EcoP15I ist ein Vertreter der multifunktionalen, heterooligomeren Typ III Restriktionsendonukleasen. Typ III Restriktionsendonukleasen sind wegen der Lage ihres Spaltortes, ca. 25 bp vom Erkennungsort entfernt, von besonderem Interesse für Anwendungen in der Medizin und funktionellen Genomanalyse. EcoP15I erkennt die DNA-Sequenz 5''-CAGCAG und benötigt für eine effektive DNA-Spaltung zwei invers orientierte Erkennungsorte auf einem DNA-Molekül. Nach dem bisherigen DNA-Translokations-Modell bindet je ein EcoP15I-Protein an je einen Erkennungsort und startet dann durch ATP-Hydrolyse vermittelte DNA-Translokation. Die Kollision der beiden EcoP15I-DNA-Komplexe initiiert die DNA-Doppelstrang-Spaltung. Experimente zur Erkennungsort-Suche von EcoP15I zeigen, dass über längere Distanzen offenbar nicht das "Sliding", sondern ein dreidimensionaler Prozess die bevorzugte Bewegung von EcoP15I an der DNA ist. Eine erhöhte Anzahl von Wiederholungen von CAG-Trinukleotiden (CAG-Repeats) im Exon 1 des Gens für Chorea Huntington (Huntington Disease - HD) führt zur Manifestation dieser neurodegenerativen Erkrankung. Für die Diagnostik der Erkrankung ist die exakte Bestimmung der Anzahl der CAG-Repeats von Bedeutung. Diese Arbeit zeigt die Spaltung von HD Gen Exon 1 DNA durch EcoP15I. Die halbautomatische, hoch-sensitive Analyse dieses Spaltmusters ermöglicht die exakte Bestimmung der Anzahl der CAG-Repeats. Diese Arbeit liefert den ersten Nachweis für die DNA-Translokation durch eine Typ III-Restriktionsendonuklease. Die postulierten EcoP15I-DNA-Schlaufen wurden mit Hilfe der Rasterkraftmikroskopie (SFM) abgebildet. Dadurch wird das DNA-Translokations-Modell der DNA-Spaltung durch EcoP15I bestätigt. Es werden Gemeinsamkeiten und Unterschiede des gesamten DNA-Spaltvorganges der Typ III Restriktionsendonuklease EcoP15I in bezug auf andere Restriktionsendonukleasen diskutiert. / EcoP15I is a multifunctional, hetero-oligomeric Type III restriction enzyme. Type III restriction enzymes are of general interest in medicine and functional genome analysis because they cut DNA 25 bp downstream of their recognition site. EcoP15I recognises the DNA sequence 5`-CAGCAG and needs two inverse oriented recognition sites for effective DNA cleavage. According to the present translocation collision model DNA cleavage was proposed to result from ATP dependent DNA translocation, which is expected to induce DNA loop formation, and collision of two enzyme-DNA complexes. Experiments show that EcoP15 moves rather in a three-dimensional than in a "sliding" process in search for its recognition site. Huntington''s disease (HD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder with autosomal-dominant inheritance. The disease is caused by a CAG trinucleotide repeat expansion located in the first exon of the HD gene. To diagnose the illness the exact determination of the number of CAG repeats is necessary. This study shows that the number of CAG repeats in the HD gene can be determined by restriction of the DNA with the endonuclease EcoP15I and subsequent high-resolution analysis of the restriction fragment pattern using the ALFexpress DNA Analysis System. Here, for the first time DNA translocation by the Type III restriction enzyme EcoP15I is demonstrated. The postulated EcoP15-DNA loops are visualised using scanning force microscopy. This confirms the translocation-collision model for DNA cleavage by EcoP15. Similarities and differences between the DNA cleavage processes of the Type III restriction enzyme EcoP15I and other restriction enzymes are discussed.

Paradoxically enhanced cognitive processes in neurological disorders provide vital clues to understanding neural function. However, what determines whether the neurological damage is impairing or enhancing is unclear. Here we use the performance of patients with two disorders of the striatum to dissociate mechanisms underlying cognitive enhancement and impairment resulting from damage to the same system. In a two-choice decision task, Huntington\'s disease patients were faster and less error prone than controls, yet a patient with the rare condition of benign hereditary chorea (BHC) was both slower and more error prone. EEG recordings confirmed significant differences in neural processing between the groups. Analysis of a computational model revealed that the common loss of connectivity between striatal neurons in BHC and Huntington\'s disease impairs response selection, but the increased sensitivity of NMDA receptors in Huntington\'s disease potentially enhances response selection. Crucially the model shows that there is a critical threshold for increased sensitivity: below that threshold, impaired response selection results. Our data and model thus predict that specific striatal malfunctions can contribute to either impaired or enhanced selection, and provide clues to solving the paradox of how Huntington\'s disease can lead to both impaired and enhanced cognitive processes.

