title: Yeast buddies helping to unravel the complexity of neurodegenerative disorders.
abstract: Neurodegenerative disorders have a profound effect on the quality of life of patients and their environment. However, the development of adequate therapies requires accurate understanding of the underlying disease pathogenesis. On that account, yeast models can play an important role, as they enable the elucidation of the mechanisms leading to neurodegenerative disorders. Furthermore, by using so-called humanized yeast systems, the findings in yeast can be interpolated to humans. In this review, we will give an overview of the current body of knowledge on the use of yeast models with regard to Huntington's, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease. In addition to the results, obtained with the baker's yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we also consider the existing literature on the less common but promising fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe.
authors.affiliation: Functional Biology, Department of Biology, KU Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 31, B-3001 Heverlee, Belgium.
authors.forename: Gernot
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fruhmann
authors.affiliation: Functional Biology, Department of Biology, KU Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 31, B-3001 Heverlee, Belgium.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Seynnaeve
authors.affiliation: Functional Biology, Department of Biology, KU Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 31, B-3001 Heverlee, Belgium; Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Gothenburg, S-413 90 Göteborg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Ju
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Functional Biology, Department of Biology, KU Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 31, B-3001 Heverlee, Belgium; MeBioS-Biosensor Group, Department of Biosystems, KU Leuven, Willem de Croylaan 42, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ven
authors.affiliation: Functional Biology, Department of Biology, KU Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 31, B-3001 Heverlee, Belgium.
authors.forename: Sofie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Molenberghs
authors.affiliation: Functional Biology, Department of Biology, KU Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 31, B-3001 Heverlee, Belgium.
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wilms
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Gothenburg, S-413 90 Göteborg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Beidong
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Functional Biology, Department of Biology, KU Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 31, B-3001 Heverlee, Belgium.
authors.forename: Joris
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Winderickx
authors.affiliation: Functional Biology, Department of Biology, KU Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 31, B-3001 Heverlee, Belgium. Electronic address: vanessa.franssens@bio.kuleuven.be.
authors.forename: Vanessa
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Franssens
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D019636:Neurodegenerative Diseases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012568:Schizosaccharomyces / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
keywords: Alzheimer; Huntington; Parkinson; Prion; Yeast