The global burden of neurodegenerative diseases underscores the urgent need for innovative strategies to define new drug targets and disease-modifying factors. The nematode
has served as the ...experimental subject for multiple transformative discoveries that have redefined our understanding of biology for ∼60 years. More recently, the considerable attributes of
have been applied to neurodegenerative diseases, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and Huntington's disease. Transgenic nematodes with genes encoding normal and disease variants of proteins at the single- or multi-copy level under neuronal-specific promoters limits expression to select neuronal subtypes. The anatomical transparency of
affords the use of co-expressed fluorescent proteins to follow the progression of neurodegeneration as the animals age. Significantly, a completely defined connectome facilitates detailed understanding of the impact of neurodegeneration on organismal health and offers a unique capacity to accurately link cell death with behavioral dysfunction or phenotypic variation
Moreover, chemical treatments, as well as forward and reverse genetic screening, hasten the identification of modifiers that alter neurodegeneration. When combined, these chemical-genetic analyses establish critical threshold states to enhance or reduce cellular stress for dissecting associated pathways. Furthermore,
can rapidly reveal whether lifespan or healthspan factor into neurodegenerative processes. Here, we outline the methodologies employed to investigate neurodegeneration in
and highlight numerous studies that exemplify its utility as a pre-clinical intermediary to expedite and inform mammalian translational research.
There are no therapies that reverse the proteotoxic misfolding events that underpin fatal neurodegenerative diseases, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Parkinson’s disease (PD). ...Hsp104, a conserved hexameric AAA+ protein from yeast, solubilizes disordered aggregates and amyloid but has no metazoan homolog and only limited activity against human neurodegenerative disease proteins. Here, we reprogram Hsp104 to rescue TDP-43, FUS, and α-synuclein proteotoxicity by mutating single residues in helix 1, 2, or 3 of the middle domain or the small domain of nucleotide-binding domain 1. Potentiated Hsp104 variants enhance aggregate dissolution, restore proper protein localization, suppress proteotoxicity, and in a C. elegans PD model attenuate dopaminergic neurodegeneration. Potentiating mutations reconfigure how Hsp104 subunits collaborate, desensitize Hsp104 to inhibition, obviate any requirement for Hsp70, and enhance ATPase, translocation, and unfoldase activity. Our work establishes that disease-associated aggregates and amyloid are tractable targets and that enhanced disaggregases can restore proteostasis and mitigate neurodegeneration.
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•Reprogrammed Hsp104 rescues TDP-43, FUS, and α-synuclein proteotoxicity•Potentiated Hsp104 variants clear inclusions and restore proper protein localization•Potentiating mutations reconfigure how Hsp104 hexamers operate•Enhanced disaggregases can restore proteostasis and mitigate neurodegeneration
A redesign of Hsp104 allows this yeast chaperone to dissolve aggregates of nonyeast proteins such as α-synuclein and TDP-43. Furthermore, the potentiated Hsp104 variants attenuate dopaminergic neurodegeneration in a C. elegans Parkinson’s disease model, suggesting that disease-associated aggregates are tractable targets.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Lysosomal impairment in Parkinson's disease Dehay, Benjamin; Martinez-Vicente, Marta; Caldwell, Guy A. ...
