Dominik Paquet

Loss-of-Function of Human PINK1 Results in Mitochondrial Pathology and Can Be Rescued by Parkin

Degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra is characteristic for Parkinsons disease (PD), the second most common neurodegenerative disorder. Mitochondrial dysfunction is believed to contribute to the etiology of PD. Although most cases are sporadic, recent evidence points to a number of genes involved in familial variants of PD. Among them, a loss-of-function of phosphatase and tensin homolog-induced kinase 1 (PINK1; PARK6) is associated with rare cases of autosomal recessive parkinsonism. In HeLa cells, RNA interference-mediated downregulation of PINK1 results in abnormal mitochondrial morphology and altered membrane potential. Morphological changes of mitochondria can be rescued by expression of wild-type PINK1 but not by PD-associated PINK1 mutants. Moreover, primary cells derived from patients with two different PINK1 mutants showed a similar defect in mitochondrial morphology. Human parkin but not PD-associated mutants could rescue mitochondrial pathology in human cells like wild-type PINK1. Our results may therefore suggest that PINK1 deficiency in humans results in mitochondrial abnormalities associated with cellular stress, a pathological phenotype, which can be ameliorated by enhanced expression of parkin.

A zebrafish model of tauopathy allows in vivo imaging of neuronal cell death and drug evaluation

Our aging society is confronted with a dramatic increase of patients suffering from tauopathies, which include Alzheimer disease and certain frontotemporal dementias. These disorders are characterized by typical neuropathological lesions including hyperphosphorylation and subsequent aggregation of TAU protein and neuronal cell death. Currently, no mechanism-based cures are available. We generated fluorescently labeled TAU transgenic zebrafish, which rapidly recapitulated key pathological features of tauopathies, including phosphorylation and conformational changes of human TAU protein, tangle formation, neuronal and behavioral disturbances, and cell death. Due to their optical transparency and small size, zebrafish larvae are well suited for both in vivo imaging and drug development. TAU-induced neuronal cell death was imaged by time-lapse microscopy in vivo. Furthermore, we used this zebrafish model to identify compounds targeting the TAU kinase glycogen synthase kinase 3beta (GSK3beta). We identified a newly developed highly active GSK3beta inhibitor, AR-534, by rational drug design. AR-534 reduced TAU phosphorylation in TAU transgenic zebrafish. This transgenic zebrafish model may become a valuable tool for further studies of the neuropathology of dementia.

Methylene blue fails to inhibit Tau and polyglutamine protein dependent toxicity in zebrafish.

Methylene blue is an FDA approved compound with a variety of pharmacologic activities. It inhibits aggregation of several amyloidogenic proteins known to be deposited in neurodegenerative diseases. Recently, it has been proposed that methylene blue shows significant beneficial effects in a phase 2 clinical trial by slowing cognitive decline in Alzheimers disease patients. To analyze its therapeutic potential, we investigated the effect of methylene blue on neurotoxicity in a zebrafish model for tauopathies. Transgenic expression of the frontotemporal dementia associated Tau-P301L mutation recapitulates a number of the pathological features observed in humans including abnormal phosphorylation and folding of Tau, tangle formation and Tau dependent neuronal loss. Upon incubation of zebrafish larvae with methylene blue, neither abnormal phosphorylation nor neuronal cell loss, reduced neurite outgrowth or a swimming defect were rescued. Methylene blue is biologically active in zebrafish since it reduced aggregation of a huntingtin variant containing a stretch of 102 glutamine residues. However, although huntingtin aggregation was largely prevented by methylene blue, huntingtin-dependent toxicity was unaffected. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that toxicity is not necessarily associated with deposition of insoluble amyloid proteins.

In Vivo Imaging of Disease-Related Mitochondrial Dynamics in a Vertebrate Model System

Mitochondria provide ATP, maintain calcium homeostasis, and regulate apoptosis. Neurons, due to their size and complex geometry, are particularly dependent on the proper functioning and distribution of mitochondria. Thus disruptions of these organelles and their transport play a central role in a broad range of neurodegenerative diseases. While in vitro studies have greatly expanded our knowledge of mitochondrial dynamics, our understanding in vivo remains limited. To address this shortcoming, we developed tools to study mitochondrial dynamics in vivo in optically accessible zebrafish. We demonstrate here that our newly generated tools, including transgenic “MitoFish,” can be used to study the in vivo “life cycle” of mitochondria and allows identifying pharmacological and genetic modulators of mitochondrial dynamics. Furthermore we observed profound mitochondrial transport deficits in real time in a zebrafish tauopathy model. By rescuing this phenotype using MARK2 (microtubule-affinity regulating kinase 2), we provide direct in vivo evidence that this kinase regulates axonal transport in a Tau-dependent manner. Thus, our approach allows detailed studies of the dynamics of mitochondria in their natural environment under normal and disease conditions.

Parkin Is Protective against Proteotoxic Stress in a Transgenic Zebrafish Model

Background Mutations in the gene encoding the E3 ubiquitin ligase parkin (PARK2) are responsible for the majority of autosomal recessive parkinsonism. Similarly to other knockout mouse models of PD-associated genes, parkin knockout mice do not show a substantial neuropathological or behavioral phenotype, while loss of parkin in Drosophila melanogaster leads to a severe phenotype, including reduced lifespan, apoptotic flight muscle degeneration and male sterility. In order to study the function of parkin in more detail and to address possible differences in its role in different species, we chose Danio rerio as a different vertebrate model system. Methodology/Principal Findings We first cloned zebrafish parkin to compare its biochemical and functional aspects with that of human parkin. By using an antisense knockdown strategy we generated a zebrafish model of parkin deficiency (knockdown efficiency between 50% and 60%) and found that the transient knockdown of parkin does not cause morphological or behavioral alterations. Specifically, we did not observe a loss of dopaminergic neurons in parkin-deficient zebrafish. In addition, we established transgenic zebrafish lines stably expressing parkin by using a Gal4/UAS-based bidirectional expression system. While parkin-deficient zebrafish are more vulnerable to proteotoxicity, increased parkin expression protected transgenic zebrafish from cell death induced by proteotoxic stress. Conclusions/Significance Similarly to human parkin, zebrafish parkin is a stress-responsive protein which protects cells from stress-induced cell death. Our transgenic zebrafish model is a novel tool to characterize the protective capacity of parkin in vivo.

