Improving of Schizosaccharomyces pombe as model organisms for Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease is a very common, aging-related neurodegenerative disorder. Death of neuronal cells occurs with loss of synapses. Pathological indications of the disease are extracellular amyloid-β (Aβ) plaques and neurofibrillary tangles formed by intracellular tau proteins. Yeast model systems for human diseases are valuable tools to understand disease-related molecular processes and identify new medicinal compounds. Yeast models offer numerous advantages with relatively less complex and well-characterized biology compared to mammalian models. They are frequently used in researching the molecular basis of complex human diseases such as neurodegenerative disorders (Parkinson's Disease, Huntington's Disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis). In this study, the human MAPT gene variant II was synthetically synthesized and reproduced in order to create an Alzheimer's disease model in Schizosaccharomyces pombe by heterologous expression of the human MAPT gene. Following MAPT gene ligation to plasmid pSGP572, the recombinant plasmid was transformed into S. pombe gua1ura4h- mutant strain. After transformation, 11 transformant colonies were obtained. The presence of the MAPT gene in transformant cells was proved by PCR and phenotypically. Transformant cells were examined by biochemical analysis and gene expression level in terms of the relationship of microtubule-associated protein tau, which causes neurofibrillary tangles formation in the cell, with various cellular processes (stress response, proteasomal activity, glucose consumption, energy metabolism) and the effect of different glucose concentration conditions on tau protein expression.