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Updated: Dec 25, 2025

A Phenotyping Regimen for Genetically Modified Mice Used to Study Genes Implicated in Human Diseases of Aging
Published on: July 14, 2016
The function of bacterial HtrA is evolutionally conserved in mammalian HtrA2/Omi
Hea-Jong Chung1,2, Mohammad Abu Hena Mostofa Jamal1,3, Seong-Tshool Hong4
1Department of Biomedical Sciences and Institute for Medical Science, Chonbuk National University Medical School, Jeonju, Chonbuk, 54907, South Korea.
Abstract:
Although the malfunction of HtrA2/Omi leads to Parkinson's disease (PD), the underlying mechanism has remained unknown. Here, we showed that HtrA2/Omi specifically removed oligomeric α-Syn but not monomeric α-Syn to protect oligomeric α-Syn-induced neurodegeneration. Experiments using mnd2 mice indicated that HtrA2/Omi degraded oligomeric α-Syn specifically without affecting monomers. Transgenic Drosophila melanogaster experiments of the co-expression α-Syn and HtrA2/Omi and expression of genes individually also confirmed that pan-neuronal expression of HtrA2/Omi completely rescued Parkinsonism in the α-Syn-induced PD Drosophila model by specifically removing oligomeric α-Syn. HtrA2/Omi maintained the health and integrity of the brain and extended the life span of transgenic flies. Because HtrA2/Omi specifically degraded oligomeric α-Syn, co-expression of HtrA2/Omi and α-Syn in Drosophila eye maintained a healthy retina, while the expression of α-Syn induced retinal degeneration. This work showed that the bacterial function of HtrA to degrade toxic misfolded proteins is evolutionarily conserved in mammalian brains as HtrA2/Omi.
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