From the baker to the bedside: yeast models of Parkinson’s disease
Authors:Regina Menezes1,2, Sandra Tenreiro3,5, Diana Macedo2, Cláudia N. Santos1,2, Tiago Fleming Outeiro4,5,6
doi: 10.15698/mic2015.08.219
Volume 2, pp. 262 to 279, published 27/07/2015.
1 Instituto de Biologia Experimental e Tecnológica, Apartado 12, Oeiras 2781-901, Portugal.
2 Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier, Av. da República, 2780-157 Oeiras, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal.
3 Instituto de Medicina Molecular, Av. Prof. Egas Moniz, Lisboa 1649-028, Portugal.
4 Instituto de Fisiologia, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa 1649-028, Portugal.
5 CEDOC – Chronic Diseases Research Center, Faculdade de Ciências Médicas, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Campo dos Mártires da Pátria, 130, Lisboa 1169-056, Portugal.
6 Department of NeuroDegeneration and Restorative Research, University Medical Center Göttingen, Waldweg 33, Göttingen 37073, Germany.
Keywords:
protein misfolding, neurodegeneration, alpha-synuclein, Parkinson’s disease, synucleinopathies
Corresponding Author(s):
Conflict of interest statement:
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Please cite this article as:
Regina Menezes, Sandra Tenreiro, Diana Macedo, Cláudia N. Santos, Tiago Fleming Outeiro (2015). From the baker to the bedside: yeast models of Parkinson's disease. Microbial Cell 2(8): 262-279.
© 2015 Menezes et al. This is an open-access article released under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which allows the unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are acknowledged.
Abstract:
The baker’s yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been extensively explored for our understanding of fundamental cell biology processes highly conserved in the eukaryotic kingdom. In this context, they have proven invaluable in the study of complex mechanisms such as those involved in a variety of human disorders. Here, we first provide a brief historical perspective on the emergence of yeast as an experimental model and on how the field evolved to exploit the potential of the model for tackling the intricacies of various human diseases. In particular, we focus on existing yeast models of the molecular underpinnings of Parkinson’s disease (PD), focusing primarily on the central role of protein quality control systems. Finally, we compile and discuss the major discoveries derived from these studies, highlighting their far-reaching impact on the elucidation of PD-associated mechanisms as well as in the identification of candidate therapeutic targets and compounds with therapeutic potential.