PUBLICATION
Impact of an irreversible β-galactosylceramidase inhibitor on the lipid profile of zebrafish embryos
- Authors
- Guerra, J., Belleri, M., Paiardi, G., Tobia, C., Capoferri, D., Corli, M., Scalvini, E., Ghirimoldi, M., Manfredi, M., Wade, R.C., Presta, M., Mignani, L.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-240410-7
- Date
- 2024
- Source
- Computational and structural biotechnology journal 23: 139714071397-1407 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Presta, Marco, Tobia, Chiara
- Keywords
- Galactosylceramidase, Krabbe disease, Lipidomics, Molecular modeling, Zebrafish
- MeSH Terms
- none
- PubMed
- 38596316 Full text @ Comput Struct Biotechnol J
Citation
Guerra, J., Belleri, M., Paiardi, G., Tobia, C., Capoferri, D., Corli, M., Scalvini, E., Ghirimoldi, M., Manfredi, M., Wade, R.C., Presta, M., Mignani, L. (2024) Impact of an irreversible β-galactosylceramidase inhibitor on the lipid profile of zebrafish embryos. Computational and structural biotechnology journal. 23:139714071397-1407.
Abstract
Krabbe disease is a sphingolipidosis characterized by the genetic deficiency of the acid hydrolase β-galactosylceramidase (GALC). Most of the studies concerning the biological role of GALC performed on Krabbe patients and Galc-deficient twitcher mice (an authentic animal model of the disease) indicate that the pathogenesis of this disorder is the consequence of the accumulation of the neurotoxic GALC substrate β-galactosylsphingosine (psychosine), ignoring the possibility that this enzyme may exert a wider biological impact. Indeed, limited information is available about the effect of GALC downregulation on the cell lipidome in adult and developing organisms. The teleost zebrafish (Danio rerio) has emerged as a useful platform to model human genetic diseases, including sphingolipidoses, and two GALC co-orthologs have been identified in zebrafish (galca and galcb). Here, we investigated the effect of the competitive and irreversible GALC inhibitor β-galactose-cyclophellitol (GCP) on the lipid profile of zebrafish embryos. Molecular modelling indicates that GCP can be sequestered in the catalytic site of the enzyme and covalently binds human GALC, and the zebrafish Galca and Galcb proteins in a similar manner. Accordingly, GCP inhibits the β-galactosylceramide hydrolase activity of zebrafish in vitro and in vivo, leading to significant alterations of the lipidome of zebrafish embryos. These results indicate that the lack of GALC activity deeply affects the lipidome during the early stages of embryonic development, and thereby provide insights into the pathogenesis of Krabbe disease.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping