Budding Yeast (S. cerevisiae) has emerged as a powerful model system for understanding molecular aspects of many human diseases. Protein misfolding linked to certain neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs) like Huntington Disease, Lou Gehrig's disease, and prion diseases have been successfully recapitulated in S. cerevisiae and led to identification of therapeutically relevant regulators of misfolding. No S. cerevisiae models for Parkinson's Disease (PD) or dentatorubral pallidoluysian atrophy (DRPLA) have been reported. PD is one of the most common NDDs, while DRPLA is a rare inherited NDD of the triplet repeat disease family. In both diseases, misfolding of a specific protein (alpha-synuclein for PD and atrophin for DRPLA) is thought to cause selective neuronal death. Unlike the well-characterized huntingtin protein in Huntington Disease (which shares many similarities to DRPLA), less is known about the misfolding of mutant atrophin in DRPLA. A S. cerevisiae expression system for studying alpha-synuclein has recently been developed in our lab. Preliminary evidence supports that both wildtype and disease-associated mutants are aggregating within yeast cells and upon purification. A similar effort to establish atrophin-1 expression in yeast is underway. To extend initial observations with alpha-synuclein in yeast and fully develop a yeast model for atrophin, three goals are proposed. 1) Misfolding properties between wildtype and mutant versions of both proteins will be investigated in vivo (immunofluorescence and GFP-based localization and assessment of protein half-life) and in vitro (by measuring protease sensitivity and differential solubility). 2) Influences of chaperones and ubiquitin-proteasomal pathway proteins on folding and degradation of these proteins will be assessed in strains compromised for chaperone/proteasomal function, or those that overexpress chaperones, and by co-immunoprecipitation assessment. 3) A fission yeast (S. pombe) expression model for alpha-synuclein and atrophin properties (as in Aim 1) will be developed and compared with the S. cerevisiae model; NDD models have not been reported in S. pombe. These studies may further clarify the molecular bases for misfolding and degradation of PD- and DRPLA-linked proteins and extend the usefulness of yeast models. Importantly, the scientific training of many undergraduates will be supported, strengthening their cell biology and molecular genetics skills and appreciation for model organisms.
| Brandis, Katrina A; Holmes, Isaac F; England, Samantha J et al. (2006) alpha-Synuclein fission yeast model: concentration-dependent aggregation without plasma membrane localization or toxicity. J Mol Neurosci 28:179-91 |
| Sharma, Nijee; Brandis, Katrina A; Herrera, Sara K et al. (2006) alpha-Synuclein budding yeast model: toxicity enhanced by impaired proteasome and oxidative stress. J Mol Neurosci 28:161-78 |
