RACK1 modulates polyglutamine-induced neurodegeneration by promoting ERK degradation in Drosophila

Polyglutamine diseases are neurodegenerative diseases caused by the expansion of polyglutamine (polyQ) tracts within different proteins. Although multiple pathways have been found to modulate aggregation of the expanded polyQ proteins, the mechanisms by which polyQ tracts induced neuronal cell death remain unknown. We conducted a genome-wide genetic screen to identify genes that suppress polyQ-induced neurodegeneration when mutated. Loss of the scaffold protein RACK1 alleviated cell death associated with the expression of polyQ tracts alone, as well as in models of Machado-Joseph disease (MJD) and Huntington’s disease (HD), without affecting proteostasis of polyQ proteins. A genome-wide RNAi screen for modifiers of this rack1 suppression phenotype revealed that knockdown of the E3 ubiquitin ligase, POE (Purity of essence), further suppressed polyQ-induced cell death, resulting in nearly wild-type looking eyes. Biochemical analyses demonstrated that RACK1 interacts with POE and ERK to promote ERK degradation. These results suggest that RACK1 plays a key role in polyQ pathogenesis by promoting POE-dependent degradation of ERK, and implicate RACK1/POE/ERK as potent drug targets for treatment of polyQ diseases.     

Autophagy Genes Protect Against Disease Caused by Polyglutamine Expansion Proteins in Caenorhabditis elegans

Expanded polyglutamine (polyQ) proteins aggregate intracellularly in Huntington’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. The lysosomal degradation pathway, autophagy, is known to promote clearance of polyQ protein aggregates in cultured cells. Moreover, basal autophagy in neuronal cells in mice prevents neurodegeneration by suppressing the accumulation of abnormal intracellular proteins. However, it is not yet known whether autophagy genes play a role in vivo in protecting against disease caused by mutant aggregate-prone, expanded polyQ proteins. To examine this question, we used two models of polyQ-induced toxicity in C. elegans, including the expression of polyQ40 aggregates in muscle and the expression of a human huntingtin disease fragment containing a polyQ tract of 150 residues (Htn-Q150) in ASH sensory neurons. Here, we show that genetic inactivation of autophagy genes accelerates the accumulation of polyQ40 aggregates in C. elegans muscle cells and exacerbates polyQ40-induced muscle dysfunction. Autophagy gene inactivation also increases the accumulation of Htn-Q150 aggregates in C. elegans ASH sensory neurons and results in enhanced neurodegeneration. These data provide in vivo genetic evidence that autophagy genes suppress the accumulation of polyQ aggregates and protect cells from disease caused by polyQ toxicity.     

Autophagy genes protect against disease caused by polyglutamine expansion proteins in Caenorhabditis elegans

Expanded polyglutamine (polyQ) proteins aggregate intracellularly in Huntington's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. The lysosomal degradation pathway, autophagy, is known to promote clearance of polyQ protein aggregates in cultured cells. Moreover, basal autophagy in neuronal cells in mice prevents neurodegeneration by suppressing the accumulation of abnormal intracellular proteins. However, it is not yet known whether autophagy genes play a role in vivo in protecting against disease caused by mutant aggregate-prone, expanded polyQ proteins. To examine this question, we used two models of polyQ-induced toxicity in C. elegans, including the expression of polyQ40 aggregates in muscle and the expression of a human huntingtin disease fragment containing a polyQ tract of 150 residues (Htn-Q150) in ASH sensory neurons. Here, we show that genetic inactivation of autophagy genes accelerates the accumulation of polyQ40 aggregates in C. elegans muscle cells and exacerbates polyQ40-induced muscle dysfunction. Autophagy gene inactivation also increases the accumulation of Htn-Q150 aggregates in C. elegans ASH sensory neurons and results in enhanced neurodegeneration. These data provide in vivo genetic evidence that autophagy genes suppress the accumulation of polyQ aggregates and protect cells from disease caused by polyQ toxicity.     

Defining genetic factors that modulate intergenerational CAG repeat instability in Drosophila melanogaster

Trinucleotide repeat instability underlies >20 human hereditary disorders. These diseases include many neurological and neurodegenerative situations, such as those caused by pathogenic polyglutamine (polyQ) domains encoded by expanded CAG repeats. Although mechanisms of instability have been intensely studied, our knowledge remains limited in part due to the lack of unbiased genome-wide screens in multicellular eukaryotes. Drosophila melanogaster displays triplet repeat instability with features that recapitulate repeat instability seen in patients with disease. Here we report an enhanced fly model with substantial instability based on a noncoding 270 CAG (UAS-CAG(270)) repeat construct under control of a germline-specific promoter. We find that expression of pathogenic polyQ protein modulates repeat instability of CAG(270) in trans, indicating that pathogenic-length polyQ proteins may globally modulate repeat instability in the genome in vivo. We further performed an unbiased genetic screen for novel modifiers of instability. These studies indicate that different aspects of repeat instability are under independent genetic control, and identify CG15262, a protein with a NOT2/3/5 conserved domain, as a modifier of CAG repeat instability in vivo.     

