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Zakutansky PM, Feng Y. The Long Non-Coding RNA GOMAFU in Schizophrenia: Function, Disease Risk, and Beyond. Cells 2022; 11:1949. [PMID: 35741078 PMCID: PMC9221589 DOI: 10.3390/cells11121949] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2022] [Revised: 06/10/2022] [Accepted: 06/14/2022] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Neuropsychiatric diseases are among the most common brain developmental disorders, represented by schizophrenia (SZ). The complex multifactorial etiology of SZ remains poorly understood, which reflects genetic vulnerabilities and environmental risks that affect numerous genes and biological pathways. Besides the dysregulation of protein-coding genes, recent discoveries demonstrate that abnormalities associated with non-coding RNAs, including microRNAs and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), also contribute to the pathogenesis of SZ. lncRNAs are an actively evolving family of non-coding RNAs that harbor greater than 200 nucleotides but do not encode for proteins. In general, lncRNA genes are poorly conserved. The large number of lncRNAs specifically expressed in the human brain, together with the genetic alterations and dysregulation of lncRNA genes in the SZ brain, suggests a critical role in normal cognitive function and the pathogenesis of neuropsychiatric diseases. A particular lncRNA of interest is GOMAFU, also known as MIAT and RNCR2. Growing evidence suggests the function of GOMAFU in governing neuronal development and its potential roles as a risk factor and biomarker for SZ, which will be reviewed in this article. Moreover, we discuss the potential mechanisms through which GOMAFU regulates molecular pathways, including its subcellular localization and interaction with RNA-binding proteins, and how interruption to GOMAFU pathways may contribute to the pathogenesis of SZ.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul M. Zakutansky
- Graduate Program in Biochemistry, Cell and Developmental Biology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA;
- Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
| | - Yue Feng
- Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
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2
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Liao F, Zhu L, Yang J, Wu X, Zhao Z, Xu B, Zhong Q, Wen Z, Long J, Su L. Whole Transcriptome Sequencing Identified CircRNA Profiles and the Related Networks in Schizophrenia. J Mol Neurosci 2022; 72:1622-1635. [PMID: 35543802 DOI: 10.1007/s12031-022-02013-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2022] [Accepted: 04/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Schizophrenia (SCZ) is a complex psychiatric syndrome with uncertain etiology. This study aimed to uncover the expression profiles and related regulatory networks of circular RNA (circRNA) in SCZ. Whole transcriptome sequencing was performed to assess the expression profiles of circRNAs and microRNAs (miRNAs) in the peripheral blood of three patients with SCZ and three healthy controls. Five circRNAs were validated by quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR). TargetScan, RNAhybrid, and miRanda were performed to predict the target miRNAs of the top 10 dysregulated circRNAs. MiRTarBase was applied to predict the target mRNAs of miRNAs to construct circRNA-miRNA-mRNA (ceRNA) networks. CatRAPID and StarBase were used to predict the target RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) of circRNAs to construct circRNA-RBP networks. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analyses were performed to predict the potential functions of the maternal genes of circRNAs and target mRNAs. In total, 450 circRNAs and 160 miRNAs were found to be significantly differentially expressed, with hsa_circ_0003999 and hsa_circ_0030042 being significantly different between patients with SCZ and healthy controls (P < 0.05). The PI3K-AKT, MAPK, and cell cycle pathways were predicted to be associated with SCZ. GO analysis showed that focal adhesion was related to SCZ. The ceRNA networks, especially hsa_circ_0006151/hsa-miR-4685-3p/ZBTB16, hsa_circ_0000008/hsa-miR-1976/ZBTB16, and the hsa_circ_0007963/hsa-miR-3127-3p/UBE2K axes have the greatest probability of being involved in the pathophysiology of SCZ. The RBP networks, FXR1, FXR2, DGCR8, XRN2, FMR1, and QKI were the RBPs associated with SCZ. In conclusion, the circRNAs, ceRNAs, and RBP network expression patterns and related pathways indicate the potential role of circRNAs in the pathogenesis and development of SCZ.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fangping Liao
- School of Public Health of Guangxi Medical University, 22 Shuangyong Road, Nanning, 530021, Guangxi, China
| | - Lulu Zhu
- School of Public Health of Guangxi Medical University, 22 Shuangyong Road, Nanning, 530021, Guangxi, China
| | - Jialei Yang
- School of Public Health of Guangxi Medical University, 22 Shuangyong Road, Nanning, 530021, Guangxi, China
| | - Xulong Wu
- School of Public Health of Guangxi Medical University, 22 Shuangyong Road, Nanning, 530021, Guangxi, China
| | - Zhi Zhao
- School of Public Health of Guangxi Medical University, 22 Shuangyong Road, Nanning, 530021, Guangxi, China
| | - Bingyi Xu
- School of Public Health of Guangxi Medical University, 22 Shuangyong Road, Nanning, 530021, Guangxi, China
| | - Qingqing Zhong
- School of Public Health of Guangxi Medical University, 22 Shuangyong Road, Nanning, 530021, Guangxi, China
| | - Zheng Wen
- School of Public Health of Guangxi Medical University, 22 Shuangyong Road, Nanning, 530021, Guangxi, China
| | - Jianxiong Long
- School of Public Health of Guangxi Medical University, 22 Shuangyong Road, Nanning, 530021, Guangxi, China.
| | - Li Su
- School of Public Health of Guangxi Medical University, 22 Shuangyong Road, Nanning, 530021, Guangxi, China.
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3
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Prats C, Fatjó-Vilas M, Penzol MJ, Kebir O, Pina-Camacho L, Demontis D, Crespo-Facorro B, Peralta V, González-Pinto A, Pomarol-Clotet E, Papiol S, Parellada M, Krebs MO, Fañanás L. Association and epistatic analysis of white matter related genes across the continuum schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorders: The joint effect of NRG1-ErbB genes. World J Biol Psychiatry 2022; 23:208-218. [PMID: 34338147 DOI: 10.1080/15622975.2021.1939155] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Schizophrenia-spectrum disorders (SSD) and Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are neurodevelopmental disorders that share clinical, cognitive, and genetic characteristics, as well as particular white matter (WM) abnormalities. In this study, we aimed to investigate the role of a set of oligodendrocyte/myelin-related (OMR) genes and their epistatic effect on the risk for SSD and ASD. METHODS We examined 108 SNPs in a set of 22 OMR genes in 1749 subjects divided into three independent samples (187 SSD trios, 915 SSD cases/control, and 91 ASD trios). Genetic association and gene-gene interaction analyses were conducted with PLINK and MB-MDR, and permutation procedures were implemented in both. RESULTS Some OMR genes showed an association trend with SSD, while after correction, the ones that remained significantly associated were MBP, ERBB3, and AKT1. Significant gene-gene interactions were found between (i) NRG1*MBP (perm p-value = 0.002) in the SSD trios sample, (ii) ERBB3*AKT1 (perm p-value = 0.001) in the SSD case-control sample, and (iii) ERBB3*QKI (perm p-value = 0.0006) in the ASD trios sample. DISCUSSION Our results suggest the implication of OMR genes in the risk for both SSD and ASD and highlight the role of NRG1 and ERBB genes. These findings are in line with the previous evidence and may suggest pathophysiological mechanisms related to NRG1/ERBBs signalling in these disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- C Prats
- Departament de Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciències Ambientals, Facultat de Biologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain; Institut de Biomedicina de la Universitat de Barcelona (IBUB), Barcelona, Spain.,Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Madrid, Spain.,Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge, Hospital Duran i Reynals, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain
| | - M Fatjó-Vilas
- Departament de Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciències Ambientals, Facultat de Biologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain; Institut de Biomedicina de la Universitat de Barcelona (IBUB), Barcelona, Spain.,Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Madrid, Spain.,FIDMAG Germanes Hospitalàries Research Foundation, Barcelona, Spain
| | - M J Penzol
- Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Madrid, Spain.,Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, School of Medicine, Universidad Complutense, IiSGM, Madrid, Spain
| | - O Kebir
- INSERM, U1266, Laboratory "Pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders", Institute of psychiatry and neurosciences of Paris, Paris, France.,GHU Psychiatrie et Neurosciences de Paris, Paris, France
| | - L Pina-Camacho
- Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Madrid, Spain.,Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, School of Medicine, Universidad Complutense, IiSGM, Madrid, Spain
| | - D Demontis
- Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark; The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research iPSYCH, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - B Crespo-Facorro
- Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Madrid, Spain.,University Hospital Virgen del Rocio, IbiS Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain
| | - V Peralta
- Gerencia de Salud Mental, Servicio Navarro de Salud-Osasunbidea, Pamplona, Navarra, Spain.,Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Navarra (IdiSNa), Pamplona, Navarra, Spain
| | - A González-Pinto
- Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Madrid, Spain.,Psychiatry Service, University Hospital of Alava-Santiago, EMBREC, EHU/UPV University of the Basque Country, Kronikgune, Vitoria, Spain
| | - E Pomarol-Clotet
- Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Madrid, Spain.,FIDMAG Germanes Hospitalàries Research Foundation, Barcelona, Spain
| | - S Papiol
- Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Madrid, Spain.,Institute of Psychiatric Phenomics and Genomics (IPPG), University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany.,Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany
| | - M Parellada
- Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Madrid, Spain.,Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, School of Medicine, Universidad Complutense, IiSGM, Madrid, Spain
| | - M O Krebs
- INSERM, U1266, Laboratory "Pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders", Institute of psychiatry and neurosciences of Paris, Paris, France.,University Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Faculté de Médecine Paris Descartes, Service Hospitalo-Universitaire, Centre Hospitalier Sainte-Anne, Paris, France
| | - L Fañanás
- Departament de Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciències Ambientals, Facultat de Biologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain; Institut de Biomedicina de la Universitat de Barcelona (IBUB), Barcelona, Spain.,Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Madrid, Spain
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Ren J, Dai C, Zhou X, Barnes JA, Chen X, Wang Y, Yuan L, Shingu T, Heimberger AB, Chen Y, Hu J. Qki is an essential regulator of microglial phagocytosis in demyelination. J Exp Med 2021; 218:191206. [PMID: 33045062 PMCID: PMC7543092 DOI: 10.1084/jem.20190348] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2019] [Revised: 08/07/2019] [Accepted: 09/03/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The mechanism underpinning the regulation of microglial phagocytosis in demyelinating diseases is unclear. Here, we showed that the Quaking protein (Qki) in microglia was greatly induced by demyelination in the brains of both mice and humans. Deletion of the Quaking gene (Qk) in microglia severely impaired the clearance of myelin debris. Transcriptomic profiling indicated that depletion of Qki impaired total RNA levels and splicing of the genes involved in phagosome formation and maturation. RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) confirmed the physical interactions between the Qki protein and the mRNAs of Qki targets that are involved in phagocytosis, indicating that Qki regulates their RNA stability. Both Qki depletion and inhibition of Qki target Cd36 greatly reduced the phagocytic activity of microglia and macrophages. The defective uptake and degradation of myelin debris caused by Qki depletion in microglia resulted in unresolved myelin debris that impaired axon integrity, oligodendrocyte maturation, and subsequent remyelination. Thus, our results demonstrate that Qki is an essential regulator of microglia’s phagocytic activity under demyelinating conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiangong Ren
