The biological function of the Huntingtin protein and its relevance to Huntington's Disease pathology

available in PMC 2011 December 14.

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Schulte, Joost (Contributor), Littleton, J. Troy (Contributor)
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biology (Contributor), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences (Contributor), Picower Institute for Learning and Memory (Contributor)
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Research Trends, 2012-10-18T20:35:53Z.
Subjects:
Online Access:Get fulltext
LEADER 02240 am a22002413u 4500
001 74121
042 |a dc 
100 1 0 |a Schulte, Joost  |e author 
100 1 0 |a Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biology  |e contributor 
100 1 0 |a Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences  |e contributor 
100 1 0 |a Picower Institute for Learning and Memory  |e contributor 
100 1 0 |a Littleton, J. Troy  |e contributor 
100 1 0 |a Schulte, Joost  |e contributor 
700 1 0 |a Littleton, J. Troy  |e author 
245 0 0 |a The biological function of the Huntingtin protein and its relevance to Huntington's Disease pathology 
260 |b Research Trends,   |c 2012-10-18T20:35:53Z. 
856 |z Get fulltext  |u http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/74121 
520 |a available in PMC 2011 December 14. 
520 |a Huntington's Disease is an adult-onset dominant heritable disorder characterized by progressive psychiatric disruption, cognitive deficits, and loss of motor coordination. It is caused by expansion of a polyglutamine tract within the N-terminal domain of the Huntingtin protein. The mutation confers a toxic gain-of-function phenotype, resulting in neurodegeneration that is most severe in the striatum. Increasing experimental evidence from genetic model systems such as mice, zebrafish, and Drosophila suggest that polyglutamine expansion within the Huntingtin protein also disrupts its normal biological function. Huntingtin is widely expressed during development and has a complex and dynamic distribution within cells. It is predicted to be a protein of pleiotropic function, interacting with a large number of effector proteins to mediate a host of physiological processes. In this review, we highlight the wildtype function of Huntingtin, focusing on its postdevelopmental roles in axonal trafficking, regulation of gene transcription, and cell survival. We then discuss how potential loss-of-function phenotypes resulting in polyglutamine expansion within Huntingtin may have direct relevance to the underlying pathophysiology of Huntington's Disease. 
520 |a National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH Grant NS052203) 
546 |a en_US 
655 7 |a Article 
773 |t Current Trends in Neurology