Polyglutamine expansion diseases: More than simple repeats

Polyglutamine (polyQ) repeat-containing proteins are widespread in the human proteome but only nine of them are associated with highly incapacitating neurodegenerative disorders. The genetic expansion of the polyQ tract in disease-related proteins triggers a series of events resulting in neurodegeneration. The polyQ tract plays the leading role in the aggregation mechanism, but other elements modulate the aggregation propensity in the context of the full-length proteins, as implied by variations in the length of the polyQ tract required to trigger the onset of a given polyQ disease. Intrinsic features such as the presence of aggregation-prone regions (APRs) outside the polyQ segments and polyQ-flanking sequences, which synergistically participate in the aggregation process, are emerging for several disease-related proteins. The inherent polymorphic structure of polyQ stretches places the polyQ proteins in a central position in protein–protein interaction networks, where interacting partners may additionally shield APRs or reshape the aggregation course. Expansion of the polyQ tract perturbs the cellular homeostasis and contributes to neuronal failure by modulating protein–protein interactions and enhancing toxic oligomerization. Post-translational modifications further regulate self-assembly either by directly altering the intrinsic aggregation propensity of polyQ proteins, by modulating their interaction with different macromolecules or by modifying their withdrawal by the cell quality control machinery. Here we review the recent data on the multifaceted aggregation pathways of disease-related polyQ proteins, focusing on ataxin-3, the protein mutated in Machado-Joseph disease. Further mechanistic understanding of this network of events is crucial for the development of effective therapies for polyQ diseases.     

Monitoring polyglutamine toxicity in yeast

Experiments in yeast have significantly contributed to our understanding of general aspects of biochemistry, genetics, and cell biology. Yeast models have also delivered deep insights in to the molecular mechanism underpinning human diseases, including neurodegenerative diseases. Many neurodegenerative diseases are associated with the conversion of a protein from a normal and benign conformation into a disease-associated and toxic conformation - a process called protein misfolding. The misfolding of proteins with abnormally expanded polyglutamine (polyQ) regions causes several neurodegenerative diseases, such as Huntington's disease and the Spinocerebellar Ataxias. Yeast cells expressing polyQ expansion proteins recapitulate polyQ length-dependent aggregation and toxicity, which are hallmarks of all polyQ-expansion diseases. The identification of modifiers of polyQ toxicity in yeast revealed molecular mechanisms and cellular pathways that contribute to polyQ toxicity. Notably, several of these findings in yeast were reproduced in other model organisms and in human patients, indicating the validity of the yeast polyQ model. Here, we describe different expression systems for polyQ-expansion proteins in yeast and we outline experimental protocols to reliably and quantitatively monitor polyQ toxicity in yeast.     

Glial Cell Lineage Expression of Mutant Ataxin-1 and Huntingtin Induces Developmental and Late-Onset Neuronal Pathologies in Drosophila Models

Background

In several neurodegenerative disorders, toxic effects of glial cells on neurons are implicated. However the generality of the non-cell autonomous pathologies derived from glial cells has not been established, and the specificity among different neurodegenerative disorders remains unknown.

Methodology/Principal Findings

We newly generated Drosophila models expressing human mutant huntingtin (hHtt103Q) or ataxin-1 (hAtx1-82Q) in the glial cell lineage at different stages of differentiation, and analyzed their morphological and behavioral phenotypes. To express hHtt103Q and hAtx1-82Q, we used 2 different Gal4 drivers, gcm-Gal4 and repo-Gal4. Gcm-Gal4 is known to be a neuroglioblast/glioblast-specific driver whose effect is limited to development. Repo-Gal4 is known to be a pan-glial driver and the expression starts at glioblasts and continues after terminal differentiation. Gcm-Gal4-induced hHtt103Q was more toxic than repo-Gal4-induced hHtt103Q from the aspects of development, locomotive activity and survival of flies. When hAtx1-82Q was expressed by gcm- or repo-Gal4 driver, no fly became adult. Interestingly, the head and brain sizes were markedly reduced in a part of pupae expressing hAtx1-82Q under the control of gcm-Gal4, and these pupae showed extreme destruction of the brain structure. The other pupae expressing hAtx1-82Q also showed brain shrinkage and abnormal connections of neurons. These results suggested that expression of polyQ proteins in neuroglioblasts provided a remarkable effect on the developmental and adult brains, and that glial cell lineage expression of hAtx1-82Q was more toxic than that of hHtt103Q in our assays.

