An enzyme that adds a phosphate group to a protein called α-synuclein — the phosphorylated form of which tangles up inside neurons in Parkinson's disease — also targets the protein for destruction.
Hilal Lashuel and his colleagues from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne injected rat brains with the genes for both α-synuclein and the enzyme PLK2.
When they increased amounts of α-synuclein, the rats lost specific neurons and developed Parkinson-like symptoms. But both effects were avoided, and levels of neuronal α-synuclein fell, when they overexpressed the gene for PLK2 at the same time.
They showed that the PLK2 enzyme protects neurons from α-synuclein toxicity by shepherding the protein into autophagy, a cellular process for clearing debris.
Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA http://doi.org/nmx (2013)
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Protecting neurons from Parkinson's. Nature 501, 9 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/501009b
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/501009b