Movement disorders,
June 2013, Volume:
28, Issue:
6
Journal Article
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a common, progressive neurodegenerative disorder without effective disease-modifying therapies. The accumulation of amyloid-β peptide (Aβ) is associated with AD. However, ...identifying new compounds that antagonize the underlying cellular pathologies caused by Aβ has been hindered by a lack of cellular models amenable to high-throughput chemical screening. To address this gap, we use a robust and scalable yeast model of Aβ toxicity where the Aβ peptide transits through the secretory and endocytic compartments as it does in neurons. The pathogenic Aβ 1—42 peptide forms more oligomers and is more toxic than Aβ 1—40 and genome-wide genetic screens identified genes that are known risk factors for AD. Here, we report an unbiased screen of ∼140,000 compounds for rescue of Aβ toxicity. Of ∼30 hits, several were 8-hydroxyquinolines (8-OHQs). Clioquinol (CQ), an 8-OHQ previously reported to reduce Aβ burden, restore metal homeostasis, and improve cognition in mouse AD models, was also effective and rescued the toxicity of Aβ secreted from glutamatergic neurons in Caenorhabditis elegans. In yeast, CQ dramatically reduced Aβ peptide levels in a copper-dependent manner by increasing degradation, ultimately restoring endocytic function. This mirrored its effects on copper-dependent oligomer formation in vitro, which was also reversed by CQ. This unbiased screen indicates that copper-dependent Aβ oligomer formation contributes to Aβ toxicity within the secretory/endosomal pathways where it can be targeted with selective metal binding compounds. Establishing the ability of the Aβ yeast model to identify disease-relevant compounds supports its further exploitation as a validated early discovery platform.
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•Caffeine in beverages and foods blocks central and peripheral adenosine receptors.•Low (40mg, 0.5mgkg−1) to moderate (300mg, 4mgkg−1) doses improve cognition.•Doses >200mg (∼3mgkg−1) are ergogenic ...across a spectrum of exercise modalities.•Caffeine is effective to offset physical and cognitive degradation with sleep loss.
Caffeine is consumed by over 80% of U.S. adults. This review examines the effects caffeine has on cognitive and physical function, since most real-world activities require complex decision making, motor processing and movement. Caffeine exerts its effects by blocking adenosine receptors. Following low (∼40mg or ∼0.5mgkg−1) to moderate (∼300mg or 4mgkg−1) caffeine doses, alertness, vigilance, attention, reaction time and attention improve, but less consistent effects are observed on memory and higher-order executive function, such as judgment and decision making. Effects on physical performance on a vast array of physical performance metrics such as time-to-exhaustion, time-trial, muscle strength and endurance, and high-intensity sprints typical of team sports are evident following doses that exceed about 200mg (∼3mgkg−1). Many occupations, including military, first responders, transport workers and factory shift workers, require optimal physical and cognitive function to ensure success, workplace safety and productivity. In these circumstances, that may include restricted sleep, repeated administration of caffeine is an effective strategy to maintain physical and cognitive capabilities.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) affects 5–10% of women of reproductive age, causing a range of reproductive, metabolic and endocrine defects including anovulation, infertility, hyperandrogenism, ...obesity, hyperinsulinism, and an increased risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Hyperandrogenism is the most consistent feature of PCOS, but its etiology remains unknown, and ethical and logistic constraints limit definitive experimentation in humans to determine mechanisms involved. In this study, we provide the first comprehensive characterization of reproductive, endocrine, and metabolic PCOS traits in 4 distinct murine models of hyperandrogenism, comprising prenatal dihydrotestosterone (DHT, potent nonaromatizable androgen) treatment during days 16–18 of gestation, or long-term treatment (90 days from 21 days of age) with DHT, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), or letrozole (aromatase inhibitor). Prenatal DHT-treated mature mice exhibited irregular estrous cycles, oligo-ovulation, reduced preantral follicle health, hepatic steatosis, and adipocyte hypertrophy, but lacked overall changes in body-fat composition. Long-term DHT treatment induced polycystic ovaries displaying unhealthy antral follicles (degenerate oocyte and/or > 10% pyknotic granulosa cells), as well as anovulation and acyclicity in mature (16-week-old) females. Long-term DHT also increased body and fat pad weights and induced adipocyte hypertrophy and hypercholesterolemia. Long-term letrozole-treated mice exhibited absent or irregular cycles, oligo-ovulation, polycystic ovaries containing hemorrhagic cysts atypical of PCOS, and displayed no metabolic features of PCOS. Long-term dehydroepiandrosterone treatment produced no PCOS features in mature mice. Our findings reveal that long-term DHT treatment replicated a breadth of ovarian, endocrine, and metabolic features of human PCOS and provides the best mouse model for experimental studies of PCOS pathogenesis.
