LAUSR

Significance Reactive compounds cause cellular damage that is suspected to contribute to aging and neurodegenerative diseases. Oxidative stress and environmental factors likely contribute to this. Here we report that an enzyme mutated in Parkinson’s disease can prevent damage of metabolites and proteins caused by a metabolite from the central pathway of sugar metabolism. Inactivation of this enzyme in model systems, ranging from flies to human cells, leads to the accumulation of a wide range of damaged metabolites and proteins. Thus, this enzyme represents a highly conserved strategy to prevent damage in cells that metabolize sugars. Overall, we discovered a fundamental link between carbohydrate metabolism and a type of cellular damage that might contribute to the development of Parkinson’s disease. Cells are continuously exposed to potentially dangerous compounds. Progressive accumulation of damage is suspected to contribute to neurodegenerative diseases and aging, but the molecular identity of the damage remains largely unknown. Here we report that PARK7, an enzyme mutated in hereditary Parkinson’s disease, prevents damage of proteins and metabolites caused by a metabolite of glycolysis. We found that the glycolytic metabolite 1,3-bisphosphoglycerate (1,3-BPG) spontaneously forms a novel reactive intermediate that avidly reacts with amino groups. PARK7 acts by destroying this intermediate, thereby preventing the formation of proteins and metabolites with glycerate and phosphoglycerate modifications on amino groups. As a consequence, inactivation of PARK7 (or its orthologs) in human cell lines, mouse brain, and Drosophila melanogaster leads to the accumulation of these damaged compounds, most of which have not been described before. Our work demonstrates that PARK7 function represents a highly conserved strategy to prevent damage in cells that metabolize carbohydrates. This represents a fundamental link between metabolism and a type of cellular damage that might contribute to the development of Parkinson’s disease.