Synapses are very specialized compartments with high metabolic demand to maintain neurotransmission, an essential step for basic brain function. Neurons are post-mitotic and synapses need to stay functional over time-sometimes over decades. Given that synapses are often at a long distance from the cell body, they must use local mechanisms to regulate protein quality control. We show that macroautophagy/autophagy is one of these local processes and found that it is under strict control of the synapse-enriched protein EndoA/Endophilin-A, previously only implicated in endocytosis. Metabolic and neuronal stimulation induce synaptic autophagy and phosphorylation of EndoA by the Parkinson disease kinase Lrrk/LRRK2 is essential to promote the process. EndoA induces membrane curvature in vitro, and, mechanistically, phosphorylated EndoA creates curved membrane-protein docking sites that are capable of recruiting Atg3. Our work reveals a synapse-enriched branch of autophagy under the control of EndoA that may be deregulated in Parkinson disease.
Keywords: ATG3; Drosophila; Endophilin-A; LRRK2; Parkinson disease; autophagic docking stations; autophagy; membrane curvature; neurodegeneration; synapses.