Michael Shelanski on Membrane-associated farnesylated UCH-L1 promotes alpha-synuclein neurotoxicity and is a therapeutic target for Parkinson's disease.

COMMENT Comment by Ottavio Arancio and Michael Shelanski This paper is both interesting in itself and a constant reminder of the complex roles a single protein can play in different contexts, or with various post-translational modifications. A classic example of

PAPER Liu Z, Meray RK, Grammatopoulos TN, Fredenburg RA, Cookson MR, Liu Y, Logan T, Lansbury PT

Membrane-associated farnesylated UCH-L1 promotes alpha-synuclein neurotoxicity and is a therapeutic target for Parkinson's disease.

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Mar 24;106(12):4635-40. PubMed: 19261853

Samir Kumar-Singh on Mimicking aspects of frontotemporal lobar degeneration and Lou Gehrig's disease in rats via TDP-43 overexpression.

COMMENT The issue of whether overexpression of wild-type TDP-43 in rodent brain could be neurotoxic is neatly brought out in this paper from the group of Ronald Klein with senior authors Dennis Dickson and Mike Hutton. Using an adeno-associated virus type 9 (AAV9

PAPER Igaz LM, Kwong LK, Chen-Plotkin A, Winton MJ, Unger TL, Xu Y, Neumann M, Trojanowski JQ, Lee VM

Expression of TDP-43 C-terminal Fragments in Vitro Recapitulates Pathological Features of TDP-43 Proteinopathies.

J Biol Chem. 2009 Mar 27;284(13):8516-24. Epub 2009 Jan 21 PubMed: 19164285

PAPER Bartlett JS, Samulski RJ, McCown TJ

Selective and rapid uptake of adeno-associated virus type 2 in brain.

Hum Gene Ther. 1998 May 20;9(8):1181-6. PubMed: 9625257

PAPER Del Bo R, Ghezzi S, Corti S, Pandolfo M, Ranieri M, Santoro D, Ghione I, Prelle A, Orsetti V, Mancuso M, Sorarù G, Briani C, Angelini C, Siciliano G, Bresolin N, Comi GP

TARDBP (TDP-43) sequence analysis in patients with familial and sporadic ALS: identification of two novel mutations.

Eur J Neurol. 2009 Jun;16(6):727-32. Epub 2009 Feb 19 PubMed: 19236453

PAPER Corrado L, Ratti A, Gellera C, Buratti E, Castellotti B, Carlomagno Y, Ticozzi N, Mazzini L, Testa L, Taroni F, Baralle FE, Silani V, D'Alfonso S

High frequency of TARDBP gene mutations in Italian patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Hum Mutat. 2009 Apr;30(4):688-94. PubMed: 19224587

Carina Særmark

Denmark

TDP-43 Roundup: New Models, New Genes

RESEARCH NEWS 2009-03-07 Research News TAR DNA binding protein-43 has risen from relative obscurity just a few years ago to become a superstar in studies of frontotemporal lobar degeneration and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. In 2006, scientists reported that TDP-43 inclusions ar

Without a Trace: iPS Cell Techniques Leave No Footprints

RESEARCH NEWS 2009-03-07 Research News Scientists have figured out how to induce pluripotency in differentiated cells, then erase their tracks, leaving little or no scar in the genome of the resulting iPS cells. In companion Nature papers published online March 1, laboratories fr

PAPER Moult PR, Harvey J

Hormonal regulation of hippocampal dendritic morphology and synaptic plasticity.

Cell Adh Migr. 2008 Oct-Dec;2(4):269-75. PubMed: 19262152

PAPER Zeng L, Chen R, Liang F, Tsuchiya H, Murai H, Nakahashi T, Iwai K, Takahashi T, Kanda T, Morimoto S

Silent information regulator, Sirtuin 1, and age-related diseases.

Geriatr Gerontol Int. 2009 Mar;9(1):7-15. PubMed: 19260974

PAPER McGovern G, Martin S, González L, Witz J, Jeffrey M

Frequency and distribution of nerves in scrapie-affected and unaffected Peyer's patches and lymph nodes.

Vet Pathol. 2009 Mar;46(2):233-40. PubMed: 19261634

PAPER Cruz-Aguado R, Shaw CA

The ALS/PDC syndrome of Guam and the cycad hypothesis.

Neurology. 2009 Feb 3;72(5):474, 476; author reply 475-6. PubMed: 19195085

PAPER Uo T, Veenstra TD, Morrison RS

Histone deacetylase inhibitors prevent p53-dependent and p53-independent Bax-mediated neuronal apoptosis through two distinct mechanisms.

J Neurosci. 2009 Mar 4;29(9):2824-32. PubMed: 19261878