Heterozygous PINK1 p.G411S increases risk of Parkinson's disease via a dominant-negative mechanism

Andreas Puschmann, Fabienne C. Fiesel, Thomas R. Caulfield, Roman Hudec, Maya Ando, Dominika Truban, Xu Hou, Kotaro Ogaki, Michael G. Heckman, Elle D. James, Maria Swanberg, Itzia Jimenez-Ferrer, Oskar Hansson, Grzegorz Opala, Joanna Siuda, Magdalena Boczarska-Jedynak, Andrzej Friedman, Dariusz Koziorowski, Monika Rudzińska-Bar, Jan O. AaslyTimothy Lynch, George D. Mellick, Megha Mohan, Peter A. Silburn, Yanosh Sanotsky, Carles Vilariño-Güell, Matthew J. Farrer, Li Chen, Valina L. Dawson, Ted M. Dawson, Zbigniew K. Wszolek, Owen A. Ross, Wolfdieter Springer

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

71 Scopus citations

Abstract

It has been postulated that heterozygous mutations in recessive Parkinson's genes may increase the risk of developing the disease. In particular, the PTEN-induced putative kinase 1 (PINK1) p.G411S (c.1231G4A, rs45478900) mutation has been reported in families with dominant inheritance patterns of Parkinson's disease, suggesting that it might confer a sizeable disease risk when present on only one allele. We examined families with PINK1 p.G411S and conducted a genetic association study with 2560 patients with Parkinson's disease and 2145 control subjects. Heterozygous PINK1 p.G411S mutations markedly increased Parkinson's disease risk (odds ratio = 2.92, P = 0.032); significance remained when supplementing with results from previous studies on 4437 additional subjects (odds ratio = 2.89, P = 0.027). We analysed primary human skin fibroblasts and induced neurons from heterozygous PINK1 p.G411S carriers compared to PINK1 p.Q456X heterozygotes and PINK1 wild-type controls under endogenous conditions. While cells from PINK1 p.Q456X heterozygotes showed reduced levels of PINK1 protein and decreased initial kinase activity upon mitochondrial damage, stress-response was largely unaffected over time, as expected for a recessive loss-of-function mutation. By contrast, PINK1 p.G411S heterozygotes showed no decrease of PINK1 protein levels but a sustained, significant reduction in kinase activity. Molecular modelling and dynamics simulations as well as multiple functional assays revealed that the p.G411S mutation interferes with ubiquitin phosphorylation by wild-type PINK1 in a heterodimeric complex. This impairs the protective functions of the PINK1/parkin-mediated mitochondrial quality control. Based on genetic and clinical evaluation as well as functional and structural characterization, we established p.G411S as a rare genetic risk factor with a relatively large effect size conferred by a partial dominant-negative function phenotype.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)98-117
Number of pages20
JournalBrain
Volume140
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2017

Keywords

  • Heterozygous mutation
  • Mitophagy
  • PINK1
  • Parkinson's disease
  • Ubiquitin

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Clinical Neurology

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