The exponential accumulation of DNA sequencing data has opened new avenues for discovering the causative roles of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in neurological diseases. The opportunities ...emerging from this are staggering, yet only as good as our abilities to glean insights from this surplus of information. Whereas computational biology continues to improve with respect to predictions and molecular modeling, the differences between in silico and in vivo analysis remain substantial. Invertebrate in vivo model systems represent technically advanced, experimentally mature, high-throughput, efficient and cost-effective resources for investigating a disease. With a decades-long track record of enabling investigators to discern function from DNA, fly (Drosophila) and worm (Caenorhabditis elegans) models have never been better poised to serve as living engines of discovery. Both of these animals have already proven useful in the classification of genetic variants as either pathogenic or benign across a range of neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders-including autism spectrum disorders, ciliopathies, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Pathogenic SNPs typically display distinctive phenotypes in functional assays when compared with null alleles and frequently lead to protein products with gain-of-function or partial loss-of-function properties that contribute to neurological disease pathogenesis. The utility of invertebrates is logically limited by overt differences in anatomical and physiological characteristics, and also the evolutionary distance in genome structure. Nevertheless, functional annotation of disease-SNPs using invertebrate models can expedite the process of assigning cellular and organismal consequences to mutations, ascertain insights into mechanisms of action, and accelerate therapeutic target discovery and drug development for neurological conditions.
The efficiency of generating electricity from heat using concentrated solar power plants (which use mirrors or lenses to concentrate sunlight in order to drive heat engines, usually involving ...turbines) may be appreciably increased by operating with higher turbine inlet temperatures, but this would require improved heat exchanger materials. By operating turbines with inlet temperatures above 1,023 kelvin using closed-cycle high-pressure supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO
) recompression cycles, instead of using conventional (such as subcritical steam Rankine) cycles with inlet temperatures below 823 kelvin
, the relative heat-to-electricity conversion efficiency may be increased by more than 20 per cent. The resulting reduction in the cost of dispatchable electricity from concentrated solar power plants (coupled with thermal energy storage
) would be an important step towards direct competition with fossil-fuel-based plants and a large reduction in greenhouse gas emissions
. However, the inlet temperatures of closed-cycle high-pressure sCO
turbine systems are limited
by the thermomechanical performance of the compact, metal-alloy-based, printed-circuit-type heat exchangers used to transfer heat to sCO
. Here we present a robust composite of ceramic (zirconium carbide, ZrC) and the refractory metal tungsten (W) for use in printed-circuit-type heat exchangers at temperatures above 1,023 kelvin
. This composite has attractive high-temperature thermal, mechanical and chemical properties and can be processed in a cost-effective manner. We fabricated ZrC/W-based heat exchanger plates with tunable channel patterns by the shape-and-size-preserving chemical conversion of porous tungsten carbide plates. The dense ZrC/W-based composites exhibited failure strengths of over 350 megapascals at 1,073 kelvin, and thermal conductivity values two to three times greater than those of iron- or nickel-based alloys at this temperature. Corrosion resistance to sCO
at 1,023 kelvin and 20 megapascals was achieved
by bonding a copper layer to the composite surface and adding 50 parts per million carbon monoxide to sCO
. Techno-economic analyses indicate that ZrC/W-based heat exchangers can strongly outperform nickel-superalloy-based printed-circuit heat exchangers at lower cost.
