Results of a study in Drosophila suggest the possible relevance of neuronal aneuploidy to Tau-associated neurodegeneration

Malmanche N, Dourlen P, Gistelinck M, Demiautte F, Link N, Dupont C, Vanden Broeck L, Werkmeister E, Amouyel P, Bongiovanni A, Bauderlique H, Moechars D, Royou A, Bellen HJ, Lafont F, Callaerts P, Lambert JC, Dermaut B. Developmental Expression of 4-Repeat-Tau Induces Neuronal Aneuploidy in Drosophila Tauopathy Models. Sci Rep. 2017 Jan 23;7:40764. PMID: 28112163.

From the abstract: "Tau-mediated neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease and tauopathies is generally assumed to start in a normally developed brain. However, several lines of evidence suggest that impaired Tau isoform expression during development could affect mitosis and ploidy in post-mitotic differentiated tissue. ... Here, we used genetic and cellular tools to study the link between 3R and 4R-Tau isoform expression, mitotic progression in neuronal progenitors and post-mitotic neuronal survival. Our results illustrated that the severity of Tau-induced adult phenotypes depends on 4R-Tau isoform expression during development. ... we found a high level of aneuploidy in post-mitotic differentiated tissue. ... our results suggested that neurodegeneration could be in part linked to neuronal aneuploidy caused by 4R-Tau expression during brain development."