AUTHOR=Koh Angela , Sarusie Menachem Viktor , Ohmer Jürgen , Fischer Utz , Winkler Christoph , Wohland Thorsten TITLE=Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy Reveals Survival Motor Neuron Oligomerization but No Active Transport in Motor Axons of a Zebrafish Model for Spinal Muscular Atrophy JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology VOLUME=9 YEAR=2021 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cell-and-developmental-biology/articles/10.3389/fcell.2021.639904 DOI=10.3389/fcell.2021.639904 ISSN=2296-634X ABSTRACT=
Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease affecting lower motor neurons that is caused by a deficiency in ubiquitously expressed Survival Motor Neuron (SMN) protein. Two mutually exclusive hypotheses have been discussed to explain increased motor neuron vulnerability in SMA. Reduced SMN levels have been proposed to lead to defective snRNP assembly and aberrant splicing of transcripts that are essential for motor neuron maintenance. An alternative hypothesis proposes a motor neuron-specific function for SMN in axonal transport of mRNAs and/or RNPs. To address these possibilities, we used a novel