Axonal and synaptic degeneration is a hallmark of peripheral neuropathy, brain injury, and neurodegenerative disease. Axonal degeneration has been proposed to be mediated by an active autodestruction program, akin to apoptotic cell death; however, loss-of-function mutations capable of potently blocking axon self-destruction have not been described. Using a forward genetic screen in Drosophila, we identified that loss of the Toll receptor adaptor dSarm (sterile a/Armadillo/Toll-Interleukin receptor homology domain protein) cell-autonomously suppresses Wallerian degeneration for weeks after axotomy. Severed mouse Sarm1 null axons exhibit remarkable long-term survival both in vivo and in vitro, indicating that Sarm1 prodegenerative signaling is conserved in mammals. Our results provide direct evidence that axons actively promote their own destruction after injury and identify dSarm/Sarm1 as a member of an ancient axon death signaling pathway. This death signaling pathway can be activated without injury by loss of the N-terminal self-inhibitory domain, resulting in spontaneous neurodegeneration. To investigate the role of axon self-destruction in disease, we assessed the effects of Sarm1 loss on neurodegeneration in the SOD1-G93A model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a lethal condition resulting in progressive motor neuron death and paralysis. Loss of Sarm1 potently protects motor axons and synapses from degeneration, but only extends animal survival by 10%. Thus, there appears to be at least two driving forces in place during ALS disease progression: (1) Sarm1 mediated axon death, and (2) cell body destruction via some unknown mechanism.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is an adult-onset progressive neurodegenerative disease that causes degeneration in both upper and lower motor neurons. ALS progresses relentlessly after the onset of the disease, with most patients die within 3-5 years of diagnosis, largely due to respiratory failure. Since SOD1 became the first gene whose mutations were associated with ALS in 1993, more than 17 ALS causative genes have been identified. Among them, TAR DNA-binding protein (TARDBP) lies in the central of ALS pathology mechanism study, because TDP43 proteinopathy is observed not only in familial ALS cases carrying TARDBP mutations, but also in most of the sporadic ALS cases, which account for 90% of the whole ALS population. Several TDP43 overexpression mouse models have been successfully generated to study the gain-of-toxicity mechanism of TDP43 in ALS development, while the investigation of loss-of-function mechanism which could also contribute to ALS still awaits a proper mouse model. The major difficulty in generating TARDBP knock out mouse model lies in the fact that TARDBP is a development essential gene and complete depletion of TDP43 function causes embryonic lethality. In chapter I, I reviewed the recent advances in ALS study. Emphasis was given to ALS mouse models, especially TARDBP ALS mouse model. In Chapter II, I made a Tet-responsive construct that contains mCherry, a fluorescent protein, as an indicator for the expression of the artificial miRNA (amiTDP) residing in the 3’UTR of mCherry and targeting TARDBP. The construct was tested in NSC34 cells and TRE-mCherry-amiTDP43 transgenic mouse was generated with this construct. Crossing TRE-mCherry-amiTDP43 mouse with mPrp-tTA mouse, mCherry expression was successfully induced in mouse forebrain and cerebellum, but not in other tissues including spinal cord. By quantitative real-time PCR, amiTDP43 expression was confirmed to be coupled with mCherry expression. Fluorescent immunostaining revealed that mCherry was expressed in neurons, but not in astrocytes or microglia cells, and that in mCherry positive cells, TDP43 was significantly knocked down. Results from Nissl staining and GFAP immunostaining suggested that decrease of TDP43 in forebrain neuron only was not sufficient to cause neurodegeneration and neuron loss. In chapter III, I investigated the function of Armadillo Containing Protein 4 (ARMC4), which was originally considered ALS causative gene. Our study of the function of CG5155, the possible homolog of ARMC4 in Drosophila, indicated that CG5155 is a male fertility gene that is involved in spermatogenesis. Therefore, we have named this gene Gudu. The transcript of Gudu is highly enriched in adult testes. Knockdown of Gudu by a ubiquitous driver leads to defects in the formation of the individualization complex that is required for spermatid maturation, thereby impairing spermatogenesis. Furthermore, testis-specific knockdown of Gudu by crossing the RNAi lines with Bam-Gal4 driver is sufficient to cause the infertility and defective spermatogenesis. Since Gudu is highly homologous to vertebrate ARMC4, also an Armadillo-repeat-containing protein enriched in testes, our results suggest that Gudu and ARMC4 is a subfamily of Armadillo-repeat containing proteins with an evolutionarily conserved function in spermatogenesis.