P5, Doron Rapaport
Association of PINK1 with the mitochondrial outer membrane
Mitochondrial dysfunction is a major contributor to neurodegenerative disorders including Parkinson´s disease. One of the genes mutated in familial Parkinsonism is PINK1, which facilitates the degradation of damaged mitochondria in a process called mitophagy. PINK1 is activated on compromised mitochondria and acts as a molecular sensor of mitochondrial health.
In this project, we will investigate how the fitness of mitochondria is transformed into two alternative processing pathways of PINK1 by the mitochondrial import machineries: (i) cleavage by inner membrane protease and degradation in heathy mitochondria, or (ii) integration into the outer membrane and signaling of mitochondrial stress in defect organelles.
