Neurodegenerative disorders affect 50% of the population over the age of 85. The strongest risk factor for most neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer's disease is aging. Accumulation of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations leads to cellular dysfunction, contributes to human aging and can be observed in age-related diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and sarcopenia. Strategies that reduce the mtDNA deleterious mutation load and improve mtDNA quality control are likely to reduce the age-related pathologies of neurodegenerative diseases. We have generated a unique transgenic tool in living Drosophila melanogaster post-mitotic tissue that contains engineered mixed mtDNA deletion mutations (deleterious heteroplasmy model).
We aim to generate related systems, and use system biology approaches to identify genes and compounds that lead to suppression or enhancement of the mitochondrial DNA quality control.
Neurodegenerative diseases affect up to 50% of the population over the age of 85, creating an enormous public health challenge. Mitochondrial dysfunction and accumulation of mtDNA mutations play an important role in aging and neurodegeneration including Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. We aim to fill a knowledge gap ? to identify molecular mechanisms that safeguards mitochondrial DNA quality and protect age-dependent neurodegeneration, the identification of which will allow us to develop effective drug targets for delaying aging and age-dependent cellular dysfunction in neurons.
