Pathogenic LRRK2 control of primary cilia and Hedgehog signaling in neurons and astrocytes of mouse brain

  1. Shahzad S Khan
  2. Yuriko Sobu
  3. Herschel S Dhekne
  4. Francesca Tonelli
  5. Kerryn Berndsen
  6. Dario R Alessi
  7. Suzanne R Pfeffer  Is a corresponding author
  1. Stanford University School of Medicine, United States
  2. University of Dundee, United Kingdom

Abstract

Activating LRRK2 mutations cause Parkinson's disease, and pathogenic LRRK2 kinase interferes with ciliogenesis. Previously, we showed that cholinergic interneurons of the dorsal striatum lose their cilia in R1441C LRRK2 mutant mice (Dhekne et al., 2018). Here, we show that cilia loss is seen as early as 10 weeks of age in these mice and also in two other mouse strains carrying the most common human G2019S LRRK2 mutation. Loss of the PPM1H phosphatase that is specific for LRRK2-phosphorylated Rab GTPases yields the same cilia loss phenotype seen in mice expressing pathogenic LRRK2 kinase, strongly supporting a connection between Rab GTPase phosphorylation and cilia loss. Moreover, astrocytes throughout the striatum show a ciliation defect in all LRRK2 and PPM1H mutant models examined. Hedgehog signaling requires cilia, and loss of cilia in LRRK2 mutant rodents correlates with dysregulation of Hedgehog signaling as monitored by in situ hybridization of Gli1 and Gdnf transcripts. Dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra secrete a Hedgehog signal that is sensed in the striatum to trigger neuroprotection; our data support a model in which LRRK2 and PPM1H mutant mice show altered responses to critical Hedgehog signals in the nigrostriatal pathway.

Data availability

All primary data associated with each figure has been deposited in the Dryad repository and can be found at https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.76hdr7sxx.

The following data sets were generated

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Shahzad S Khan

    Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-3962-0226
  2. Yuriko Sobu

    Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  3. Herschel S Dhekne

    Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-2240-1230
  4. Francesca Tonelli

    MRC Protein Phosphorylation and Ubiquitylation Unit, University of Dundee, Dundee, United Kingdom
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-4600-6630
  5. Kerryn Berndsen

    MRC Protein Phosphorylation and Ubiquitylation Unit, University of Dundee, Dundee, United Kingdom
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-9353-7565
  6. Dario R Alessi

    MRC Protein Phosphorylation and Ubiquitylation Unit, University of Dundee, Dundee, United Kingdom
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-2140-9185
  7. Suzanne R Pfeffer

    Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, United States
    For correspondence
    pfeffer@stanford.edu
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-6462-984X

Funding

Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research (17298 & 6986)

  • Shahzad S Khan
  • Yuriko Sobu
  • Herschel S Dhekne
  • Francesca Tonelli
  • Kerryn Berndsen
  • Dario R Alessi
  • Suzanne R Pfeffer

Aligning Science Across Parkinson's (ASAP-000463)

  • Shahzad S Khan
  • Yuriko Sobu
  • Herschel S Dhekne
  • Francesca Tonelli
  • Kerryn Berndsen
  • Dario R Alessi
  • Suzanne R Pfeffer

National Institutes of Health (DK37332)

  • Suzanne R Pfeffer

Medical Research Council (MC_UU_12016/2)

  • Dario R Alessi

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Ethics

Animal experimentation: All animal studies were performed in accordance with the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act of 1986 and regulations set by the University of Dundee, the U.K. Home Office, and the Administrative Panel on Laboratory Animal Care at Stanford University.

Copyright

© 2021, Khan et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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  1. Shahzad S Khan
  2. Yuriko Sobu
  3. Herschel S Dhekne
  4. Francesca Tonelli
  5. Kerryn Berndsen
  6. Dario R Alessi
  7. Suzanne R Pfeffer
(2021)
Pathogenic LRRK2 control of primary cilia and Hedgehog signaling in neurons and astrocytes of mouse brain
eLife 10:e67900.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.67900

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https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.67900