Modelling FKRP and Fukutin Deficiency in Zebrafish
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Modelling FKRP and Fukutin Deficiency in Zebrafish A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Newcastle University November 2012 Alasdair John Wood Institute of Genetic Medicine Abstract Deficiency in fukutin-related protein (FKRP) or fukutin results in aberrant glycosylation of -dystroglycan, a key receptor for basement membrane proteins. There is a broad spectrum of disorders associated with FKRP and fukutin deficiency, ranging from limb-girdle muscular dystrophy to congenital disorders such as muscle eye brain disease and Walker-Warburg syndrome (WWS). fkrp and fukutin were knocked down in the zebrafish with antisense morpholino oligonucleotides (MO). The fkrp, fukutin and dystroglycan MOs each produced a spectrum of comparable phenotypes. With each MO producing a comparable morphant phenotype on morphological examination, it was hypothesised that inferences could be made about similarities and differences in the fkrp, fukutin dystroglycan axis during zebrafish development. The morphants had abnormal muscle fibres, including disruptions of the vertical myosepta and sarcolemma. Disorganised retinal layering in the eyes was found in both fukutin and fkrp morphants. Dysplasia of the lens was observed in most fukutin morphants and some of the fkrp morphants with a severe phenotype. Structural changes in basement membranes at 1-3 days post fertilisation (dpf) were investigated. The perturbation observed across the inner limiting membranes may account for the lens dysplasia. Cell density of the granular epithelium in the photoreceptor cell layer was found to be lower in both morphants with the least density in fukutin knock-downs, which may result from a disruption of the external limiting membrane. This leads to the conclusion that fkrp and fukutin are essential for membrane integrity in the eye and muscle of developing zebrafish. A transgenic zebrafish line expressing enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) in vascular endothelium from the fli-1 promoter was used to investigate early vascularisation. In all morphants, including dystroglycan knock downs, the intersegmental vessels failed to reach the dorsal longitudinal anastomotic vessel at 1dpf. Additionally, in the fkrp and fukutin morphant the eye vasculature was abnormal. Interestingly, no change was observed in the eye vasculature of the dystroglycan morphants suggesting that fkrp and fukutin may modify proteins other than α-dystroglycan in the eye. 2 Acknowledgements To Professor Volker Straub, I am very grateful for the support and encouragement you have given me during the four years of the PhD. Your acute clinical observations have given the project a fantastic depth and direction that would otherwise have been impossible to achieve. Thank you for being a great supervisor. To Dr Rita Barresi, your insight into dystroglycanopathy has throughout the PhD been a great inspiration. Thank you for always having time for discussing my work and helping me view it within the context of the wider field. To Dr Juliane Müller, the time you devoted to helping me find my feet in the lab when I first started, will always be appreciated. Thank you for always being around to answer difficult questions on zebrafish. Special thanks to, Dr Steve Laval, for always guiding me through assessments. I am very grateful for all our interesting discussions throughout the PhD. Thank you to, all my colleges in the Newcastle Muscle Team including: the lab team, clinical team, biobank team, muscle immuno analysis unit, clinical trials group and TREAT-NMD all of which have made my time in Newcastle very enjoyable. Thank you to, Lisa Hodgson for your support with confocal microscopy, always making the work enjoyable. Dr Kath White, Tracey Davey, Ben Walker and Vivian Thompson at the electron microscopy unit, it was a great place to spend the last few months of my PhD. David Burns thanks for being a great fish technician. Catherine Jepson for teaching me a host of lab techniques that would otherwise have been difficult to learn. It has been a true pleasure to work with all of you. The work was funded by the Medical Research Council as part of the MRC Centre for Neuromuscular Diseases. 3 Contents Title Page 01 Abstract 02 Acknowledgments 03 Contents 04 List of Figures 10 List of Tables 13 List of Abbreviations 14 Chapter 1 Introduction ........................................................................................... 17 1.1 Muscular Dystrophy .................................................................................... 18 1.1.1 Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy ............................................................. 18 1.1.2 Limb Girdle Muscular Dystrophy (LGMD) ............................................. 19 1.1.3 Congenital Muscular Dystrophy (CMD) ................................................ 19 1.2 Dystrophin ................................................................................................... 21 1.3 The Dystrophin Associated Glycoprotein Complex (DGC) .......................... 22 1.3.1 Dystroglycan ......................................................................................... 23 1.3.2 Glycosylation ........................................................................................ 24 1.3.3 α-Dystroglycan Structure ...................................................................... 27 1.3.4 Deglycosylation of Dystroglycan ........................................................... 28 1.3.5 The Functional Diversity of Dystroglycan.............................................. 29 1.3.6 Dystroglycan as a Bacterial and Viral Receptor .................................... 29 1.3.7 Integrins ................................................................................................ 30 1.4 Extracellular Matrix ...................................................................................... 31 1.4.1 Laminins ............................................................................................... 31 1.4.2 Basement Membranes.......................................................................... 32 1.5 Dystroglycanopathy ..................................................................................... 33 1.5.1 Primary Dystroglycanopathy ................................................................. 33 4 1.5.2 Secondary Dystroglycanopathies ......................................................... 33 1.5.3 Fukutin .................................................................................................. 34 1.5.4 Fukutin Related Protein ........................................................................ 35 1.6 DGC Mouse Models .................................................................................... 37 1.6.1 Reichert’s Membrane and the Dystroglycan Null Mouse ...................... 39 1.6.2 DG Skeletal Muscle Chimera ................................................................ 40 1.6.3 MORE DG Null Mouse.......................................................................... 41 1.6.4 Nestin-Cre/DG Null Mouse ................................................................... 42 1.6.5 FKRP Mutant Mice ............................................................................... 42 1.6.6 Fukutin Chimera Mouse........................................................................ 43 1.6.7 Fukutin Retrotransposon Mouse ........................................................... 44 1.6.8 Mouse Model Summary ........................................................................ 45 1.7 The zebrafish as a Model for MD ................................................................ 45 1.7.1 Danio rerio ............................................................................................ 45 1.7.2 Zebrafish in Muscle Research .............................................................. 46 1.7.3 Somatogenesis ..................................................................................... 47 1.7.4 Muscle Organisation ............................................................................. 51 1.7.5 Notochord Development ....................................................................... 52 1.7.6 Embryonic Origin of Zebrafish Eye ....................................................... 52 1.7.7 Adult Zebrafish Eye .............................................................................. 54 1.7.8 Vasculogenesis .................................................................................... 55 1.8 Current Approaches for Generating Stable Zebrafish Mutant Lines ............ 56 1.8.1 Zinc Finger Nucleases .......................................................................... 57 1.8.2 TALENs ................................................................................................ 61 1.8.3 Chemical Mutagenesis and the Zebrafish Mutation Project .................. 61 1.8.4 Retrovirus Strategy ............................................................................... 62 1.8.5 Tetracycline Systems............................................................................ 62 5 1.8.6 Binary Systems ..................................................................................... 63 1.9 Direction of Study ........................................................................................ 63 Chapter 2 Materials and Methods ......................................................................... 64 2.1 Animal Models ............................................................................................. 65 2.1.1 Fish strains and maintenance