scholarly journals Barth syndrome mutations that cause tafazzin complex lability

2011 ◽  
Vol 192 (3) ◽  
pp. 447-462 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven M. Claypool ◽  
Kevin Whited ◽  
Santi Srijumnong ◽  
Xianlin Han ◽  
Carla M. Koehler

Deficits in mitochondrial function result in many human diseases. The X-linked disease Barth syndrome (BTHS) is caused by mutations in the tafazzin gene TAZ1. Its product, Taz1p, participates in the metabolism of cardiolipin, the signature phospholipid of mitochondria. In this paper, a yeast BTHS mutant tafazzin panel is established, and 18 of the 21 tested BTHS missense mutations cannot functionally replace endogenous tafazzin. Four BTHS mutant tafazzins expressed at low levels are degraded by the intermembrane space AAA (i-AAA) protease, suggesting misfolding of the mutant polypeptides. Paradoxically, each of these mutant tafazzins assembles in normal protein complexes. Furthermore, in the absence of the i-AAA protease, increased expression and assembly of two of the BTHS mutants improve their function. However, the BTHS mutant complexes are extremely unstable and accumulate as insoluble aggregates when disassembled in the absence of the i-AAA protease. Thus, the loss of function for these BTHS mutants results from the inherent instability of the mutant tafazzin complexes.

Blood ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 110 (11) ◽  
pp. 3293-3293
Author(s):  
Andrew A. Aprikyan ◽  
Vahagn Makaryan ◽  
David C. Dale

Abstract The Barth syndrome is a rare mitochondrial disease that causes dilated cardiomyopathy, skeletal myopathy, and severe neutropenia. It has been reported that at least two patients with Barth syndrome died from septicemia attributed to neutropenia. The disease is an X-linked autosomal recessive disorder caused by mutations in the G4.5 or TAZ (tafazzin) gene, which introduce truncations, substitution, or alternative splice sites. Hematological investigations revealed normal chemotaxis, but the presence cytoplasmic vacuoles in myeloid cells and maturation arrest of neutrophil development at the myelocyte stage. Thus, a defect in neutrophil formation appears to be the primary reason for neutropenia and the susceptibility to infections in the Barth syndrome patients. Recent studies were mostly focused on cardiac, genetic and metabolic abnormalities associated with the disorder. However, the neutropenia aspect of the Barth syndrome remains unclear. The TAZ gene mutations appear to truncate the tafazzin protein likely resulting in the loss of function. Although a drosophila model of the Barth syndrome was recently reported, the cellular or mouse models of this disorder are not available yet. Thus, the link between TAZ mutations and severe neutropenia remains unknown. We hypothesized that TAZ mutations, which lead to the loss of function of tafazzin protein, trigger impaired cell survival and reduced production of neutrophils and their neutrophil precursors, thus resulting in severe neutropenia in Barth syndrome. To test this hypothesis, we attempted to knock-down the expression of the tafazzin gene in human myeloid progenitor cells using TAZ-specific shRNA. Four shRNA sequences specific to exons 4 through 7 were used for transfection of human myeloid progenitor cells that were later examined by flow cytometry and Western blot analyses. At least 2 of the shRNA constructs resulted in a substantial down-regulation in the expression level of the tafazzin protein in transfected myeloid progenitor cells as determined by Western blot. Flow cytometry analyses revealed that the knock-down of TAZ gene expression was associated with approximately 40–50% increase in proportion of apoptotic annexin-positive cells compared with cells transfected with control scrambled shRNA. These data suggest that the loss of function of TAZ gene is cytotoxic to hematopoietic cells and that severe neutropenia is due to the accelerated apoptosis of myeloid progenitor cells in patients with Barth syndrome. Further studies needed to elucidate the specific signaling pathways and to identify potentially therapeutic agents capable of controlling accelerated apoptosis of myeloid cells in Barth syndrome.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joeri Van Strien ◽  
Sergio Guerrero-Castillo ◽  
Iliana A. Chatzispyrou ◽  
Riekelt H. Houtkooper ◽  
Ulrich Brandt ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTMotivationComplexome profiling combines native gel electrophoresis with mass spectrometry to obtain the inventory, composition and abundance of multiprotein assemblies in an organelle. Applying complexome profiling to determine the effect of a mutation on protein complexes requires separating technical and biological variations from the variations caused by that mutation.ResultsWe have developed the COmplexome Profiling ALignment (COPAL) tool that aligns multiple complexome profiles with each other. It includes the abundance profiles of all proteins on two gels, using a multidimensional implementation of the dynamic time warping algorithm to align the gels. Subsequent progressive alignment allows us to align multiple profiles with each other. We tested COPAL on complexome profiles from control mitochondria and from Barth syndrome (BTHS) mitochondria, which have a mutation in tafazzin gene that is involved in remodelling the inner mitochondrial membrane phospholipid cardiolipin. By comparing the variation between BTHS mitochondria and controls with the variation among either, we assessed the effects of BTHS on the abundance profiles of individual proteins. Combining those profiles with gene set enrichment analysis allows detecting significantly affected protein complexes. Most of the significantly affected protein complexes are located in the inner mitochondrial membrane (MICOS, prohibitins), or are attached to it (the large ribosomal subunit).Availability and implementationCOPAL is written in Python and is available from gttp://github.com/cmbi/[email protected]


