Project description:BackgroundNonsense or loss-of-function mutations in the non-lysosomal cysteine protease calpain-3 result in limb-girdle muscular dystrophy type 2A (LGMD2A). While calpain-3 is implicated in muscle cell differentiation, sarcomere formation, and muscle cytoskeletal remodeling, the physiological basis for LGMD2A has remained elusive.MethodsCell growth, gene expression profiling, and mitochondrial content and function were analyzed using muscle and muscle cell cultures established from healthy and calpain-3-deficient mice. Calpain-3-deficient mice were also treated with PPAR-delta agonist (GW501516) to assess mitochondrial function and membrane repair. The unpaired t test was used to assess the significance of the differences observed between the two groups or treatments. ANOVAs were used to assess significance over time.ResultsWe find that calpain-3 deficiency causes mitochondrial dysfunction in the muscles and myoblasts. Calpain-3-deficient myoblasts showed increased proliferation, and their gene expression profile showed aberrant mitochondrial biogenesis. Myotube gene expression analysis further revealed altered lipid metabolism in calpain-3-deficient muscle. Mitochondrial defects were validated in vitro and in vivo. We used GW501516 to improve mitochondrial biogenesis in vivo in 7-month-old calpain-3-deficient mice. This treatment improved satellite cell activity as indicated by increased MyoD and Pax7 mRNA expression. It also decreased muscle fatigability and reduced serum creatine kinase levels. The decreased mitochondrial function also impaired sarcolemmal repair in the calpain-3-deficient skeletal muscle. Improving mitochondrial activity by acute pyruvate treatment improved sarcolemmal repair.ConclusionOur results provide evidence that calpain-3 deficiency in the skeletal muscle is associated with poor mitochondrial biogenesis and function resulting in poor sarcolemmal repair. Addressing this deficit by drugs that improve mitochondrial activity offers new therapeutic avenues for LGMD2A.
Project description:Transcriptional profiling of calpain-6-deficient murine bone marrow-derived macrophages comparing with calpain-6 wild-type macrophages. Total RNA was extracted from the pooled cells. Two-condition experiment, wild-type macrophages vs. calpain-6-deficiennt macrophages. The cells were derived from four mice, and were pooled for analysis.
Project description:Transcriptional profiling of calpain-6-deficient murine bone marrow-derived macrophages comparing with calpain-6 wild-type macrophages. Total RNA was extracted from the pooled cells.
Project description:Aim: To understand the role of DEK1 in Arabidopsis development. Background: DEK1 has an essential role during embryogenesis and is involved in the maintenance of the epidermis. Tissues: Comparison of wild-type and ADEK1 calpain-overexpressing line. 9 samples were used in this experiment.
Project description:Aim: To understand the role of DEK1 in Arabidopsis development. Background: DEK1 has an essential role during embryogenesis and is involved in the maintenance of the epidermis. Tissues: Comparison of wild-type and ADEK1 calpain-overexpressing line.
Project description:Deceased kidney donation after brain death (DBD) is the main source of transplants, yet these grafts yield inferior transplant outcomes when compared to living donation. In brain death, cerebral injury contributes to systemic biological dysregulation, causing significant cellular stress in donor kidneys that adversely impacts the quality of grafts. Here, we hypothesized that proteolytic processes in DBD kidneys might lead to podocyte damage with subsequent development of post-transplant dysfunction. Using protein topography and migration analysis platform (PROTOMAP), we mapped degradation profiles of cytoskeletal proteins in DBD kidneys. Cytoskeletal proteolytic degradation was further studied by Immunoblotting on a separate cohort of deceased and living donor kidney biopsies. To investigate potential mechanism of kidney cytoskeletal protein degradation, in-vitro human podocytes and ex-vivo precision-cut human kidney slices were employed. We found novel proteolytic profiles of key podocyte cytoskeletal proteins in donor kidneys associated with suboptimal posttransplant function. These were unique to brain-death and were not observed in circulatory-death or living-donor kidneys. Talin-specific protein degradation in DBD kidneys indicated Calpain-1 activation may have a key role in proteolytic processes observed in the dysfunctional kidneys. Investigation of the underlying mechanism suggests that Transforming-Growth Factor-β (TGFβ) induces Calpain-1 activation, leading to brain-death specific podocyte degradation patterns and dysregulation of actin cytoskeleton; events that were prevented, in-vitro, by Calpain inhibition. Conclusion Our data demonstrate that podocyte protein degradation impacts the quality of DBD kidneys, propose a role of TGFβ mediated Calpain-1 proteolytic processing of cytoskeletal Talin-1, suggesting therapeutic opportunities to prevent kidney dysfunction.
Project description:Parkinson's disease (PD) is an adult-onset movement disorder of largely unknown etiology. We have previously shown that loss-of-function mutations of the mitochondrial protein kinase PINK1 (PTEN induced putative kinase 1) cause the recessive PARK6 variant of PD. Now we generated a PINK1 deficient mouse and observed several novel phenotypes: A progressive reduction of weight and of locomotor activity selectively for spontaneous movements occurred at old age. As in PD, abnormal dopamine levels in the aged nigrostriatal projection accompanied the reduced movements. Possibly in line with the PARK6 syndrome but in contrast to sporadic PD, a reduced lifespan, dysfunction of brainstem and sympathetic nerves, visible aggregates of M-NM-1-synuclein within Lewy bodies or nigrostriatal neurodegeneration were not present in aged PINK1-deficient mice. However, we demonstrate PINK1 mutant mice to exhibit a progressive reduction in mitochondrial preprotein import correlating with defects of core mitochondrial functions like ATP-generation and respiration. In contrast to the strong effect of PINK1 on mitochondrial dynamics in Drosophila melanogaster and in spite of reduced expression of fission factor Mtp18, we show reduced fission and increased aggregation of mitochondria only under stress in PINK1-deficient mouse neurons. Thus, aging Pink1M-bM-^HM-^R/M-bM-^HM-^R mice show increasing mitochondrial dysfunction resulting in impaired neural activity similar to PD, in absence of overt neuronal death. Transcriptome microarray data of Pink1-/- mouse brains in absence of a stressor, even at old age, show remarkably sparse dysregulations. See Gispert-S et al 2009 PLOS ONE. Factorial design comparing Pink1 knock-out mice with wild type littermates in three different tissues (striatum, midbrain, cerebellum at four different timepoints (6, 12, 14 weeks, and 18 month)