| First Author | Shorrock HK | Year | 2018 |
| Journal | Brain | Volume | 141 |
| Issue | 10 | Pages | 2878-2894 |
| PubMed ID | 30239612 | Mgi Jnum | J:355103 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:7737767 | Doi | 10.1093/brain/awy237 |
| Citation | Shorrock HK, et al. (2018) UBA1/GARS-dependent pathways drive sensory-motor connectivity defects in spinal muscular atrophy. Brain 141(10):2878-2894 |
| abstractText | Deafferentation of motor neurons as a result of defective sensory-motor connectivity is a critical early event in the pathogenesis of spinal muscular atrophy, but the underlying molecular pathways remain unknown. We show that restoration of ubiquitin-like modifier-activating enzyme 1 (UBA1) was sufficient to correct sensory-motor connectivity in the spinal cord of mice with spinal muscular atrophy. Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases, including GARS, were identified as downstream targets of UBA1. Regulation of GARS by UBA1 occurred via a non-canonical pathway independent of ubiquitylation. Dysregulation of UBA1/GARS pathways in spinal muscular atrophy mice disrupted sensory neuron fate, phenocopying GARS-dependent defects associated with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. Sensory neuron fate was corrected following restoration of UBA1 expression and UBA1/GARS pathways in spinal muscular atrophy mice. We conclude that defective sensory motor connectivity in spinal muscular atrophy results from perturbations in a UBA1/GARS pathway that modulates sensory neuron fate, thereby highlighting significant molecular and phenotypic overlap between spinal muscular atrophy and Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. |
