scholarly journals Developmental demands contribute to early neuromuscular degeneration in CMT2D mice

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
James N. Sleigh ◽  
Aleksandra M. Mech ◽  
Giampietro Schiavo

Abstract Dominantly inherited, missense mutations in the widely expressed housekeeping gene, GARS1, cause Charcot-Marie-Tooth type 2D (CMT2D), a peripheral neuropathy characterised by muscle weakness and wasting in limb extremities. Mice modelling CMT2D display early and selective neuromuscular junction (NMJ) pathology, epitomised by disturbed maturation and neurotransmission, leading to denervation. Indeed, the NMJ disruption has been reported in several different muscles; however, a systematic comparison of neuromuscular synapses from distinct body locations has yet to be performed. We therefore analysed NMJ development and degeneration across five different wholemount muscles to identify key synaptic features contributing to the distinct pattern of neurodegeneration in CMT2D mice. Denervation was found to occur along a distal-to-proximal gradient, providing a cellular explanation for the greater weakness observed in mutant Gars hindlimbs compared with forelimbs. Nonetheless, muscles from similar locations and innervated by axons of equivalent length showed significant differences in neuropathology, suggestive of additional factors impacting on site-specific neuromuscular degeneration. Defective NMJ development preceded and associated with degeneration, but was not linked to a delay of wild-type NMJ maturation processes. Correlation analyses indicate that muscle fibre type nor synaptic architecture explain the differential denervation of CMT2D NMJs, rather it is the extent of post-natal synaptic growth that predisposes to neurodegeneration. Together, this work improves our understanding of the mechanisms driving synaptic vulnerability in CMT2D and hints at pertinent pathogenic pathways.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
James N. Sleigh ◽  
Aleksandra M. Mech ◽  
Giampietro Schiavo

AbstractDominantly inherited, missense mutations in the widely expressed housekeeping gene, GARS1, cause Charcot-Marie-Tooth type 2D (CMT2D), a peripheral neuropathy characterised by muscle weakness and wasting in limb extremities. Mice modelling CMT2D display early and selective neuromuscular junction (NMJ) pathology, epitomised by disturbed maturation and neurotransmission, leading to denervation. Indeed, the NMJ disruption has been reported in several different muscles; however, a systematic comparison of neuromuscular synapses from distinct body locations has yet to be performed. We therefore analysed NMJ development and degeneration across five different wholemount muscles to identify key synaptic features contributing to the distinct pattern of neurodegeneration in CMT2D mice. Denervation was found to occur along a distal-to-proximal gradient, providing a cellular explanation for the greater weakness observed in mutant Gars hindlimbs compared to forelimbs. Nonetheless, muscles from similar locations and innervated by axons of equivalent length showed significant differences in neuropathology, suggestive of additional factors impacting on site-specific neuromuscular degeneration. Defective NMJ development preceded and associated with degeneration, but was not linked to a delay of wild-type NMJ maturation processes. Correlation analyses indicate that muscle fibre type nor synaptic architecture explain the differential denervation of CMT2D NMJs, rather it is the extent of post-natal synaptic growth that predisposes to neurodegeneration. Together, this work improves our understanding of the mechanisms driving synaptic vulnerability in CMT2D and hints at pertinent pathogenic pathways.


2012 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cécile Baudot ◽  
Clothilde Esteve ◽  
Christel Castro ◽  
Yannick Poitelon ◽  
Camille Mas ◽  
...  

2012 ◽  
Vol 40 (6) ◽  
pp. 1368-1372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cecilia Bucci ◽  
Maria De Luca

CMT2B (Charcot–Marie–Tooth type 2B) disease is an autosomal dominant peripheral neuropathy whose onset is in the second or third decade of life, thus in adolescence or young adulthood. CMT2B is clinically characterized by severe symmetric distal sensory loss, reduced tendon reflexes at ankles, weakness in the lower limbs and muscle atrophy, complicated by ulcerations that often lead to amputations. Four missense mutations in the gene encoding the small GTPase Rab7 cause the CMT2B neuropathy. Rab7 is a ubiquitous protein that regulates transport to late endosomes and lysosomes in the endocytic pathway. In neurons, Rab7 is important for endosomal trafficking and signalling of neurotrophins, and for retrograde axonal transport. Recent data on CMT2B-causing Rab7 mutant proteins show that these proteins exhibit altered koff rates and, as a consequence, they are mainly in the GTP-bound state and bind more strongly to Rab7 effector proteins. Notably, expression of CMT2B-causing Rab7 mutant proteins strongly inhibit neurite outgrowth in several cells lines and alter NGF (nerve growth factor) trafficking and signalling. These data indicate that Rab7 plays an essential role in neuronal cells and that CMT2B-causing Rab7 mutant proteins alter neuronal specific pathways, but do not fully explain why only peripheral neurons are affected in CMT2B. In the present paper, we discuss the current understanding of the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying CMT2B, and we consider possible hypotheses in order to explain how alterations of Rab7 function lead to CMT2B.


