Home▸Molecular Biology▸Mitophagy 2D: PINK1/Parkin Mitochondrial Quality Control

Mitophagy 2D: PINK1/Parkin Mitochondrial Quality Control

Interactive 2D simulator of the PINK1/Parkin mitophagy pathway: watch a population of mitochondria lose membrane potential, accumulate PINK1, recruit Parkin, and get selectively degraded, with a live time-series readout and a drag-to-pan / scroll-to-zoom cytoplasm view. Includes a PD-mutant toggle to see impaired recruitment let damaged mitochondria pile up.

Molecular Biology2DAdvanced60 FPS📱 Mobile-adapted⇄ 3D version

Damaged mitochondria are dangerous — a collapsed membrane potential means failing ATP output and leaking reactive oxygen species. Cells solve this with mitophagy: PINK1 accumulates specifically on mitochondria that have lost membrane potential, recruits the E3 ubiquitin ligase Parkin, and tags the organelle for engulfment and lysosomal degradation. This 2D simulator renders a population of mitochondria in a flat cytoplasm disc, each running its own stochastic membrane-potential and PINK1/Parkin state machine, alongside a live time-series strip tracking the population's health. Tune the stress rate, fusion-rescue rate, and Parkin recruitment efficiency to see the quality-control loop keep the population healthy — then flip the PD Mutant Toggle to watch impaired recruitment let damaged mitochondria accumulate, the mechanism implicated in PINK1/PARKIN-linked Parkinson's disease.

⚙ Under the hood

Watch a 2D population of mitochondria run their own PINK1/Parkin quality-control loop live in a flat, pannable/zoomable cytoplasm disc: membrane potential collapses trigger PINK1 accumulation, Parkin recruitment tags the organelle for autophagic degradation, and a live time-series strip tracks population health. A PD-mutant toggle shows what happens when Parkin recruitment fails.

biologymitochondriamitophagycell-biologyparkinsonsmolecular-biology

2D · HTML5 Canvas 2D · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install