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Animal Model Contributions to Primary Congenital Glaucoma. J Ophthalmol 2022; 2022:6955461. [PMID: 35663518 PMCID: PMC9162845 DOI: 10.1155/2022/6955461] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2022] [Accepted: 05/12/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Primary congenital glaucoma (PCG) is an ocular disease characterized by congenital anterior segmental maldevelopment with progressive optic nerve degeneration. Certain genes, such as cytochrome P450 family 1 subfamily B member 1 and latent TGF-β-binding protein 2, are involved in the pathogenesis of PCG, but the exact pathogenic mechanism has not yet been fully elucidated. There is an urgent need to determine the etiology and pathophysiology of PCG and develop new therapeutic methods to stop disease progression. Animal models can simulate PCG and are essential to study the pathogenesis and treatment of PCG. Various animal species have been used in the study of PCG, including rabbits, rats, mice, cats, zebrafish, and quails. These models are formed spontaneously or by combining with genetic engineering technology. The focus of the present study is to review the characteristics and potential applications of animal models in PCG and provide new approaches to understand the mechanism and develop new treatment strategies for patients with PCG.
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Avesani A, Bielefeld L, Weisschuh N, Marino V, Mazzola P, Stingl K, Haack TB, Koch KW, Dell’Orco D. Molecular Properties of Human Guanylate Cyclase-Activating Protein 3 (GCAP3) and Its Possible Association with Retinitis Pigmentosa. Int J Mol Sci 2022; 23:ijms23063240. [PMID: 35328663 PMCID: PMC8948881 DOI: 10.3390/ijms23063240] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2022] [Revised: 03/12/2022] [Accepted: 03/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The cone-specific guanylate cyclase-activating protein 3 (GCAP3), encoded by the GUCA1C gene, has been shown to regulate the enzymatic activity of membrane-bound guanylate cyclases (GCs) in bovine and teleost fish photoreceptors, to an extent comparable to that of the paralog protein GCAP1. To date, the molecular mechanisms underlying GCAP3 function remain largely unexplored. In this work, we report a thorough characterization of the biochemical and biophysical properties of human GCAP3, moreover, we identified an isolated case of retinitis pigmentosa, in which a patient carried the c.301G>C mutation in GUCA1C, resulting in the substitution of a highly conserved aspartate residue by a histidine (p.(D101H)). We found that myristoylated GCAP3 can activate GC1 with a similar Ca2+-dependent profile, but significantly less efficiently than GCAP1. The non-myristoylated form did not induce appreciable regulation of GC1, nor did the p.D101H variant. GCAP3 forms dimers under physiological conditions, but at odds with its paralogs, it tends to form temperature-dependent aggregates driven by hydrophobic interactions. The peculiar properties of GCAP3 were confirmed by 2 ms molecular dynamics simulations, which for the p.D101H variant highlighted a very high structural flexibility and a clear tendency to lose the binding of a Ca2+ ion to EF3. Overall, our data show that GCAP3 has unusual biochemical properties, which make the protein significantly different from GCAP1 and GCAP2. Moreover, the newly identified point mutation resulting in a substantially unfunctional protein could trigger retinitis pigmentosa through a currently unknown mechanism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Avesani
- Section of Biological Chemistry, Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, 37134 Verona, Italy; (A.A.); (V.M.)
| | - Laura Bielefeld
- Division of Biochemistry, Department of Neuroscience, University of Oldenburg, 26111 Oldenburg, Germany; (L.B.); (K.-W.K.)
| | - Nicole Weisschuh
- Institute for Ophthalmic Research, Centre for Ophthalmology, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany;
| | - Valerio Marino
- Section of Biological Chemistry, Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, 37134 Verona, Italy; (A.A.); (V.M.)
| | - Pascale Mazzola
- Institute of Medical Genetics and Applied Genomics, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany; (P.M.); (T.B.H.)
| | - Katarina Stingl
- University Eye Hospital, Centre for Ophthalmology, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany;
| | - Tobias B. Haack
- Institute of Medical Genetics and Applied Genomics, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany; (P.M.); (T.B.H.)
- Centre for Rare Diseases, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Karl-Wilhelm Koch
- Division of Biochemistry, Department of Neuroscience, University of Oldenburg, 26111 Oldenburg, Germany; (L.B.); (K.-W.K.)
| | - Daniele Dell’Orco
- Section of Biological Chemistry, Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, 37134 Verona, Italy; (A.A.); (V.M.)
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +39-045-802-7637
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