- Department of Cancer Biology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
| | - Congxin Dai
- Department of Cancer Biology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX.,Department of Neurosurgery, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Xin Zhou
- Department of Cancer Biology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX.,Cancer Research Institute of Jilin University, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, China
| | - Joseph A Barnes
- Department of Cancer Biology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX.,The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UT Health Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Houston, TX
| | - Xi Chen
- Department of Cancer Biology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
| | - Yunfei Wang
- Department of Melanoma Medical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
| | - Liang Yuan
- Department of Cancer Biology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX.,Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Tufts University, Boston, MA
| | - Takashi Shingu
- Department of Cancer Biology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
| | - Amy B Heimberger
- Department of Neurosurgery, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
| | - Yiwen Chen
- Department of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
| | - Jian Hu
- Department of Cancer Biology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX.,The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UT Health Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Houston, TX
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5
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Lee JS, Lamarche-Vane N, Richard S. Microexon alternative splicing of small GTPase regulators: Implication in central nervous system diseases. WILEY INTERDISCIPLINARY REVIEWS-RNA 2021; 13:e1678. [PMID: 34155820 DOI: 10.1002/wrna.1678] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2021] [Revised: 05/07/2021] [Accepted: 05/25/2021] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Microexons are small sized (≤51 bp) exons which undergo extensive alternative splicing in neurons, microglia, embryonic stem cells, and cancer cells, giving rise to cell type specific protein isoforms. Due to their small sizes, microexons provide a unique challenge for the splicing machinery. They frequently lack exon splicer enhancers/repressors and require specialized neighboring trans-regulatory and cis-regulatory elements bound by RNA binding proteins (RBPs) for their inclusion. The functional consequences of including microexons within mRNAs have been extensively documented in the central nervous system (CNS) and aberrations in their inclusion have been observed to lead to abnormal processes. Despite the increasing evidence for microexons impacting cellular physiology within CNS, mechanistic details illustrating their functional importance in diseases of the CNS is still limited. In this review, we discuss the unique characteristics of microexons, and how RBPs participate in regulating their inclusion and exclusion during splicing. We consider recent findings of microexon alternative splicing and their implication for regulating the function of small GTPases in the context of the microglia, and we extrapolate these findings to what is known in neurons. We further discuss the emerging evidence for dysregulation of the Rho GTPase pathway in CNS diseases and the consequences contributed by the mis-splicing of microexons. This article is categorized under: RNA Processing > Splicing Mechanisms RNA Processing > Splicing Regulation/Alternative Splicing RNA in Disease and Development > RNA in Disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jee-San Lee
- Segal Cancer Center, Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.,Department of Biochemistry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Nathalie Lamarche-Vane
- Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, Cancer Research Program, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.,Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Stéphane Richard
- Segal Cancer Center, Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.,Gerald Bronfman Department of Oncology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.,Department of Biochemistry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
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6
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Park CY, Zhou J, Wong AK, Chen KM, Theesfeld CL, Darnell RB, Troyanskaya OG. Genome-wide landscape of RNA-binding protein target site dysregulation reveals a major impact on psychiatric disorder risk. Nat Genet 2021; 53:166-173. [PMID: 33462483 PMCID: PMC7886016 DOI: 10.1038/s41588-020-00761-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2020] [Accepted: 12/08/2020] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Abstract
Despite the strong genetic basis of psychiatric disorders, the underlying molecular mechanisms are largely unmapped. RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) are responsible for most post-transcriptional regulation, from splicing to translation to localization. RBPs thus act as key gatekeepers of cellular homeostasis, especially in the brain. However, quantifying the pathogenic contribution of noncoding variants impacting RBP target sites is challenging. Here, we leverage a deep learning approach that can accurately predict the RBP target site dysregulation effects of mutations and discover that RBP dysregulation is a principal contributor to psychiatric disorder risk. RBP dysregulation explains a substantial amount of heritability not captured by large-scale molecular quantitative trait loci studies and has a stronger impact than common coding region variants. We share the genome-wide profiles of RBP dysregulation, which we use to identify DDHD2 as a candidate schizophrenia risk gene. This resource provides a new analytical framework to connect the full range of RNA regulation to complex disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher Y. Park
- Flatiron Institute, Simons Foundation, New York, New York, United States of America,()Corresponding authors: Olga G. Troyanskaya, , Christopher Y. Park,
| | - Jian Zhou
- Flatiron Institute, Simons Foundation, New York, New York, United States of America
| | - Aaron K. Wong
- Flatiron Institute, Simons Foundation, New York, New York, United States of America
| | - Kathleen M. Chen
- Flatiron Institute, Simons Foundation, New York, New York, United States of America
| | - Chandra L. Theesfeld
- Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, United States of America
| | - Robert B. Darnell
- Laboratory of Molecular Neuro-Oncology, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, New York 10065, USA.,Howard Hughes Medical Institute
| | - Olga G. Troyanskaya
- Flatiron Institute, Simons Foundation, New York, New York, United States of America,Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, United States of America,Department of Computer Science, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, United States of America,()Corresponding authors: Olga G. Troyanskaya, , Christopher Y. Park,
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7
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Mazaré N, Oudart M, Cohen-Salmon M. Local translation in perisynaptic and perivascular astrocytic processes - a means to ensure astrocyte molecular and functional polarity? J Cell Sci 2021; 134:237323. [PMID: 33483366 DOI: 10.1242/jcs.251629] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Together with the compartmentalization of mRNAs in distal regions of the cytoplasm, local translation constitutes a prominent and evolutionarily conserved mechanism mediating cellular polarization and the regulation of protein delivery in space and time. The translational regulation of gene expression enables a rapid response to stimuli or to a change in the environment, since the use of pre-existing mRNAs can bypass time-consuming nuclear control mechanisms. In the brain, the translation of distally localized mRNAs has been mainly studied in neurons, whose cytoplasmic protrusions may be more than 1000 times longer than the diameter of the cell body. Importantly, alterations in local translation in neurons have been implicated in several neurological diseases. Astrocytes, the most abundant glial cells in the brain, are voluminous, highly ramified cells that project long processes to neurons and brain vessels, and dynamically regulate distal synaptic and vascular functions. Recent research has demonstrated the presence of local translation at these astrocytic interfaces that might regulate the functional compartmentalization of astrocytes. In this Review, we summarize our current knowledge about the localization and local translation of mRNAs in the distal perisynaptic and perivascular processes of astrocytes, and discuss their possible contribution to the molecular and functional polarity of astrocytes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Noémie Mazaré
- Physiology and Physiopathology of the Gliovascular Unit Research Group, Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Biology (CIRB), College de France, CNRS Unité Mixte de Recherche 724, INSERM Unité 1050, Labex Memolife, PSL Research University, F-75005 Paris, France.,École doctorale Cerveau Cognition Comportement 'ED3C' No. 158, Pierre and Marie Curie University, F-75005 Paris, France
| | - Marc Oudart
- Physiology and Physiopathology of the Gliovascular Unit Research Group, Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Biology (CIRB), College de France, CNRS Unité Mixte de Recherche 724, INSERM Unité 1050, Labex Memolife, PSL Research University, F-75005 Paris, France.,École doctorale Cerveau Cognition Comportement 'ED3C' No. 158, Pierre and Marie Curie University, F-75005 Paris, France
| | - Martine Cohen-Salmon
- Physiology and Physiopathology of the Gliovascular Unit Research Group, Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Biology (CIRB), College de France, CNRS Unité Mixte de Recherche 724, INSERM Unité 1050, Labex Memolife, PSL Research University, F-75005 Paris, France .,École doctorale Cerveau Cognition Comportement 'ED3C' No. 158, Pierre and Marie Curie University, F-75005 Paris, France
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8
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Dysregulated Glial Differentiation in Schizophrenia May Be Relieved by Suppression of SMAD4- and REST-Dependent Signaling. Cell Rep 2020; 27:3832-3843.e6. [PMID: 31242417 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2019.05.088] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2018] [Revised: 04/04/2019] [Accepted: 05/22/2019] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Astrocytic differentiation is developmentally impaired in patients with childhood-onset schizophrenia (SCZ). To determine why, we used genetic gain- and loss-of-function studies to establish the contributions of differentially expressed transcriptional regulators to the defective differentiation of glial progenitor cells (GPCs) produced from SCZ patient-derived induced pluripotent cells (iPSCs). Negative regulators of the bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) pathway were upregulated in SCZ GPCs, including BAMBI, FST, and GREM1, whose overexpression retained SCZ GPCs at the progenitor stage. SMAD4 knockdown (KD) suppressed the production of these BMP inhibitors by SCZ GPCs and rescued normal astrocytic differentiation. In addition, the BMP-regulated transcriptional repressor REST was upregulated in SCZ GPCs, and its KD similarly restored normal glial differentiation. REST KD also rescued potassium-transport-associated gene expression and K+ uptake, which were otherwise deficient in SCZ glia. These data suggest that the glial differentiation defect in childhood-onset SCZ, and its attendant disruption in K+ homeostasis, may be rescued by targeting BMP/SMAD4- and REST-dependent transcription.
