Finding. DJ-1 protects mitochondria if it can get into the matrix. Taday, Joselin, Park and colleagues show VDAC1 is how stress puts it there. Endogenous DJ-1 binds VDAC1. Lose VDAC1 and matrix DJ-1 fails to accumulate. Those neurons fragment, respire poorly, lose ATP, mishandle ROS, and die more to MPP+. Stick DJ-1 in the matrix and respiration (basal, ATP-linked, maximal), shape, and survival come back. Stick it on the outer membrane and they do not. Block ATP synthase and mitochondrial DJ-1 rises fast, so bioenergetic stress is a recruitment cue.
Score 90. Compartment-specific rescue, a named gate, a Parkinson protein. High confidence in the targeting split.