title: Nervous yeast: modeling neurotoxic cell death.
abstract: Neurodegeneration is characterized by the disease-specific loss of neuronal activity, culminating in the irreversible destruction of neurons. Neuronal cell death can proceed via distinct subroutines such as apoptosis and necrosis, but the underlying molecular mechanisms remain poorly understood. Saccharomyces cerevisiae is an established model for programmed cell death, characterized by distinct cell death pathways conserved from yeast to mammals. Recently, yeast models for several major classes of neurodegeneration, namely alpha-synucleinopathies, polyglutamine disorders, beta-amyloid diseases, tauopathies, and TDP-43 proteinopathies, have been established. Heterologous expression of the human proteins implicated in these disorders has unraveled important insights in their detrimental function, pointing to ways in which yeast might advance the mechanistic dissection of cell death pathways relevant for human neurodegeneration.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Biosciences, Department of Microbiology, Karl-Franzens-University of Graz, Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Ralf J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Braun
authors.forename: Sabrina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Büttner
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ring
authors.forename: Guido
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kroemer
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Madeo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016923:Cell Death / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D009336:Necrosis / Q000378:metabolism; D019636:Neurodegenerative Diseases / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000502:physiology*; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins