Scientists have finally pinned down a protein that’s largely responsible for Parkinson’s disease.
Known as PINK1, the protein has been linked to the disease for decades but its structure and how to switch it back on have remained elusive - until now.
When it’s functioning properly, PINK1 plays a vital role in cellular recycling processes. The protein detects when energy-producing structures called mitochondria become damaged, and will gather on their surface. PINK1 then signals for other proteins to help remove the broken component, to allow new ones to grow in its place. Unfortunately, mutations in PINK1 can interrupt this process.
PINK1’s role in Parkinson’s has been known for a long time, but frustratingly the protein’s structure, and how it attaches to mitochondria, have remained a mystery. That makes it hard to treat the disease. Now, researchers at WEHI in Australia have managed to image the structure of PINK1 attached to mitochondria for the first time.
The next steps are to try to use this new information to find drugs that can switch PINK1 back on, which could help slow or stop progression of Parkinson’s disease.
The research was published in the journal Science.