Ermin myelin

Schizophrenia (SCZ) is a severe mental disorder with an unknown etiology. Recent researches indicate that correct myelination and translational regulation play a role in the pathogeny of SCZ. This study evaluated the expression pattern of Ermin (ERMN) and Listerin E3 ubiquitin protein ligase 1 (LTN1) genes, which play a role in myelination and ribosome quality control, respectively. The expression of the ERMN and LTN1 genes in the peripheral blood (PB) of 50 SCZ patients (male/female: 22/28, age (mean ± standard deviation (SD)): 35...

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common primary intracranial malignancy in adults. Owing to individual tolerance and tumor heterogeneity, the therapy methods for young adults do not apply to older adults. The present study aimed to identify specific biomarkers for GBM in older adults using weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA). Gene expression profiles of older adults with GBM were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and set as a discovery cohort to construct WGCNA. Core genes of clinically significant modules were used to perform functional enrichment, protein-protein interaction, and Pearson correlation analyses...

Incomplete remyelination is frequent in multiple sclerosis (MS)-lesions, but there is no established marker for recent remyelination. We investigated the role of the oligodendrocyte/myelin protein ermin in de- and remyelination in the cuprizone (CPZ) mouse model, and in MS. The density of ermin+ oligodendrocytes in the brain was significantly decreased after one week of CPZ exposure (p < 0.02). The relative proportion of ermin+ cells compared to cells positive for the late-stage oligodendrocyte marker Nogo-A increased at the onset of remyelination in the corpus callosum (p < 0...

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a severe neurodevelopmental disorder that involves social interaction defects, impairment of non-verbal and verbal interactions, and limited interests along with stereotypic activities. Its incidence has been increasing rapidly in recent decades. Despite numerous attempts to understand the pathophysiology of ASD, its exact etiology is still unclear. Recent data shows the role of accurate myelination and translational regulation in ASD's pathogenesis. In this study, we assessed Ermin ( ERMN ) and Listerin E3 Ubiquitin Protein Ligase 1 ( LTN1 ) genes expression in Iranian ASD patients and age- and gender-matched healthy subjects' peripheral blood using quantitative real-time PCR to recognize any probable dysregulation in the expression of these genes and propose this disorder's mechanisms...

Myelin sheaths, which insulate the axons and ensure saltatory conduction of the nerve impulse, are generated and maintained via largely uncharacterized mechanisms. Ermin is an oligodendrocyte-specific protein associated with the cytoskeleton, but how it regulates cytoskeletal remodeling during oligodendrocyte differentiation and its role in myelin maintenance are not clear. To address this, we generated mice constitutively deficient for Ermn, the Ermin-coding gene. We found that aged Ermn-knockout mice exhibit an aberrant myelin architecture, with splitting of myelin layers, peeling of the myelin sheath from axons, and breakdown of myelinated fibers...

The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) plays a key role in top-down control of the brain's stress axis, and its structure and function are particularly vulnerable to stress effects, which can lead to depression in humans and depressive-like states in animals. We tested whether chronic social defeat produces structural alterations in the mPFC in mice. We first performed a microarray analysis of mPFC gene expression changes induced by defeat, and biological pathway analysis revealed a dominant pattern of down-regulation of myelin-associated genes...

Juxtanodin, also called ermin, is an F-actin-binding protein expressed by oligodendrocytes, the myelin-forming cells of the central nervous system. While juxtanodin carries a short conserved F-actin-binding segment at its C terminus, it otherwise shares no similarity with known protein sequences. We carried out a structural characterization of recombinant juxtanodin in solution. Juxtanodin turned out to be intrinsically disordered, as evidenced by conventional and synchrotron radiation CD spectroscopy. Small-angle X-ray scattering indicated that juxtanodin is a monomeric, highly elongated, unfolded molecule...

During the maturation of oligodendrocytes, cells are characterized by their morphological changes such as the number of process extensions and sheet-like membranes. This process relies critically on cytoskeleton rearrangement, but the molecular mechanisms underlying this are still unclear. Here, we identify human Ermin (hErmin), a novel cytoskeletal molecule that is expressed exclusively in oligodendrocytes in human brain, as a regulator of cytoskeleton rearrangement. In vitro, full-length hErmin expression, but not its truncated mutants lacking the actin-binding domain, promote arborization of cultured COS-7 cells and induce marked changes in cell morphology...

Oligodendrocytes form an insulating multilamellar structure of compact myelin around axons, thereby allowing rapid propagation of action potentials. Despite the considerable clinical importance of myelination, little is known about the molecular mechanisms that enable oligodendrocytes to generate their specialized membrane wrapping. Here, we used microarray expression profiling of oligodendrocyte-ablated mutant mice to identify new glial molecules that are involved in CNS myelination. This effort resulted in the identification of Ermin, a novel cytoskeletal molecule that is exclusively expressed by oligodendrocytes...