Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Nervous System Diseases Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Disease Modeling

PDF

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Neurodegeneration

Articles 1 - 1 of 1

Full-Text Articles in Nervous System Diseases

Role Of The Gcn5 Histone Acetyltransferase In Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 7 And In Immature Neurons, Yi Chun Chen Dec 2011

Role Of The Gcn5 Histone Acetyltransferase In Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 7 And In Immature Neurons, Yi Chun Chen

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Spinocerebellar Ataxia type 7 (SCA7) is a neurodegenerative disease caused by expansion of a CAG repeat encoding a polyglutamine tract in ATXN7, a component of the SAGA histone acetyltransferase (HAT) complex. Previous studies provided conflicting evidence regarding the effects of polyQ-ATXN7 on the activity of Gcn5, the HAT catalytic subunit of SAGA. Here I showed that reducing Gcn5 expression accelerates both cerebellar and retinal degeneration in a mouse model of SCA7. Deletion of Gcn5 in Purkinje cells in mice expressing wild type Atxn7, however, causes only mild ataxia and does not lead to the early lethality observed in SCA7 mice. …