Ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency (OTCD) is a type of urea cycle disorder – a disease in which the body fails to clear toxic ammonia from the bloodstream. The accumulation of ammonia in the blood (hyperammonaemia) can lead to potentially life-threatening metabolic disturbances in affected individuals, known as acute metabolic decompensation. Several factors, including infection, are thought to precipitate these metabolic aberrations. In this study, Peter McGuire and colleagues identify infection as the most common cause of acute decompensation in a prospective cohort of individuals with OTCD. To explore the metabolic changes that occur, they developed an experimental mouse model in which decompensation with hyperammonaemia is triggered by influenza infection. In response to infection, mice demonstrated altered hepatic immune function and reductions in urea cycle enzyme activity and urea cycle intermediates. These findings could help guide the development of new approaches to manage acute metabolic decompensation in OTCD and related inborn errors of metabolism. Page 205
Development/DMM Virtual Meeting 2021
Welcoming new Editors to DMM
Editor-in-Chief Liz Patton wants DMM to strengthen its presence in the field of translational biology and to focus on the importance of disease mechanisms, just as much as models. To implement this vision, we are pleased to welcome new Editors Sally Dunwoodie (Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, Australia), Monkol Lek (Yale School of Medicine, USA) and Rickie Patani (Francis Crick Institute, London, UK) to the team.
Roles of the gut microbiome in colorectal cancer development
Going hand-in-hand, a new Perspective by Foegeding et al. explores the Western diet as a driver of dysbiosis in colorectal cancer while a new Review by Wang et al. focuses on microbiota-driven mechanisms that initiate sporadic colorectal cancer.
preLights – the latest disease modelling preprints
Head over to preLights for the digests of the latest preprints:
Erin McGregor highlights work by Nowicka et al. that suggests a potential connection between mitochondrial dysfunction and neurodegeneration.
Emma Wilson discusses work by Dagra et al., which highlights D2 receptors as a potential target that could be used to alleviate alpha-Synuclein pathology in Parkinson’s disease.
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