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9
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Gouvêa-Junqueira D, Falvella ACB, Antunes ASLM, Seabra G, Brandão-Teles C, Martins-de-Souza D, Crunfli F. Novel Treatment Strategies Targeting Myelin and Oligodendrocyte Dysfunction in Schizophrenia. Front Psychiatry 2020; 11:379. [PMID: 32425837 PMCID: PMC7203658 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00379] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2019] [Accepted: 04/15/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Oligodendrocytes are the glial cells responsible for the formation of the myelin sheath around axons. During neurodevelopment, oligodendrocytes undergo maturation and differentiation, and later remyelination in adulthood. Abnormalities in these processes have been associated with behavioral and cognitive dysfunctions and the development of various mental illnesses like schizophrenia. Several studies have implicated oligodendrocyte dysfunction and myelin abnormalities in the disorder, together with altered expression of myelin-related genes such as Olig2, CNP, and NRG1. However, the molecular mechanisms subjacent of these alterations remain elusive. Schizophrenia is a severe, chronic psychiatric disorder affecting more than 23 million individuals worldwide and its symptoms usually appear at the beginning of adulthood. Currently, the major therapeutic strategy for schizophrenia relies on the use of antipsychotics. Despite their widespread use, the effects of antipsychotics on glial cells, especially oligodendrocytes, remain unclear. Thus, in this review we highlight the current knowledge regarding oligodendrocyte dysfunction in schizophrenia, compiling data from (epi)genetic studies and up-to-date models to investigate the role of oligodendrocytes in the disorder. In addition, we examined potential targets currently investigated for the improvement of schizophrenia symptoms. Research in this area has been investigating potential beneficial compounds, including the D-amino acids D-aspartate and D-serine, that act as NMDA receptor agonists, modulating the glutamatergic signaling; the antioxidant N-acetylcysteine, a precursor in the synthesis of glutathione, protecting against the redox imbalance; as well as lithium, an inhibitor of glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3β) signaling, contributing to oligodendrocyte survival and functioning. In conclusion, there is strong evidence linking oligodendrocyte dysfunction to the development of schizophrenia. Hence, a better understanding of oligodendrocyte differentiation, as well as the effects of antipsychotic medication in these cells, could have potential implications for understanding the development of schizophrenia and finding new targets for drug development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Danielle Gouvêa-Junqueira
- Laboratory of Neuroproteomics, Department of Biochemistry and Tissue Biology, Institute of Biology, University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil
| | - Ana Caroline Brambilla Falvella
- Laboratory of Neuroproteomics, Department of Biochemistry and Tissue Biology, Institute of Biology, University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil
| | - André Saraiva Leão Marcelo Antunes
- Laboratory of Neuroproteomics, Department of Biochemistry and Tissue Biology, Institute of Biology, University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil
| | - Gabriela Seabra
- Laboratory of Neuroproteomics, Department of Biochemistry and Tissue Biology, Institute of Biology, University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil
| | - Caroline Brandão-Teles
- Laboratory of Neuroproteomics, Department of Biochemistry and Tissue Biology, Institute of Biology, University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil
| | - Daniel Martins-de-Souza
- Laboratory of Neuroproteomics, Department of Biochemistry and Tissue Biology, Institute of Biology, University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil
- Experimental Medicine Research Cluster (EMRC), University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil
- Instituto Nacional de Biomarcadores em Neuropsiquiatria, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, São Paulo, Brazil
- D′Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR), São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Fernanda Crunfli
- Laboratory of Neuroproteomics, Department of Biochemistry and Tissue Biology, Institute of Biology, University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil
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10
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Lavon I, Leykin I, Charbit H, Binyamin O, Brill L, Ovadia H, Vaknin-Dembinsky A. QKI-V5 is downregulated in CNS inflammatory demyelinating diseases. Mult Scler Relat Disord 2019; 39:101881. [PMID: 31835207 DOI: 10.1016/j.msard.2019.101881] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2019] [Revised: 11/25/2019] [Accepted: 11/30/2019] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Neuromyelitis-optica (NMO) and multiple-sclerosis (MS) are inflammatory- demyelinating-diseases of the central-nervous-system (CNS). In a previous study, we identified 17 miRNAs that were significantly upregulated in the peripheral blood of patients with NMO, relative to healthy controls (HCs). Target gene analysis have demonstrated that QKI is targeted by 70% of the upregulated miRNAs. QKI gene encodes for a RNA-binding-protein that plays a central role in myelination. QKI variants 5, 6, 7 (QKI-V5, QKI-V6, QKI-V7) are generated via alternative splicing. Given the role played by QKI in myelination we aimed to study the expression levels of QKI variants in the circulation of patients with NMO and MS and in the circulation and brain tissue of mice-model to CNS-inflammatory-demyelinating-disease. METHODS RNA and protein expression levels of QKI variants QKI-V5, QKI-V6 and QKI-V7 were determined in the blood of patients with NMO (n = 23) or MS (n = 13). The effect of sera from patients on the expression of QKI in normal peripheral-blood-mononuclear-cells (PBMCs) or glial cells was explored. The mog-experimental-autoimmune-encephalomyelitis (EAE) mouse model was used to study the correlation between the changes in the expression levels of QKI in the blood to those in the brain. RESULTS RNA and protein expression of QKI-V5 was decreased in the peripheral blood of patients with NMO and multiple-sclerosis. Incubation of normal peripheral-blood-mononuclear-cells or glial cells with sera of patients significantly reduced the expression of QKI-V5. The blood and brain of EAE mice exhibited a corresponding decrease in QKI-V5 expression. CONCLUSION The downregulation in the expression of QKI-V5 in the blood of patients with CNS-inflammatory-demyelinating-diseases and in the brain and blood of EAE mice is likely caused by a circulating factor and might promote re-myelination by regulation of myelin-associated genes. Key words: QKI variants, Multiple sclerosis (MS), Neuromyelitis optica (NMO), Astrocytes, Demyelination.
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Affiliation(s)
- Iris Lavon
- Department of Neurology, the Agnes-Ginges Center for Neurogenetics, Hadassah- Medical Center, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel; Leslie and Michael Center for Neuro-oncology, Hadassah-Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel.
| | - Ina Leykin
- Department of Neurology, the Agnes-Ginges Center for Neurogenetics, Hadassah- Medical Center, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel; Leslie and Michael Center for Neuro-oncology, Hadassah-Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Hanna Charbit
- Department of Neurology, the Agnes-Ginges Center for Neurogenetics, Hadassah- Medical Center, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel; Leslie and Michael Center for Neuro-oncology, Hadassah-Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Orli Binyamin
- Department of Neurology, the Agnes-Ginges Center for Neurogenetics, Hadassah- Medical Center, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Livnat Brill
- Department of Neurology, the Agnes-Ginges Center for Neurogenetics, Hadassah- Medical Center, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Haim Ovadia
- Department of Neurology, the Agnes-Ginges Center for Neurogenetics, Hadassah- Medical Center, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Adi Vaknin-Dembinsky
- Department of Neurology, the Agnes-Ginges Center for Neurogenetics, Hadassah- Medical Center, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
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11
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The importance of long non-coding RNAs in neuropsychiatric disorders. Mol Aspects Med 2019; 70:127-140. [DOI: 10.1016/j.mam.2019.07.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2019] [Revised: 06/10/2019] [Accepted: 07/14/2019] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
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12
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Circular RNA biogenesis is decreased in postmortem cortical gray matter in schizophrenia and may alter the bioavailability of associated miRNA. Neuropsychopharmacology 2019; 44:1043-1054. [PMID: 30786269 PMCID: PMC6461776 DOI: 10.1038/s41386-019-0348-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 50] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2018] [Revised: 01/22/2019] [Accepted: 02/13/2019] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a covalently closed subclass of non-coding RNA molecules formed by back splicing of linear precursor RNA. These molecules are relatively stable and particularly abundant in the mammalian brain and therefore may participate in neural development and function. With the emergence of circRNAs activity in gene regulation, these molecules have been implicated in several biological processes, including synaptic plasticity, and we therefore suspect they may have a role in neurobehavioral disorders. Here, we profile cortical circRNAs expression in 35 postmortem cortical gray matter (BA46) schizophrenia and a non-psychiatric comparison group, using circRNA enrichment sequencing. While more than 90,000 circRNAs species were identified in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), we observed lower complexity and substantial depletion in subjects with the disorder. Although circRNAs expression was independent of their host gene transcription, alternative splicing rates were lower in samples from cases compared to controls. Gene set analysis of differentially expressed circRNAs host genes revealed significant enrichment of neural functions and neurological disorders. Many of these depleted circRNAs are also predicted to sequester miRNAs that were shown previously to be increased in the disorder, potentially exacerbating the functional impact of their dysregulation through posttranscriptional gene silencing. While this is the first reported exploration of circRNAs in schizophrenia, there is significant potential for dysregulation more broadly in other major mental illnesses and behavioral disorders. Given their capacity for modulating miRNA function, circRNA may play a significant role in the pathophysiology of disease and even be targeted for therapeutic manipulation.
