An ancestral non-proteolytic role for presenilin proteins in multicellular development of the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum.

ABSTRACT: Mutations in either of two presenilin genes can cause familial Alzheimer's disease. Presenilins have both proteolysis-dependent functions, as components of the γ-secretase complex, and proteolysis-independent functions in signalling. In this study, we investigate a conserved function of human presenilins in the development of the simple model organism Dictyostelium discoideum. We show that the block in Dictyostelium development caused by the ablation of both Dictyostelium presenilins is rescued by the expression of human presenilin 1, restoring the terminal differentiation of multiple cell types. This developmental role is independent of proteolytic activity, because the mutation of both catalytic aspartates does not affect presenilin ability to rescue development, and the ablation of nica

SUBMITTER: Ludtmann MH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3970561 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature