For Parkin, it's not all or nothing

Mitochondria accumulate damage over time, which can lead to impairment of cell function by excessive production of reactive oxygen species. The PINK1/Parkin pathway therefore monitors the quality of the mitochondrial population and stimulates the elimination of depolarized organelles by mitophagy. In this issue of The EMBO Journal, McLelland et al (2014) show that this pathway also responds to mild oxidative damage, and instead of inducing mitophagy, allows oxidized proteins to be sorted into mitochondria-derived vesicles (MDVs) that are transported to lysosomes.