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13
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Kuehner JN, Bruggeman EC, Wen Z, Yao B. Epigenetic Regulations in Neuropsychiatric Disorders. Front Genet 2019; 10:268. [PMID: 31019524 PMCID: PMC6458251 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2019.00268] [Citation(s) in RCA: 81] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2018] [Accepted: 03/11/2019] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Precise genetic and epigenetic spatiotemporal regulation of gene expression is critical for proper brain development, function and circuitry formation in the mammalian central nervous system. Neuronal differentiation processes are tightly regulated by epigenetic mechanisms including DNA methylation, histone modifications, chromatin remodelers and non-coding RNAs. Dysregulation of any of these pathways is detrimental to normal neuronal development and functions, which can result in devastating neuropsychiatric disorders, such as depression, schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorders. In this review, we focus on the current understanding of epigenetic regulations in brain development and functions, as well as their implications in neuropsychiatric disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Janise N Kuehner
- Department of Human Genetics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, United States
| | - Emily C Bruggeman
- Department of Human Genetics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, United States
| | - Zhexing Wen
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, United States.,Department of Cell Biology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, United States.,Department of Neurology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, United States
| | - Bing Yao
- Department of Human Genetics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, United States
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14
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Chen X, Duan H, Xiao L, Gan J. Genetic and Epigenetic Alterations Underlie Oligodendroglia Susceptibility and White Matter Etiology in Psychiatric Disorders. Front Genet 2018; 9:565. [PMID: 30524471 PMCID: PMC6262033 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2018.00565] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2018] [Accepted: 11/06/2018] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Numerous genetic risk loci are found to associate with major neuropsychiatric disorders represented by schizophrenia. The pathogenic roles of genetic risk loci in psychiatric diseases are further complicated by the association with cell lineage- and/or developmental stage-specific epigenetic alterations. Besides aberrant assembly and malfunction of neuronal circuitry, an increasing volume of discoveries clearly demonstrate impairment of oligodendroglia and disruption of white matter integrity in psychiatric diseases. Nonetheless, whether and how genetic risk factors and epigenetic dysregulations for neuronal susceptibility may affect oligodendroglia is largely unknown. In this mini-review, we will discuss emerging evidence regarding the functional interplay between genetic risk loci and epigenetic factors, which may underlie compromised oligodendroglia and myelin development in neuropsychiatric disorders. Transcriptional and epigenetic factors are the major aspects affected in oligodendroglia. Moreover, multiple disease susceptibility genes are connected by epigenetically modulated transcriptional and post-transcriptional mechanisms. Oligodendroglia specific complex molecular orchestra may explain how distinct risk factors lead to the common clinical expression of white matter pathology of neuropsychiatric disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xianjun Chen
- Department of Psychiatry, Mental Diseases Prevention and Treatment Institute of PLA, PLA 91st Central Hospital, Jiaozuo, China
| | - Huifeng Duan
- Department of Psychiatry, Mental Diseases Prevention and Treatment Institute of PLA, PLA 91st Central Hospital, Jiaozuo, China
| | - Lan Xiao
- Department of Histology and Embryology, Chongqing Key Laboratory of Neurobiology, Army Medical University (Third Military Medical University), Chongqing, China
| | - Jingli Gan
- Department of Psychiatry, Mental Diseases Prevention and Treatment Institute of PLA, PLA 91st Central Hospital, Jiaozuo, China
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15
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Hu J, Xu J, Pang L, Zhao H, Li F, Deng Y, Liu L, Lan Y, Zhang X, Zhao T, Xu C, Xu C, Xiao Y, Li X. Systematically characterizing dysfunctional long intergenic non-coding RNAs in multiple brain regions of major psychosis. Oncotarget 2018; 7:71087-71098. [PMID: 27661005 PMCID: PMC5342065 DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.12122] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2016] [Accepted: 09/12/2016] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar disorder (BD) are severe neuropsychiatric disorders with serious impact on patients, together termed “major psychosis”. Recently, long intergenic non-coding RNAs (lincRNAs) were reported to play important roles in mental diseases. However, little was known about their molecular mechanism in pathogenesis of SZ and BD. Here, we performed RNA sequencing on 82 post-mortem brain tissues from three brain regions (orbitofrontal cortex (BA11), anterior cingulate cortex (BA24) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (BA9)) of patients with SZ and BD and control subjects, generating over one billion reads. We characterized lincRNA transcriptome in the three brain regions and identified 20 differentially expressed lincRNAs (DELincRNAs) in BA11 for BD, 34 and 1 in BA24 and BA9 for SZ, respectively. Our results showed that these DELincRNAs exhibited brain region-specific patterns. Applying weighted gene co-expression network analysis, we revealed that DELincRNAs together with other genes can function as modules to perform different functions in different brain regions, such as immune system development in BA24 and oligodendrocyte differentiation in BA9. Additionally, we found that DNA methylation alteration could partly explain the dysregulation of lincRNAs, some of which could function as enhancers in the pathogenesis of major psychosis. Together, we performed systematical characterization of dysfunctional lincRNAs in multiple brain regions of major psychosis, which provided a valuable resource to understand their roles in SZ and BD pathology and helped to discover novel biomarkers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jing Hu
- College of Bioinformatics Science and Technology, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China
| | - Jinyuan Xu
- College of Bioinformatics Science and Technology, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China
| | - Lin Pang
- College of Bioinformatics Science and Technology, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China
| | - Hongying Zhao
- College of Bioinformatics Science and Technology, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China
| | - Feng Li
- College of Bioinformatics Science and Technology, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China
| | - Yulan Deng
- College of Bioinformatics Science and Technology, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China
| | - Ling Liu
- College of Bioinformatics Science and Technology, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China
| | - Yujia Lan
- College of Bioinformatics Science and Technology, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China
| | - Xinxin Zhang
- College of Bioinformatics Science and Technology, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China
| | - Tingting Zhao
- Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China
| | - Chaohan Xu
- College of Bioinformatics Science and Technology, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China
| | - Chun Xu
- Department of Psychiatry, Texas Tech University Health Science Center, El Paso, Texas, United States of America
| | - Yun Xiao
- College of Bioinformatics Science and Technology, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China
| | - Xia Li
- College of Bioinformatics Science and Technology, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China
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16
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Farnsworth B, Peuckert C, Zimmermann B, Jazin E, Kettunen P, Emilsson LS. Gene Expression of Quaking in Sporadic Alzheimer's Disease Patients is Both Upregulated and Related to Expression Levels of Genes Involved in Amyloid Plaque and Neurofibrillary Tangle Formation. J Alzheimers Dis 2018; 53:209-19. [PMID: 27163826 PMCID: PMC4942724 DOI: 10.3233/jad-160160] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
Quaking (QKI) is a gene exclusively expressed within glial cells. QKI has previously been implicated in various neurological disorders and diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD), a condition for which increasing evidence suggests a central role of glia cells. The objective of the present study was to investigate the expression levels of QKI and three QKI isoforms (QKI5, QKI6, and QKI7) in AD. Genes that have previously been related to the ontogeny and progression of AD, specifically APP, PSEN1, PSEN2, and MAPT, were also investigated. A real-time PCR assay of 123 samples from human postmortem sporadic AD patients and control brains was performed. The expression values were analyzed with an analysis of covariance model and subsequent multiple regressions to explore the possibility of related expression values between QKI, QKI isoforms, and AD-related genes. Further, the sequences of AD-related genes were analyzed for the presence of QKI binding domains. QKI and all measured QKI isoforms were found to be significantly upregulated in AD samples, relative to control samples. However, APP, PSEN1, PSEN2, and MAPT were not found to be significantly different. QKI and QKI isoforms were found to be predictive for the variance of APP, PSEN1, PSEN2, and MAPT, and putative QKI binding sites suggests an interaction with QKI. Overall, these results implicate a possible role of QKI in AD, although the exact mechanism by which this occurs remains to be uncovered.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bryn Farnsworth
- Department of Evolution and Development, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Christiane Peuckert
- Department of Neuroscience, Uppsala Biomedical Centre, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Bettina Zimmermann
- Department of Evolution and Development, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Elena Jazin
- Department of Evolution and Development, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Petronella Kettunen
- Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Department of Psychiatry and Neurochemistry, The Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.,Department of Neuropathology, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, UK
| | - Lina Sors Emilsson
- Department of Evolution and Development, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
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17
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Novel schizophrenia risk factor pathways regulate FEZ1 to advance oligodendroglia development. Transl Psychiatry 2017; 7:1293. [PMID: 29249816 PMCID: PMC5802537 DOI: 10.1038/s41398-017-0028-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2017] [Revised: 07/15/2017] [Accepted: 08/24/2017] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Neuropsychiatric disorders, represented by schizophrenia, affect not only neurons but also myelinating oligodendroglia (OL), both contribute to the complex etiology. Although numerous susceptibility genes for schizophrenia have been identified, their function has been primarily studied in neurons. Whether malfunction of risk genes underlies OL defects in schizophrenia pathogenesis remains poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the function and regulation of the well-recognized schizophrenia risk factor, Fasciculation and Elongation Protein Zeta-1 (FEZ1), in OL. We found that FEZ1 is expressed in oligodendroglia progenitor cells (OPCs) derived from rodent brains and human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) in culture and in myelinating oligodendrocytes in the brain. In addition, a vigorous upregulation of FEZ1 occurs during OPC differentiation and myelinogenesis, whereas knockdown of FEZ1 significantly attenuates the development of OL process arbors. We further showed that transcription of the Fez1 gene in OL cells is governed by a sophisticated functional interplay between histone acetylation-mediated chromatin modification and transcription factors that are dysregulated in schizophrenia. At the post-transcriptional level, the selective RNA-binding protein QKI, a glia-specific risk factor of schizophrenia, binds FEZ1 mRNA. Moreover, QKI deficiency results in a marked reduction of FEZ1 specifically in OL cells of the quakingviable (qkv) hypomyelination mutant mice. These observations have uncovered novel pathways that involve multifaceted genetic lesions and/or epigenetic dysregulations in schizophrenia, which converge on FEZ1 regulation and cause OL impairment in neuropsychiatric disorders.