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tyler Ralph-Epps ◽  
Chisom J. Onu ◽  
Linh Vo ◽  
Michael W. Schmidtke ◽  
Anh Le ◽  
...  

Saccharomyces cerevisiae, commonly known as baker’s yeast, is one of the most comprehensively studied model organisms in science. Yeast has been used to study a wide variety of human diseases, and the yeast model system has proved to be an especially amenable tool for the study of lipids and lipid-related pathophysiologies, a topic that has gained considerable attention in recent years. This review focuses on how yeast has contributed to our understanding of the mitochondrial phospholipid cardiolipin (CL) and its role in Barth syndrome (BTHS), a genetic disorder characterized by partial or complete loss of function of the CL remodeling enzyme tafazzin. Defective tafazzin causes perturbation of CL metabolism, resulting in many downstream cellular consequences and clinical pathologies that are discussed herein. The influence of yeast research in the lipid-related pathophysiologies of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases is also summarized.


2005 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
pp. 15-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen C. Ardley ◽  
Philip A. Robinson

The selectivity of the ubiquitin–26 S proteasome system (UPS) for a particular substrate protein relies on the interaction between a ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme (E2, of which a cell contains relatively few) and a ubiquitin–protein ligase (E3, of which there are possibly hundreds). Post-translational modifications of the protein substrate, such as phosphorylation or hydroxylation, are often required prior to its selection. In this way, the precise spatio-temporal targeting and degradation of a given substrate can be achieved. The E3s are a large, diverse group of proteins, characterized by one of several defining motifs. These include a HECT (homologous to E6-associated protein C-terminus), RING (really interesting new gene) or U-box (a modified RING motif without the full complement of Zn2+-binding ligands) domain. Whereas HECT E3s have a direct role in catalysis during ubiquitination, RING and U-box E3s facilitate protein ubiquitination. These latter two E3 types act as adaptor-like molecules. They bring an E2 and a substrate into sufficiently close proximity to promote the substrate's ubiquitination. Although many RING-type E3s, such as MDM2 (murine double minute clone 2 oncoprotein) and c-Cbl, can apparently act alone, others are found as components of much larger multi-protein complexes, such as the anaphase-promoting complex. Taken together, these multifaceted properties and interactions enable E3s to provide a powerful, and specific, mechanism for protein clearance within all cells of eukaryotic organisms. The importance of E3s is highlighted by the number of normal cellular processes they regulate, and the number of diseases associated with their loss of function or inappropriate targeting.


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian Israel Lehvy ◽  
Guy Horev ◽  
Yarden Golan ◽  
Fabian Glaser ◽  
Yael Shammai ◽  
...  

Abstract Zinc is vital for the structure and function of ~3000 human proteins and hence plays key physiological roles. Consequently, impaired zinc homeostasis is associated with various human diseases including cancer. Intracellular zinc levels are tightly regulated by two families of zinc transporters: ZIPs and ZnTs; ZIPs import zinc into the cytosol from the extracellular milieu, or from the lumen of organelles into the cytoplasm. In contrast, the vast majority of ZnTs compartmentalize zinc within organelles, whereas the ubiquitously expressed ZnT1 is the sole zinc exporter. Herein, we explored the hypothesis that qualitative and quantitative alterations in ZnT1 activity impair cellular zinc homeostasis in cancer. Towards this end, we first used bioinformatics to analyze inactivating mutations in ZIPs and ZNTs, catalogued in the COSMIC and gnomAD databases, representing tumor specimens and healthy population controls, respectively. ZnT1, ZnT10, ZIP8, and ZIP10 showed extremely high rates of loss of function mutations in cancer as compared to healthy controls. Analysis of the putative functional impact of missense mutations in ZnT1-ZnT10 and ZIP1-ZIP14, using homologous protein alignment and structural predictions, revealed that ZnT1 displays a markedly increased frequency of predicted functionally deleterious mutations in malignant tumors, as compared to a healthy population. Furthermore, examination of ZnT1 expression in 30 cancer types in the TCGA database revealed five tumor types with significant ZnT1 overexpression, which predicted dismal prognosis for cancer patient survival. Novel functional zinc transport assays, which allowed for the indirect measurement of cytosolic zinc levels, established that wild type ZnT1 overexpression results in low intracellular zinc levels. In contrast, overexpression of predicted deleterious ZnT1 missense mutations did not reduce intracellular zinc levels, validating eight missense mutations as loss of function (LoF) mutations. Thus, alterations in ZnT1 expression and LoF mutations in ZnT1 provide a molecular mechanism for impaired zinc homeostasis in cancer formation and/or progression.