Conclusion/Significance

All these studies suggested that the non-cell autonomous effect of glial cells might be a common pathology shared by multiple neurodegenerative disorders. In addition, the fly models would be available for analyzing molecular pathologies and developing novel therapeutics against the non-cell autonomous polyQ pathology. In conclusion, our novel fly models have extended the non-cell autonomous pathology hypothesis as well as the developmental effect hypothesis to multiple polyQ diseases. The two pathologies might be generally shared in neurodegeneration.     

Large-Scale Screen for Modifiers of Ataxin-3-Derived Polyglutamine-Induced Toxicity in Drosophila

Polyglutamine (polyQ) diseases represent a neuropathologically heterogeneous group of disorders. The common theme of these disorders is an elongated polyQ tract in otherwise unrelated proteins. So far, only symptomatic treatment can be applied to patients suffering from polyQ diseases. Despite extensive research, the molecular mechanisms underlying polyQ-induced toxicity are largely unknown. To gain insight into polyQ pathology, we performed a large-scale RNAi screen in Drosophila to identify modifiers of toxicity induced by expression of truncated Ataxin-3 containing a disease-causing polyQ expansion. We identified various unknown modifiers of polyQ toxicity. Large-scale analysis indicated a dissociation of polyQ aggregation and toxicity.     

Genome-wide screen for modifiers of ataxin-3 neurodegeneration in Drosophila

Spinocerebellar ataxia type-3 (SCA3) is among the most common dominantly inherited ataxias, and is one of nine devastating human neurodegenerative diseases caused by the expansion of a CAG repeat encoding glutamine within the gene. The polyglutamine domain confers toxicity on the protein Ataxin-3 leading to neuronal dysfunction and loss. Although modifiers of polyglutamine toxicity have been identified, little is known concerning how the modifiers function mechanistically to affect toxicity. To reveal insight into spinocerebellar ataxia type-3, we performed a genetic screen in Drosophila with pathogenic Ataxin-3-induced neurodegeneration and identified 25 modifiers defining 18 genes. Despite a variety of predicted molecular activities, biological analysis indicated that the modifiers affected protein misfolding. Detailed mechanistic studies revealed that some modifiers affected protein accumulation in a manner dependent on the proteasome, whereas others affected autophagy. Select modifiers of Ataxin-3 also affected tau, revealing common pathways between degeneration due to distinct human neurotoxic proteins. These findings provide new insight into molecular pathways of polyQ toxicity, defining novel targets for promoting neuronal survival in human neurodegenerative disease.     

VCP/p97 in abnormal protein aggregates, cytoplasmic vacuoles, and cell death, phenotypes relevant to neurodegeneration

Neuronal cell death, abnormal protein aggregates, and cytoplasmic vacuolization are major pathologies observed in many neurodegenerative disorders such as the polyglutamine (polyQ) diseases, prion disease, Alzheimer disease, and the Lewy body diseases, suggesting common mechanisms underlying neurodegeneration. Here, we have identified VCP/p97, a member of the AAA+ family of ATPase proteins, as a polyQ-interacting protein in vitro and in vivo, and report on its characterization. Endogenous VCP co-localized with expanded polyQ (ex-polyQ) aggregates in cultured cells expressing ex-polyQ, with nuclear inclusions in Huntington disease patient brains, and with Lewy bodies in patient samples. Moreover, the expression of VCP mutants with mutations in the 2nd ATP binding domain created cytoplasmic vacuoles, followed by cell death. Very similar vacuoles were also induced by ex-polyQ expression or proteasome inhibitor treatment. These results suggest that VCP functions not only as a recognition factor for abnormally folded proteins but also as a pathological effector for several neurodegenerative phenotypes. VCP may thus be an ideal molecular target for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders.     

