A report in the current PNAS early edition supports the idea that polyQ protein aggregation mediates cellular damage. Yaohui Chai and colleagues at Henry Paulson’s lab, University of Iowa, used exquisite, real-live imaging techniques to measure the diffusion of both mutant ataxin-3, which causes spinocerebellar ataxia type-3 or Machado-Joseph disease, and the transcription factor CBP (cAMP response element binding protein-binding protein), which has been identified in these nuclear inclusions. The authors expressed both proteins as green fluorescent protein (GFP) chimeras, which they photobleached in distinct cellular locations with a highly focused laser beam. The time it took unbleached chimeras to diffuse into this bleached zone after the laser was stopped (fluorescence recovery after photobleaching, or FRAP), and the rate at which fluorescence was lost during photobleaching (FLIP), revealed remarkable differences in protein mobility.

For example, normal ataxin-3, (28 glutamines), diffuses readily in the cytoplasm, and almost as fast in the nucleus. In contrast, mutant protein (84 glutamines) diffuses just as quickly in the cytoplasm as does wild type, but slows down markedly in the nucleus, and stays put in nuclear inclusions. CBP chimeras are freely diffusible when co-expressed with wild-type ataxin-3 but, in the presence of mutant ataxin-3, become trapped in nuclear inclusions.

The data support the idea that polyQ-expanded proteins sequester others. But the results also suggest that not all polyQ proteins are created equal. While CBP was sequestered by mutant ataxin-3 and mutant huntingtin, mutant ataxin-1 inclusions failed to retain the transcription factor, which freely diffused in and out of them.-Tom Fagan.

Reference:
Chai Y, Shao J, Miller VM, Williams A, Paulson HL. Live-cell imaging reveals divergent intracellular dynamics of polyglutamine disease proteins and supports a sequestration model of pathogenesis. PNAS 2002 June 25 Early EditionAbstract