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18
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Andersen RE, Lim DA. Forging our understanding of lncRNAs in the brain. Cell Tissue Res 2017; 371:55-71. [PMID: 29079882 DOI: 10.1007/s00441-017-2711-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 82] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/10/2017] [Accepted: 10/05/2017] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
During both development and adulthood, the human brain expresses many thousands of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), and aberrant lncRNA expression has been associated with a wide range of neurological diseases. Although the biological significance of most lncRNAs remains to be discovered, it is now clear that certain lncRNAs carry out important functions in neurodevelopment, neural cell function, and perhaps even diseases of the human brain. Given the relatively inclusive definition of lncRNAs-transcripts longer than 200 nucleotides with essentially no protein coding potential-this class of noncoding transcript is both large and very diverse. Furthermore, emerging data indicate that lncRNA genes can act via multiple, non-mutually exclusive molecular mechanisms, and specific functions are difficult to predict from lncRNA expression or sequence alone. Thus, the different experimental approaches used to explore the role of a lncRNA might each shed light upon distinct facets of its overall molecular mechanism, and combining multiple approaches may be necessary to fully illuminate the function of any particular lncRNA. To understand how lncRNAs affect brain development and neurological disease, in vivo studies of lncRNA function are required. Thus, in this review, we focus our discussion upon a small set of neural lncRNAs that have been experimentally manipulated in mice. Together, these examples illustrate how studies of individual lncRNAs using multiple experimental approaches can help reveal the richness and complexity of lncRNA function in both neurodevelopment and diseases of the brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca E Andersen
- Department of Neurological Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, Ray and Dagmar Dolby Regeneration Medicine Building, 35 Medical Center Way, RMB 1037, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA.,Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA.,Developmental and Stem Cell Biology Graduate Program, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA
| | - Daniel A Lim
- Department of Neurological Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, Ray and Dagmar Dolby Regeneration Medicine Building, 35 Medical Center Way, RMB 1037, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA. .,Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA. .,San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center, San Francisco, CA, 94121, USA.
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19
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Ishimoto T, Ninomiya K, Inoue R, Koike M, Uchiyama Y, Mori H. Mice lacking BCAS1, a novel myelin-associated protein, display hypomyelination, schizophrenia-like abnormal behaviors, and upregulation of inflammatory genes in the brain. Glia 2017; 65:727-739. [PMID: 28230289 DOI: 10.1002/glia.23129] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2016] [Revised: 01/30/2017] [Accepted: 02/01/2017] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
The abnormal expression and function of myelin-related proteins contribute to nervous system dysfunction associated with neuropsychiatric disorders; however, the underlying mechanism of this remains unclear. We found here that breast carcinoma amplified sequence 1 (BCAS1), a basic protein abundant in the brain, was expressed specifically in oligodendrocytes and Schwann cells, and that its expression level was decreased by demyelination. This suggests that BCAS1 is a novel myelin-associated protein. BCAS1 knockout mice displayed schizophrenia-like behavioral abnormalities and a tendency toward reduced anxiety-like behaviors. Moreover, we found that the loss of BCAS1 specifically induced hypomyelination and the expression of inflammation-related genes in the brain. These observations provide a novel insight into the functional link between oligodendrocytes and inflammation and/or abnormal behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tetsuya Ishimoto
- Department of Molecular Neuroscience, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan
| | - Kensuke Ninomiya
- Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Yoshida-Konoe-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8501, Japan
| | - Ran Inoue
- Department of Molecular Neuroscience, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan
| | - Masato Koike
- Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-1-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8421, Japan
| | - Yasuo Uchiyama
- Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-1-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8421, Japan
| | - Hisashi Mori
- Department of Molecular Neuroscience, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan
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20
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Hess JL, Tylee DS, Barve R, de Jong S, Ophoff RA, Kumarasinghe N, Tooney P, Schall U, Gardiner E, Beveridge NJ, Scott RJ, Yasawardene S, Perera A, Mendis J, Carr V, Kelly B, Cairns M, Tsuang MT, Glatt SJ. Transcriptome-wide mega-analyses reveal joint dysregulation of immunologic genes and transcription regulators in brain and blood in schizophrenia. Schizophr Res 2016; 176:114-124. [PMID: 27450777 PMCID: PMC5026943 DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2016.07.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 66] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2016] [Revised: 07/07/2016] [Accepted: 07/11/2016] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
The application of microarray technology in schizophrenia research was heralded as paradigm-shifting, as it allowed for high-throughput assessment of cell and tissue function. This technology was widely adopted, initially in studies of postmortem brain tissue, and later in studies of peripheral blood. The collective body of schizophrenia microarray literature contains apparent inconsistencies between studies, with failures to replicate top hits, in part due to small sample sizes, cohort-specific effects, differences in array types, and other confounders. In an attempt to summarize existing studies of schizophrenia cases and non-related comparison subjects, we performed two mega-analyses of a combined set of microarray data from postmortem prefrontal cortices (n=315) and from ex-vivo blood tissues (n=578). We adjusted regression models per gene to remove non-significant covariates, providing best-estimates of transcripts dysregulated in schizophrenia. We also examined dysregulation of functionally related gene sets and gene co-expression modules, and assessed enrichment of cell types and genetic risk factors. The identities of the most significantly dysregulated genes were largely distinct for each tissue, but the findings indicated common emergent biological functions (e.g. immunity) and regulatory factors (e.g., predicted targets of transcription factors and miRNA species across tissues). Our network-based analyses converged upon similar patterns of heightened innate immune gene expression in both brain and blood in schizophrenia. We also constructed generalizable machine-learning classifiers using the blood-based microarray data. Our study provides an informative atlas for future pathophysiologic and biomarker studies of schizophrenia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan L Hess
- Psychiatric Genetic Epidemiology & Neurobiology Laboratory (PsychGENe Lab), Syracuse, NY, USA; Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences & Neuroscience and Physiology, Syracuse, NY, USA; SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY, USA
| | - Daniel S Tylee
- Psychiatric Genetic Epidemiology & Neurobiology Laboratory (PsychGENe Lab), Syracuse, NY, USA; Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences & Neuroscience and Physiology, Syracuse, NY, USA; SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY, USA
| | - Rahul Barve
- Psychiatric Genetic Epidemiology & Neurobiology Laboratory (PsychGENe Lab), Syracuse, NY, USA; Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences & Neuroscience and Physiology, Syracuse, NY, USA; SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY, USA
| | - Simone de Jong
- Center for Neurobehavioral Genetics, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Behavior, David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA; MRC Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, UK
| | - Roel A Ophoff
- Center for Neurobehavioral Genetics, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Behavior, David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Nishantha Kumarasinghe
- School of Medicine & Public Health, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, Newcastle, Australia; Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Sri Jayawardenepura, Nugegoda, Sri Lanka; Schizophrenia Research Institute, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; Faculty of Medicine, Sir John Kotelawala Defence University, Ratmalana, Sri Lanka
| | - Paul Tooney
- Schizophrenia Research Institute, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; School of Biomedical Sciences & Pharmacy, Faculty of Health, The University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia; Hunter Medical Research Institute, Newcastle, Australia; Centre for Translational Neuroscience & Mental Health, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, Newcastle, Australia
| | - Ulrich Schall
- School of Medicine & Public Health, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, Newcastle, Australia; Schizophrenia Research Institute, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; Hunter Medical Research Institute, Newcastle, Australia; Centre for Translational Neuroscience & Mental Health, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, Newcastle, Australia
| | - Erin Gardiner
- Schizophrenia Research Institute, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; School of Biomedical Sciences & Pharmacy, Faculty of Health, The University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia; Centre for Translational Neuroscience & Mental Health, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, Newcastle, Australia
| | - Natalie Jane Beveridge
- Schizophrenia Research Institute, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; School of Biomedical Sciences & Pharmacy, Faculty of Health, The University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia; Centre for Translational Neuroscience & Mental Health, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, Newcastle, Australia
| | - Rodney J Scott
- School of Biomedical Sciences & Pharmacy, Faculty of Health, The University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia; Hunter Medical Research Institute, Newcastle, Australia
| | - Surangi Yasawardene
- Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Sri Jayawardenepura, Nugegoda, Sri Lanka
| | - Antionette Perera
- Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Sri Jayawardenepura, Nugegoda, Sri Lanka
| | - Jayan Mendis
- Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Sri Jayawardenepura, Nugegoda, Sri Lanka
| | - Vaughan Carr
- Schizophrenia Research Institute, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Kensington, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Brian Kelly
- School of Medicine & Public Health, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, Newcastle, Australia; Hunter Medical Research Institute, Newcastle, Australia; Centre for Translational Neuroscience & Mental Health, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, Newcastle, Australia
| | - Murray Cairns
- Schizophrenia Research Institute, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; School of Biomedical Sciences & Pharmacy, Faculty of Health, The University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia; Hunter Medical Research Institute, Newcastle, Australia; Centre for Translational Neuroscience & Mental Health, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, Newcastle, Australia
| | - Ming T Tsuang
- Center for Behavioral Genomics, Department of Psychiatry, Institute for Genomic Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA; Harvard Institute of Psychiatric Epidemiology and Genetics, Boston, USA
| | - Stephen J Glatt
- Psychiatric Genetic Epidemiology & Neurobiology Laboratory (PsychGENe Lab), Syracuse, NY, USA; Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences & Neuroscience and Physiology, Syracuse, NY, USA; SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY, USA.
