Neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, and motor neuron diseases are fatal human pathologies caused by poorly understood aberrant cellular and molecular mechanisms. Aging constitutes a substantial risk factor for the development of almost all neurodegenerative conditions, causing a slow and progressive decline of numerous cellular functions. Among those, misfolding and aggregation of disease-associated proteins, insufficient proteasomal and/or autophagic protein degradation, impaired mitochondrial function as well as deregulation of distinct programmed cell death pathways are discussed to critically contribute to the loss of neuronal activity underlying neurodegeneration. As these processes are highly conserved from humans to yeast, numerous yeast models have been developed and successfully used to dissect cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying neurodegeneration. This unicellular eukaryote allows quick and comprehensive genome-wide and pharmacological screening and represents a major model organism for aging research.
This Research Topic welcomes the submission of manuscripts (research articles, reports, reviews, or methods) dealing with yeast models for any neurodegenerative disorder. This includes yeast models ectopically expressing human neurotoxic proteins (e.g. a-synuclein, TDP-43), yeast models analyzing the role of yeast orthologues of human disease-associated proteins (e.g., Cdc48/VCP, Yfh1/Frataxin), as well as studies that investigate the molecular mechanisms of distinct environmental toxins and drugs that have been implicated in neurodegenerative processes (e.g. paraquate, rotenone). Thereby, any aspects potentially relevant for neurodegeneration are highly appreciated, such as protein misfolding, aggregation, and clearance, vesicular trafficking, mitochondrial contribution, programmed cell death, RNA biology, and other aspects.
Neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, and motor neuron diseases are fatal human pathologies caused by poorly understood aberrant cellular and molecular mechanisms. Aging constitutes a substantial risk factor for the development of almost all neurodegenerative conditions, causing a slow and progressive decline of numerous cellular functions. Among those, misfolding and aggregation of disease-associated proteins, insufficient proteasomal and/or autophagic protein degradation, impaired mitochondrial function as well as deregulation of distinct programmed cell death pathways are discussed to critically contribute to the loss of neuronal activity underlying neurodegeneration. As these processes are highly conserved from humans to yeast, numerous yeast models have been developed and successfully used to dissect cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying neurodegeneration. This unicellular eukaryote allows quick and comprehensive genome-wide and pharmacological screening and represents a major model organism for aging research.
This Research Topic welcomes the submission of manuscripts (research articles, reports, reviews, or methods) dealing with yeast models for any neurodegenerative disorder. This includes yeast models ectopically expressing human neurotoxic proteins (e.g. a-synuclein, TDP-43), yeast models analyzing the role of yeast orthologues of human disease-associated proteins (e.g., Cdc48/VCP, Yfh1/Frataxin), as well as studies that investigate the molecular mechanisms of distinct environmental toxins and drugs that have been implicated in neurodegenerative processes (e.g. paraquate, rotenone). Thereby, any aspects potentially relevant for neurodegeneration are highly appreciated, such as protein misfolding, aggregation, and clearance, vesicular trafficking, mitochondrial contribution, programmed cell death, RNA biology, and other aspects.
