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Front Genet,
2012]
For all organisms promoting protein homeostasis is a high priority in order to optimize cellular functions and resources. However, there is accumulating evidence that aging leads to a collapse in protein homeostasis and widespread non-disease protein aggregation. This review examines these findings and discusses the potential causes and consequences of this physiological aggregation with age in particular in relation to disease protein aggregation and toxicity. Importantly, recent evidence points to unexpected differences in protein-quality-control and susceptibility to protein aggregation between neurons and other cell types. In addition, new insight into the cell-non-autonomous coordination of protein homeostasis by neurons will be presented.
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Methods Mol Biol,
2002]
Mutations in mitochondrial genes encoded by both mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and nuclear DNA (nDNA have been implicated in a wide range of degenerative diseases. MtDNA base substitution and rearrangement mutations can cause myopathy, cardiomyopathy, ophthalmological defects, growth retardation, movement disorders, dementias, and diabetes. nDNA mutations can affect mtDNA replication and transcription, increase mtDNA mutations through defects in the adenine nucleotide translocator isoform 1 (ANT1), or cause Leigh''s syndrome, as a result of defects in oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) structural genes. Mouse models of mtDNA base substitution mutations have been created by introducing the mtDNA 16S rRNA chloramphenicol (CAP)-resistance mutation into the mouse female germline. This resulted in ophthalmological defects in chimeras and perinatal lethality resulting from myopathy and cardiomyopathy in mutant animals. Mouse models of mtDNA rearrangements have resulted in animals with myopathy, cardiomyopathy, and nephropathy. Conditional inactivation of the mouse nDNA mitochondrial transcription factor (Tfam) gene in the heart caused neonatal lethal cardiomyopathy, whereas its inactivation in the pancreatic beta-cells caused diabetes. Mutational inactivation of the mouse Ant1 gene resulted in myopathy, cardiomyopathy, and multiple mtDNA deletions in association with elevated reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. This suggests that multiple mtDNA deletion syndrome can be caused by increased ROS damage. The inactivation of the uncoupler protein genes (Ucp) 1-3 resulted in alterations in delta mu H+ and increased ROS production. Inactivation of the Ucp2 gene, which is expressed in the pancreatic beta-cells, resulted in increased islet ATP, increased serum insulin levels, and suppression of the diabetes of the ob/ob mouse genotype. Transgenic mice with altered beta-cell ATP-sensitive K+ channels (KATP) also developed diabetes. Mutational inactivation of the mitochondrial antioxidant genes for glutathione peroxidase (GPx1) and Mn superoxide dismutase (Sod2) caused reduced energy production and neonatal lethal dilated cardiomyopathy, respectively, the later being ameliorated by treatment with MnSOD mimics. Partial Sod2 deficiency (+/-) resulted in mice with increased mitochondrial damage during aging, and treatment of C. elegans with catalytic antioxidant drugs can extend their life-span. Mice deficient in cytochrome-c died early in embryogenesis, but cells derived from these embryos had a complete deficiency in mitochondrial apoptosis. Mice lacking the proapoptotic Bax and Bak genes were not able to release cytochrome-c from the mitochondrion and were blocked in apoptosis. Mice lacking Apaf1, Cas9, and Cas3 did release mitochondrial cytochrome-c and were blocked in the downstream steps of apoptosis. These animal studies confirm that alterations in mitochondrial energy generation, ROS production, and apoptosis can all contribute to the pathophysiology of mitochondrial disease.
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Trends Genet,
2002]
Huntington''s disease (HD) is an autosomal-dominant neurodegenerative disorder caused by a CAG trinucleotide repeat expansion in the HD gene. The expanded repeats are translated into an abnormally long polyglutamine tract close to the N-terminus of the HD gene product, huntingtin. Studies in mouse models and human suggest that the mutation is associated with a deleterious gain of function. There is now a wide range of mouse models for HD, providing important insights into processes associated with disease pathogenesis. These models have been complemented by studies in Drosophila and Caenorhabditis elegans that have allowed the identification of possible modifier loci through suppressor screens.
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J Neurobiol,
2000]
Model organisms like Caenorhabditis elegans allow the study of growth cone motility and guidance in vivo. We are using circumferential axon guidance in C. elegans to study both the mechanisms of guidance and the interactions between different guidance systems in vivo. A genetic screen has identified suppressors of the specific axon guidance defects caused by ectopic expression of UNC-5, the repulsive receptor for the UNC-6/netrin guidance cue. These mutations identify eight genes whose products are required for the function of UNC-5 in these cells. In principle, the functions of some of these genes may involve
unc-73, which encodes a multidomain, cytoplasmic protein that is an activator of the rac and rho GTPases. Loss of UNC-73 causes errors in axon guidance, and it is hypothesized that UNC-73 acts in multiple signaling pathways used by guidance receptors on the growth cone surface to regulate the underlying cytoskeleton. Here we summarize and discuss these recent developments that are advancing our understanding of growth cone signal transduction in vivo.
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Dev Cell,
2004]
Currently, perhaps the most significant biological problem is to understand the mechanisms of learning and memory, and many of the answers will come from molecular explanations of synaptic plasticity. Two new papers have established a surprising connection: the Anaphase Promoting Complex/Cyclosome (APC/C) has a second function in controlling local protein stability at synapses, and hence in the control of behavior (Juo and Kaplan, 2004; van Roessel et al., 2004).
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Int J Mol Sci,
2023]
MicroRNAs are critical regulators of post-transcriptional gene expression in a wide range of taxa, including invertebrates, mammals, and plants. Since their discovery in the nematode, <i>Caenorhabditis elegans,</i> miRNA research has exploded, and they are being identified in almost every facet of development. Invertebrate model organisms, particularly <i>C. elegans,</i> and <i>Drosophila melanogaster</i>, are ideal systems for studying miRNA function, and the roles of many miRNAs are known in these animals. In this review, we compiled the functions of many of the miRNAs that are involved in the development of these invertebrate model species. We examine how gene regulation by miRNAs shapes both embryonic and larval development and show that, although many different aspects of development are regulated, several trends are apparent in the nature of their regulation.
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Curr Opin Genet Dev,
2016]
In many species, male and female animals differ in the number of X chromosomes they possess. As a consequence, large scale differences in gene dosage exist between sexes; a phenomenon that is rarely tolerated by the organism for changes in autosome dosage. Several strategies have evolved independently to balance X-linked gene dosage between sexes, named dosage compensation (DC). The molecular basis of DC differs among the three best-studied examples: mammals, fruit fly and nematodes. In this short review, we summarize recent microscopic and chromosome conformation capture data that reveal key features of the compensated X chromosome and highlight the events leading to the establishment of a functional, specialized nuclear compartment, the X domain.
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Epigenetics,
2009]
Dosage compensation is an essential process that equalizes X-linked gene dosage between the sexes. In the worm Caenorhabditis elegans, a complex of proteins called the dosage compensation complex (DCC) binds both X chromosomes in hermaphrodites to downregulate gene expression two-fold and hence to reduce X-linked gene expression levels equal to that in males. Five subunits of the DCC form the condensin I(DC) complex, a homolog of the evolutionarily conserved condensin complex required for chromosome segregation and compaction during mitosis and meiosis. How related complexes can perform such diverse functions remains a mystery. Nevertheless, it is believed that the mitotic and interphase functions of condensin are mechanistically related and understanding one process will reveal new insights into the other. We discuss how during worm dosage compensation a condensin-mediated function may guide the organization of the interphase chromatin fibers, leading to the formation of a repressive nuclear compartment.
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Front Genet,
2014]
In many organisms sexual fate is determined by a chromosome-based method which entails a difference in sex chromosome-linked gene dosage. Consequently, a gene regulatory mechanism called dosage compensation equalizes X-linked gene expression between the sexes. Dosage compensation initiates as cells transition from pluripotency to differentiation. In Caenorhabditis elegans, dosage compensation is achieved by the dosage compensation complex (DCC) binding to both X chromosomes in hermaphrodites to downregulate gene expression by twofold. The DCC contains a subcomplex (condensin I(DC)) similar to the evolutionarily conserved condensin complexes which play a fundamental role in chromosome dynamics during mitosis. Therefore, mechanisms related to mitotic chromosome condensation are hypothesized to mediate dosage compensation. Consistent with this hypothesis, monomethylation of histone H4 lysine 20 is increased, whereas acetylation of histone H4 lysine 16 is decreased, both on mitotic chromosomes and on interphase dosage compensated X chromosomes in worms. These observations suggest that interphase dosage compensated X chromosomes maintain some characteristics associated with condensed mitotic chromosome. This chromosome state is stably propagated from one cell generation to the next. In this review we will speculate on how the biochemical activities of condensin can achieve both mitotic chromosome compaction and gene repression.