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Loss Of Axonal Mitochondria Promotes Tau-Mediated Neurodegeneration And Alzheimer's Disease-Related Tau Phosphorylation Via Par-1., Kanae Iijima-Ando, Michiko Sekiya, Akiko Maruko-Otake, Yosuke Ohtake, Emiko Suzuki, Bingwei Lu, Koichi M Iijima

Farber Institute for Neuroscience Faculty Papers

Abnormal phosphorylation and toxicity of a microtubule-associated protein tau are involved in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD); however, what pathological conditions trigger tau abnormality in AD is not fully understood. A reduction in the number of mitochondria in the axon has been implicated in AD. In this study, we investigated whether and how loss of axonal mitochondria promotes tau phosphorylation and toxicity in vivo. Using transgenic Drosophila expressing human tau, we found that RNAi-mediated knockdown of milton or Miro, an adaptor protein essential for axonal transport of mitochondria, enhanced human tau-induced neurodegeneration. Tau phosphorylation at an AD-related site Ser262 …