Parkin regulates amino acid homeostasis at mitochondria-lysosome (M/L) contact sites in Parkinson’s disease

Mutations in the E3 ubiquitin ligase parkin are the most common cause of early-onset Parkinson’s disease (PD). Although parkin modulates mitochondrial and endolysosomal homeostasis during cellular stress, whether parkin regulates mitochondrial and lysosomal crosstalk under physiologic conditions remains unresolved. Using transcriptomics, metabolomics, and super-resolution microscopy, we identify amino acid metabolism as a disrupted pathway in iPSC-derived dopaminergic neurons from parkin PD patients. Compared to isogenic controls, parkin mutant neurons exhibit decreased mitochondria-lysosome contacts via destabilization of active Rab7. Subcellular metabolomics in parkin mutant neurons reveals amino acid accumulation in lysosomes and their deficiency in mitochondria. Knockdown of the Rab7 GTPase-activating protein TBC1D15 restores mitochondria-lysosome tethering and ameliorates cellular and subcellular amino acid profiles in parkin mutant neurons. Our data thus uncover a function of parkin in promoting mitochondrial and lysosomal amino acid homeostasis through stabilization of mitochondria-lysosome contacts and suggest that modulation of inter-organelle contacts may serve as a potential target for ameliorating amino acid dyshomeostasis in disease.