PUBLICATION

Mutant FUS Proteins that Cause Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Incorporate into Stress Granules

Authors
Bosco, D.A., Lemay, N., Ko, H.K., Zhou, H., Burke, C., Kwiatkowski, T.J. Jr, Sapp, P., McKenna-Yasek, D., Brown, R.H. Jr, and Hayward, L.J.
ID
ZDB-PUB-100820-1
Date
2010
Source
Human molecular genetics   19(21): 4160-4175 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Hayward, Lawrence
Keywords
none
MeSH Terms
  • Adult
  • Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis/genetics*
  • Animals
  • Cell Line
  • Cytoplasm/metabolism
  • Female
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins/genetics
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Mutation, Missense
  • Oxidative Stress
  • RNA-Binding Protein FUS/genetics
  • RNA-Binding Protein FUS/metabolism
  • RNA-Binding Protein FUS/physiology*
  • Zebrafish
PubMed
20699327 Full text @ Hum. Mol. Genet.
Abstract
Mutations in the RNA-binding protein FUS (fused in sarcoma) are linked to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), but the mechanism by which these mutants cause motor neuron degeneration is not known. We report a novel ALS truncation mutant (R495X) that causes a relatively severe ALS clinical phenotype compared to FUS missense mutations. Expression of R495X FUS, which abrogates a putative nuclear localization signal at the C-terminus of FUS, in HEK-293 cells and in zebrafish spinal cord caused a striking cytoplasmic accumulation of the protein to a greater extent than that observed for recessive (H517Q) and dominant (R521G) missense mutants. Furthermore, in response to oxidative stress or heat shock conditions in cultures and in vivo, the ALS-linked FUS mutants, but not wild-type FUS, assembled into perinuclear stress granules in proportion to their cytoplasmic expression levels. These findings demonstrate a potential link between FUS mutations and cellular pathways involved in stress responses that may be relevant to altered motor neuron homeostasis in ALS.
Genes / Markers
Figures
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping