# Investigation into protein quality control pathways in Dictyostetlium discoideum

> **NIH NIH R35** · DUKE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $395,095

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Proteopathies are a class of at least 71 diseases characterized by the accumulation of protein aggregates.
Protein aggregates are caused by an imbalance in protein homeostasis resulting in the accumulation of
misfolded proteins. One major question in biomedical research is: How do cells recognize and deal with
misfolded proteins? Serendipitously, we found that the model organism Dictyostelium discoideum normally
expresses proteins with long polyglutamine tracts that cause one class of proteopathy. We have recently
shown that Dictyostelium have an extraordinary ability to resist aggregation of a polyglutamine expanded
protein know to aggregate in other model organisms. Here we propose to investigate mechanisms utilized by
Dictyostelium to resist polyglutamine aggregation and explore novel aspects of the Dictyostelium protein
quality control network.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9969524
- **Project number:** 5R35GM119544-06
- **Recipient organization:** DUKE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Kenneth Matthew Scaglione
- **Activity code:** R35 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $395,095
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2016-07-15 → 2022-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9969524

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9969524, Investigation into protein quality control pathways in Dictyostetlium discoideum (5R35GM119544-06). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9969524. Licensed CC0.

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