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Prion diseases such as scrapie in sheep, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle or Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in humans are fatal neurodegenerative disorders characterized by brain lesions and the accumulation of a disease-associated protein, designated PrPSc. How prions proceed to damage neurons and whether all or only subsets of neurons have to be affected for the onset of the clinical disease is still elusive. The manifestation of clinical prion disease is characterized by motor dysfunctions, dementia and death. Furthermore loss of motor neurons (MN) in the spinal cord is a constant finding in different mouse models of prion disease, suggesting that MN are vulnerable cells for triggering the onset of clinical symptoms. To determine whether the protection of MN against prion induced dysfunctions is an approach for holding the disease at the sub-clinical level, we established a novel conditional model for Cre-mediated expression of a dominant-negative PrP mutant (PrPQ167R) in the cells of interest. Dominant-negative PrP mutants provide protection of prion induced dysfunctions by inhibiting prion replication. Transgenic mice were generated carrying a floxed LacZ marker gene followed by the coding sequence of PrPQ167R under control of the human ubiquitin C promoter. Two Cre strains have been used to direct PrPQ167R expression either to a subset of MN of the spinal cord (Hb9-Cre) or to various neuronal cell populations of the spinal cord and brain (NF-L-Cre). Transgenic mice were infected with mouse-adapted prions via different inoculation routes (intranerval, intracerebral and intraperitoneal) and monitored for effects on incubation time and pathology. Tg floxed LacZ-PrPQ167R/NF-L-Cre mice showed about 15% prolonged survival upon intraperitoneal low dose prion infection, whereas survival of Tg floxed LacZ-PrPQ167R/Hb9-Cre mice was comparable to control littermates. The results suggest that the protection of spinal MN prolongs the incubation period but is not sufficient to completely inhibit clinical prion disease. In a second approach, Cre was transferred into the hind limb muscles of transgenic mice via a double-stranded adeno-associated virus vector (dsAAV2-Cre). The goal of this strategy was to target a broader cell population and thus to enhance expression levels of protective PrPQ167R in the spinal cord of Tg floxed-LacZ-PrPQ167R mice. After intramuscular (i.m.) application of dsAAV2-Cre, exhibiting a physical titer of 5x1010 GP/ml, recombinant transgenic DNA was detected only in the muscle tissue, pointing out that functional Cre-recombinase was expressed at the side of virus application. However, dsAAV2-Cre did neither induce recombination of transgenic DNA in the spinal cord or brain nor expression of dominant-negative PrPQ167R. In conclusion the dsAAV2-Cre vectors system needs further improvement to achieve efficient transport from muscle tissue to the central nervous system (CNS). 105 7 SUMMARY The lymphoreticular system (LRS) is an early site of prion replication. In splenic tissue prion infectivity is associated with follicular dendritic cells (FDC) as well as with Band T-lymphocytes. However, it is still unknown if those cell types are able to replicate the infectious agent or if other PrP-expressing cell types are engaged. To investigate if neurons and in particular MN are involved, transgenic mice carrying one allele of floxed Prnp (lox2+=��) and either one allele of Hb9-Cre or NF-L-Cre were generated on a Prnp0=0 background. Therefore a conditional PrP knockout was established in a subset of MN of the spinal cord (Hb9-Cre) or in various neuronal populations of the spinal cord and brain (NF-L-Cre). Transgenic mice were inoculated with prions to study the accumulation of PrPSc and prion infectivity in spleen and spinal cord at an early time point after infection. The findings show that PrPSc accumulation in mice with MN-specific PrP depletion (lox2+=��/ Hb9-Cre) was comparable to control littermates, while pan-neuronal PrP deficient mice (lox2+=��/NF-L-Cre) were not able to accumulate PrPSc in splenic tissue until 50 days post inoculation. Moreover spleens of lox2+=��/NF-L-Cre mice exhibited a clearly reduced prion infectivity titer, suggesting that accumulation of prions in the spleen is dependent on PrP expression in the nervous tissue.
Bei Yeast Two-Hybrid Untersuchungen wurde in unserer Arbeitsgruppe das RNA-Bindungsprotein hnRNP-R als Interaktionspartner von SMN gefunden und es konnte gezeigt werden, dass hnRNP-R mit SMN in Axonen von primären Motoneuronen kolokalisiert (Rossoll et al., 2002). hnRNP-R assoziiert mit der β-Aktin mRNA und nach Überexpression kommt es zu einer Akkumulation von β-Aktin in den Wachstumskegeln von neuronalen Zellen, sowie zu verstärktem Neuritenwachstum bei PC12 Zellen. Wird die SMN-Bindungsdomäne von hnRNP-R deletiert, ist dieser Effekt stark reduziert (Rossoll et al., 2003). Auf diesen in vitro Befunden ist die Hypothese begründet, dass hnRNP-R an der Translokation der β-Aktin mRNA in die Wachstumskegel von neuronalen Zellen beteiligt ist. Deshalb wurde im Rahmen dieser Arbeit die Rolle von hnRNP-R bei der Entwicklung in Neuronen des Nervensystems näher untersucht. Dazu wurden Zebrafisch Embryonen als in vivo Modellsystem für Morpholino vermittelte Knockdown Untersuchungen gewählt. Zunächst wurde ein gegen murines Protein hergestelltes hnRNP-R Antiserum charakterisiert und gezeigt, dass es das Zebrafisch Protein spezifisch erkennt. Dieses Antiserum wurde in Western Blot Analysen verwendet um den hnRNP-R Knockdown in Zebrafisch Embryonen zu verifizieren. Bei den hnRNP-R Morpholino injizierten Embryonen konnten dosisabhängig axonale Veränderungen beobachtet werden. Diese Veränderungen stimmen mit einem Krankheitsmodell für SMA im Zebrafisch überein. Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass das Überleben primärer Motoneurone in Zebrafisch Embryonen nicht beeinträchtigt ist und dass andere neuronale Zellen keine signifikante Beeinflussung durch einen hnRNP-R Knockdown erfahren. Um die Spezifität des axonalen Phänotyps, der durch hnRNP-R Knockdown hervorgerufen wurde zu belegen, wurde mit muriner hnRNP-R mRNA ein Rescue-Experiment durchgeführt. Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass dabei der axonale Phänotyp weitestgehend wieder aufgehoben wurde. Parallel zu den Zebrafisch Experimenten wurde ein hnRNP-R Knockout Konstrukt mittels homologer Rekombination in Escherichia coli hergestellt und in murine embryonale Stammzellen elektroporiert. Die Charakterisierung einer hnRNP-R Knockout Maus könnte weitere bedeutende Einsichten in die in vivo Funktionen von hnRNP-R bei der Embryonalentwicklung und speziell der Entwicklung von Motoneuronen gewähren. Um der Frage nach zu gehen, welche mRNAs in Wachstumskegeln von Axonen primärer Maus Motoneuronen zu finden sind oder durch Transportprozesse lokal akkumuliert sind,wurden Versuche unternommen, um mittels Laser-Mikrodissektion einzelne Wachstumskegel von Motoneuronen für Untersuchungen der enthaltenen mRNAs zu gewinnen. Erstmalig ist es im Rahmen dieser Arbeit gelungen, kompartimentalisierte Kulturen von primären Motoneuronen der Maus zu etablieren. Damit wurde die Grundlage geschaffen, um RNA-Profile von distalen Zellkompartimenten wie den Axonen und Wachstumskegeln zu bestimmen.
Cellular proteome profiling revealed that most biomolecules do not exist in isolation, but rather are incorporated into modular complexes. These assembled complexes are usually very large, consisting of 10 subunits on an average and include either proteins alone, or proteins and nucleic acids. Consequently, such macromolecular assemblies rather than individual biopolymers perform the vast majority of cellular activities. The faithful assembly of such molecular assemblies is often aided by trans-acting factors in vivo, to preclude aggregation of complex components and/or non-cognate interactions. A paradigm for an assisted assembly of a macromolecular machine is the formation of the common Sm/LSm core of spliceosomal and histone-mRNA processing U snRNPs. The key assembly factors united in the Protein Arginine Methyltransferase 5 (PRMT5) and the Survival Motor Neuron (SMN) complexes orchestrate the assembly of the Sm/LSm core on the U snRNAs. Assembly is initiated by the PRMT5-complex subunit pICln, which pre-arranges the Sm/LSm proteins into spatial positions occupied in the mature U snRNPs. The SMN complex subsequently binds these Sm/LSm units, displaces pICln and catalyses the Sm ring closure on the Sm-site of the U snRNA.
The SMN complex consists of the eponoymous SMN protein linked in a modular network of interactions with eight other proteins, termed Gemins 2-8 and Unrip. Despite functional and structural characterisation of individual protein components and/or sub-complexes of this assembly machinery, coherent understanding of the structural framework of the core SMN complex remained elusive. The current work, employing a combined approach of biochemical and structural studies, aimed to contribute to the understanding of how distinct modules within the SMN complex coalecse to form the macromolecular SMN complex.
A novel atomic resolution (1.5 Å) structure of the human Gemin8:7:6 sub-complex, illustrates how the peripheral Gemin7:6 module is tethered to the SMN complex via Gemin8’s C-terminus. In this model, Gemin7 engages with both Gemin6 and Gemin8 via the N- and C-termini of its Sm-fold like domain. This highly conserved interaction mode is reflected in the pronounced sequence conservation and identical biochemical behaviour of similar sub-complexes from divergent species, namely S. pombe and C. elegans.
Despite lacking significant sequence similarity to the Sm proteins, the dimeric Gemin7:6 complex share structural resemblance to the Sm heteromers. The hypothesis that the dimeric Gemin7:6 functions as a Sm-surrogate during Sm core assembly could not be confirmed in this work. The functional relevance of the structural mimicry of the dimeric Gemin7:6 sub-complex with the Sm heterodimers therefore still remains unclear.
Reduced levels of functional SMN protein is the cause of the devastating neurodegenerative disease, Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). The C-terminal YG-zipper motif of SMN is a major hot-spot for most SMA patient mutations. In this work, adding to the existing inventory of the human and fission yeast YG-box models, a novel 2.2 Å crystal structure of the nematode SMN’s YG-box domain adopting the glycine zipper motif has been reported. Furthermore, it could be assessed that SMA patient mutations mapping to this YG-box domain greatly influences SMN’s self-association competency, a property reflected in both the human and nematode YG-box biochemical handles. The shared molecular architecture and biochemical behaviour of the nematode SMN YG-box domain with its human and fission yeast counterparts, reiterates the pronounced conservation of this oligomerisation motif across divergent organisms.
Apart from serving as a multimerization domain, SMN’s YG-box also acts as interaction platform for Gemin8. A systematic investigation of SMA causing missense mutations uncovered that Gemin8’s incorporation into the SMN complex is influenced by the presence of certain SMA patient mutations, albeit independent of SMN’s oligomerisation status. Consequently, loss of Gemin8 association in the presence of SMA patient mutations would also affect the incorporation of Gemin7:6 sub-complex. Gemin8, therefore sculpts the heteromeric SMN complex by bridging the Gemin7:6 and SMN:Gemin2 sub-units, a modular feature shared in both the human and nematode SMN complexes.
These findings provide an important foundation and a prospective structural framework for elucidating the core architecture of the SMN complex in the ongoing Cryo-EM studies.