Journal
CHANNELS
Volume 9, Issue 1, Pages 14-20Publisher
TAYLOR & FRANCIS INC
DOI: 10.4161/19336950.2014.981439
Keywords
autophagy; calcium homeostasis; calphotin; Drosophila; ER-stress; photoreceptor cells
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Funding
- National Eye Institute [R01 EY 03529]
- Israel Science Foundation (ISF)
- Deutsch-lsraelische Projekt-kooperation (DIP)
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Cytoplasmic Ca2+ overload is known to trigger autophagy and ER-stress. Furthermore, ER-stress and autophagy are commonly associated with degenerative pathologies, but their role in disease progression is still a matter of debate, in part, owing to limitations of existing animal model systems. The Drosophila eye is a widely used model system for studying neurodegenerative pathologies. Recently, we characterized the Drosophila protein, Calphotin, as a cytosolic immobile Ca2+ buffer, which participates in Ca2+ homeostasis in Drosophila photoreceptor cells. Exposure of calphotin hypomorph flies to continuous illumination, which induces Ca2+ influx into photoreceptor cells, resulted in severe Ca2+-dependent degeneration. Here we show that this degeneration is autophagy and ER-stress related. Our studies thus provide a new model in which genetic manipulations trigger changes in cellular Ca2+ distribution. This model constitutes a framework for further investigations into the link between cytosolic Ca2+, ER-stress and autophagy in human disorders and diseases.
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