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of disability worldwide. Annually, 150 to 200/1,000,000 people become disabled as a result of brain trauma. Axonal degeneration is a critical, early event following TBI of all severities but whether axon degeneration is a driver of TBI remains unclear. Molecular pathways underlying the pathology of TBI have not been defined and there is no efficacious treatment for TBI. Despite this significant societal impact, surprisingly little is known about the molecular mechanisms that actively drive axon degeneration in any context and particularly following TBI. Although severe brain injury may cause immediate disruption of axons (primary axotomy), it is now recognized that the most frequent form of traumatic axonal injury (TAI) is mediated by a cascade of events that ultimately result in secondary axonal disconnection (secondary axotomy) within hours to days. Proposed mechanisms include immediate post-traumatic cytoskeletal destabilization as a direct result of mechanical breakage of microtubules, as well as catastrophic local calcium dysregulation resulting in microtubule depolymerization, impaired axonal transport, unmitigated accumulation of cargoes, local axonal swelling, and finally disconnection. The portion of the axon that is distal to the axotomy site remains initially morphologically intact. However, it undergoes sudden rapid fragmentation along its full distal length ~72 h after the original axotomy, a process termed Wallerian degeneration. Remarkably, mice mutant for the Wallerian degeneration slow (Wlds) protein exhibit ~tenfold (for 2–3 weeks) suppressed Wallerian degeneration. Yet, pharmacological replication of the Wlds mechanism has proven difficult. Further, no one has studied whether Wlds protects from TAI. Lastly, owing to Wlds presumed gain-of-function and its absence in wild-type animals, direct evidence in support of a putative endogenous axon death signaling pathway is lacking, which is critical to identify original treatment targets and the development of viable therapeutic approaches. Novel insight into the pathophysiology of Wallerian degeneration was gained by the discovery that mutant Drosophila flies lacking dSarm (sterile a/Armadillo/Toll-Interleukin receptor homology domain protein) cell-autonomously recapitulated the Wlds phenotype. The pro-degenerative function of the dSarm gene (and its mouse homolog Sarm1) is widespread in mammals as shown by in vitro protection of superior cervical ganglion, dorsal root ganglion, and cortical neuron axons, as well as remarkable in-vivo long-term survival (>2 weeks) of transected sciatic mouse Sarm1 null axons. Although the molecular mechanism of function remains to be clarified, its discovery provides direct evidence that Sarm1 is the first endogenous gene required for Wallerian degeneration, driving a highly conserved genetic axon death program. The central goals of this thesis were to determine (1) whether post-traumatic axonal integrity is preserved in mice lacking Sarm1, and (2) whether loss of Sarm1 is associated with improved functional outcome after TBI. I show that mice lacking the mouse Toll receptor adaptor Sarm1 gene demonstrate multiple improved TBI-associated phenotypes after injury in a closed-head mild TBI model. Sarm1-/- mice developed fewer beta amyloid precursor protein (βAPP) aggregates in axons of the corpus callosum after TBI as compared to Sarm1+/+ mice. Furthermore, mice lacking Sarm1 had reduced plasma concentrations of the phosphorylated axonal neurofilament subunit H, indicating that axonal integrity is maintained after TBI. Strikingly, whereas wild type mice exhibited a number of behavioral deficits after TBI, I observed a strong, early preservation of neurological function in Sarm1-/- animals. Finally, using in vivo proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy, I found tissue signatures consistent with substantially preserved neuronal energy metabolism in Sarm1-/- mice compared to controls immediately following TBI. My results indicate that the Sarm1-mediated prodegenerative pathway promotes pathogenesis in TBI and suggest that anti-Sarm1 therapeutics are a viable approach for preserving neurological function after TBI.