Part I: parkin-associated proteins and Parkinson's disease

Parkin is an E3 ligase that plays an important role in the ubiquitin/proteosome pathway responsible for protein degradation events. Mutations in parkin result in a loss-of-function and lead to Parkinson's disease, a progressive neurological disorder of movement. Presumably, this occurs due to the toxic build-up of proteins that are no longer effectively cleared/degraded by the parkin-dependent ubiqutin/proteosome pathway. To date, three types of proteins have been shown to interact with parkin. Firstly, the E2 ubiquitin conjugating proteins called UbcH7 and UbcH8 interact with parkin. Secondly, putative substrates interacting with parkin include a synaptic vesicle associated GTPase named CDCrel-1; a G protein-coupled receptor named Pael; a novel from of alpha-synuclein; and an alpha-synuclein interacting protein synphilin-1. Thirdly and more recently, a PDZ domain containing scaffolding protein CASK/Lin2 has been shown to interact with the PDZ binding motif of parkin. A network of PDZ-interacting proteins has potential to form a complex web of molecules that surround parkin and regulate its subcellular localisation and function.