Development of transgenic Caenorhabditis elegans expressing human transthyretin as a model for drug screening.

ABSTRACT: Familial amyloid polyneuropathy is a hereditary systemic amyloidosis caused by a mutation in the transthyretin (TTR) gene. Amyloid deposits in tissues of patients contain not only full-length TTR but also C-terminal TTR fragments. However, in vivo models to evaluate the pathogenicity of TTR fragments have not yet been developed. Here, we generated transgenic Caenorhabditis elegans strains expressing several types of TTR fragments or full-length TTR fused to enhanced green fluorescent protein in the body wall muscle cells and analyzed the phenotypes of the worms. The transgenic strain expressing residues 81-127 of TTR, which included the β-strands F and H, formed aggregates and caused defective worm motility and a significantly shortened lifespan compared with other strains. These findings

SUBMITTER: Tsuda Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6294829 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature