Characterization of Paris in Drosophila melanogaster

Abstract

Parkinson disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative movement disorder that affects 1 to 2% of the human population over the age of 65. This prevalent disease has characteristics including resting tremor, rigidity, bradykinesia and postural instability due to the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta in the brain. Mitochondrial dynamics play a significant role in PD with a balance between surveillance and biogenesis being key. The newly discovered gene Paris has been proposed to be central in the coordination of mitochondrial processes. These processes seem to be controlled by a number of PD associated genes. We have identified CG15436 as an excellent candidate to carry out studies on the Paris function in Drosophila melanogaster. Knockdown of CG15436 reduces longevity and locomotor ability overtime to produce a Paris dependent Drosophila model of PD. As well, CG15436 RNA interference negatively influences neurodevelopment when expressed in the eye. Interestingly, overexpression of CG15436 produces similar results to knockdown of CG15436 in longevity and locomotor assays as well as eye phenotypic expression. Alterations to the expression of the Paris candidate, either through ectopic expression or knockdown seem to result in a suboptimal set of conditions that lead to potential models of PD. As such, CG15436 seems to fulfill the conditions to indicate that it functions as Paris in the Drosophila model system.