| Literature DB >> 32735619 |
Angelique R Ormsby1, Dezerae Cox1, James Daly1, David Priest1, Elizabeth Hinde1, Danny M Hatters1.
Abstract
Mutations that cause Huntington's Disease involve a polyglutamine (polyQ) sequence expansion beyond 35 repeats in exon 1 of Huntingtin. Intracellular inclusion bodies of mutant Huntingtin protein are a key feature of Huntington's disease brain pathology. We previously showed that in cell culture the formation of inclusions involved the assembly of disordered structures of mHtt exon 1 fragments (Httex1) and they were enriched with translational machinery when first formed. We hypothesized that nascent mutant Httex1 chains co-aggregate during translation by phase separation into liquid-like disordered aggregates and then convert to more rigid, amyloid structures. Here we further examined the mechanisms of inclusion assembly in a human epithelial kidney (AD293) cell culture model. We found mHttex1 did not appear to stall translation of its own nascent chain, or at best was marginal. We also found the inclusions appeared to recruit low levels of RNA but there was no difference in enrichment between early formed and mature inclusions. Proteins involved in translation or ribosome quality control were co-recruited to the inclusions (Ltn1 Rack1) compared to a protein not anticipated to be involved (NACAD), but there was no major specificity of enrichment in the early formed inclusions compared to mature inclusions. Furthermore, we observed co-aggregation with other proteins previously identified in inclusions, including Upf1 and chaperone-like proteins Sgta and Hspb1, which also suppressed aggregation at high co-expression levels. The newly formed inclusions also contained immobile mHttex1 molecules which points to the disordered aggregates being mechanically rigid prior to amyloid formation. Collectively our findings show little evidence that inclusion assembly arises by a discrete clustering of stalled nascent chains and associated quality control machinery. Instead, the machinery appear to be recruited continuously, or secondarily, to the nucleation of inclusion formation.Entities:
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Year: 2020 PMID: 32735619 PMCID: PMC7394408 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0233583
Source DB: PubMed Journal: PLoS One ISSN: 1932-6203 Impact factor: 3.240
Fig 3RQC proteins are recruited and enrich in the outer layer of early-formed and mature inclusions whilst having no affect on inclusion formation.
AD293 cells were co-transfected with TC9-Httex1(97Q)-Cerulean and Halo-tagged RQC proteins Rack1 (A), Ltn1 (B) and Nacad (C). HaloTag proteins were visualized by staining with TMRDirect ligand 24 h after transfection (scale bar; 10 μm). Images (upper panels) show cells with inclusions classified as PBRi (with FlAsH:Cerulean ratio of 0.049 (mean = 0.063, SEM = 0.002), 0.106 (mean = 0.115, SEM = 0.002) and 0.112 (mean = 0.180, SEM = 0.020) respectively. Enrichment of Halo-tagged proteins in inclusions were then quantified (middle panels). The outer ring denotes the outer edge of the inclusion which was defined as the outer most area of cerulean fluorescence in the inclusions. Data points indicate individual cells, with lines connecting matched data. Means are shown as red dashes. Differences were assessed by repeated measures one way ANOVA with Tukey multiple comparisons test. Impact of HaloTag protein expression on Httex1(97Q)-Cerulean inclusion formation was determined by flow cytometry analysis (lower panels). Data indicates fraction of cells with inclusions, as measured by Pulse Shape analysis for cells categorized into different expression level bins (Htt levels, Cerulean fluorescence and Halo-tagged protein level, TMR fluorescence). Cerulean fluorescence is a measure of the abundance of the Httex1 in the cell and for the flow cytometry we did not label the cells with FlAsH. The TMR was categorized into four log-spaced expression-level bins for each protein. Points and lines show means, shaded regions indicate SD. Significance was calculated with a two-way ANOVA with Dunnett multiple comparisions test.
Fig 5Httex1 molecules are immobile within early and later-formed inclusions.
Fluorescence recovery after photobleaching experiments tracking the recovery of mCherry fluorescence in regions of bleached HBRi (A) and PBRi (B) inclusions. Cells were expressing TC9-tagged Httex1 as a fusion to mCherry. Shown are representative images of inclusions before (pre-bleached), immediately after bleaching (t0) and at the endpoint (t21) following recovery. Plots show fluorescence recovery in the bleached region for individual inclusions (each inclusion is one colour). The numbers refer to the FlAsH/Cerulean ratio used to assign inclusion status as HBRi and PBRi (with population mean of 0.504 and SEM of 0.047). C. Inclusions in cells expressing Httex1 fusions to Cerulean are impervious to anti-GFP antibodies. Shown are representative images of anti-GFP stained inclusions for HBRi and PBRi (scale bar: 10 μm) D. Quantitation of antibody penetration distance into inclusions (pixels) from confocal images of immunostained inclusions in situ in cells. Individual inclusions are shown with the FlAsH:Cerulean ratios inside the inclusions. Shown are the classification values for HBRi and PBRi status (based on mean of 0.330 and SEM of 0.026). Linear regression analysis is shown (thick lines show the line of best fit whilst the narrow flanking lines show the 95% confidence interval). There was no statistical difference as assessed by a two tailed t-test (P = 0.1641).
Sequence of the base stall construct *.
| *The Httex1 construct was inserted into the sequence at position ### with the different polyQ lengths shown below. The other sequences are highlighted as follows. |
| ### sequences shown below |