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Rapamycin enhances survival in a Drosophila model of mitochondrial disease.

ABSTRACT: Pediatric mitochondrial disorders are a devastating category of diseases caused by deficiencies in mitochondrial function. Leigh Syndrome (LS) is the most common of these diseases with symptoms typically appearing within the first year of birth and progressing rapidly until death, usually by 6-7 years of age. Our lab has recently shown that genetic inhibition of the mechanistic target of rapamycin (TOR) rescues the short lifespan of yeast mutants with defective mitochondrial function, and that pharmacological inhibition of TOR by administration of rapamycin significantly rescues the shortened lifespan, neurological symptoms, and neurodegeneration in a mouse model of LS. However, the mechanism by which TOR inhibition exerts these effects, and the extent to which these effects can extend to other models of mitochondrial deficiency, are unknown. Here, we probe the effects of TOR inhibition in a Drosophila model of complex I deficiency. Treatment with rapamycin robustly suppresses the lifespan defect in this model of LS, without affecting behavioral phenotypes. Interestingly, this increased lifespan in response to TOR inhibition occurs in an autophagy-independent manner. Further, we identify a fat storage defect in the ND2 mutant flies that is rescued by rapamycin, supporting a model that rapamycin exerts its effects on mitochondrial disease in these animals by altering metabolism.

SUBMITTER: Wang A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5348310 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Rapamycin enhances survival in a Drosophila model of mitochondrial disease.

Wang Adrienne A Mouser Jacob J Pitt Jason J Promislow Daniel D Kaeberlein Matt M

Oncotarget 20161201 49

Pediatric mitochondrial disorders are a devastating category of diseases caused by deficiencies in mitochondrial function. Leigh Syndrome (LS) is the most common of these diseases with symptoms typically appearing within the first year of birth and progressing rapidly until death, usually by 6-7 years of age. Our lab has recently shown that genetic inhibition of the mechanistic target of rapamycin (TOR) rescues the short lifespan of yeast mutants with defective mitochondrial function, and that p ...[more]

PMID: 27741510

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Project description:Background: A point mutation in the Drosophila gene technical knockout (tko), encoding mitoribosomal protein S12, provokes a phenotype of respiratory chain deficiency, developmental delay and neurological abnormalities similar to those presented in many human mitochondrial disorders, as well as defective courtship behaviour. Results: Transcriptome-wide analysis of gene expression in tko25t mutant flies revealed systematic, compensatory changes in expression of genes connected with metabolism, including upregulation of lactate dehydrogenase and of many genes involved in the catabolism of fats and proteins, the TCA cycle and anaplerotic pathways feeding into it. Gut-specific enzymes involved in the primary mobilization of dietary fat and protein, as well as a number of transport functions, were strongly upregulated, consistent with the idea that OXPHOS dysfunction is perceived physiologically as a starvation for particular biomolecules. Many stress-response genes were also induced. Other changes may reflect a signature of developmental delay. There was also down-regulation of genes connected with reproduction, including gametogenesis, especially in females, and courtship behaviour in males. This might represent a programmed response to a mitochondrially generated starvation signal. Although human sexual behaviour is not known to respond to mitochondrial dysfunction, the underlying signaling pathway, if conserved, could influence many physiological processes in response to nutritional stress. Transcriptomic analysis suggested the possible involvement of the Akt1/sgg signaling pathway(s). Conclusions: The transformation of metabolism in response to mitochondrial dysfunction, including digestive and absorptive functions, gives important clues as to how novel therapeutic strategies for mitochondrial disorders might be developed. Experiment Overall Design: Crosses and maintenance: Inbreeding under stressful conditions inevitably results in the selection of compensatory alleles of many genes. In order to avoid such issues, and thus determine the global effects on gene expression of the tko25t mutation in a truly unselected and 'wild-type' background, we outbred tko25t over more than 10 generations by back-crossing to each of two commonly used wild-type strains, Canton S and Oregon R. Subsequent to this backcrossing, tko25t was maintained in each background using a balancer chromosome. These stocks were then used to generate a tko25t mutant F1 generation, by crossing virgin Canton S tko25t homozygous mutant females with Oregon R tko25t males. For comparison, we generated otherwise isogenic wild-type F1 progeny by crossing virgin Canton S wild-type females with Oregon R wild-type males. Experiment Overall Design: Samples: Both tko25t and wild-type Drosophila adult flies of both sexes were collected and aged to 1 day old prior to RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays. We extracted RNA from 3 independent such crosses. Experiment Overall Design: Comparative analysis: Data analysis for each gene in the array compared each tko25t mutant RNA isolate with each wild-type RNA isolate from flies of the given sex, generating 9 comparative measurements, over which the statistical analysis was performed.

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Rapamycin enhances survival in a Drosophila model of mitochondrial disease.

Publications

Rapamycin enhances survival in a Drosophila model of mitochondrial disease.

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