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Irie K, Tsujimura K, Nakashima H, Nakashima K. MicroRNA-214 Promotes Dendritic Development by Targeting the Schizophrenia-associated Gene Quaking (Qki). J Biol Chem 2016; 291:13891-904. [PMID: 27129236 DOI: 10.1074/jbc.m115.705749] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2015] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Proper dendritic elaboration of neurons is critical for the formation of functional circuits during brain development. Defects in dendrite morphogenesis are associated with neuropsychiatric disorders, and microRNAs are emerging as regulators of aspects of neuronal maturation such as axonal and dendritic growth, spine formation, and synaptogenesis. Here, we show that miR-214 plays a pivotal role in the regulation of dendritic development. Overexpression of miR-214 increased dendrite size and complexity, whereas blocking of endogenous miR-214-3p, a mature form of miR-214, inhibited dendritic morphogenesis. We also found that miR-214-3p targets quaking (Qki), which is implicated in psychiatric diseases such as schizophrenia, through conserved target sites located in the 3'-untranslated region of Qki mRNA, thereby down-regulating Qki protein levels. Overexpression and knockdown of Qki impaired and enhanced dendritic formation, respectively. Moreover, overexpression of Qki abolished the dendritic growth induced by miR-214 overexpression. Taken together, our findings reveal a crucial role for the miR-214-Qki pathway in the regulation of neuronal dendritic development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Koichiro Irie
- From the Department of Stem Cell Biology and Medicine, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan
| | - Keita Tsujimura
- From the Department of Stem Cell Biology and Medicine, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan
| | - Hideyuki Nakashima
- From the Department of Stem Cell Biology and Medicine, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan
| | - Kinichi Nakashima
- From the Department of Stem Cell Biology and Medicine, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan
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22
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Darbelli L, Richard S. Emerging functions of the Quaking RNA-binding proteins and link to human diseases. WILEY INTERDISCIPLINARY REVIEWS-RNA 2016; 7:399-412. [PMID: 26991871 DOI: 10.1002/wrna.1344] [Citation(s) in RCA: 71] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2015] [Revised: 01/23/2016] [Accepted: 02/01/2016] [Indexed: 01/16/2023]
Abstract
RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) are essential players in RNA metabolism including key cellular processes from pre-mRNA splicing to mRNA translation. The K homology-type QUAKING RBP is emerging as a vital factor for oligodendrocytes, monocytes/macrophages, endothelial cell, and myocyte function. Interestingly, the qkI gene has now been identified as the culprit gene for a patient with intellectual disabilities and is translocated in a pediatric ganglioglioma as a fusion protein with MYB. In this review, we will focus on the emerging discoveries of the QKI proteins as well as highlight the recent advances in understanding the role of QKI in human disease pathology including myelin disorders, schizophrenia and cancer. WIREs RNA 2016, 7:399-412. doi: 10.1002/wrna.1344 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lama Darbelli
- Terry Fox Molecular Oncology Group, Bloomfield Center for Research on Aging, Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research and Departments of Oncology and Medicine, McGill University, Montréal, Canada, H3T 1E2
| | - Stéphane Richard
- Terry Fox Molecular Oncology Group, Bloomfield Center for Research on Aging, Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research and Departments of Oncology and Medicine, McGill University, Montréal, Canada, H3T 1E2
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23
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Yamagishi R, Tsusaka T, Mitsunaga H, Maehata T, Hoshino SI. The STAR protein QKI-7 recruits PAPD4 to regulate post-transcriptional polyadenylation of target mRNAs. Nucleic Acids Res 2016; 44:2475-90. [PMID: 26926106 PMCID: PMC4824116 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkw118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2014] [Accepted: 02/16/2016] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Emerging evidence has demonstrated that regulating the length of the poly(A) tail on an mRNA is an efficient means of controlling gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. In early development, transcription is silenced and gene expression is primarily regulated by cytoplasmic polyadenylation. In somatic cells, considerable progress has been made toward understanding the mechanisms of negative regulation by deadenylation. However, positive regulation through elongation of the poly(A) tail has not been widely studied due to the difficulty in distinguishing whether any observed increase in length is due to the synthesis of new mRNA, reduced deadenylation or cytoplasmic polyadenylation. Here, we overcame this barrier by developing a method for transcriptional pulse-chase analysis under conditions where deadenylases are suppressed. This strategy was used to show that a member of the Star family of RNA binding proteins, QKI, promotes polyadenylation when tethered to a reporter mRNA. Although multiple RNA binding proteins have been implicated in cytoplasmic polyadenylation during early development, previously only CPEB was known to function in this capacity in somatic cells. Importantly, we show that only the cytoplasmic isoform QKI-7 promotes poly(A) tail extension, and that it does so by recruiting the non-canonical poly(A) polymerase PAPD4 through its unique carboxyl-terminal region. We further show that QKI-7 specifically promotes polyadenylation and translation of three natural target mRNAs (hnRNPA1, p27kip1 and β-catenin) in a manner that is dependent on the QKI response element. An anti-mitogenic signal that induces cell cycle arrest at G1 phase elicits polyadenylation and translation of p27kip1 mRNA via QKI and PAPD4. Taken together, our findings provide significant new insight into a general mechanism for positive regulation of gene expression by post-transcriptional polyadenylation in somatic cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ryota Yamagishi
- Department of Biological Chemistry, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nagoya City University, Nagoya 467-8603, Japan
| | - Takeshi Tsusaka
- Department of Biological Chemistry, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nagoya City University, Nagoya 467-8603, Japan
| | - Hiroko Mitsunaga
- Department of Biological Chemistry, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nagoya City University, Nagoya 467-8603, Japan
| | - Takaharu Maehata
- Department of Biological Chemistry, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nagoya City University, Nagoya 467-8603, Japan
| | - Shin-ichi Hoshino
- Department of Biological Chemistry, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nagoya City University, Nagoya 467-8603, Japan
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24
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Radomska KJ, Sager J, Farnsworth B, Tellgren-Roth Å, Tuveri G, Peuckert C, Kettunen P, Jazin E, Emilsson LS. Characterization and Expression of the Zebrafish qki Paralogs. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0146155. [PMID: 26727370 PMCID: PMC4699748 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0146155] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2015] [Accepted: 12/13/2015] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Quaking (QKI) is an RNA-binding protein involved in post-transcriptional mRNA processing. This gene is found to be associated with several human neurological disorders. Early expression of QKI proteins in the developing mouse neuroepithelium, together with neural tube defects in Qk mouse mutants, suggest the functional requirement of Qk for the establishment of the nervous system. As a knockout of Qk is embryonic lethal in mice, other model systems like the zebrafish could serve as a tool to study the developmental functions of qki. In the present study we sought to characterize the evolutionary relationship and spatiotemporal expression of qkia, qki2, and qkib; zebrafish homologs of human QKI. We found that qkia is an ancestral paralog of the single tetrapod Qk gene that was likely lost during the fin-to-limb transition. Conversely, qkib and qki2 are orthologs, emerging at the root of the vertebrate and teleost lineage, respectively. Both qki2 and qkib, but not qkia, were expressed in the progenitor domains of the central nervous system, similar to expression of the single gene in mice. Despite having partially overlapping expression domains, each gene has a unique expression pattern, suggesting that these genes have undergone subfunctionalization following duplication. Therefore, we suggest the zebrafish could be used to study the separate functions of qki genes during embryonic development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katarzyna J. Radomska
- Department of Evolution and Development, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Jonathan Sager
- Department of Evolution and Development, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Bryn Farnsworth
- Department of Evolution and Development, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Åsa Tellgren-Roth
- Department of Evolution and Development, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Giulia Tuveri
- Department of Evolution and Development, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Christiane Peuckert
- Department of Neuroscience, Uppsala Biomedical Centre, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Petronella Kettunen
- Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Department of Psychiatry and Neurochemistry, The Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
- Department of Neuropathology, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Elena Jazin
- Department of Evolution and Development, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Lina S. Emilsson
- Department of Evolution and Development, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
- * E-mail:
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25
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Liao J, He Q, Li M, Chen Y, Liu Y, Wang J. LncRNA MIAT: Myocardial infarction associated and more. Gene 2015; 578:158-61. [PMID: 26707210 DOI: 10.1016/j.gene.2015.12.032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 102] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2015] [Revised: 12/15/2015] [Accepted: 12/15/2015] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Non-coding RNAs are emerging as regulatory RNAs that participate in the regulation of gene expression and play vital roles in various biological and pathological processes. Long non-coding (lncRNA) is a novel class of non-coding RNAs that regulates gene expression by binding to chromatin regulators and interfering RNAs to affect cellular response. Myocardial infarction associated transcript (MIAT) is identified as lncRNAs, which is involved in various diseases, pathological and physiological processes, such as myocardial infarction, diabetic retinopathy, paranoid schizophrenia, microvascular dysfunction and formation of nuclear bodies, and neurogenic commitment. Here we review the growing understanding and potential utilization of MIAT.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiangquan Liao
- Guang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, No.5 Beixiange Street, Xicheng District, Beijing 100053, China; Graduate School, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, No.11 Beisanhuan East Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100029, China
| | - Qingyong He
- Guang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, No.5 Beixiange Street, Xicheng District, Beijing 100053, China
| | - Min Li
- Guang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, No.5 Beixiange Street, Xicheng District, Beijing 100053, China; Graduate School, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, No.11 Beisanhuan East Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100029, China
| | - Yinfeng Chen
- Guang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, No.5 Beixiange Street, Xicheng District, Beijing 100053, China; Graduate School, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, No.11 Beisanhuan East Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100029, China
| | - Yongmei Liu
- Guang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, No.5 Beixiange Street, Xicheng District, Beijing 100053, China.
| | - Jie Wang
- Guang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, No.5 Beixiange Street, Xicheng District, Beijing 100053, China.
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26
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Elsayed M, Magistretti PJ. A New Outlook on Mental Illnesses: Glial Involvement Beyond the Glue. Front Cell Neurosci 2015; 9:468. [PMID: 26733803 PMCID: PMC4679853 DOI: 10.3389/fncel.2015.00468] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2015] [Accepted: 11/16/2015] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Mental illnesses have long been perceived as the exclusive consequence of abnormalities in neuronal functioning. Until recently, the role of glial cells in the pathophysiology of mental diseases has largely been overlooked. However recently, multiple lines of evidence suggest more diverse and significant functions of glia with behavior-altering effects. The newly ascribed roles of astrocytes, oligodendrocytes and microglia have led to their examination in brain pathology and mental illnesses. Indeed, abnormalities in glial function, structure and density have been observed in postmortem brain studies of subjects diagnosed with mental illnesses. In this review, we discuss the newly identified functions of glia and highlight the findings of glial abnormalities in psychiatric disorders. We discuss these preclinical and clinical findings implicating the involvement of glial cells in mental illnesses with the perspective that these cells may represent a new target for treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maha Elsayed
- Laboratory of Neuroenergetics and Cellular Dynamics, Brain Mind Institute, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Pierre J Magistretti
- Laboratory of Neuroenergetics and Cellular Dynamics, Brain Mind Institute, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de LausanneLausanne, Switzerland; Division of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and TechnologyThuwal, Saudi Arabia; Department of Psychiatry, Center for Psychiatric Neurosciences, University of LausanneLausanne, Switzerland
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27
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Long Noncoding RNA-Directed Epigenetic Regulation of Gene Expression Is Associated With Anxiety-like Behavior in Mice. Biol Psychiatry 2015; 78:848-59. [PMID: 25792222 PMCID: PMC4532653 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2015.02.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 94] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2014] [Revised: 02/03/2015] [Accepted: 02/04/2015] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND RNA-directed regulation of epigenetic processes has recently emerged as an important feature of mammalian differentiation and development. Perturbation of this regulatory system in the brain may contribute to the development of neuropsychiatric disorders. METHODS RNA sequencing was used to identify changes in the experience-dependent expression of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) within the medial prefrontal cortex of adult mice. Transcripts were validated by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction and a candidate lncRNA, Gomafu, was selected for further investigation. The functional role of this schizophrenia-related lncRNA was explored in vivo by antisense oligonucleotide-mediated gene knockdown in the medial prefrontal cortex, followed by behavioral training and assessment of fear-related anxiety. Long noncoding RNA-directed epigenetic regulation of gene expression was investigated by chromatin and RNA immunoprecipitation assays. RESULTS RNA sequencing analysis revealed changes in the expression of a significant number of genes related to neural plasticity and stress, as well as the dynamic regulation of lncRNAs. In particular, we detected a significant downregulation of Gomafu lncRNA. Our results revealed that Gomafu plays a role in mediating anxiety-like behavior and suggest that this may occur through an interaction with a key member of the polycomb repressive complex 1, BMI1, which regulates the expression of the schizophrenia-related gene beta crystallin (Crybb1). We also demonstrated a novel role for Crybb1 in mediating fear-induced anxiety-like behavior. CONCLUSIONS Experience-dependent expression of lncRNAs plays an important role in the epigenetic regulation of adaptive behavior, and the perturbation of Gomafu may be related to anxiety and the development of neuropsychiatric disorders.
