Drosophila p38 MAP kinase controls lifespan and locomotor coordination
Year: 2010
Type: article
Abstract: Event Abstract Back to Event Drosophila p38 MAP kinase controls lifespan and locomotor coordination Alysia Vrailas-Mortimer1, 2* and Subhabrata Sanyal1, 2 1 Emory University, Department of Cell Biology, United States 2 Emory University, United States Determining how the genetic elements that contribute to neurodegenerative disease interact with environmental factors is imperative for our understanding of disease causality and progression. For instance, a key environmental factor that has been associated with Alzheimerâs disease, Parkinsonâs disease, and ALS is oxidative stress, which is mediated by a variety of signaling pathways. One such genetically determined signaling pathway engaged by oxidative stress is the p38 MAP Kinase (p38K) cascade. However, mechanistic understanding of how p38K and oxidative stress contribute to neurodegenerative disease is sparse, due in part, to the complexity of the mammalian genome. Therefore, in my studies I have generated and utilized mutations in the two p38 kinase genes in the simpler genetic model system, Drosophila. My results show that lack of either p38Ka or p38Kb do not compromise viability, while complete loss of both is lethal. However, a strongly hypomorphic combination of p38Kb and p38Ka mutations results in decreased viability and a severely reduced lifespan. Interestingly, these defects can be rescued by ubiquitous or muscle specific expression of wild type p38Kb, or by the detoxifying enzyme SOD2. Furthermore, over expression of wild type p38Kb in muscles or neurons confers lifespan extension suggesting that p38K controls aging in flies, by regulating oxidative stress. Consistent with this, loss of p38K signaling results in age dependent locomotor behavior defects. Finally, I observe strong genetic interaction between p38K and parkin mutants. This, in addition to increased loss of dopaminergic neurons in p38K mutant brains, suggests a role for p38K signaling in PD, and supports the hypothesis that p38K signaling is a point of convergence for environmental stress and genetic factors that predispose towards neurodegeneration. Conference: 2010 South East Nerve Net (SENN) and Georgia/South Carolina Neuroscience Consortium (GASCNC) conferences, Atlanta , United States, 5 Mar - 7 Mar, 2010. Presentation Type: Oral Presentation Topic: Talks Citation: Vrailas-Mortimer A and Sanyal S (2010). Drosophila p38 MAP kinase controls lifespan and locomotor coordination. Front. Neurosci. Conference Abstract: 2010 South East Nerve Net (SENN) and Georgia/South Carolina Neuroscience Consortium (GASCNC) conferences. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnins.2010.04.00015 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 15 Mar 2010; Published Online: 15 Mar 2010. * Correspondence: Alysia Vrailas-Mortimer, Emory University, Department of Cell Biology, Atlanta, GA, United States, [email protected] Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Alysia Vrailas-Mortimer Subhabrata Sanyal Google Alysia Vrailas-Mortimer Subhabrata Sanyal Google Scholar Alysia Vrailas-Mortimer Subhabrata Sanyal PubMed Alysia Vrailas-Mortimer Subhabrata Sanyal Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.
Source: Frontiers in Neuroscience
Author: Sanyal Subhabrata
Language: English
Subfield: Aging
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,801
OpenAlex ID: W2321786728