RESUMEN
A combination of genetic factors and early life events is thought to determine the vulnerability of an individual to develop a complex neurodevelopmental disorder like schizophrenia. Pharmacogenetically selected, apomorphine-susceptible Wistar rats (APO-SUS) display a number of behavioral and pathophysiological features reminiscent of such disorders. Here, we report microarray analyses revealing in APO-SUS rats, relative to their counterpart APO-UNSUS rats, a reduced expression of Aph-1b, a component of the gamma-secretase enzyme complex that is involved in multiple (neuro)developmental signaling pathways. The reduced expression is due to a duplicon-based genomic rearrangement event resulting in an Aph-1b dosage imbalance. The expression levels of the other gamma-secretase components were not affected. However, gamma-secretase cleavage activity was significantly changed, and the APO-SUS/-UNSUS Aph-1b genotypes segregated with a number of behavioral phenotypes. Thus, a subtle imbalance in the expression of a single, developmentally important protein may be sufficient to cause a complex phenotype.
Asunto(s)
Endopeptidasas/genética , Dosificación de Gen , Predisposición Genética a la Enfermedad , Proteínas de la Membrana/genética , Esquizofrenia/genética , Secretasas de la Proteína Precursora del Amiloide , Análisis de Varianza , Animales , Apomorfina , Ácido Aspártico Endopeptidasas , Secuencia de Bases , Conducta Animal , Northern Blotting/métodos , Western Blotting/métodos , Modelos Animales de Enfermedad , Endopeptidasas/química , Exones , Genotipo , Humanos , Análisis de Secuencia por Matrices de Oligonucleótidos/métodos , Péptido Hidrolasas , Fenotipo , ARN Mensajero/biosíntesis , Ratas , Ratas Wistar , Reacción en Cadena de la Polimerasa de Transcriptasa Inversa/métodos , Esquizofrenia/inducido químicamente , Esquizofrenia/metabolismo , Especificidad de la Especie , Conducta Estereotipada/efectos de los fármacosRESUMEN
The gamma-secretase enzyme complex displays intramembrane catalytic activity toward many type I transmembrane proteins, including the Alzheimer-linked amyloid-beta-protein precursor (APP) and the neuregulin receptor ErbB4. Active gamma-secretase is a tetrameric protein complex consisting of presenilin-1 (or -2), nicastrin, PEN-2, and Aph-1a (or -1b). We have recently discovered that pharmacogenetically bred apomorphine-susceptible Wistar rats (APO-SUS) have only one or two copies of the Aph-1b gene (termed I/I and II/II rats, respectively), whereas their phenotypic counterparts (APO-UNSUS) have three copies (III/III). As a result, APO-SUS rats display reduced Aph-1b expression and a complex phenotype reminiscent of neurodevelopmental disorders. Here we determined in the I/I and III/III rats the gamma-secretase cleavage activity toward the three APP superfamily members, p75 neurotrophin receptor, ErbB4, and neuregulin-2, and found that the cleavage of only a subset of the substrates was changed. Furthermore, the observed differences were restricted to tissues that normally express relatively high Aph-1b compared with Aph-1a levels. Thus, we provide in vivo evidence that subtle alterations in gamma-secretase subunit composition may lead to a variety of affected (neuro)developmental signaling pathways and, consequently, a complex phenotype.