title: Reversible symptoms and clearance of mutant prion protein in an inducible model of a genetic prion disease in Drosophila melanogaster.
abstract: Prion diseases are progressive disorders that affect the central nervous system leading to memory loss, personality changes, ataxia and neurodegeneration. In humans, these disorders include Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, kuru and Gerstmann-Straüssler-Scheinker (GSS) syndrome, the latter being a dominantly inherited prion disease associated with missense mutations in the gene that codes for the prion protein. The exact mechanism by which mutant prion proteins affect the central nervous system and cause neurological disease is not well understood. We have generated an inducible model of GSS disease in Drosophila melanogaster by temporally expressing a misfolded form of the murine prion protein in cholinergic neurons. Flies accumulating this mutant protein develop motor abnormalities which are associated with electrophysiological defects in cholinergic neurons. We find that, upon blocking the expression of the mutant protein, both behavioral and electrophysiological defects can be reversed. This represents the first case of reversibility reported in a model of genetic prion disease. Additionally, we observe that endogenous mechanisms exist within Drosophila that are capable of clearing the accumulated prion protein.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Murali
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Neurobiology, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, NH 03755, USA; Department of Biochemistry, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, NH 03755, USA.
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Maue
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA. Electronic address: patrick.dolph@dartmouth.edu.
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Dolph
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics; D016098:Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker Disease / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D008957:Models, Genetic; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000235:genetics; D009154:Mutation; D011328:Prions / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D011328:Prions
keywords: Clearance of misfolded prion protein; Inducible model of GSS; P101L; Reversibility