Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal motor neuron degenerative disease. ALS-affected motor neurons exhibit aberrant localization of a nuclear RNA binding protein, TDP-43, into cytoplasmic aggregates, which contributes to pathology via unclear mechanisms. Here, we demonstrate that TDP-43 turnover and toxicity depend in part upon the endocytosis pathway. TDP-43 inhibits endocytosis, and co-localizes strongly with endocytic proteins, including in ALS patient tissue. Impairing endocytosis increases TDP-43 toxicity, aggregation, and protein levels, whereas enhancing endocytosis reverses these phenotypes. Locomotor dysfunction in a TDP-43 ALS fly model is also exacerbated and suppressed by impairment and enhancement of endocytic function, respectively. Thus, endocytosis dysfunction may be an underlying cause of ALS pathology.
CITATION STYLE
Liu, G., Coyne, A. N., Pei, F., Vaughan, S., Chaung, M., Zarnescu, D. C., & Buchan, J. R. (2017). Endocytosis regulates TDP-43 toxicity and turnover. Nature Communications, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-02017-x
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