Spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 (SCA1) is a dominant neurodegenerative disease caused by the expression of mutant ataxin-1 containing an expanded polyglutamine tract. Ataxin-1 is a nuclear protein that localizes to punctate inclusions similar to neuronal nuclear inclusions seen in many polyglutamine expansion disease proteins. We demonstrate that ataxin-1 localization to inclusions and inclusion dynamics within the nucleus are RNA and transcription dependent, but not dependent on the polyglutamine tract. Ataxin-1 nuclear inclusions are distinct from other described nuclear bodies but recruit the mRNA export factor, TAP/NXF1, in a manner that is enhanced by cell heat shock. By FRAP protein dynamic studies in live cells, we found that wild-type, but not mutant, ataxin-1 was capable of nuclear export. These results suggest that the normal role of ataxin-1 may be in RNA processing, perhaps nuclear RNA export. Thus, nuclear retention of mutant ataxin-1 may be an important toxic gain of function in SCA1 disease.

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 7 is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder caused by a CAG DNA triplet repeat expansion leading to an expanded polyglutamine tract in the ataxin-7 protein. Ataxin-7 appears to be a transcription factor and a component of the STAGA transcription coactivator complex. Here, using live cell imaging and inverted fluorescence recovery after photobleaching, we demonstrate that ataxin-7 has the ability to export from the nucleus via the CRM-1/exportin pathway and that ataxin-7 contains a classic leucine-type nuclear export signal (NES). We have precisely defined the location of this NES in ataxin-7 and found it to be fully conserved in all vertebrate species. Polyglutamine expansion was seen to reduce the nuclear export rate of mutant ataxin-7 relative to wildtype ataxin-7. Subtle point mutation of the NES in polyglutamine expanded ataxin-7 increased toxicity in primary cerebellar neurons in a polyglutamine length-dependent manner in the context of fulllength ataxin-7. Our results add ataxin-7 to a growing list of polyglutamine disease proteins that are capable of nuclear shuttling, and we define an activity of ataxin-7 in the STAGA complex of trafficking between the nucleus and cytoplasm. Spinocerebellar ataxia type 7 (SCA7)4 is a dominantly inherited neurodegenerative disorder characterized by loss of neurons in the cerebellum, brain stem, and retina (1). SCA7 is a member of a family of neurodegenerative diseases in which a CAG DNA triplet repeat expansion results in polyglutamine expansion in the gene product (2). Other members of this polyglutamine expansion disease family include Huntington disease, spinobulbar muscle atrophy, dentatorubral pallidoluysian atrophy, and spinocerebellar ataxia types 1, 2, 3, 6, and 17 (3, 4). One unique feature of SCA7 is the loss of photoreceptor neurons in the retina leading to cone-rod dystrophy (5). The mutant ataxin-7 protein can have polyglutamine repeats from 38 to 300 residues in length (6). Ataxin-7 subcellular localization has been seen to be primarily nuclear with nuclear import signals (NLSs) defined in both the central (7), and carboxyl-terminal regions of the protein (8). Within the nucleus, ataxin-7 is known to be a subunit of the mammalian GCN5 histone acetyltransferase STAGA transcription coactivator complex (9). Ataxin-7 directly binds GCN5, and mutant ataxin-7 can inhibit the histone acetyltransferase activity of STAGA (10). Although the precise biological function of ataxin-7 is unknown, mutant ataxin-7 is known to interfere with Crx-dependent transcription of retinal photoreceptor-specific genes (11, 12). Ataxin-7 interacts with TFTC/STAGA protein subunits through a central evolutionarily conserved block of residues that have defined an ataxin-7 homology family in species ranging from human to yeast (9). In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the yeast ataxin-7 homolog, Sgf73, is a member of the SAGA and SLIK histone acetyltransferase complexes (13). Ataxin-7 and the Crx homeodomain transcription factor interact via glutamine regions in each p...