NAD+ salvage pathway proteins suppress proteotoxicity in yeast models of neurodegeneration by promoting the clearance of misfolded/oligomerized proteins

Increased levels of nicotinamide/nicotinic acid mononucleotide adenylyltransferase (NMNAT) act as a powerful suppressor of Wallerian degeneration and ataxin- and tau-induced neurodegeneration in flies and mice. However, the nature of the suppression mechanism/s remains controversial. Here, we show that in yeast models of proteinopathies, overexpression of the NMNAT yeast homologs, NMA1 and NMA2, suppresses polyglutamine (PolyQ) and -synuclein-induced cytotoxicities. Unexpectedly, overexpression of other genes in the salvage pathway for NAD biosynthesis, including QNS1, NPT1 and PNC1 also protected against proteotoxicity. Our data revealed that in all cases, this mechanism involves extensive clearance of the non-native protein. Importantly, we demonstrate that suppression by NMA1 does not require the presence of a functional salvage pathway for NAD biosynthesis, SIR2 or an active mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) system. Our results imply the existence of histone deacetylase- and OXPHOS-independent crosstalk between the proteins in the salvage pathway for NAD biosynthesis and the proteasome that can be manipulated to achieve cellular protection against proteotoxic stress.