Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-2020
Publication Source
Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology
Abstract
Alzheimer's disease (AD, OMIM: 104300) is an age-related disorder that affects millions of people. One of the underlying causes of AD is generation of hydrophobic amyloid-beta 42 (Aβ42) peptides that accumulate to form amyloid plaques. These plaques induce oxidative stress and aberrant signaling, which result in the death of neurons and other pathologies linked to neurodegeneration. We have developed a Drosophila eye model of AD by targeted misexpression of human Aβ42 in the differentiating retinal neurons, where an accumulation of Aβ42 triggers a characteristic neurodegenerative phenotype. In a forward deficiency screen to look for genetic modifiers, we identified a molecularly defined deficiency, which suppresses Aβ42-mediated neurodegeneration. This deficiency uncovers hippo (hpo) gene, a member of evolutionarily conserved Hippo signaling pathway that regulates growth. Activation of Hippo signaling causes cell death, whereas downregulation of Hippo signaling triggers cell proliferation. We found that Hippo signaling is activated in Aβ42-mediated neurodegeneration. Downregulation of Hippo signaling rescues the Aβ42-mediated neurodegeneration, whereas upregulation of Hippo signaling enhances the Aβ42-mediated neurodegeneration phenotypes. It is known that c-Jun-amino-terminal kinase (JNK) signaling pathway is upregulated in AD. We found that activation of JNK signaling enhances the Aβ42-mediated neurodegeneration, whereas downregulation of JNK signaling rescues the Aβ42-mediated neurodegeneration. We tested the nature of interactions between Hippo signaling and JNK signaling in Aβ42-mediated neurodegeneration using genetic epistasis approach. Our data suggest that Hippo signaling and JNK signaling, two independent signaling pathways, act synergistically upon accumulation of Aβ42 plaques to trigger cell death. Our studies demonstrate a novel role of Hippo signaling pathway in Aβ42-mediated neurodegeneration.
ISBN/ISSN
2296-634X
Document Version
Published Version
Copyright
Copyright © 2020 Irwin, Tare, Singh, Puli, Gogia, Riccetti, Deshpande, Kango-Singh and Singh.
Publisher
Frontiers
Volume
8
Peer Reviewed
yes
Issue
Article 117
Sponsoring Agency
This work was supported by start-up research funds from the University of Dayton, and a subaward from NIH grant R01CA183991 (PI Nakano) to MK-S. This work is supported by NIH1R15GM124654-01 from NIH, Schuellein Chair Endowment Fund, and STEM Catalyst Grant from the University of Dayton to AmS.
eCommons Citation
Irwin, Madison; Tare, Meghana; Singh, Aditi; Puli, Oorvashi Roy; Gogia, Neha; Riccetti, Matthew; Deshpande, Prajakta; Kango-Singh, Madhuri; and Singh, Amit, "A Positive Feedback Loop of Hippo- and c-Jun-Amino-Terminal Kinase Signaling Pathways Regulates Amyloid-Beta-Mediated Neurodegeneration" (2020). Biology Faculty Publications. 256.
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/bio_fac_pub/256
Included in
Biology Commons, Biotechnology Commons, Cell Biology Commons, Genetics Commons, Microbiology Commons, Molecular Genetics Commons
Comments
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.