Soukup et al. (2016) have shown that protein quality control at synapses of Drosophila melanogaster is mediated by EndophilinA, a protein enriched in phagophore membranes, which is phosphorylated by LRRK2. LRRK2 phosphorylation allows the protein to create curved membranes that can harbor and recruit ATG3 to initiate autophagy (Soukup et al., 2016). Therefore, derangement of synaptic autophagy can affect synaptic homeostasis and plasticity which may increase the susceptibility to PD in the long term (Soukup et al., 2016, 2018; Vijayan and Verstreken, 2017). The gene discussed is LRRK2; the disease is Parkinson disease.