HAP1-HUNTINGTIN INTERACTIONS DO NOT CONTRIBUTE TO THE MOLECULAR PATHOLOGY IN HUNTINGTONS-DISEASE TRANSGENIC MICE

HAP1 (huntingtin associated protein) has previously been found to inte ract with huntingtin (htt) in a glutamine length dependent manner and has been proposed to play a role in the cell specific neurodegeneratio n observed in Huntington's disease (HD), We have isolated mouse HAP1 ( hap1) and have shown that expression is not enriched in areas specific ally affected in HD, We hale used the yeast two hybrid system to demon strate that htt amino acids 171-230 are necessary for the hap1-htt bin ding and that hap1 does not interact with the transgene exon 1 protein in a transgenic model of HD. (C) 1998 Federation of European Biochemi cal Societies.