BioProject

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is generally a late onset neurodegenerative disease. More...

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is generally a late onset neurodegenerative disease. Mutations in the Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) gene accounts for approximately 20% of familial ALS and 2% of all ALS cases. Although a number of hypothesis have been proposed to explain mutant SOD1 toxicity, the molecular mechanisms of the disease remain unclear. SOD1 linked ALS is thought to function in a non-cell autonomous manner such that the motoneurons are critical for the onset and glia contribute to the progress of the disease. To dissect the roles of motoneurons and glia, we used the Gal4-UAS system to determine gene expression changes following the expression of mutant human SOD1 (G85R) selectively in either motoneurons or glia, and concurrently in motoneurons and glia of flies. We conducted a microarray on young (5 days old) and old (45 days old) flies expressing G85R in these cell types and identified a number of genes involved in a variety of processes. The candidate genes identified by this screen may help elucidate the individual and combined contributions of motoneurons and glial cells in ALS. We used microarrays to evaluate the transcriptional profile of 5 day old and 45 day old flies expressing mutant human SOD1 (G85R) in a tissue specific manner in motoneurons, glia, and together in motoneurons and glia and compared the expression to flies expressing wild-type drosophila SOD1 controls. Overall design: The Gal4-UAS system was used to drive tissue expression of either mutant human SOD1 (G85R) or wild-type drosophila SOD1 (dSOD1) in flies. Flies containing either the motoneuronal driver, D42-Gal4, the glial driver, M1B-Gal4, or the combined motoneuronal and glial drivers, D42+M1B-Gal4 were crossed to flies containing either mutant human SOD1, UAS-G85R, or wild-type drosophila SOD1, UAS-dSOD1, as a control. Adult male progeny were collected within 24 hours after eclosion and aged to 5 (5d) and 45 (45d) days old. Groups of 10 flies were maintained in vials of cornmeal agar food and transferred to fresh food every 5-7 days. For each Gal4-UAS line and each age, 3 biological replicates consisting of 40 whole flies were flash frozen in liquid nitrogen and used to isolate total RNA, for a total of 36 samples. Less...