Synaptic Autoregulation by Metalloproteases and -Secretase

The proteoloytic machinery comprising metalloproteases and γ-secretase, an intramembrane aspartyl protease involved in Alzheimer’s disease, cleaves several substrates besides the extensively studied amyloid precursor protein (APP). Some of these substrates, such as N-cadherin, are synaptic proteins involved in synapse remodeling and maintenance. Here we show, in rat and mice that metalloproteases and γ-secretase are physiologic regulators of synapses. Both proteases are synaptic, with γ-secretase tethered at the synapse by δ-catenin, a synaptic scafolding protein which also binds to N-cadherin and, through scaffolds, to α-amino-3-hydroxyl-5-methyl-4-isoxazole-propionate receptor (AMPAR) and a metalloprotease. Activity-dependent proteolysis by metalloproteases and γ-secretase takes place at both sides of the synapse, with the metalloprotease cleavage being N-methyl-D-aspartic acid receptor (NMDAR)-dependent. This proteolysis decreases levels of synaptic proteins and diminishes synaptic transmission. Our results suggest that activity-dependent substrate cleavage by synaptic metalloproteases and γ-secretase modifies synaptic transmission, providing a novel form of synaptic autoregulation

Bovine proteins containing poly-glutamine repeats are often polymorphic and enriched for components of transcriptional regulatory complexes

peer-reviewedBackground: About forty human diseases are caused by repeat instability mutations. A distinct subset of these diseases is the result of extreme expansions of polymorphic trinucleotide repeats; typically CAG repeats encoding poly-glutamine (poly-Q) tracts in proteins. Polymorphic repeat length variation is also apparent in human poly-Q encoding genes from normal individuals. As these coding sequence repeats are subject to selection in mammals, it has been suggested that normal variations in some of these typically highly conserved genes are implicated in morphological differences between species and phenotypic variations within species. At present, poly-Q encoding genes in non-human mammalian species are poorly documented, as are their functions and propensities for polymorphic variation. Results: The current investigation identified 178 bovine poly-Q encoding genes (Q ≥ 5) and within this group, 26 genes with orthologs in both human and mouse that did not contain poly-Q repeats. The bovine poly-Q encoding genes typically had ubiquitous expression patterns although there was bias towards expression in epithelia, brain and testes. They were also characterised by unusually large sizes. Analysis of gene ontology terms revealed that the encoded proteins were strongly enriched for functions associated with transcriptional regulation and many contributed to physical interaction networks in the nucleus where they presumably act cooperatively in transcriptional regulatory complexes. In addition, the coding sequence CAG repeats in some bovine genes impacted mRNA splicing thereby generating unusual transcriptional diversity, which in at least one instance was tissue-specific. The poly-Q encoding genes were prioritised using multiple criteria for their likelihood of being polymorphic and then the highest ranking group was experimentally tested for polymorphic variation within a cattle diversity panel. Extensive and meiotically stable variation was identified. Conclusions: Transcriptional diversity can potentially be generated in poly-Q encoding genes by the impact of CAG repeat tracts on mRNA alternative splicing. This effect, combined with the physical interactions of the encoded proteins in large transcriptional regulatory complexes suggests that polymorphic variations of proteins in these complexes have strong potential to affect phenotype.Dairy Australia (through the Innovative Dairy Cooperative Research Center

The carboxy-terminal fragment of α1A calcium channel preferentially aggregates in the cytoplasm of human spinocerebellar ataxia type 6 Purkinje cells

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 6 (SCA6) is an autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disease caused by a small polyglutamine (polyQ) expansion (control: 4–20Q; SCA6: 20–33Q) in the carboxyl(C)-terminal cytoplasmic domain of the α1A voltage-dependent calcium channel (Cav2.1). Although a 75–85-kDa Cav2.1 C-terminal fragment (CTF) is toxic in cultured cells, its existence in human brains and its role in SCA6 pathogenesis remains unknown. Here, we investigated whether the small polyQ expansion alters the expression pattern and intracellular distribution of Cav2.1 in human SCA6 brains. New antibodies against the Cav2.1 C-terminus were used in immunoblotting and immunohistochemistry. In the cerebella of six control individuals, the CTF was detected in sucrose- and SDS-soluble cytosolic fractions; in the cerebella of two SCA6 patients, it was additionally detected in SDS-insoluble cytosolic and sucrose-soluble nuclear fractions. In contrast, however, the CTF was not detected either in the nuclear fraction or in the SDS-insoluble cytosolic fraction of SCA6 extracerebellar tissues, indicating that the CTF being insoluble in the cytoplasm or mislocalized to the nucleus only in the SCA6 cerebellum. Immunohistochemistry revealed abundant aggregates in cell bodies and dendrites of SCA6 Purkinje cells (seven patients) but not in controls (n = 6). Recombinant CTF with a small polyQ expansion (rCTF-Q28) aggregated in cultured PC12 cells, but neither rCTF-Q13 (normal-length polyQ) nor full-length Cav2.1 with Q28 did. We conclude that SCA6 pathogenesis may be associated with the CTF, normally found in the cytoplasm, being aggregated in the cytoplasm and additionally distributed in the nucleus

Functional roles of γ2, γ3 and γ4, three new Ca2+ channel subunits, in P/Q-type Ca2+ channel expressed in Xenopus oocytes

Stargazin or γ2, the product of the gene mutated in the stargazer mouse, is a homologue of the γ1 protein, an accessory subunit of the skeletal muscle L-type Ca2+ channel. γ2 is selectively expressed in the brain, and considered to be a putative neuronal Ca2+ channel subunit based mainly on homology to γ1. Two new members of the γ family expressed in the brain have recently been identified: γ3 and γ4.We have co-expressed, in Xenopus oocytes, the human γ2,γ3 and γ4 subunits with the P/Q-type (CaV2.1) Ca2+ channel and different regulatory subunits (α2-δ; β1, β2, β3 or β4).Subcellular distribution of the γ subunits confirmed their membrane localization.Ba2+ currents, recorded using two-electrode voltage clamp, showed that the effects of the γ subunits on the electrophysiological properties of the channel are, most of the time, minor. However, a fraction of the oocytes expressing β subunits displayed an unusual slow-inactivating Ba2+ current. Expression of both β and γ subunits increased the appearance of the slow-inactivating current.Our data support a role for the γ subunit as a brain Ca2+ channel modulatory subunit and suggest that β and γ subunits are involved in a switch between two regulatory modes of the P/Q-type channel inactivation