Paradoxically enhanced cognitive processes in neurological disorders provide vital clues to understanding neural function. However, what determines whether the neurological damage is impairing or enhancing is unclear. Here we use the performance of patients with two disorders of the striatum to dissociate mechanisms underlying cognitive enhancement and impairment resulting from damage to the same system. In a two-choice decision task, Huntington\'s disease patients were faster and less error prone than controls, yet a patient with the rare condition of benign hereditary chorea (BHC) was both slower and more error prone. EEG recordings confirmed significant differences in neural processing between the groups. Analysis of a computational model revealed that the common loss of connectivity between striatal neurons in BHC and Huntington\'s disease impairs response selection, but the increased sensitivity of NMDA receptors in Huntington\'s disease potentially enhances response selection. Crucially the model shows that there is a critical threshold for increased sensitivity: below that threshold, impaired response selection results. Our data and model thus predict that specific striatal malfunctions can contribute to either impaired or enhanced selection, and provide clues to solving the paradox of how Huntington\'s disease can lead to both impaired and enhanced cognitive processes.

Chorea Huntington (HD) ist eine neurodegenerative Erkrankung, die durch Ablagerungen von N-terminal Polyglutamin-reichen Huntingtin (Htt) -Fragmenten in den betroffenen Neuronen charakterisiert ist. Das mutierte Htt (mHtt) Protein wird ubiquitär exprimiert. Das zellspezifische Absterben von „medium-sized spiny neurons“ (MSN) wird jedoch im Striatum von HD Patienten verursacht (Albin, 1995). Es wird angenommen, dass Striatum-spezifische Proteine, die mit Htt interagieren, eine wichtige Rolle in der Pathogenese von HD spielen (Ross, 1995). Protein-Protein-Interaktionsstudien haben gezeigt, dass einige der Htt-Interaktionspartner mit unlöslichen Htt-Ablagerungen in den Gehirnen von HD-Patienten kolokalisieren und die Bildung von Protein-Aggregaten beeinflussen (Goehler, 2004). Kürzlich wurde durch die Integration von Genexpressions- und Interaktionsdaten ein Striatum-spezifisches Protein-Interaktionsnetzwerk erstellt (Chaurasia, unveröffentlichte Daten). Eines der identifizierten Proteine ist CRMP1 (collapsin response mediator protein 1), das spezifisch in Neuronen exprimiert wird und möglicherweise eine wichtige Rolle bei der Pathogenese von HD spielt. Experimentelle Untersuchungen mithilfe eines Filter-Retardationsassays zeigten, dass CRMP1 die Anordnung von Htt zu fibrillären, SDS-unlöslichen Aggregaten verringert. Durch Rasterkraftmikroskopie wurde der direkte Effekt von CRMP1 auf den Aggregationsprozess von Htt bestätigt. Ko-Immunopräzipitationsstudien zeigten, dass CRMP1 und Htt in Säugerzellen unter physiologischen Bedingungen miteinander interagieren. Es wurde nachgewiesen, dass CRMP1 die Polyglutamin-abhängige Aggregation und Toxizität von Htt in Zell- und Drosophila-Modellen von HD moduliert. Außerdem konnte CRMP1 in neuronalen Ablagerungen in R6/2 Mäusegehirnen und dessen selektive Spaltung durch Calpaine gezeigt werden. Diese Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass die Lokalisation und Funktion von CRMP1 bei der Krankheitsentstehung verändert werden. / Huntington’s disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the accumulation of N-terminal polyglutamine (polyQ)-containing huntingtin (Htt) fragments in affected neurons. The mutant Htt (mHtt) protein is ubiquitously expressed but causes specific dysfunction and death of striatal medium-sized spiny neurons (MSNs) (Albin, 1995). It is assumed that striatum specific proteins interacting with Htt might play an important role in HD pathogenesis (Ross, 1995). Previous protein-protein interaction (PPI) studies demonstrated that many Htt-interacting proteins colocalize with insoluble Htt inclusions in HD brains and modulate the mHtt phenotype (Goehler 2004). A striatum-specific, dysregulated PPI network has been created recently by integrating PPI networks with information from gene expression profiling data (Chaurasia, unpublished data). One of the identified dysregulated proteins potentially involved in HD pathogenesis was the neuron-specific collapsin response-mediator protein 1 (CRMP1). Here, I show that CRMP1 reduces the self-assembly of SDS-insoluble mHtt protein aggregates in vitro, indicating a direct role of CRMP1 on the mHtt aggregation process. Coimmunoprecipitation studies showed that CRMP1 and Htt associate in mammalian cells under physiological conditions. In addition, CRMP1 localizes to abnormal neuronal inclusions and efficiently modulates polyQ-mediated Htt aggregation and toxicity in cell and Drosophila models of HD. This suggests that dysfunction of the protein is crucial for disease pathogenesis. Finally, I observed that CRMP1 localizes to neuronal inclusions and is selectively cleaved by calpains in R6/2 mouse brains, indicating that its distribution and function are altered in pathogenesis. In conclusion, this study presents new findings on the function of CRMP1 and its role in the pathogenesis of HD. The protein interacts with Htt and modulates its aggregation and toxicity, in this way influencing the molecular course of the disease.