Zebrafish atlastin controls motility and spinal motor axon architecture via inhibition of the BMP pathway

TY - JOUR

T1 - Zebrafish atlastin controls motility and spinal motor axon architecture via inhibition of the BMP pathway

AU - Fassier, Coralie

AU - Hutt, James A.

AU - Scholpp, Steffen

AU - Lumsden, Andrew

AU - Giros, Bruno

AU - Nothias, Fatiha

AU - Schneider-Maunoury, Sylvie

AU - Houart, Corinne

AU - Hazan, Jamile

PY - 2010/11

Y1 - 2010/11

N2 - To better understand hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP), we characterized the function of atlastin, a protein that is frequently involved in juvenile forms of HSP, by analyzing loss- and gain-of-function phenotypes in the developing zebrafish. We found that knockdown of the gene for atlastin (atl1) caused a severe decrease in larval mobility that was preceded by abnormal architecture of spinal motor axons and was associated with a substantial upregulation of the bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling pathway. Overexpression analyses confirmed that atlastin inhibits BMP signaling. In primary cultures of zebrafish spinal neurons, Atlastin partially colocalized with type I BMP receptors in late endosomes distributed along neurites, which suggests that atlastin may regulate BMP receptor trafficking. Finally, genetic or pharmacological inhibition of BMP signaling was sufficient to rescue the loss of mobility and spinal motor axon defects of atl1 morphants, emphasizing the importance of fine-tuning the balance of BMP signaling for vertebrate motor axon architecture and stability.

AB - To better understand hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP), we characterized the function of atlastin, a protein that is frequently involved in juvenile forms of HSP, by analyzing loss- and gain-of-function phenotypes in the developing zebrafish. We found that knockdown of the gene for atlastin (atl1) caused a severe decrease in larval mobility that was preceded by abnormal architecture of spinal motor axons and was associated with a substantial upregulation of the bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling pathway. Overexpression analyses confirmed that atlastin inhibits BMP signaling. In primary cultures of zebrafish spinal neurons, Atlastin partially colocalized with type I BMP receptors in late endosomes distributed along neurites, which suggests that atlastin may regulate BMP receptor trafficking. Finally, genetic or pharmacological inhibition of BMP signaling was sufficient to rescue the loss of mobility and spinal motor axon defects of atl1 morphants, emphasizing the importance of fine-tuning the balance of BMP signaling for vertebrate motor axon architecture and stability.

U2 - 10.1038/nn.2662

DO - 10.1038/nn.2662

M3 - Article

SN - 1546-1726

VL - 13

SP - 1380

EP - 1387

JO - Nature Neuroscience

JF - Nature Neuroscience

IS - 11

ER -