Resistance is Fertile 2: Studying the Effect of Aag in Neurons
Resistance is Fertile 2: Studying the Effect of Aag in Neurons
Submitted by Carrie Margulies and Aprotim Mazumder in the Samson Laboratory at MIT
MIT Department of Biological Engineering, Koch Institute at MIT
The Samson laboratory studies how alkylating agents cause DNA damage leading to cerebellar degeneration. Using genetic mouse models, we’ve shown that the amount of the DNA damage repair enzyme Aag determines the severity of the neurodegeneration. We took these images to determine the expression levels of Aag in neurons from transgenic mice bearing a cassette to overexpress Aag. We’ve shown that treatment with alkylating agents only causes Aag-dependent cell death in one particular type of neuron found in the cerebellum, the cerebellar granule neuron (shown).