Basal mitophagy is widespread in <i>Drosophila</i> but minimally affected by loss of Pink1 or parkin.

ABSTRACT: The Parkinson's disease factors PINK1 and parkin are strongly implicated in stress-induced mitophagy in vitro, but little is known about their impact on basal mitophagy in vivo. We generated transgenic Drosophila melanogaster expressing fluorescent mitophagy reporters to evaluate the impact of Pink1/parkin mutations on basal mitophagy under physiological conditions. We find that mitophagy is readily detectable and abundant in many tissues, including Parkinson's disease-relevant dopaminergic neurons. However, we did not detect mitolysosomes in flight muscle. Surprisingly, in Pink1 or parkin null flies, we did not observe any substantial impact on basal mitophagy. Because these flies exhibit locomotor defects and dopaminergic neuron loss, our findings raise questi

SUBMITTER: Lee JJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5940313 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature