Central Parkin: The evolving role of Parkin in the heart

Parkin is familiar to many because of its link to Parkinson's disease, and to others because of its well-characterized role as a central factor mediating selective mitophagy of damaged mitochondria for mitochondrial quality control. The genetic connection between Parkin and Parkinson's disease derives from clinical gene-association studies, whereas our mechanistic understanding of Parkin functioning in mitophagy is based almost entirely on work performed in cultured cells. Surprisingly, experimental evidence linking the disease and the presumed mechanism derives almost entirely from fruit flies; germline Parkin deficient mice do not develop Parkinson's disease phenotypes. Moreover, genetic manipulation of Parkin signaling in mouse hearts does not support a central role for Parkin in homeostatic mitochondrial quality control in this mitochondria-rich and -dependent organ. Here, I provide an overview of data suggesting that (in mouse hearts at least) Parkin functions more as a stress-induced and developmentally-programmed facilitator of cardiomyocyte mitochondrial turnover. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled 'EBEC 2016: 19th European Bioenergetics Conference, Riva del Garda, Italy, July 2-6, 2016.