UMMS Affiliation
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology; Program in Chemical Biology; Department of Neurobiology; Byrne Lab; Thompson Lab; Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences
Publication Date
2021-06-29
Document Type
Article
Disciplines
Amino Acids, Peptides, and Proteins | Biochemistry | Enzymes and Coenzymes | Nervous System Diseases | Neuroscience and Neurobiology
Abstract
Sterile alpha and toll/interleukin receptor (TIR) motif-containing protein 1 (SARM1) is a neuronally expressed NAD(+) glycohydrolase whose activity is increased in response to stress. NAD(+) depletion triggers axonal degeneration, which is a characteristic feature of neurological diseases. Notably, loss of SARM1 is protective in murine models of peripheral neuropathy and traumatic brain injury. Herein, we report that citrate induces a phase transition that enhances SARM1 activity by ~2000-fold. This phase transition can be disrupted by mutating a residue involved in multimerization, G601P. This mutation also disrupts puncta formation in cells. We further show that citrate induces axonal degeneration in C. elegans that is dependent on the C. elegans orthologue of SARM1 (TIR-1). Notably, citrate induces the formation of larger puncta indicating that TIR-1/SARM1 multimerization is essential for degeneration in vivo. These findings provide critical insights into SARM1 biology with important implications for the discovery of novel SARM1-targeted therapeutics.
Keywords
C. elegans, SARM1, biochemistry, chemical biology, enzymology, kinetics, neuroscience, phase transition, wallerian degeneration
Rights and Permissions
Copyright © 2021, Loring et al. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
DOI of Published Version
10.7554/eLife.66694
Source
Loring HS, Czech VL, Icso JD, O'Connor L, Parelkar SS, Byrne AB, Thompson PR. A phase transition enhances the catalytic activity of SARM1, an NAD+ glycohydrolase involved in neurodegeneration. Elife. 2021 Jun 29;10:e66694. doi: 10.7554/eLife.66694. PMID: 34184985; PMCID: PMC8266388. Link to article on publisher's site
Journal/Book/Conference Title
eLife
Related Resources
PubMed ID
34184985
Repository Citation
Loring HS, Czech VL, Icso JD, O'Connor LC, Parelkar S, Byrne AB, Thompson PR. (2021). A phase transition enhances the catalytic activity of SARM1, an NAD(+) glycohydrolase involved in neurodegeneration. Neurobiology Publications. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.66694. Retrieved from https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/neurobiology_pp/260
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Included in
Amino Acids, Peptides, and Proteins Commons, Biochemistry Commons, Enzymes and Coenzymes Commons, Nervous System Diseases Commons, Neuroscience and Neurobiology Commons