A Database of Drosophila Genes & Genomes

FB2013_03, released May 7th, 2013
 

Reference Report

Reference
Citation Sang, T.K., Li, C., Liu, W., Rodriguez, A., Abrams, J.M., Zipursky, S.L., Jackson, G.R. (2005). Inactivation of Drosophila Apaf-1 related killer suppresses formation of polyglutamine aggregates and blocks polyglutamine pathogenesis.  Hum. Mol. Genet. 14(3): 357--372. (Export to RIS)
FlyBase ID FBrf0184021
Publication Type Research paper
PubMed ID 15590702
PubMed Abstract Huntington's disease (HD) is caused by expansion of a polyglutamine tract near the N-terminal of huntingtin. Mutant huntingtin forms aggregates in striatum and cortex, where extensive cell death occurs. We used a Drosophila polyglutamine peptide model to assess the role of specific cell death regulators in polyglutamine-induced cell death. Here, we report that polyglutamine-induced cell death was dramatically suppressed in flies lacking Dark, the fly homolog of human Apaf-1, a key regulator of apoptosis. Dark appeared to play a role in the accumulation of polyglutamine-containing aggregates. Suppression of cell death, caspase activation and aggregate formation were also observed when mutant huntingtin exon 1 was expressed in homozygous dark mutant animals. Expanded polyglutamine induced a marked increase in expression of Dark, and Dark was observed to colocalize with ubiquitinated protein aggregates. Apaf-1 also was found to colocalize with huntingtin-containing aggregates in a murine model and HD brain, suggesting a common role for Dark/Apaf-1 in polyglutamine pathogenesis in invertebrates, mice and man. These findings suggest that limiting Apaf-1 activity may alleviate both pathological protein aggregation and neuronal cell death in HD.
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Language of Publication English
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Publication Type Journal
Abbreviation Hum. Mol. Genet.
Title Human Molecular Genetics
Publication Year 1992-
ISBN/ISSN 0964-6906
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