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Science 335 (6071): 926-927

Copyright © 2012 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Cell Death by Glutamine Repeats?

Christopher D. Link, and Tassa K. Saldi

A number of eukaryotic proteins contain stretches of repeating glutamine residues (1). For example, huntingtin pro- tein contains a glutamine-repeat sequence of 6 to 35 residues, and prion protein has a domain rich in glutamine and asparagine residues (Q/N-rich domain). Expansion of the glutamine repeat in huntingtin and at least seven other proteins results in neurodegenerative disease (2), whereas conformational changes in prion protein cause a range of spongiform encephalopathies (3). Glutamine repeats and Q/N-rich domains can form α-helical and coiled-coil secondary structures, driving protein aggregation. Aggregation of numerous disease-associated proteins that do not contain polyglutamine domains has been associated with neurodegeneration (such as the β-amyloid peptide and the tau protein in Alzheimer's disease). Thus, the presence of glutamine-rich domains in proteins associated with neurodegeneration could be due to their ability to induce protein aggregation per se. Alternatively, glutaminerich proteins could have a "natural role" in inducing cell death that becomes dysregulated in neurodegenerative disease. On page 970 of this issue, Blum et al. (4) identify a Q/N-rich protein that aids in the programmed cell death of a specific cell in the model nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. This result provides support for the "natural role" explanation for the association of glutamine-rich proteins and neurodegeneration.

Institute for Behavioral Genetics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.

E-mail: linkc{at}colorado.edu

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Science Signaling. ISSN 1937-9145 (online), 1945-0877 (print). Pre-2008: Science's STKE. ISSN 1525-8882