Hirofumi Nakase

Mitochondrial DNA Deletions in Progressive External Ophthalmoplegia and Kearns-Sayre Syndrome

We investigated the correlations of deletions of mitochondrial DNA in skeletal muscle with clinical manifestations of mitochondrial myopathies, a group of disorders defined either by biochemical abnormalities of mitochondria or by morphologic changes causing a ragged red appearance of the muscle fibers histochemically. We performed genomic Southern blot analysis of muscle mitochondrial DNA from 123 patients with different mitochondrial myopathies or encephalomyopathies. Deletions were found in the mitochondrial DNA of 32 patients, all of whom had progressive external ophthalmoplegia. Some patients had only ocular myopathy, whereas others had Kearns-Sayre syndrome, a multisystem disorder characterized by ophthalmoplegia, pigmentary retinopathy, heart block, and cerebellar ataxia. The deletions ranged in size from 1.3 to 7.6 kilobases and were mapped to different sites in the mitochondrial DNA, but an identical 4.9-kilobase deletion was found in the same location in 11 patients. Biochemical analysis showed decreased activities of NADH dehydrogenase, rotenone-sensitive NADH-cytochrome c reductase, succinate-cytochrome c reductase, and cytochrome c oxidase, four enzymes of the mitochondrial respiratory chain containing subunits encoded by mitochondrial DNA. We conclude that deletions of muscle mitochondrial DNA are associated with ophthalmoplegia and may result in impaired mitochondrial function. However, the precise relation between clinical and biochemical phenotypes and deletions remains to be defined.

Deletions of mitochondrial DNA in Kearns-Sayre syndrome

We have identified large-scale deletions in muscle mitochondrial DNA (mtDN A) in seven of seven patients with Kearns-Sayre syndrome (KSS). We found no detectable deletions in the mtDNA of ten non-KSS patients with other mitochondrial myopathies or encephalomyopathies, or three normal controls. The deletions ranged in size from 2.0 to 7.0 kb, and did not localize to any single region of the mitochondrial genome. The proportion of mutated genomes in each KSS patient ranged from 45% to 75% of total mtDNA. There was no correlation between the size or site of the deletion, biochemical abnormality of mitochondrial enzymes, or clinical severity. The data bolster arguments that KSS is a unique disorder and genetic in origin.

Molecular defects in cytochrome oxidase in mitochondrial diseases

Defects of cytochromec oxidase (COX) show remarkable clinical, biochemical, and genetic heterogeneity. Clinically, there are two main groups of disorders, one dominated by muscle involvement, the other by brain dysfunction. Biochemically, the enzyme defect may be confined to one or a few tissues (reflecting the existence of tissue-specific isozymes) or affect all tissues. Immunologically reactive enzyme protein is decreased in some forms of COX deficiency but not in others. Because COX is encoded both by nuclear and by mitochondrial genes, COX deficiencies may be due to mutations of either genome and may offer useful models to study the communication between nuclei and mitochondria. We have isolated full-length cDNA clones encoding human COX subunits IV, Vb, and VIII and a partial-length clone for subunit Va. These clones are being used as probes to analyze the DNA and RNA of patients with COX deficiency.

Sequence of cDNAs encoding subunit Vb of human and bovine cytochrome c oxidase

We have isolated a full-length human fetal muscle cDNA clone specifying the nuclear-encoded subunit Vb of the human mitochondrial respiratory chain enzyme, cytochrome c oxidase (COX; EC 1.9.3.1), and a partial-length brain cDNA clone specifying the analogous bovine subunit. The two cDNAs are 85% identical at the nucleotide level. Similar to other proteins imported into mitochondria, the deduced human COX Vb protein contains a presequence, 31 amino acids long, rich in basic residues. We find no evidence for tissue-specific transcripts for subunit Vb of human COX, as Northern analysis of total RNA from human muscle, liver, and brain showed a single, identically sized transcript in each cell type, while partial-length cDNA clones isolated from human muscle and endothelial cell cDNA libraries were identical in sequence to the fetal muscle cDNA.

Mechanism of short-term memory and repetition in conduction aphasia and related cognitive disorders: a neuropsychological, audiological and neuroimaging study

To evaluate the role of the sub-cortical white matter and cortical areas of the supramarginal gyrus in short-term memory impairment (shortened digit or letter span) and repetition difficulty, four patients with conduction aphasia and impaired short-term memory and two patients with only short-term memory impairment were given digit span, letter span, speech audiometry and dichotic listening tests. The results showed that in most of the patients letter span was inferior to digit span and that bilateral ear suppression in the dichotic listening test was observed in two patients with a lesion in the inferior part of the supramarginal gyrus, suggesting that what was affected was phonological information and that the supramarginal gyrus was the storage site. The overlapped lesion of conduction aphasia patients with short-term memory impairment was the periventricular white matter at the upper to middle part of the trigone, while patients with only short-term memory impairment had a lesion in the inferior supramarginal gyrus in common. Thus, damage to the periventricular white matter at the trigone may yield the phonemic paraphasia characteristic of conduction aphasia, while damage to the inferior part of the supramarginal gyrus may result in the impairment of short-term memory. We believe that as a part of the mechanisms of short-term memory and repetition, phonological information is processed in the primary auditory cortex and goes through the periventricular white matter to the inferior part of the supramarginal gyrus and is temporarily stored there.

