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Public Library of Science, PLoS ONE, 2(8), p. e57214, 2013

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0057214

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Identification of Genetic Modifiers of TDP-43 Neurotoxicity in Drosophila

Journal article published in 2013 by Lihong Zhan, Keith A. Hanson, Sang Hwa Kim, Apeksha Tare, Randal S. Tibbetts ORCID
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

Cytosolic aggregation of the nuclear RNA-binding protein TDP-43 is a histopathologic signature of degenerating neurons in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and mutations in the gene encoding TDP-43 cause dominantly inherited forms of this condition. To understand the relationship between TDP-43 misregulation and neurotoxicity, we and others have used Drosophila as a model system, in which overexpression of either wild-type TDP-43 or its ALS-associated mutants in neurons is sufficient to induce neurotoxicity, paralysis, and early death. Using microarrays, we have examined gene expression patterns that accompany TDP-43-induced neurotoxicity in the fly system. Constitutive expression of TDP-43 in the Drosophila compound eye elicited widespread gene expression changes, with strong upregulation of cell cycle regulatory genes and genes functioning in the Notch intercellular communication pathway. Inducible expression of TDP-43 specifically in neurons elicited significant expression differences in a more restricted set of genes. Genes that were upregulated in both paradigms included and the Notch target , which appeared to be a direct TDP-43 target. Mutations that diminished activity of Notch or disrupted the function of downstream Notch target genes extended the lifespan of TDP-43 transgenic flies, suggesting that Notch activation was deleterious in this model. Finally, we showed that mutation of the nucleoporin increased the lifespan of TDP-43 transgenic flies, suggesting that nuclear events contribute to TDP-43-dependent neurotoxicity. The combined findings identified pathways whose deregulation might contribute to TDP-43-induced neurotoxicity in Drosophila.