A mutational atlas for Parkin proteostasis

The delicate balance of protein homeostasis can be disturbed by mutations that affect folding and stability of the encoded protein. More than half of disease-causing missense variants are thought to lead to protein degradation, but determining which and the molecular mechanisms involved remain enigmatic. To examine these issues, we selected the ubiquitin-protein ligase Parkin, where known missense variants result in an autosomal recessive, early onset Parkinsonism. We used the variant abundance by massively parallel sequencing (VAMP-seq) approach to quantify the abundance of Parkin missense variants in cultured human cells. The resulting mutational map, covering 9219 out of the 9300 possible single-site amino acid substitutions and nonsense Parkin variants, show that most low abundance variants are located within the structured domains of the protein, while the flexible linker regions are more tolerant. The vast majority of low abundance Parkin variants are degraded through the ubiquitin-proteasome system and are stabilized at a lowered temperature. The cellular abundance data correlate with thermodynamic stability, evolutionary conservation, and show that half of the known disease-linked variants are found at low abundance. Systematic mapping of degradation signals (degrons) shows that inherent primary degrons in Parkin largely overlap with regions that are buried, and highly sensitive to mutations. An exposed degron region proximal to the so-called “activation element” is enhanced by substitutions to hydrophobic residues and destroyed by introduction of hydrophilic residues. The data provide examples of how missense variants may cause degradation either via destabilization of the native protein, or by introducing local signals for degradation. Combined with the computational methods based on Parkin structure and conservation, our abundance map sheds light on the mechanisms that cause loss of function, and points to variants where function potentially can be restored. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.