Identification of a highly neurotoxic ?-synuclein species inducing mitochondrial damage and mitophagy in Parkinson's disease.
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ABSTRACT: Exposure of cultured primary neurons to preformed ?-synuclein fibrils (PFFs) leads to the recruitment of endogenous ?-synuclein and its templated conversion into fibrillar phosphorylated ?-synuclein (p?-synF) aggregates resembling those involved in Parkinson's disease (PD) pathogenesis. P?-synF was described previously as inclusions morphologically similar to Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites in PD patients. We discovered the existence of a conformationally distinct, nonfibrillar, phosphorylated ?-syn species that we named "p?-syn*." We uniquely describe the existence of p?-syn* in PFF-seeded primary neurons, mice brains, and PD patients' brains. Through immunofluorescence and pharmacological manipulation we showed that p?-syn* results from incomplete autophagic degradation of p?-synF. P?-synF was decorated with autophagic markers, but p?-syn* was not. Western blots revealed that p?-syn* was N- and C-terminally trimmed, resulting in a 12.5-kDa fragment and a SDS-resistant dimer. After lysosomal release, p?-syn* aggregates associated with mitochondria, inducing mitochondrial membrane depolarization, cytochrome C release, and mitochondrial fragmentation visualized by confocal and stimulated emission depletion nanoscopy. P?-syn* recruited phosphorylated acetyl-CoA carboxylase 1 (ACC1) with which it remarkably colocalized. ACC1 phosphorylation indicates low ATP levels, AMPK activation, and oxidative stress and induces mitochondrial fragmentation via reduced lipoylation. P?-syn* also colocalized with BiP, a master regulator of the unfolded protein response and a resident protein of mitochondria-associated endoplasmic reticulum membranes that are sites of mitochondrial fission and mitophagy. P?-syn* aggregates were found in Parkin-positive mitophagic vacuoles and imaged by electron microscopy. Collectively, we showed that p?-syn* induces mitochondrial toxicity and fission, energetic stress, and mitophagy, implicating p?-syn* as a key neurotoxic ?-syn species and a therapeutic target.
SUBMITTER: Grassi D
PROVIDER: S-EPMC5856519 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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