The lysosomal membrane protein LAMP‐2 is dispensable for PINK1/Parkin‐mediated mitophagy

Abstract

Selective autophagy for the elimination of aberrant mitochondria, termed mitophagy, can be regulated by the kinase PINK1 and the ubiquitin ligase Parkin. The lysosome‐associated membrane protein 2 (LAMP‐2) plays diverse functions in non‐selective autophagy, chaperone‐mediated autophagy and selective autophagy for the degradation of RNA/DNA. In the present study, we investigated whether LAMP‐2 plays important roles during PINK1/Parkin‐mediated mitophagy. The results obtained clearly show that knockdown of LAMP‐2 does not cause defects in mitophagy in HeLa cells stably expressing Parkin, indicating that LAMP‐2 is dispensable for PINK1/Parkin‐mediated mitophagy. The present study is the first to determine the potential role of LAMP‐2 in PINK1/Parkin‐mediated mitophagy, thereby providing more insight into the sophisticated process of mitophagy.