摘要

alpha-synuclein (alpha-SYN) is a major pathologic contributor to Parkinson's disease (PD). Multiplication of alpha-SYN encoding gene (SNCA) is correlated with early onset of the disease underlining the significance of its transcriptional regulation. Thus, monitoring endogenous transcription of SNCA is of utmost importance to understand PD pathology. We developed a stable cell line expressing alpha-SYN endogenously tagged with NanoLuc luciferase reporter using CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing. This allows efficient measurement of transcriptional activity of alpha-SYN in its native epigenetic landscape which is not achievable using exogenous transfection-based luciferase reporter assays. The NanoLuc activity faithfully monitored the transcriptional regulation of SNCA following treatment with different drugs known to regulate alpha-SYN expression; while exogenous promoter-reporter assays failed to reproduce the similar outcomes. To our knowledge, this is the first report showing endogenous monitoring of alpha-SYN transcription, thus making it an efficient drug screening tool that can be used for therapeutic intervention in PD.

  • 出版日期2017-4-4