Subunit Va of human and bovine cytochrome c oxidase is highly conserved

We have isolated a full-length cDNA clone specifying the nuclear-encoded subunit Va of the human mitochondrial respiratory enzyme cytochrome c oxidase (COX; EC 1.9.3.1.). The deduced sequence of the polypeptide is 95% identical to that of the corresponding subunit of bovine COX, which makes it the most conserved polypeptide among the known bovine/human pairs of COX subunits. This polypeptide contains an N-terminal presequence which is rich in basic and hydroxylated residues, but differs from the deduced presequences of all other previously isolated COX subunits in that it also contains a negatively charged residue. We find no evidence of tissue-specific isoforms of subunit Va, as Northern analysis showed a single, identically-sized transcript in RNA from human muscle, liver, and brain, while coxVa cDNAs isolated from both endothelial and fetal muscle cDNA libraries had identical nucleotide sequences.

Two-step mechanism of myofibrillar protein degradation in acute plasmocid-induced muscle necrosis

Acute muscle necrosis was induced in rats by intramuscular injection of plasmocid, a known myotoxic agent. A single injection of 5 mg/ml plasmocid produced massive fiber necrosis with extensive phagocytosis. Plasmocid administration led to a preferential decrease of alpha-actinin with preservation of other structural proteins within 3 h after injection, and large increases (2-7-fold) in the activities of acid hydrolases, cathepsins B and L, cathepsin D and alpha-galactosidase within 48 h after injection. The plasmocid-induced stimulation of alpha-actinin loss seen at 3 h, when no increases of acid hydrolases occurred, could be inhibited by a cysteine protease inhibitor, Ep-475 (E-64-c), and EGTA. On the other hand, increased lysosomal enzyme activity seemed to have a close correlation with the appearance of invading mononuclear cells, probably macrophages, and not muscle lysosomes. These observations suggest that a two step mechanism of protein degradation (nonlysosomal and lysosomal processes) possibly occurs in plasmocid-induced muscle degradation and macrophages can serve as a main endogenous reservoir of proteases in pathological states.

Progressive cytochrome c oxidase deficiency in a case of Leigh's encephalomyelopathy

We report the morphological, biochemical, immunological, and genetic findings in a patient with the clinical characteristics of Leighs disease due to multisystemic cytochrome c oxidase (CCO) deficiency. Muscle biopsy at 2 years and 5 months of age showed markedly decreased CCO and cytochrome a + a3, moderately decreased NADH-cytochrome c reductase to 46.3%, and generalized loss of immunologically detectable CCO subunits, but other respiratory chain enzyme proteins were normal. All the tissues examined at autopsy showed decreased activity of all respiratory chain enzymes except complex II. The decrease in cytochromes b and a + a3 were in harmony with decreased enzyme activities in complex III and IV (CCO), respectively. All immunologically detectable subunits of CCO in immunoprecipitation were uniformly decreased in the cardiac and skeletal muscles, but subunits 1 and 4 were selectively decreased in other organs except liver. No large deletion could be detected in the cardiac muscle mtDNA after digestion with restriction enzymes. These results suggest that the respiratory chain enzymes are variable in their activity and the amount of enzyme proteins decreases as the disease progresses.

Histone H3 is aberrantly phosphorylated in glutamine-repeat diseases

Double-labeling immunohistochemical studies staining with anti-ubiquitin and anti-phosphoserine antibodies and application of an enzymatic dephosphorylation technique reveal neuronal inclusions and affected nuclei to be aberrantly phosphorylated in brain tissues with patients with glutamine-repeat diseases. Regional distribution of the phosphorylated nuclei in neurons correlates with the pathology. To identify the target nuclear protein, transient expression of Huntingtons disease exon 1 gene containing an expanded glutamine repeat was generated in a cell culture and nuclear inclusions were isolated with a fluorescence-activated cell sorting system. Immunoblotting studies of the aggregated nuclear proteins using anti-phosphoserine antibody demonstrate the protein of the aberrant phosphorylation as histone H3. The immunoblots of control and diseased brain tissues demonstrate that the phosphorylation of histone H3 is commonly increased in the diseased brains. Aberrant phosphorylation of histone H3 is surmised to be a shared pathological process in glutamine-repeat diseases.

Altered expression of CUG binding protein 1 mRNA in myotonic dystrophy 1: possible RNA-RNA interaction.

The triplet repeats mutation, which causes myotonic dystrophy 1 (DM1), is thought to have a dominant negative effect on RNA levels. In light of previous results using differential display analysis, the present study focused on the expression of CUG binding protein 1 (CUGBP1) mRNA. Northern blot analysis demonstrated that the quantity of CUGBP1 mRNA in three DM1 patients was approximately 70% of that observed in three normal controls (P < 0.05). In addition, a semi-quantitative RT-PCR assay showed that the relative amount of CUGBP1 mRNA was reduced in muscle biopsy samples from 10 DM1 patients compared to that from five normal individuals (P < 0.01) and 10 myopathic disease controls (P < 0.01). The amount of CUGBP1 mRNA was negatively correlated with the size of the CTG expansion (r = -0.85, P < 0.05). In vitro RNA-RNA binding experiments demonstrated that the incubation of expanded CUG repeats with CUGBP1 RNA generated a higher molecular weight band, which was digested by RNase III. The CUGBP1 mRNA was found to contain several CAG repeat sequences. These results suggest that the CUG expansion may bind to complementary sequences within the CUGBP1 mRNA and that this molecular interaction may affect CUGBP1 mRNA expression in DM1.