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28
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Linkage and whole genome sequencing identify a locus on 6q25-26 for formal thought disorder and implicate MEF2A regulation. Schizophr Res 2015; 169:441-446. [PMID: 26421691 DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2015.08.037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2015] [Revised: 08/27/2015] [Accepted: 08/27/2015] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Formal thought disorder is a major feature of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. It is heritable, found in healthy relatives of patients with schizophrenia and other mental disorders but knowledge of specific genetic factors is lacking. The aim of this study was to search for biologically relevant high-risk variants. Formal thought disorder was assessed in participants in the Copenhagen Schizophrenia Linkage Study (N=236), a unique high-risk family study comprised of six large pedigrees. Microsatellite linkage analysis of formal thought disorder was performed and subsequent haplotype analysis of the implicated region using phased microsatellite and SNP genotypes. Whole genome sequencing (N=3) was used in the attempt to identify causative variants in the linkage region. Linkage analysis of formal thought disorder resulted in a single peak at chromosome 6(q26-q27) centred on marker D6S1277, with a maximum LOD score of 4.0. Phasing and fine mapping of the linkage peak identified a 5.5Mb haplotype (chr6:162242322-167753547, hg18) in 31 individuals, all belonging to the same pedigree sharing the haplotype from a common ancestor. The haplotype segregated with increased total thought disorder index score (P=4.9 × 10(-5)) and qualitatively severe forms of thought disturbances. Whole genome sequencing identified a novel nucleotide deletion (chr6:164377205 AG>A, hg18) predicted to disrupt the potential binding of the transcription factor MEF2A. The MEF2A binding site is located between two genes previously reported to associate with schizophrenia, QKI (HGNC:21100) and PDE10A (HGNC:8772). The findings are consistent with MEF2A deregulation conferring risk of formal thought disorder.
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29
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Merelo V, Durand D, Lescallette AR, Vrana KE, Hong LE, Faghihi MA, Bellon A. Associating schizophrenia, long non-coding RNAs and neurostructural dynamics. Front Mol Neurosci 2015; 8:57. [PMID: 26483630 PMCID: PMC4588008 DOI: 10.3389/fnmol.2015.00057] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2015] [Accepted: 09/10/2015] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Several lines of evidence indicate that schizophrenia has a strong genetic component. But the exact nature and functional role of this genetic component in the pathophysiology of this mental illness remains a mystery. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a recently discovered family of molecules that regulate gene transcription through a variety of means. Consequently, lncRNAs could help us bring together apparent unrelated findings in schizophrenia; namely, genomic deficiencies on one side and neuroimaging, as well as postmortem results on the other. In fact, the most consistent finding in schizophrenia is decreased brain size together with enlarged ventricles. This anomaly appears to originate from shorter and less ramified dendrites and axons. But a decrease in neuronal arborizations cannot explain the complex pathophysiology of this psychotic disorder; however, dynamic changes in neuronal structure present throughout life could. It is well recognized that the structure of developing neurons is extremely plastic. This structural plasticity was thought to stop with brain development. However, breakthrough discoveries have shown that neuronal structure retains some degree of plasticity throughout life. What the neuroscientific field is still trying to understand is how these dynamic changes are regulated and lncRNAs represent promising candidates to fill this knowledge gap. Here, we present evidence that associates specific lncRNAs with schizophrenia. We then discuss the potential role of lncRNAs in neurostructural dynamics. Finally, we explain how dynamic neurostructural modifications present throughout life could, in theory, reconcile apparent unrelated findings in schizophrenia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Veronica Merelo
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine Miami, FL, USA
| | - Dante Durand
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine Miami, FL, USA
| | - Adam R Lescallette
- Penn State Hershey Medical Center, Department of Pharmacology Hershey, PA, USA ; Penn State Hershey Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry Hershey, PA, USA
| | - Kent E Vrana
- Penn State Hershey Medical Center, Department of Pharmacology Hershey, PA, USA
| | - L Elliot Hong
- Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Mohammad Ali Faghihi
- Center for Therapeutic Innovation, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine Miami, FL, USA
| | - Alfredo Bellon
- Penn State Hershey Medical Center, Department of Pharmacology Hershey, PA, USA ; Penn State Hershey Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry Hershey, PA, USA
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30
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The role of epigenetics in depression and suicide: A platform for gene-environment interactions. Psychiatry Res 2015; 228:235-42. [PMID: 26163724 DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2015.05.071] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2014] [Revised: 05/21/2015] [Accepted: 05/28/2015] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Epigenetics involves functional modifications of genes. The aim of this paper is to explore if an association exists between epigenetics and depression and/or suicide. MedLine/PubMed searches were performed using both Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) and Non-MeSH terms. Based on pre-specified terms and inclusion criteria, sixteen studies met inclusion criteria by the 3 independent reviewers. Epigenetic changes seem to be important in both depression and suicide. All of the studies reviewed herein found significant epigenetic changes associated with depression and suicide except for two. Several studies showed that hypermethylation of BDNF is involved in suicide. TrkB hypermethylation was also shown to be associated with suicide by several studies, specifically in Brodmann's Areas (BA) 8 and 9. Future research is needed in a larger sample to further characterize these changes.
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31
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Chaverneff F, Mierzwa A, Weinstock M, Ketcham M, Lang EJ, Rosenbluth J. Dysmyelination with preservation of transverse bands in a long-lived allele of the quaking mouse. J Comp Neurol 2014; 523:197-208. [PMID: 25185516 DOI: 10.1002/cne.23670] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2014] [Revised: 08/28/2014] [Accepted: 09/02/2014] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
The new mutant mouse shaking (shk) differs from other "myelin mutants" in having a more stable neurological impairment and a much longer lifespan. We have shown that transverse bands (TBs), the component of the paranodal junction (PNJ) that attaches the myelin sheath to the axon, are present in the shk central nervous system (CNS), in contrast to more severely affected mutants, in which TBs are absent or rare. We have proposed that TBs are the major determinant underlying shk neurological stability and longevity. Here we report that TBs are abundant not only in the shk CNS but also in its peripheral nervous system (PNS), which, as in other "myelin mutants", is not as severely dysmyelinated as the CNS but does display structural abnormalities likely to affect impulse propagation. In particular, myelin sheaths are thinner than normal, and some axonal segments lack myelin sheaths entirely. In addition, we establish that the shk mutation, previously localized to chromosome 17, is a quaking (qk) allele consisting of a 105-nucleotide insertion in the qk regulatory region that decreases qk transcription but does not extend to the Parkin and Parkin coregulated genes, which are affected in the qk allele. We conclude that: 1) dysmyelination is less severe in the shk PNS than in the CNS, but TBs, which are present in both locations, stabilize the PNJs and prevent the progressive neurological deficits seen in mutants lacking TBs; and 2) the insertional mutation in shk mice is sufficient to produce the characteristic neurological phenotype without involvement of the Parkin and Parkin coregulated genes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Florence Chaverneff
- Department of Neuroscience & Physiology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York, 10016
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32
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Clark BS, Blackshaw S. Long non-coding RNA-dependent transcriptional regulation in neuronal development and disease. Front Genet 2014; 5:164. [PMID: 24936207 PMCID: PMC4047558 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2014.00164] [Citation(s) in RCA: 124] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2014] [Accepted: 05/18/2014] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Comprehensive analysis of the mammalian transcriptome has revealed that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) may make up a large fraction of cellular transcripts. Recent years have seen a surge of studies aimed at functionally characterizing the role of lncRNAs in development and disease. In this review, we discuss new findings implicating lncRNAs in controlling development of the central nervous system (CNS). The evolution of the higher vertebrate brain has been accompanied by an increase in the levels and complexities of lncRNAs expressed within the developing nervous system. Although a limited number of CNS-expressed lncRNAs are now known to modulate the activity of proteins important for neuronal differentiation, the function of the vast majority of neuronal-expressed lncRNAs is still unknown. Topics of intense current interest include the mechanism by which CNS-expressed lncRNAs might function in epigenetic and transcriptional regulation during neuronal development, and how gain and loss of function of individual lncRNAs contribute to neurological diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brian S Clark
- Solomon Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Seth Blackshaw
- Solomon Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Baltimore, MD, USA ; Department of Ophthalmology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Baltimore, MD, USA ; Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Baltimore, MD, USA ; Center for High-Throughput Biology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Baltimore, MD, USA ; Institute for Cell Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Baltimore, MD, USA
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33
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A hypothesis-driven pathway analysis reveals myelin-related pathways that contribute to the risk of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 2014; 51:140-5. [PMID: 24447946 DOI: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2014.01.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2013] [Revised: 01/03/2014] [Accepted: 01/06/2014] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar disorder (BD) are both severe neuropsychiatric disorders with a strong and potential overlapping genetic background. Multiple lines of evidence, including genetic studies, gene expression studies and neuroimaging studies, have suggested that both disorders are closely related to myelin and oligodendrocyte dysfunctions. In the current study, we hypothesized that the holistic effect of the myelin-related pathway contributes to the genetic susceptibility to both SZ and BD. We extracted pathway data from the canonical pathway database, Gene Ontology (GO), and selected a 'compiled' pathway based on previous literature. We then performed hypothesis-driven pathway analysis on GWAS data from the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC). As a result, we identified three myelin-related pathways with a joint effect significantly associated with both disorders: 'Myelin sheath' pathway (P(SZ) = 2.45E-7, P(BD) = 1.22E-3), 'Myelination' pathway (P(SZ) = 2.10E-4, P(BD) = 2.53E-24), and 'Compiled' pathway (P(SZ) = 4.57E-8, P(BD) = 2.61E-9). In comparing the SNPs and genes in these three pathways across the two diseases, we identified a substantial overlap in nominally associated SNPs and genes, which could be susceptibility SNPs and genes for both disorders. From these observations, we propose that myelin-related pathways may be involved in the etiologies of both SZ and BD.
