Drosophila WntD is a target and an inhibitor of the Dorsal/Twist/Snail network in the gastrulating embryo

The maternal Toll signaling pathway sets up a nuclear gradient of the transcription factor Dorsal in the early Drosophila embryo. Dorsal activates twist and snail, and the Dorsal/Twist/Snail network activates and represses other zygotic genes to form the correct expression patterns along the dorsoventral axis. An essential function of this patterning is to promote ventral cell invagination during mesoderm formation, but how the downstream genes regulate ventral invagination is not known. We show here that wntD is a novel member of the Wnt family. The expression of wntD is activated by Dorsal and Twist, but the expression is much reduced in the ventral cells through repression by Snail. Overexpression of WntD in the early embryo inhibits ventral invagination, suggesting that the de-repressed WntD in snail mutant embryos may contribute to inhibiting ventral invagination. The overexpressed WntD inhibits invagination by antagonizing Dorsal nuclear localization, as well as twist and snail expression. Consistent with the early expression of WntD at the poles in wild-type embryos, loss of WntD leads to posterior expansion of nuclear Dorsal and snail expression, demonstrating that physiological levels of WntD can also attenuate Dorsal nuclear localization. We also show that the de-repressed WntD in snail mutant embryos contributes to the premature loss of snail expression, probably by inhibiting Dorsal. Thus, these results together demonstrate that WntD is regulated by the Dorsal/Twist/Snail network, and is an inhibitor of Dorsal nuclear localization and function

Role of X11 and ubiquilin as In Vivo Regulators of the Amyloid Precursor Protein in Drosophila

The Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP) undergoes sequential proteolytic cleavages through the action of β- and γ-secretase, which result in the generation of toxic β-amyloid (Aβ) peptides and a C-terminal fragment consisting of the intracellular domain of APP (AICD). Mutations leading to increased APP levels or alterations in APP cleavage cause familial Alzheimer's disease (AD). Thus, identification of factors that regulate APP steady state levels and/or APP cleavage by γ-secretase is likely to provide insight into AD pathogenesis. Here, using transgenic flies that act as reporters for endogenous γ-secretase activity and/or APP levels (GAMAREP), and for the APP intracellular domain (AICDREP), we identified mutations in X11L and ubiquilin (ubqn) as genetic modifiers of APP. Human homologs of both X11L (X11/Mint) and Ubqn (UBQLN1) have been implicated in AD pathogenesis. In contrast to previous reports, we show that overexpression of X11L or human X11 does not alter γ-secretase cleavage of APP or Notch, another γ-secretase substrate. Instead, expression of either X11L or human X11 regulates APP at the level of the AICD, and this activity requires the phosphotyrosine binding (PTB) domain of X11. In contrast, Ubqn regulates the levels of APP: loss of ubqn function leads to a decrease in the steady state levels of APP, while increased ubqn expression results in an increase in APP levels. Ubqn physically binds to APP, an interaction that depends on its ubiquitin-associated (UBA) domain, suggesting that direct physical interactions may underlie Ubqn-dependent regulation of APP. Together, our studies identify X11L and Ubqn as in vivo regulators of APP. Since increased expression of X11 attenuates Aβ production and/or secretion in APP transgenic mice, but does not act on γ-secretase directly, X11 may represent an attractive therapeutic target for AD

\u3cem\u3eWnt8\u3c/em\u3e Is a Novel Target of the Dorsal/Twist/Snail Network and an Inhibitor of Dorsal in the Gastrulating \u3cem\u3eDrosophila\u3c/em\u3e Embryo: A Dissertation

The work in presented in this thesis identifies Drosophila Wnt8 as a novel zygotic target of the Dorsal/Twist/Snail network using a microarray analysis to identify differentially expressed genes in maternal dorsal mutant and gain-of-function Toll10b embryos as compared to wild type. In-situ hybridization with a Wnt8 antisense RNA probe revealed a fairly complex expression pattern in the early embryo. No maternal expression was observed and the first zygotic expression appeared at stage 4 at the poles. This was followed by patchy and relatively weak expression in the presumptive mesoderm with stronger expression in the mesectoderm and later the neuroectoderm. These expression required the Dorsal/Twist/Snail network with some input from Delta in the neuroectoderm. All embryonic Wnt8 expression ceased after late stage 10. Snail was found to repress Wnt8 in the presumptive mesoderm. The relevance of Wnt8 as a Snail target was tested by bypassing this repression in wild type embryos using a maternal Gal4 driver to drive UAS-Wnt8. This led to a loss of ventral furrow formation and a phenocopy of the snail mutant phenotype, thereby indicating that the repression of Wnt8 by Snail is important for gastrulation. Further investigation into the mechanism revealed a reduction in the expression of multiple target genes of Dorsal (including snail) in these Wnt8 overexpressing embryos. Ventral nuclear Dorsal protein was reduced as compared to wild type, suggesting that high levels of Wnt8 can antagonize Dorsal nuclear localization. Deficiency embryos lacking Wnt8 showed the opposite phenotype of expanded anterior and posterior snail RNA staining, as well as an expanded nuclear Dorsal signal in the posterior. This could be phenocopied using dsRNA against Wnt8, and was fully rescueable in the deficiency background using a Wnt8 genomic fragment. It has been reported that loss-of-function snail embryos lose the sharp lateral boundaries and high levels of snail expression more rapidly as compared to wild type. We hypothesize that this loss is due to derepressed Wnt8 antagonizing Dorsal and consequently its target, snail. In support of our hypothesis, double mutants of snail and the Wnt8 deficiency show a rescue of the snail pattern, though not a rescue of ventral furrow formation. Western blot analysis reveals a decrease in the levels of phosphorylation of Dorsal in Wnt8 overexpressing embryos as compared to wild type. Phosphorylation of Dorsal is required for its nuclear translocation. Hence, these data corroborate the observation of reduced nuclear Dorsal in embryos overexpressing Wnt8. Together, these data point to Wnt8 being an important target and a feedback inhibitor of the Dorsal/Twist/Snail pathway that achieves its effect by the inhibition of Dorsal

ubiquilin antagonizes presenilin and promotes neurodegeneration in Drosophila

The majority of familial Alzheimer\u27s disease (AD) cases are caused by mutations in presenilins, therefore, identifying regulators of presenilins is crucial for understanding AD pathogenesis. Ubiquilin 1 (UBQLN1) binds Presenilins in mammalian cells; however, the functional significance of this interaction in vivo remains unclear. Moreover, while genetic variants in UBQLN1 have recently been reported to associate with an increased risk for AD, whether these variants have altered function is unknown. Here, we show that Drosophila Ubiquilin (Ubqn) binds to Drosophila Presenilin (Psn), and that loss of ubqn function suppresses phenotypes that arise from loss of psn function in vivo. In addition, overexpression of ubqn in the eye results in adult-onset, age-dependent retinal degeneration, which is at least partially apoptotic in nature. The degeneration associated with ubqn overexpression can also be suppressed by psn overexpression and enhanced by expression of a dominant negative version of Psn. Remarkably, expression of the human AD-associated variant of UBQLN1 leads to more severe degeneration than does comparable expression of the human wildtype UBQLN1. Together, these data identify Ubqn as a regulator of Psn, support an important role for UBQLN1 in AD pathogenesis, and suggest the possibility that expression of a human AD-associated variant can cause neurodegeneration independent of amyloid production

Worniu, a Snail family zinc-finger protein, is required for brain development in Drosophila

The Snail family of zinc-finger transcriptional repressors is essential for morphogenetic cell movements, mesoderm formation, and neurogenesis during embryonic development. These proteins also control cell cycle, cell death, and cancer progression. In Drosophila, three members of this protein family, Snail, Escargot, and Worniu, have essential but redundant functions in asymmetric cell division of neuroblasts. In addition, Snail is critical for early mesoderm formation and Escargot is required for maintaining diploidy in wing imaginal disc cells. In this report, we demonstrate that Worniu plays a role in brain development. We show that alleles of the l(2)35Da complementation group are mutants of worniu. The developing larvae of these mutant alleles fail to shorten their brainstems. The brain phenotype, as well as the lethality, of these mutants can be rescued by worniu transgenes. Moreover, RNAi experiments targeting the worniu transcript show the same nonshortening phenotype in larval brains. worniu is expressed in the neuroblasts of brain hemispheres and ventral ganglions. The results suggest that the loss of Worniu function within the neuroblasts ultimately causes the larval brainstem to fail to go through shortening during development

Characterization of the N-Terminal Domain of BteA: A <em>Bordetella</em> Type III Secreted Cytotoxic Effector

<div><p>BteA, a 69-kDa cytotoxic protein, is a type III secretion system (T3SS) effector in the classical <em>Bordetella</em>, the etiological agents of pertussis and related mammalian respiratory diseases. Currently there is limited information regarding the structure of BteA or its subdomains, and no insight as to the identity of its eukaryotic partners(s) and their modes of interaction with BteA. The mechanisms that lead to BteA dependent cell death also remain elusive. The N-terminal domain of BteA is multifunctional, acting as a docking platform for its cognate chaperone (BtcA) in the bacterium, and targeting the protein to lipid raft microdomains within the eukaryotic host cell. In this study we describe the biochemical and biophysical characteristics of this domain (BteA287) and determine its architecture. We characterize BteA287 as being a soluble and highly stable domain which is rich in alpha helical content. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments combined with size exclusion and analytical ultracentrifugation measurements confirm these observations and reveal BteA287 to be monomeric in nature with a tendency to oligomerize at concentrations above 200 µM. Furthermore, diffusion-NMR demonstrated that the first 31 residues of BteA287 are responsible for the apparent aggregation behavior of BteA287. Light scattering analyses and small angle X-ray scattering experiments reveal a prolate ellipsoidal bi-pyramidal dumb-bell shape. Thus, our biophysical characterization is a first step towards structure determination of the BteA N-terminal domain.</p> </div

SAXS analysis of the BteA287.

<p>(<b>A</b>) Experimental data of the BteA287 (dots represent experimental data, and lines show fit) (<b>B</b>) Dummy-ball models (DBMs) of mg/ml (30 µM, upper panel) and 2 mg/ml (60 µM, lower panel) fitted onto the core deposited structure of BteA_115–220 (PDB code 2JPF).</p

Secondary structure prediction of BteA superposed on established experimental data.

<p>The sequence of BteA was subjected to secondary structure meta-server analysis which was plotted as line for coil, spring for alpha-helix and arrow for beta sheet. Vertical arrows mark the boundaries of BteA287 fragment. Experimentally-derived secondary structure topology (PDB code 2JPF, aa 121–220) is shown in red. BteA-derived peptides from peptide fingerprinting MS/MS experiment (see Materials and Methods) were plotted as blue lines.</p

Circular dichroism analysis of BteA287 and 2D ¹H,¹⁵N-TROSY-HSQC spectrum of BteA287.

<p>(<b>A</b>) Dichroic spectra for BteA287 (black line) and BteA32-287 (blue line). <b>(B)</b> Melting curve of BteA287, measured at 222 nm (blue line indicates calculated Tm). (<b>C</b>) Spectrum was acquired for a triply-labeled [²H,¹³C,¹⁵N]-BteA287 0.4 mM sample in 100 mM NaCl, 20 mM NaPi pH 7.3 at 303 K and 16.4 T. The inset shows an outlying indole NH peak.</p