Journal: Nature Aging
Article Title: Reduced ULK1 links impaired autophagy and mitophagy to Alzheimer’s disease pathology
doi: 10.1038/s43587-026-01108-z
Figure Lengend Snippet: ( a ) Effects of ULK1 activators (2, 4 µM of LYN-1604 dihydrochloride; 0.5, 5 µM of (Rac)-BL-918) and inhibitors (5, 10 µM of SBI-0206965; 2.5, 5 µM of XST-14) on Tau seed-induced formation of Tau puncta in HEK293 cells expressing 0N4R P301S Tau-Venus. Data are pooled from 3 biological replicates. (b) Effects of ULK1 activators (2, 4 µM of LYN-1604 dihydrochloride; 0.5, 5 µM of (Rac)-BL-918) and inhibitors (5, 10 µM of SBI-0206965; 2.5, 5 µM of XST-14) on degradation of preformed Tau puncta in the HEK293 cells expression 0N4R P301S Tau-Venus. Data are pooled from 3 biological replicates. ( c ) mt-Keima and YPH-Parkin expressing HeLa cells were used to evaluate the effects on mitophagy induction by treating a positive control CCCP. Representative images are shown. ( d-f ) Quantification of mitophagy events by treating ULK1 activators, Rac-BL-918 (0.5, 5 µM) and LYN-1604 (2, 4 µM), as well as ULK1 inhibitors SBI-0206965 (5, 10 µM) and XST-14 (2.5, 5 µM). One dot represents the average value of one image. Data were pooled from 3 biological replicates. ( g-h ) Representative images ( g ) and quantification ( h ) of mitophagy induction from primary cortical neurons by treating ULK1 activators, Rac-BL-918 (5 µM) and LYN-1604 (4 µM), as well as ULK1 inhibitors SBI-0206965 (5 µM) and XST-14 (5 µM). Mitophagy was detected using a mitophagy detection dye kit. Nuclei were stained with DAPI. Scale bar = 20 μm. ( i ) Representative blots of target proteins (ULK1, ULK2, PINK1, GSK3β, Parkin, Atg5, FUNDC1, AMBRA1, BNIP3, Nix, Beclin1) and loading control (GAPDH or β-tubulin) in HEK293 cells expressing 0N4R P301S Tau-Venus transfected with siRNAs (100 nM, 48 h) or scrambled siRNA. ( j ) Associative memory tests were administered to adult day 2 transgenic C. elegans expressing hTau[P301L]n-sid-1 OV in the presence of ULK1 inhibitors (10, 100 µM of SBI-0206965; 5, 50 µM of XST-14). Attraction to odorant is quantified as Chemotaxis Index (% CI), where lower score corresponds to greater response to odorant/better memory function. Unless specified elsewhere, data are mean ± S.E.M. Statistical analyses performed were one-way ANOVA followed by Dunnett’s multiple comparisons test ( a , b , d-f , h ); two-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s multiple-comparisons test ( j ).
Article Snippet: The siRNA reagents used including siRNA targeting ULK1 (catalog no. SR322391, OriGene), PINK1 (catalog no. SR324912, OriGene), Parkin (catalog no. SR321228, OriGene), FUNDC1 (catalog no. SR315322, OriGene), Ambra1 (catalog no. SR310808, OriGene), BNIP3 (catalog no. SR300461, OriGene), BNIP3L/NIX (catalog no. SR300462, OriGene), GSK3-beta (catalog no. SR301979, OriGene), ULK2 (catalog no. SC-44183, Santa Cruz Biotechnology), Atg5 (catalog no. SR322789, OriGene), Beclin1 (catalog no. SR322490, OriGene), Sirt1 (catalog no. SR323581, OriGene) or scramble control siRNA Oligo Duplexes at 100 nM.
Techniques: Expressing, Positive Control, Staining, Control, Transfection, Transgenic Assay, Chemotaxis Assay