2021 ◽  
Vol 100 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
HUIQIN XUE ◽  
NEVEN MAKSEMOUS ◽  
DAVID SIDHOM ◽  
LAN MA ◽  
SHAOHUI CHEN ◽  
...  

1998 ◽  
Vol 79 (01) ◽  
pp. 211-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lysiane Hilbert ◽  
Claudine Mazurier ◽  
Christophe de Romeuf

SummaryType 2B of von Willebrand disease (vWD) refers to qualitative variants with increased affinity of von Willebrand factor (vWF) for platelet glycoprotein Ib (GPIb). All the mutations responsible for type 2B vWD have been located in the A1 domain of vWF. In this study, various recombinant von Willebrand factors (rvWF) reproducing four type 2B vWD missense mutations were compared to wild-type rvWF (WT-rvWF) for their spontaneous binding to platelets and their capacity to induce platelet activation and aggregation. Our data show that the multimeric pattern of each mutated rvWF is similar to that of WT-rvWF but the extent of spontaneous binding and the capacity to induce platelet activation and aggregation are more important for the R543Q and V553M mutations than for the L697V and A698V mutations. Both the binding of mutated rvWFs to platelets and platelet aggregation induced by type 2B rvWFs are inhibited by monoclonal anti-GPIb and anti-vWF antibodies, inhibitors of vWF binding to platelets in the presence of ristocetin, as well as by aurin tricarboxylic acid. On the other hand, EDTA and a monoclonal antibody directed against GPIIb/IIIa only inhibit platelet aggregation. Furthermore, the incubation of type 2B rvWFs with platelets, under stirring conditions, results in the decrease in high molecular weight vWF multimers in solution, the extent of which appears correlated with that of plasma vWF from type 2B vWD patients harboring the corresponding missense mutation. This study supports that the binding of different mutated type 2B vWFs onto platelet GPIb induces various degrees of platelet activation and aggregation and thus suggests that the phenotypic heterogeneity of type 2B vWD may be related to the nature and/or location of the causative point mutation.


1989 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 1507-1512 ◽  
Author(s):  
H Zhu ◽  
H Conrad-Webb ◽  
X S Liao ◽  
P S Perlman ◽  
R A Butow

All mRNAs of yeast mitochondria are processed at their 3' ends within a conserved dodecamer sequence, 5'-AAUAAUAUUCUU-3'. A dominant nuclear suppressor, SUV3-I, was previously isolated because it suppresses a dodecamer deletion at the 3' end of the var1 gene. We have tested the effects of SUV3-1 on a mutant containing two adjacent transversions within a dodecamer at the 3' end of fit1, a gene located within the 1,143-base-pair intron of the 21S rRNA gene, whose product is a site-specific endonuclease required in crosses for the quantitative transmission of that intron to 21S alleles that lack it. The fit1 dodecamer mutations blocked both intron transmission and dodecamer cleavage, neither of which was suppressed by SUV3-1 when present in heterozygous or homozygous configurations. Unexpectedly, we found that SUV3-1 completely blocked cleavage of the wild-type fit1 dodecamer and, in SUV3-1 homozygous crosses, intron conversion. In addition, SUV3-1 resulted in at least a 40-fold increase in the amount of excised intron accumulated. Genetic analysis showed that these phenotypes resulted from the same mutation. We conclude that cleavage of a wild-type dodecamer sequence at the 3' end of the fit1 gene is essential for fit1 expression.


Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 1007
Author(s):  
Jiří Gregor ◽  
Kateřina Radilová ◽  
Jiří Brynda ◽  
Jindřich Fanfrlík ◽  
Jan Konvalinka ◽  
...  

Influenza A virus (IAV) encodes a polymerase composed of three subunits: PA, with endonuclease activity, PB1 with polymerase activity and PB2 with host RNA five-prime cap binding site. Their cooperation and stepwise activation include a process called cap-snatching, which is a crucial step in the IAV life cycle. Reproduction of IAV can be blocked by disrupting the interaction between the PB2 domain and the five-prime cap. An inhibitor of this interaction called pimodivir (VX-787) recently entered the third phase of clinical trial; however, several mutations in PB2 that cause resistance to pimodivir were observed. First major mutation, F404Y, causing resistance was identified during preclinical testing, next the mutation M431I was identified in patients during the second phase of clinical trials. The mutation H357N was identified during testing of IAV strains at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We set out to provide a structural and thermodynamic analysis of the interactions between cap-binding domain of PB2 wild-type and PB2 variants bearing these mutations and pimodivir. Here we present four crystal structures of PB2-WT, PB2-F404Y, PB2-M431I and PB2-H357N in complex with pimodivir. We have thermodynamically analysed all PB2 variants and proposed the effect of these mutations on thermodynamic parameters of these interactions and pimodivir resistance development. These data will contribute to understanding the effect of these missense mutations to the resistance development and help to design next generation inhibitors.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document