Transgenic Zebrafish as a Novel Animal Model to Study Tauopathies and Other Neurodegenerative Disorders in vivo

Our ageing society is confronted with a dramatic increase in patients suffering from tauopathies such as Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal dementia and others. Typical neuropathological lesions including tangles composed of hyperphosphorylated tau protein as well as severe neuronal cell death characterize these disorders. No mechanism-based cures are available at present. Genetically modified animals are invaluable models to understand the molecular disease mechanisms and to screen for modifying compounds. We recently introduced tau-transgenic zebrafish as a novel model for tauopathies. Our model allows recapitulating key pathological features of tauopathies within an extremely short time. Moreover, life imaging of tau-dependent neuronal cell death was performed for the very first time. This demonstrated tau-dependent neuronal cell loss independent of tangle formation. Finally, we exemplified that the zebrafish frontotemporal dementia model can be used to screen for drugs that prevent abnormal tau phosphorylation and neuronal cell death.

Immunophilin FKBP52 induces Tau-P301L filamentous assembly in vitro and modulates its activity in a model of tauopathy

Significance Growing evidence underlines the role attributed to abnormal forms of Tau in several neurodegenerative diseases known as tauopathies, including Alzheimer’s disease, which are characterized by accumulation of oligomers and filamentous Tau inclusions in the CNS. We identify a direct interaction of the immunophilin FK506-binding protein with a molecular mass of ∼52 kDa (FKBP52) and the pathological mutant of Tau containing a proline-to-leucine mutation at position 301 (Tau-P301L), inducing Tau-P301L oligomerization and assembly into filaments. This interaction has a considerable impact on the progress of the tauopathy because some early aspects of the disease are rescued, in vivo, by knocking down FKBP52. Our results open a new field for the study of FKBP52 pathophysiology in tauopathic dementias, including prediction of disease phenotype and search for new types of antipathological Tau treatments. The Tau protein is the major component of intracellular filaments observed in a number of neurodegenerative diseases known as tauopathies. The pathological mutant of Tau containing a proline-to-leucine mutation at position 301 (P301L) leads to severe human tauopathy. Here, we assess the impact of FK506-binding protein with a molecular mass of ∼52 kDa (FKBP52), an immunophilin protein that interacts with physiological Tau, on Tau-P301L activity. We identify a direct interaction of FKBP52 with Tau-P301L and its phosphorylated forms and demonstrate FKBP52’s ability to induce the formation of Tau-P301L oligomers. EM analysis shows that Tau-P301L oligomers, induced by FKBP52, can assemble into filaments. In the transgenic zebrafish expressing the human Tau-P301L mutant, FKBP52 knockdown is sufficient to redrive defective axonal outgrowth and branching related to Tau-P301L expression in spinal primary motoneurons. This result correlates with a significant reduction of pT181 pathological phosphorylated Tau and with recovery of the stereotypic escape response behavior. Collectively, FKBP52 appears to be an endogenous candidate that directly interacts with the pathogenic Tau-P301L and modulates its function in vitro and in vivo.

In Vivo Imaging of Mitochondria in Intact Zebrafish Larvae

Visualizing neuronal mitochondria in a living, intact mammalian organism is a challenge that can be overcome in zebrafish larvae, which are highly accessible for optical imaging and genetic manipulation. Here, we detail an approach to visualize neuronal mitochondria in sensory Rohon-Beard axons, which allows quantitatively measuring mitochondrial shape, dynamics, and transport in vivo. This provides a useful assay for basic studies exploring the behavior of neuronal mitochondria in their natural habitat, for revealing the influence that disease-related alterations have on this behavior and for testing pharmacological compounds and genetic manipulations that might ameliorate disease-related mitochondrial phenotypes in neurons.

Imaging Subcellular Structures in the Living Zebrafish Embryo.

In vivo imaging provides unprecedented access to the dynamic behavior of cellular and subcellular structures in their natural context. Performing such imaging experiments in higher vertebrates such as mammals generally requires surgical access to the system under study. The optical accessibility of embryonic and larval zebrafish allows such invasive procedures to be circumvented and permits imaging in the intact organism. Indeed the zebrafish is now a well-established model to visualize dynamic cellular behaviors using in vivo microscopy in a wide range of developmental contexts from proliferation to migration and differentiation. A more recent development is the increasing use of zebrafish to study subcellular events including mitochondrial trafficking and centrosome dynamics. The relative ease with which these subcellular structures can be genetically labeled by fluorescent proteins and the use of light microscopy techniques to image them is transforming the zebrafish into an in vivo model of cell biology. Here we describe methods to generate genetic constructs that fluorescently label organelles, highlighting mitochondria and centrosomes as specific examples. We use the bipartite Gal4-UAS system in multiple configurations to restrict expression to specific cell-types and provide protocols to generate transiently expressing and stable transgenic fish. Finally, we provide guidelines for choosing light microscopy methods that are most suitable for imaging subcellular dynamics.

Tauopathy in zebrafish using life imaging transgenic zebrafish

not available. SUNDAY, JULY 17, 2011