Evidence for a recruitment and sequestration mechanism in Huntington's disease

Polyglutamine (polyQ) extension in the coding sequence of mutant huntingtin causes neuronal degeneration associated with the formation of insoluble po lya aggregates in Huntington's disease. We constructed an array of CAG/CAA triplet repeats, coding for a range of 25-300 glutamine residues, which was used to generate expression constructs with minimal flanking sequence. Nor mal-length (25 glutamine residues) polyQ did not aggregate when transfected alone. Remarkably when co-transfected with extended (100-300 glutamine res idues) polya tracts, normal-length polya-containing peptides were trapped i n insoluble detergent-resistant aggregates. Aggregates formed in the cytopl asm but were visible in the nucleus only when a strong nuclear localization signal was present. Intermolecular interactions between polya tracts media ted the localization of heterogeneous aggregates into the nucleolus by nucl eolin protein. Our results suggest that extended polyQ can interact with ce llular polyQ-containing proteins, transport them to ectopic cellular locati ons, and form heterogeneous polya aggregates. We provide evidence for a rec ruitment mechanism for pathogenesis in the polyQ neurodegenerative disorder s. In susceptible cells! extended polyQ tracts in huntingtin might interact with and sequester or deplete certain endogenous polyQ-containing cellular proteins.