2006 ◽  
Vol 174 (3) ◽  
pp. 379-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven M. Claypool ◽  
J. Michael McCaffery ◽  
Carla M. Koehler

None of the 28 identified point mutations in tafazzin (Taz1p), which is the mutant gene product associated with Barth syndrome (BTHS), has a biochemical explanation. In this study, endogenous Taz1p was localized to mitochondria in association with both the inner and outer mitochondrial membranes facing the intermembrane space (IMS). Unexpectedly, Taz1p does not contain transmembrane (TM) segments. Instead, Taz1p membrane association involves a segment that integrates into, but not through, the membrane bilayer. Residues 215–232, which were predicted to be a TM domain, were identified as the interfacial membrane anchor by modeling four distinct BTHS mutations that occur at conserved residues within this segment. Each Taz1p mutant exhibits altered membrane association and is nonfunctional. However, the basis for Taz1p dysfunction falls into the following two categories: (1) mistargeting to the mitochondrial matrix or (2) correct localization associated with aberrant complex assembly. Thus, BTHS can be caused by mutations that alter Taz1p sorting and assembly within the mitochondrion, indicating that the lipid target of Taz1p is resident to IMS-facing leaflets.


Neurology ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 91 (23) ◽  
pp. e2170-e2181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oswaldo Lorenzo-Betancor ◽  
Patrick R. Blackburn ◽  
Emily Edwards ◽  
Rocío Vázquez-do-Campo ◽  
Eric W. Klee ◽  
...  

ObjectiveTo identify novel genes involved in the etiology of intracranial aneurysms (IAs) or subarachnoid hemorrhages (SAHs) using whole-exome sequencing.MethodsWe performed whole-exome sequencing in 13 individuals from 3 families with an autosomal dominant IA/SAH inheritance pattern to look for candidate genes for disease. In addition, we sequenced PCNT exon 38 in a further 161 idiopathic patients with IA/SAH to find additional carriers of potential pathogenic variants.ResultsWe identified 2 different variants in exon 38 from the PCNT gene shared between affected members from 2 different families with either IA or SAH (p.R2728C and p.V2811L). One hundred sixty-four samples with either SAH or IA were Sanger sequenced for the PCNT exon 38. Five additional missense mutations were identified. We also found a second p.V2811L carrier in a family with a history of neurovascular diseases.ConclusionThe PCNT gene encodes a protein that is involved in the process of microtubule nucleation and organization in interphase and mitosis. Biallelic loss-of-function mutations in PCNT cause a form of primordial dwarfism (microcephalic osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism type II), and ≈50% of these patients will develop neurovascular abnormalities, including IAs and SAHs. In addition, a complete Pcnt knockout mouse model (Pcnt−/−) published previously showed general vascular abnormalities, including intracranial hemorrhage. The variants in our families lie in the highly conserved PCNT protein-protein interaction domain, making PCNT a highly plausible candidate gene in cerebrovascular disease.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keisuke Hitachi ◽  
Yuri Kiyofuji ◽  
Masashi Nakatani ◽  
Kunihiro Tsuchida

RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) regulate cell physiology via the formation of ribonucleic-protein complexes with coding and non-coding RNAs. RBPs have multiple functions in the same cells; however, the precise mechanism through which their pleiotropic functions are determined remains unknown. In this study, we revealed the multiple inhibitory functions of hnRNPK for myogenic differentiation. We first identified hnRNPK as a lncRNA Myoparr binding protein. Gain- and loss-of-function experiments showed that hnRNPK repressed the expression of myogenin at the transcriptional level via binding to Myoparr. Moreover, hnRNPK repressed the expression of a set of genes coding for aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases in a Myoparr-independent manner. Mechanistically, hnRNPK regulated the eIF2α/Atf4 pathway, one branch of the intrinsic pathways of the endoplasmic reticulum sensors, in differentiating myoblasts. Thus, our findings demonstrate that hnRNPK plays multiple lncRNA-dependent and -independent roles in the inhibition of myogenic differentiation, indicating that the analysis of lncRNA-binding proteins will be useful for elucidating both the physiological functions of lncRNAs and the multiple functions of RBPs.


