MED13 and glycolysis are conserved modifiers of α-synuclein-associated neurodegeneration

α-Synuclein (α-syn) is important in synucleinopathies such as Parkinson's disease (PD). While genome-wide association studies (GWASs) of synucleinopathies have identified many risk loci, the underlying genes have not been shown for most loci. Using Drosophila, we screened 3,471 mutant chromosom...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ren, Mengda, Yang, Ying, Heng, Kelsey Hwee Yee, Ng, Lu Yi, Chong, Claris Yuin-Yi, Ng, Yan Ting, Gorur-Shandilya, Srinivas, Lee, Rachel Min Qi, Lim, Kah Leong, Zhang, Jing, Koh, Tong-Wey
Other Authors: Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine)
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/164883
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
Description
Summary:α-Synuclein (α-syn) is important in synucleinopathies such as Parkinson's disease (PD). While genome-wide association studies (GWASs) of synucleinopathies have identified many risk loci, the underlying genes have not been shown for most loci. Using Drosophila, we screened 3,471 mutant chromosomes for genetic modifiers of α-synuclein and identified 12 genes. Eleven modifiers have human orthologs associated with diseases, including MED13 and CDC27, which lie within PD GWAS loci. Drosophila Skd/Med13 and glycolytic enzymes are co-upregulated by α-syn-associated neurodegeneration. While elevated α-syn compromises mitochondrial function, co-expressing skd/Med13 RNAi and α-syn synergistically increase the ratio of oxidized-to-reduced glutathione. The resulting neurodegeneration can be suppressed by overexpressing a glycolytic enzyme or treatment with deferoxamine, suggesting that compensatory glycolysis is neuroprotective. In addition, the functional relationship between α-synuclein, MED13, and glycolytic enzymes is conserved between flies and mice. We propose that hypoxia-inducible factor and MED13 are part of a druggable pathway for PD.