title: Presenilin function in Caenorhabditis elegans.
abstract: The genome of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans contains homologs of several genes associated with familial Alzheimer's disease in humans. apl-1 encodes a transmembrane protein belonging to the amyloid precursor protein family, sel-12 and hop-1 are the two somatically expressed presenilin genes that resemble PS1 and PS2 on both a structural and a functional level. Mutations in the sel-12-encoded presenilin gene cause defective Notch/lin-12 signaling and result in reduced egg-laying, caused by cell specification and cell attachment defects. spr-1, spr-3, spr-4 and spr-5 were identified as the suppressors of the egg-laying defect of presenilin/sel-12 loss of function mutants in genetic suppressor screens. The corresponding proteins are C. elegans homologs of human REST, CoREST and LSD1, respectively. REST/NSRF (Re1 silencing transcription factor/neural-restrictive silencing factor) is a transcriptional repressor that blocks the expression of neuronal genes in non-neuronal tissues in vertebrates. CoREST is a conserved histone deacetylase and demethylase-containing co-repressor complex possessing a potential chromatin-modifying activity. It is recruited to the promoter via REST-mediated DNA binding. LSD1 is a flavin-dependent demethylase of histone H3. Mutations in spr-1, spr-3, spr-4 and spr-5 genes suppress the egg-laying phenotype of sel-12 loss of function mutants by derepressing the expression of the second C. elegans presenilin gene, hop-1.
authors.affiliation: Bio3/Bioinformatics and Molecular Genetics, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Agata
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Smialowska
authors.forename: Ralf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Baumeister
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000235:genetics; D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000196:embryology* / Q000235:genetics*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D053763:Presenilins / Q000235:genetics*; D051880:Receptors, Notch / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D053763:Presenilins; D051880:Receptors, Notch