2019 ◽  
pp. S3-S15 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. ĽUPTÁK ◽  
J. HROUDOVÁ

Mitochondria primarily serve as source of cellular energy through the Krebs cycle and β-oxidation to generate substrates for oxidative phosphorylation. Redox reactions are used to transfer electrons through a gradient to their final acceptor, oxygen, and to pump hydrogen protons into the intermembrane space. Then, ATP synthase uses the electrochemical gradient to generate adenosine triphosphate (ATP). During these processes, reactive oxygen species (ROS) are generated. ROS are highly reactive molecules with important physiological functions in cellular signaling. Mitochondria play a crucial role in intracellular calcium homeostasis and serve as transient calcium stores. High levels of both, ROS and free cytosolic calcium, can damage mitochondrial and cellular structures and trigger apoptosis. Impaired mitochondrial function has been described in many psychiatric diseases, including mood disorders, in terms of lowered mitochondrial membrane potential, suppressed ATP formation, imbalanced Ca2+ levels and increased ROS levels. In vitro models have indicated that mood stabilizers affect mitochondrial respiratory chain complexes, ROS production, ATP formation, Ca2+ buffering and the antioxidant system. Most studies support the hypothesis that mitochondrial dysfunction is a primary feature of mood disorders. The precise mechanism of action of mood stabilizers remains unknown, but new mitochondrial targets have been proposed for use as mood stabilizers and mitochondrial biomarkers in the evaluation of therapy effectiveness.


2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e16042-e16042
Author(s):  
Fang Liu ◽  
Xiaomo Li ◽  
Si Liu ◽  
Tonghui Ma ◽  
Boning Cai ◽  
...  

e16042 Background: Esophageal cancer is the eighth most common cancer in the world and more than half of global cases occur in China. Studies demonstrated that esophageal squamous cell carcinomas (ESCC) and esophageal adenocarcinomas (EAC) are two distinct disease entities. Due to the lack of effective therapies, the five-year survival rates of ESCC patients remain dismal. Therefore, there is an urgent need to establish a framework through genomic profiling to facilitate the development of precision therapies for ESCC. Methods: To characterize therapeutic targets in 118 Chinese ESCC patients, deep panel sequencing of 831 cancer genes (OncoPanscan, Genetronhealth) was performed on their tumor tissues and paired genomic DNA samples. Results: The most frequently mutated genes in our ESCC cohort were TP53 (97%), PIK3CA (19%), CDKN2A (18%), NOTCH1 (17%), KMT2D (15%), LRP1B (15%) NOTCH3 (15%) NFE2L2 (13%), and EP300 (12%). Consistent with previous reports, we found significantly elevated mutations in cancer-related genes including NOTCH1 (16.9%), NOTCH2 (3.2%), NOTCH3 (15.3%) and RB1 (9.3%). Importantly, 17.8% (21/118) patients in our cohort harbored the 11q13 amplicon ( CCND1, FGF3, FGF4 and FGF19). The median copy number was 8.19 (range 6.07-42.3). These patients can participate in clinical trials with FGFR inhibitor alone or in combination with CDK4/6 inhibitors. Additionally, we also observed frequent genetic alterations in the KEAP1 (Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1)-NFE2L2 (nuclear factor erythroid 2 like 2)-CUL3 (cullin 3) pathway. 80% (12/15) of missense mutations in NFE2L2 were located at the KEAP1 binding domain of NRF2 protein. These mutations were either around the ETGE motif (D77G, E79Q, G81V/D and E82D) or the DLG motif (D27V, I28T, D29G, L30F, G31E, V32E, R34G). We also identified four missense mutations of KEAP1 and one alternation of CUL3 in splicing site. Taken together, 17% (20/118) of ESCC patients harbored mutations in the NFE2L2/KEAP1/CUL3 pathway, which may be eligible for clinical trials of glutaminase inhibitor telaglenastat. Two patients had high level of ERBB2 amplification which can be targeted with anti-HER2 therapy. Furthermore, 11.9% (14/118) patients carried activating PIK3CA mutations including N345K, E542K, E545K, M1043I and H1047R which may be targeted by PIK3CA inhibitor alpelisib. Lastly, patients with loss-of-function mutation in NF1 (n = 4), STK11 (n = 1) and PTEN (n = 3) can be respectively targeted with MEK inhibitor and mTOR inhibitor. Overall, 43% of patients in our ESCC cohort had actionable genetic mutations with corresponding precision therapy options. Conclusions: Our findings indicated that amplification of the 11q13 amplicon and dysfunction of the KEAP1-NRF2-CUL3 axis are the major driving events of ESCC. The results of genomic profiling can guide physicians to enroll a significant portion of ESCC patients into genomically matched clinical trials.


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