Protein phosphatase 4 coordinates glial membrane recruitment and phagocytic clearance of degenerating axons in Drosophila.

ABSTRACT: Neuronal damage induced by injury, stroke, or neurodegenerative disease elicits swift immune responses from glial cells, including altered gene expression, directed migration to injury sites, and glial clearance of damaged neurons through phagocytic engulfment. Collectively, these responses hinder further cellular damage, but the mechanisms that underlie these important protective glial reactions are still unclear. Here, we show that the evolutionarily conserved trimeric protein phosphatase 4 (PP4) serine/threonine phosphatase complex is a novel set of factors required for proper glial responses to nerve injury in the adult Drosophila brain. Glial-specific knockdown of PP4 results in reduced recruitment of glia to severed axons and delayed glial clearance of degenerating axonal debris. We

SUBMITTER: Winfree LM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5386485 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature