State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, Ministry of Education Frontiers Center for Brain Science, and Institutes of Brain Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China.
Neurosci Bull. 2021 Dec;37(12):1658-1670. doi: 10.1007/s12264-021-00755-z. Epub 2021 Jul 26.
Mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling governs important physiological and pathological processes key to cellular life. Loss of mTOR negative regulators and subsequent over-activation of mTOR signaling are major causes underlying epileptic encephalopathy. Our previous studies showed that UBTOR/KIAA1024/MINAR1 acts as a negative regulator of mTOR signaling, but whether UBTOR plays a role in neurological diseases remains largely unknown. We therefore examined a zebrafish model and found that ubtor disruption caused increased spontaneous embryonic movement and neuronal activity in spinal interneurons, as well as the expected hyperactivation of mTOR signaling in early zebrafish embryos. In addition, mutant ubtor larvae showed increased sensitivity to the convulsant pentylenetetrazol, and both the motor activity and the neuronal activity were up-regulated. These phenotypic abnormalities in zebrafish embryos and larvae were rescued by treatment with the mTORC1 inhibitor rapamycin. Taken together, our findings show that ubtor regulates motor hyperactivity and epilepsy-like behaviors by elevating neuronal activity and activating mTOR signaling.
雷帕霉素靶蛋白(mTOR)信号通路调控着细胞生命中重要的生理和病理过程。mTOR 信号通路的负调控因子丧失和随后的过度激活是导致癫痫性脑病的主要原因。我们之前的研究表明,UBTOR/KIAA1024/MINAR1 作为 mTOR 信号通路的负调控因子发挥作用,但 UBTO 是否在神经疾病中发挥作用尚不清楚。因此,我们构建了斑马鱼模型,发现 ubtor 缺失导致自发性胚胎运动和脊髓中间神经元的神经元活动增加,以及早期斑马鱼胚胎中 mTOR 信号的过度激活。此外,突变型 ubtor 幼虫对致惊厥剂戊四氮的敏感性增加,运动活性和神经元活性均上调。mTORC1 抑制剂雷帕霉素处理可挽救斑马鱼胚胎和幼虫的这些表型异常。总之,我们的研究结果表明,UBTOR 通过增加神经元活性和激活 mTOR 信号通路来调节运动过度活跃和癫痫样行为。