Roles of α-Synuclein and Disease-Associated Factors in Drosophila Models of Parkinson's Disease

• Published in: International journal of molecular sciences Vol. 23; no. 3; p. 1519
• Main Authors: Suzuki, Mari, Sango, Kazunori, Nagai, Yoshitaka
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 28.01.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: alpha-Synuclein - genetics; alpha-Synuclein - metabolism; Alzheimer's disease; Animal cognition; Animals; Animals, Genetically Modified; Automation; Disease Models, Animal; Drosophila; Drosophila melanogaster - genetics; Drosophila melanogaster - growth & development; Ectopic expression; Fruit flies; Genes; Genetic analysis; Genomes; Humans; Insects; Life span; Microscopy; Mutation; Nervous system; Neurodegeneration; Neurons; Parkinson Disease - genetics; Parkinson Disease - metabolism; Parkinson's disease; Pathogenesis; Proteins; Review; Synuclein; α-Synuclein; α-Synuclein; Drosophila; Parkinson’s disease
• ISSN: 1422-0067; 1661-6596; 1422-0067
• DOI: 10.3390/ijms23031519

α-Synuclein (αSyn) plays a major role in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD), which is the second most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer's disease. The accumulation of αSyn is a pathological hallmark of PD, and mutations in the gene encoding αSyn cause familial forms of PD. Moreover, the ectopic expression of αSyn has been demonstrated to mimic several key aspects of PD in experimental model systems. Among the various model systems, has several advantages for modeling human neurodegenerative diseases. has a well-defined nervous system, and numerous tools have been established for its genetic analyses. The rapid generation cycle and short lifespan of renders them suitable for high-throughput analyses. PD model flies expressing αSyn have contributed to our understanding of the roles of various disease-associated factors, including genetic and nongenetic factors, in the pathogenesis of PD. In this review, we summarize the molecular pathomechanisms revealed to date using αSyn-expressing models of PD, and discuss the possibilities of using these models to demonstrate the biological significance of disease-associated factors.