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Neurodegenerative diseases represent an increasing burden in our aging society, yet the underlying metabolic factors influencing onset and progression remain poorly defined. The relationship between ...impaired IGF-1/insulin-like signaling (IIS) and lifespan extension represents an opportunity to investigate the interface of metabolism with age-associated neurodegeneration. Using data sets of established DAF-2/IIS-signaling components in Caenorhabditis elegans, we conducted systematic RNAi screens in worms to select for daf-2-associated genetic modifiers of α-synuclein misfolding and dopaminergic neurodegeneration, two clinical hallmarks of Parkinson’s disease. An outcome of this strategy was the identification of GPI-1/GPI, an enzyme in glucose metabolism, as a daf-2-regulated modifier that acts independent of the downstream cytoprotective transcription factor DAF-16/FOXO to modulate neuroprotection. Subsequent mechanistic analyses using Drosophila and mouse primary neuron cultures further validated the conserved nature of GPI neuroprotection from α-synuclein proteotoxicity. Collectively, these results support glucose metabolism as a conserved functional node at the intersection of proteostasis and neurodegeneration.
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•Insulin signaling modulates neurodegeneration in fly and worm Parkinson’s models•Reduced insulin-signaling screen reveals metabolic modifiers of protein misfolding•A glycolytic enzyme, GPI, is neuroprotective across worms, flies, and mouse neurons•GPI functions independently of DAF-16/FOXO to modulate proteostasis via glycolysis
Knight et al. screened for modifiers of α-synuclein misfolding and dopaminergic neurodegeneration, two clinical hallmarks of Parkinson’s disease, in worms with decreased IIS signaling. They identify the glycolytic enzyme GPI, which plays a conserved DAF-16/FOXO-independent role in worms, flies, and primary mouse neurons, integrating metabolic regulation with proteotoxicity and dopaminergic neurodegeneration.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Significance We tested the hypothesis that a form of mitochondrial dysfunction alters the homeostasis of the cytosolic Parkinson disease (PD)-associated protein α-synuclein (α-syn). Using yeast and ...worm models of PD, we show that low levels of phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), caused by the depletion of mitochondrial phosphatidylserine decarboxylase (psd), lead to decreased respiration, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, high levels of α-syn and cytoplasmic α-syn foci, and slow growth. Ethanolamine, which replenishes PE through the Kennedy pathway, diminished ER stress, decreased the level of α-syn, eliminated foci, and restored growth of psd1 Δ cells to near wild-type levels. A low level of mitochondrial PE disrupts the homeostasis of α-syn and leads to the accumulation of cytoplasmic foci of this protein.
Phosphatidylserine decarboxylase, which is embedded in the inner mitochondrial membrane, synthesizes phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) and, in some cells, synthesizes the majority of this important phospholipid. Normal levels of PE can decline with age in the brain. Here we used yeast and worms to test the hypothesis that low levels of PE alter the homeostasis of the Parkinson disease-associated protein α-synuclein (α-syn). In yeast, low levels of PE in the phosphatidylserine decarboxylase deletion mutant ( psd1 Δ) cause decreased respiration, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, a defect in the trafficking of the uracil permease, α-syn accumulation and foci, and a slow growth phenotype. Supplemental ethanolamine (ETA), which can be converted to PE via the Kennedy pathway enzymes in the ER, had no effect on respiration, whereas, in contrast, this metabolite partially eliminated ER stress, decreased α-syn foci formation, and restored growth close to that of wild-type cells. In Caenorhabditis elegans , RNAi depletion of phosphatidylserine decarboxylase in dopaminergic neurons expressing α-syn accelerates neurodegeneration, which supplemental ETA rescues. ETA fails to rescue this degeneration in worms that undergo double RNAi depletion of phosphatidylserine decarboxylase ( psd-1 ) and choline/ETA phosphotransferase ( c ept-1 ), which encodes the last enzyme in the CDP–ETA Kennedy pathway. This finding suggests that ETA exerts its protective effect by boosting PE through the Kennedy pathway. Overall, a low level of PE causes ER stress, disrupts vesicle trafficking, and causes α-syn to accumulate; such cells likely die from a combination of ER stress and excessive accumulation of α-syn.
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