Loss of STING in parkin mutant flies suppresses muscle defects and mitochondria damage

The early pathogenesis and underlying molecular causes of motor neuron degeneration in Parkinson’s Disease (PD) remains unresolved. In the model organism Drosophila melanogaster, loss of the early-onset PD gene parkin (the ortholog of human PRKN) results in impaired climbing ability, damage to the indirect flight muscles, and mitochondrial fragmentation with swelling. These stressed mitochondria have been proposed to activate innate immune pathways through release of damage associated molecular patterns (DAMPs). Parkin-mediated mitophagy is hypothesized to suppress mitochondrial damage and subsequent activation of the cGAS/STING innate immunity pathway, but the relevance of this interaction in the fly remains unresolved. Using a combination of genetics, immunoassays, and RNA sequencing, we investigated a potential role for STING in the onset of parkin-null phenotypes. Our findings demonstrate that loss of Drosophila STING in flies rescues the thorax muscle defects and the climbing ability of parkin(-/-) mutants. Loss of STING also suppresses the disrupted mitochondrial morphology in parkin(-/-) flight muscles, suggesting unexpected feedback of STING on mitochondria integrity or activation of a compensatory mitochondrial pathway. In the animals lacking both parkin and sting, PINK1 is activated and cell death pathways are suppressed. These findings support a unique, non-canonical role for Drosophila STING in the cellular and organismal response to mitochondria stress.