Generalized model for dynamic percolation

We study the dynamics of a carrier, which performs a biased motion under the influence of an external field E, in an environment which is modeled by dynamic percolation and created by hard-core particles. The particles move randomly on a simple cubic lattice, constrained by hard-core exclusion, and they spontaneously annihilate and re-appear at some prescribed rates. Using decoupling of the third-order correlation functions into the product of the pairwise carrier-particle correlations we determine the density profiles of the "environment" particles, as seen from the stationary moving carrier, and calculate its terminal velocity, V_c, as the function of the applied field and other system parameters. We find that for sufficiently small driving forces the force exerted on the carrier by the "environment" particles shows a viscous-like behavior. An analog Stokes formula for such dynamic percolative environments and the corresponding friction coefficient are derived. We show that the density profile of the environment particles is strongly inhomogeneous: In front of the stationary moving carrier the density is higher than the average density, $\rho_s$, and approaches the average value as an exponential function of the distance from the carrier. Past the carrier the local density is lower than $\rho_s$ and the relaxation towards $\rho_s$ may proceed differently depending on whether the particles number is or is not explicitly conserved.Comment: Latex, 32 pages, 4 ps-figures, submitted to PR

<i>C-elegans</i> model identifies genetic modifiers of alpha-synuclein inclusion formation during aging

Inclusions in the brain containing alpha-synuclein are the pathological hallmark of Parkinson's disease, but how these inclusions are formed and how this links to disease is poorly understood. We have developed a &lt;i&gt;C-elegans&lt;/i&gt; model that makes it possible to monitor, in living animals, the formation of alpha-synuclein inclusions. In worms of old age, inclusions contain aggregated alpha-synuclein, resembling a critical pathological feature. We used genome-wide RNA interference to identify processes involved in inclusion formation, and identified 80 genes that, when knocked down, resulted in a premature increase in the number of inclusions. Quality control and vesicle-trafficking genes expressed in the ER/Golgi complex and vesicular compartments were overrepresented, indicating a specific role for these processes in alpha-synuclein inclusion formation. Suppressors include aging-associated genes, such as sir-2.1/SIRT1 and lagr-1/LASS2. Altogether, our data suggest a link between alpha-synuclein inclusion formation and cellular aging, likely through an endomembrane-related mechanism. The processes and genes identified here present a framework for further study of the disease mechanism and provide candidate susceptibility genes and drug targets for Parkinson's disease and other alpha-synuclein related disorders

Site-specific perturbations of alpha-synuclein fibril structure by the Parkinson's disease associated mutations A53T and E46K.

PMCID: PMC3591419This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Parkinson's disease (PD) is pathologically characterized by the presence of Lewy bodies (LBs) in dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra. These intracellular inclusions are largely composed of misfolded α-synuclein (AS), a neuronal protein that is abundant in the vertebrate brain. Point mutations in AS are associated with rare, early-onset forms of PD, although aggregation of the wild-type (WT) protein is observed in the more common sporadic forms of the disease. Here, we employed multidimensional solid-state NMR experiments to assess A53T and E46K mutant fibrils, in comparison to our recent description of WT AS fibrils. We made de novo chemical shift assignments for the mutants, and used these chemical shifts to empirically determine secondary structures. We observe significant perturbations in secondary structure throughout the fibril core for the E46K fibril, while the A53T fibril exhibits more localized perturbations near the mutation site. Overall, these results demonstrate that the secondary structure of A53T has some small differences from the WT and the secondary structure of E46K has significant differences, which may alter the overall structural arrangement of the fibrils

TOM40 Mediates Mitochondrial Dysfunction Induced by α-Synuclein Accumulation in Parkinson's Disease.

Alpha-synuclein (α-Syn) accumulation/aggregation and mitochondrial dysfunction play prominent roles in the pathology of Parkinson's disease. We have previously shown that postmortem human dopaminergic neurons from PD brains accumulate high levels of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) deletions. We now addressed the question, whether alterations in a component of the mitochondrial import machinery -TOM40- might contribute to the mitochondrial dysfunction and damage in PD. For this purpose, we studied levels of TOM40, mtDNA deletions, oxidative damage, energy production, and complexes of the respiratory chain in brain homogenates as well as in single neurons, using laser-capture-microdissection in transgenic mice overexpressing human wildtype α-Syn. Additionally, we used lentivirus-mediated stereotactic delivery of a component of this import machinery into mouse brain as a novel therapeutic strategy. We report here that TOM40 is significantly reduced in the brain of PD patients and in α-Syn transgenic mice. TOM40 deficits were associated with increased mtDNA deletions and oxidative DNA damage, and with decreased energy production and altered levels of complex I proteins in α-Syn transgenic mice. Lentiviral-mediated overexpression of Tom40 in α-Syn-transgenic mice brains ameliorated energy deficits as well as oxidative burden. Our results suggest that alterations in the mitochondrial protein transport machinery might contribute to mitochondrial impairment in α-Synucleinopathies

Improved Immunodetection of Endogenous α-Synuclein

α-Synuclein is a key molecule in understanding the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative α-synucleinopathies such as Parkinson's disease. Despite extensive research, however, its precise function remains unclear partly because of a difficulty in immunoblotting detection of endogenous α-synuclein. This difficulty has largely restricted the progress for α-synucleinopathy research. Here, we report that α-synuclein monomers tend to easily detach from blotted membranes, resulting in no or very poor detection. To prevent this detachment, a mild fixation of blotted membranes with paraformaldehyde was applied to the immunoblotting method. Amazingly, this fixation led to clear and strong detection of endogenous α-synuclein, which has been undetectable by a conventional immunoblotting method. Specifically, we were able to detect endogenous α-synuclein in various human cell lines, including SH-SY5Y, HEK293, HL60, HeLa, K562, A375, and Daoy, and a mouse cell line B16 as well as in several mouse tissues such as the spleen and kidney. Moreover, it should be noted that we could clearly detect endogenous α-synuclein phosphorylated at Ser-129 in several human cell lines. Thus, in some tissues and cultured cells, endogenous α-synuclein becomes easily detectable by simply fixing the blotted membranes. This improved immunoblotting method will allow us to detect previously undetectable endogenous α-synuclein, thereby facilitating α-synuclein research