Huntington’s disease (HD) is an incurable illness that causes a progressive loss of coordination and cognitive ability. Patients also develop choreaic (spastic and uncoordinated) movements. HD is one of many neurodegenerative diseases in which a mutant protein accumulates and aggregates in the brain. In the case of HD, the huntingtin protein accumulates in the nucleus and cytoplasm of neurons, thus, one suggested therapeutic strategy is to promote clearance and degradation of this protein. Using primary rat neuron cultures and a transgenic C. elegans model of HD, Jeong et al. demonstrate that acetylation of mutant huntingtin has a neuroprotective effect against toxicity and neurodegeneration. This acetylation improves huntingtin clearance by targeting it for autophagic degradation, thus suggesting a strategy for removing mutant protein in HD.
Neuroscience: HD protein clearance via acetylation
Neuroscience: HD protein clearance via acetylation. Dis Model Mech 30 April 2009; 2 (5-6): 198. doi:
Download citation file:
Advertisement
Cited by
Valuing peer review at Disease Models & Mechanisms
We would like to thank our peer reviewers who contributed their time and expertise in 2023. In her latest Editorial, Editor-in-Chief Liz Patton has outlined why we continue to value our peer reviewers dedication.
Subject collection: Building advocacy into research
DMM’s new series - Building advocacy into research - features interviews, ‘The Patient’s Voice’, with patients and advocates for a range of disease types, with the aim of supporting the highest quality research for the benefit of all patients affected by disease.
Travelling Fellowships for early-career researchers
DMM and its sister journals offer Travelling Fellowships of up to £3,000 to graduate students and post-doctoral researchers wishing to make collaborative visits to other laboratories. Find out more about our Travelling Fellowships and read stories from previous grant recipients.
Read & Publish Open Access publishing: what authors say
We have had great feedback from authors who have benefitted from our Read & Publish agreement with their institution and have been able to publish Open Access with us without paying an APC. Read what they had to say.
The Forest of Biologists
Our Publisher Claire Moulton recently visited the two Woodland Trust UK sites where we are planting new native trees for published Research and Review papers and protecting ancient woodland on behalf of our peer reviewers.
Other journals from
The Company of Biologists