Parkin-mediated ubiquitination contributes to the constitutive turnover of mitochondrial fission factor (Mff)

The mitochondrial outer membrane protein Mitochondrial Fission Factor (Mff) plays a key role in both physiological and pathological fission. It is well established that in stressed or functionally impaired mitochondria the PINK1 recruits the ubiquitin ligase Parkin which ubiquitinates Mff to facilitate the removal of defective mitochondria and maintain the integrity mitochondrial network. Here we show that, in addition to this clearance pathway, Parkin also ubiquitinates Mff in a PINK1-dependent manner under basal, non-stressed conditions to regulate constitutive Mff turnover. We further show that removing Parkin with shRNA knockdown does not completely prevent Mff ubiquitination under these conditions indicating that at least one other ubiquitin ligase contributes to Mff proteostasis. These data demonstrate that Parkin plays a role in physiological maintenance of mitochondrial membrane protein composition in healthy mitochondria through constitutive low-level activation.