hydrogen peroxide and iron that combine to produce hydroxyl radicals. Using Acon enzymatic mutants, and expression of mitoferritin that scavenges free iron, we show that [4Fe-4S] cluster inactivation, as a result of increased superoxide in pink1 mutants, results in oxidative stress and mitochondrial swelling. We show that [4Fe-4S] inactivation acts downstream of pink1 in a pathway that affects mitochondrial morphology, but acts independently of parkin. Thus our data indicate that superoxide-dependent [4Fe-4S] inactivation defines a potential pathogenic cascade that acts independent of mitophagy and links iron toxicity to mitochondrial failure in a PD-relevant model.
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