Yeast and other lower eukaryotic organisms for studies of Vps13 proteins in health and disease |
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| Authors: | Weronika Rzepnikowska Krzysztof Flis Sandra Muñoz‐Braceras Regina Menezes Ricardo Escalante Teresa Zoladek |
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| Institution: | 1. Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland;2. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas “Alberto Sols” (CSIC‐UAM), Madrid, Spain;3. iBET, Instituto de Biologia Experimental e Tecnológica, Oeiras, Portugal;4. Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Oeiras, Portugal |
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| Abstract: | Human Vps13 proteins are associated with several diseases, including the neurodegenerative disorder Chorea‐acanthocytosis (ChAc), yet the biology of these proteins is still poorly understood. Studies in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Dictyostelium discoideum, Tetrahymena thermophila and Drosophila melanogaster point to the involvement of Vps13 in cytoskeleton organization, vesicular trafficking, autophagy, phagocytosis, endocytosis, proteostasis, sporulation and mitochondrial functioning. Recent findings show that yeast Vps13 binds to phosphatidylinositol lipids via 4 different regions and functions at membrane contact sites, enlarging the list of Vps13 functions. This review describes the great potential of simple eukaryotes to decipher disease mechanisms in higher organisms and highlights novel insights into the pathological role of Vps13 towards ChAc.  |
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| Keywords: | budding yeast Chorea‐acanthocytosis (ChAc) chorein Cohen syndrome
Dictyostelium discoideum model organisms
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
tipC
VPS13 (YLL040C) Vps13 proteins |
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