Counter-regulation of alpha- and beta-synuclein expression at the transcriptional level

• Published in: Molecular and cellular neuroscience 2013-11, Vol.57, p.33-41
• Main Authors: Wright, Josephine A., McHugh, Patrick C., Pan, Siyi, Cunningham, Adam, Brown, David R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: alpha-Synuclein - genetics; alpha-Synuclein - metabolism; beta-Synuclein - genetics; beta-Synuclein - metabolism; Cell Line, Tumor; Humans; NRF2; Parkinson's disease; RNA, Messenger - genetics; RNA, Messenger - metabolism; Synuclein; Transcription factors; Transcription Factors - genetics; Transcription Factors - metabolism; Transcriptional Activation; ZSCAN
• ISSN: 1044-7431; 1095-9327
• DOI: 10.1016/j.mcn.2013.09.002

Alpha-synuclein is a cytosolic protein associated with a range of diseases including Parkinson's disease. In these diseases alpha-synuclein aggregates and this is believed to play a causative role in disease progression. Alpha-synuclein aggregation has been suggested to be caused by increased expression levels and has also been suggested to be countered by increased beta-synuclein expression. In this regard, strategies to counter-regulate the expression of the synucleins by increasing beta-synuclein expression relative to alpha-synuclein may be beneficial in preventing disease progression. We therefore studied the regulation of alpha-synuclein to try to identify pathways that might counter-regulate the synucleins. We identified members of the ZSCAN family of transcription factors as specific repressors of alpha-synuclein. In particular ZSCAN21 was found to both repress alpha-synuclein and increase beta-synuclein expression. These findings support the notion that a single pathway in the cell can counter-regulate the expression of the synucleins. Support for this came from experiments that showed that ZSCAN21 expression decreases alpha-synuclein aggregation in the cells.