Neurotoxins subvert the allosteric activation mechanism of SARM1 to induce neuronal loss.

SARM1 is an inducible TIR-domain NAD hydrolase that mediates pathological axon degeneration. SARM1 is activated by an increased ratio of NMN to NAD, which competes for binding to an allosteric activating site. When NMN binds, the TIR domain is released from autoinhibition, activating its NAD hydrolase activity.

The SARM1 TIR NADase: Mechanistic Similarities to Bacterial Phage Defense and Toxin-Antitoxin Systems.

The Toll/interleukin-1 receptor (TIR) domain is the signature signalling motif of innate immunity, with essential roles in innate immune signalling in bacteria, plants, and animals. TIR domains canonically function as scaffolds, with stimulus-dependent multimerization generating binding sites for signalling molecules such as kinases and ligases that activate downstream immune mechanisms. Recent studies have dramatically expanded our understanding of the TIR domain, demonstrating that the primordial function of the TIR domain is to metabolize NAD.

SARM1 is a metabolic sensor activated by an increased NMN/NAD ratio to trigger axon degeneration.

Axon degeneration is a central pathological feature of many neurodegenerative diseases. Sterile alpha and Toll/interleukin-1 receptor motif-containing 1 (SARM1) is a nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD)-cleaving enzyme whose activation triggers axon destruction. Loss of the biosynthetic enzyme NMNAT2, which converts nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) to NAD, activates SARM1 via an unknown mechanism.

Multiple domain interfaces mediate SARM1 autoinhibition.

Axon degeneration is an active program of self-destruction mediated by the protein SARM1. In healthy neurons, SARM1 is autoinhibited and, upon injury autoinhibition is relieved, activating the SARM1 enzyme to deplete NAD and induce axon degeneration. SARM1 forms a homomultimeric octamer with each monomer composed of an N-terminal autoinhibitory ARM domain, tandem SAM domains that mediate multimerization, and a C-terminal TIR domain encoding the NADase enzyme.

The SARM1 axon degeneration pathway: control of the NAD metabolome regulates axon survival in health and disease.

Axons are essential for nervous system function and axonal pathology is a common hallmark of many neurodegenerative diseases. Over a century and a half after the original description of Wallerian axon degeneration, advances over the past five years have heralded the emergence of a comprehensive, mechanistic model of an endogenous axon degenerative process that can be activated by both injury and disease. Axonal integrity is maintained by the opposing actions of the survival factors NMNAT2 and STMN2 and pro-degenerative molecules DLK and SARM1.