Yeast cells expressing amyloid beta and uses therefor
AssigneeWhitehead Institute for Biomedical Research
InventorsKent E. S. Matlack, Susan L. Lindquist, Sebastian Treusch
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Abstract
Disclosed are yeast cells expressing a polypeptide comprising a signal sequence and a human amyloid beta protein. Also disclosed are methods of screening yeast cells to identify compounds that prevent or suppress amyloid beta-induced toxicity and genetic suppressors or enhancers of amyloid beta-induced toxicity. Compounds identified by such screens can be used to treat or prevent neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease.
Claims18
A yeast cell comprising an expression construct comprising a promoter operably linked to a nucleic acid encoding a polypeptide comprising a signal sequence and a human amyloid beta protein, wherein expression of the nucleic acid and production of the polypeptide in the cell results in a decrease in growth or viability of the cell, wherein the yeast cell allows for expression from a GAL promoter on carbon sources other than galactose, and wherein the promoter comprises a Gal4 binding sequence and the yeast cell comprises a gene encoding a fusion protein comprising the Gal4 DNA binding domain fused to a transcriptional activation domain and a regulatory domain.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.