Insights into ALS pathomechanisms: from flies to humans

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a devastating neurodegenerative disease causing the death of motor neurons with consequent muscle atrophy and paralysis. Several neurodegenerative diseases have been modeled in Drosophila and genetic studies on this model organism led to the elucidation of crucial aspects of disease mechanisms. ALS, however, has lagged somewhat behind possibly because of the lack of a suitable genetic model. We were the first to develop a fly model for ALS and over the last few years, we have implemented and used this model for a large scale, unbiased modifier screen. We also report an extensive bioinformatic analysis of the genetic modifiers and we show that most of them are associated in a network of interacting genes controlling known as well as novel cellular processes involved in ALS pathogenesis. A similar analysis for the human homologues of the Drosophila modifiers and the validation of a subset of them in human tissues confirm and expand the significance of the data for the human disease. Finally, we analyze a possible application of the model in the process of therapeutic discovery in ALS and we discuss the importance of novel “non-obvious” models for the disease.     

Induction of heat shock proteins in differentiated human and rodent neurons by celastrol

Neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis have been termed protein misfolding disorders that are characterized by the neuronal accumulation of protein aggregates. Manipulation of the cellular stress-response involving induction of heat shock proteins (Hsps) in differentiated neurons offers a therapeutic strategy to counter conformational changes in neuronal proteins that trigger pathogenic cascades resulting in neurodegenerative diseases. Hsps are protein repair agents that provide a line of defense against misfolded, aggregation-prone proteins. These proteins are not induced in differentiated neurons by conventional heat shock. We have found that celastrol, a quinine methide triterpene, induced expression of a wider set of Hsps, including Hsp70B', in differentiated human neurons grown in tissue culture compared to cultured rodent neuronal cells. Hence the beneficial effect of celastrol against human neurodegenerative diseases may exceed its potential in rodent models of these diseases.     

A Model for Small Heat Shock Protein Inhibition of Polyglutamine Aggregation

Polyglutamine (polyQ) repeat expansions that lead to the formation of amyloid aggregates are linked to several devastating neurodegenerative disorders. While molecular chaperones, including the small heat shock proteins (sHsp), play an important role in protection against protein misfolding, the aberrant protein folding that accompanies these polyQ diseases overwhelms the chaperone network. By generating a model structure to explain the observed suppression of spinocerebellar ataxia 3 (SCA3) by the sHsp αB-crystallin, we have identified key vulnerabilities that provide a possible mechanism to explain this heat shock response. A docking study involving a small bioactive peptide should also aid in the development of new drug targets for the prevention of polyQ-based aggregation.     

多聚谷氨酰胺延伸蛋白募集细胞内转录因子及对基因转录调控的影响

多聚谷氨酰胺（polyglutamine,PolyQ）疾病是由特定基因序列中CAG三核苷酸的不稳定重复扩增所引发的一类神经退行性疾病。至今已发现9种类型的PolyQ疾病,其中多数疾病的致病蛋白质在转录调控中发挥着重要的病理作用。PolyQ蛋白中谷氨酰胺的异常重复延伸会引发蛋白质错误折叠并在细胞中积聚形成包涵体。积聚的蛋白质可通过自身结构域、泛素修饰和RNA等介导的相互作用,有效地募集细胞内的转录因子、泛素接头或受体蛋白,以及分子伴侣等组分到包涵体中。这些组分在细胞中的可溶性比例减少,使得机体内的转录调控系统功能受损,造成转录失调从而诱发疾病。因此,研究异常延伸的PolyQ蛋白对细胞内转录因子及其他组分的募集作用,可在分子水平上解释神经退行性疾病的发病机制,从而为临床应用提供潜在的预防和治疗方法。     

Systematic Analysis of Fly Models with Multiple Drivers Reveals Different Effects of Ataxin-1 and Huntingtin in Neuron Subtype-Specific Expression

The fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, is a commonly used model organism for neurodegenerative diseases. Its major advantages include a short lifespan and its susceptibility to manipulation using sophisticated genetic techniques. Here, we report the systematic comparison of fly models of two polyglutamine (polyQ) diseases. We induced expression of the normal and mutant forms of full-length Ataxin-1 and Huntingtin exon 1 in cholinergic, dopaminergic, and motor neurons, and glial cells using cell type-specific drivers. We systematically analyzed their effects based on multiple phenotypes: eclosion rate, lifespan, motor performance, and circadian rhythms of spontaneous activity. This systematic assay system enabled us to quantitatively evaluate and compare the functional disabilities of different genotypes. The results suggest different effects of Ataxin-1 and Huntingtin on specific types of neural cells during development and in adulthood. In addition, we confirmed the therapeutic effects of LiCl and butyrate using representative models. These results support the usefulness of this assay system for screening candidate chemical compounds that modify the pathologies of polyQ diseases.