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34
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The long non-coding RNA Gomafu is acutely regulated in response to neuronal activation and involved in schizophrenia-associated alternative splicing. Mol Psychiatry 2014; 19:486-94. [PMID: 23628989 DOI: 10.1038/mp.2013.45] [Citation(s) in RCA: 308] [Impact Index Per Article: 30.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2012] [Revised: 02/08/2013] [Accepted: 03/18/2013] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Abstract
Schizophrenia (SZ) is a complex disease characterized by impaired neuronal functioning. Although defective alternative splicing has been linked to SZ, the molecular mechanisms responsible are unknown. Additionally, there is limited understanding of the early transcriptomic responses to neuronal activation. Here, we profile these transcriptomic responses and show that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are dynamically regulated by neuronal activation, including acute downregulation of the lncRNA Gomafu, previously implicated in brain and retinal development. Moreover, we demonstrate that Gomafu binds directly to the splicing factors QKI and SRSF1 (serine/arginine-rich splicing factor 1) and dysregulation of Gomafu leads to alternative splicing patterns that resemble those observed in SZ for the archetypal SZ-associated genes DISC1 and ERBB4. Finally, we show that Gomafu is downregulated in post-mortem cortical gray matter from the superior temporal gyrus in SZ. These results functionally link activity-regulated lncRNAs and alternative splicing in neuronal function and suggest that their dysregulation may contribute to neurological disorders.
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Roussos P, Haroutunian V. Schizophrenia: susceptibility genes and oligodendroglial and myelin related abnormalities. Front Cell Neurosci 2014; 8:5. [PMID: 24478629 PMCID: PMC3896818 DOI: 10.3389/fncel.2014.00005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 66] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2013] [Accepted: 01/06/2014] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Given that the genetic risk for schizophrenia is highly polygenic and the effect sizes, even for rare or de novo events, are modest at best, it has been suggested that multiple biological pathways are likely to be involved in the etiopathogenesis of the disease. Most efforts in understanding the cellular basis of schizophrenia have followed a “neuron-centric” approach, focusing on alterations in neurotransmitter systems and synapse cytoarchitecture. However, multiple lines of evidence coming from genetics and systems biology approaches suggest that apart from neurons, oligodendrocytes and potentially other glia are affected from schizophrenia risk loci. Neurobiological abnormalities linked with genetic association signal could identify abnormalities that are more likely to be primary, versus environmentally induced changes or downstream events. Here, we summarize genetic data that support the involvement of oligodendrocytes in schizophrenia, providing additional evidence for a causal role with the disease. Given the undeniable evidence of both neuronal and glial abnormalities in schizophrenia, we propose a neuro-glial model that invokes abnormalities at the node of Ranvier as a functional unit in the etiopathogenesis of the disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Panos Roussos
- Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center (VISN 3), James J. Peters VA Medical Center Bronx, NY, USA ; Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai New York, NY, USA ; Department of Genetics and Genomic Science and Institute for Multiscale Biology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai New York, NY, USA
| | - Vahram Haroutunian
- Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center (VISN 3), James J. Peters VA Medical Center Bronx, NY, USA ; Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai New York, NY, USA ; Department of Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai New York, NY, USA
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Feresten AH, Barakauskas V, Ypsilanti A, Barr AM, Beasley CL. Increased expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein in prefrontal cortex in psychotic illness. Schizophr Res 2013; 150:252-7. [PMID: 23911257 DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2013.07.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 63] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2013] [Revised: 07/05/2013] [Accepted: 07/11/2013] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Astrocyte dysregulation has been implicated in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia (SCZ) and bipolar disorder (BPD), however the exact nature of astrocytic alterations remains to be identified. In this study we investigated whether levels of four astrocyte-specific proteins; glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), aldehyde dehydrogenase 1L1 (ALDH1L1), vimentin and excitatory amino acid transporter 1 (EAAT1) are altered in SCZ and BPD. Relative concentrations of GFAP, ALDH1L1, vimentin and EAAT1 were assessed post-mortem in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in SCZ (n=35), BPD (n=34) and non-psychiatric controls (n=35) by western blotting. The same proteins were also quantified in cingulate cortex of rats administered the antipsychotics haloperidol and clozapine. Elevated levels of GFAP were observed in SCZ and BPD, when compared to controls. GFAP was also significantly increased when comparing individuals with psychotic symptoms against those without. Vimentin, ALDH1L1 and EAAT1 levels did not differ between groups. Rats exposed to antipsychotics did not exhibit significant differences in any astrocytic protein, suggesting that increased GFAP in SCZ is not attributable to antipsychotic treatment. Our findings indicate that astrocyte pathology may be associated with psychotic symptoms. Lack of ALDH1L1 and vimentin variability and increased GFAP levels may imply that astrocyte numbers are unchanged but astrocytes are partially activated, or may indicate a specific dysregulation of GFAP.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abigail H Feresten
- Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
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Improving myelin/oligodendrocyte-related dysfunction: a new mechanism of antipsychotics in the treatment of schizophrenia? Int J Neuropsychopharmacol 2013; 16:691-700. [PMID: 23164411 DOI: 10.1017/s1461145712001095] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric disorder with complex clinical manifestations and its aetiological factors remain unclear. During the past decade, the oligodendrocyte-related myelin dysfunction was proposed as a hypothesis for schizophrenia, supported initially by a series of neuroimaging studies and genetic evidence. Recently, the effects of antipsychotics on myelination and oligodendroglial lineage development and their underlying molecular mechanisms were evaluated. Data from those studies suggest that the antipsychotics-resulting improvement in myelin/oligodendrocyte-related dysfunction may contribute, at least in part, to their therapeutic effect on schizophrenia. Importantly, these findings may provide the basis for a new insight into the therapeutic strategy by targeting the oligodendroglia lineage cells against schizophrenia.
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Preparation and characterizations of polyclonal antibodies against STAR protein QKI7b. Appl Biochem Biotechnol 2013; 169:2273-80. [PMID: 23440637 DOI: 10.1007/s12010-012-0081-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2012] [Accepted: 12/27/2012] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
Quaking (QKI) proteins are important regulators of RNA metabolism and cellular signal transduction. Recent studies have shown that isoforms of QKI proteins, which include QKI5/6/7/7b in human cells, play important roles in the development of neurological diseases and human cancers. In comparison with QKI5/6/7, however, there are little data on QKI7b due to lack of specific antibodies. Here, we reported the preparation and initial characterizations of polyclonal antibodies against human QKI7b. Utilizing a chemically synthesized C-terminal peptide fragment of human QKI7b, we raised two preparations of rabbit antiserum. We found that these antibodies were able to recognize human QKI7b, but not QKI5/6/7. Our immunofluorescence staining showed that in LO2 hepatocytes, QKI7b localizes predominantly in the perinuclear cytoplasm and less abundantly in the nucleus. In clinical samples, we showed that like QKI5/6/7 proteins, QKI7b protein was also significantly downregulated in most human colorectal cancer tissues. These antibodies, therefore, might be useful in future functional studies of QKI7b.
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Radomska KJ, Halvardson J, Reinius B, Lindholm Carlström E, Emilsson L, Feuk L, Jazin E. RNA-binding protein QKI regulates Glial fibrillary acidic protein expression in human astrocytes. Hum Mol Genet 2013; 22:1373-82. [PMID: 23321059 DOI: 10.1093/hmg/dds553] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Linkage, association and expression studies previously pointed to the human QKI, KH domain containing, RNA-binding (QKI) as a candidate gene for schizophrenia. Functional studies of the mouse orthologue Qk focused mainly on its role in oligodendrocyte development and myelination, while its function in astroglia remained unexplored. Here, we show that QKI is highly expressed in human primary astrocytes and that its splice forms encode proteins targeting different subcellular localizations. Uncovering the role of QKI in astrocytes is of interest in light of growing evidence implicating astrocyte dysfunction in the pathogenesis of several disorders of the central nervous system. We selectively silenced QKI splice variants in human primary astrocytes and used RNA sequencing to identify differential expression and splice variant composition at the genome-wide level. We found that an mRNA expression of Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), encoding a major component of astrocyte intermediate filaments, was down-regulated after QKI7 splice variant silencing. Moreover, we identified a potential QKI-binding site within the 3' untranslated region of human GFAP. This sequence was not conserved between mice and humans, raising the possibility that GFAP is a target for QKI in humans but not rodents. Haloperidol treatment of primary astrocytes resulted in coordinated increases in QKI7 and GFAP expression. Taken together, our results provide the first link between QKI and GFAP, two genes with alterations previously observed independently in schizophrenic patients. Our findings for QKI, together with its well-known role in myelination, suggest that QKI is a hub regulator of glia function in humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katarzyna J Radomska
- Department of Evolution and Development, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Uppsala,Sweden
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Cacabelos R, Cacabelos P, Aliev G. Genomics of schizophrenia and pharmacogenomics of antipsychotic drugs. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2013. [DOI: 10.4236/ojpsych.2013.31008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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Rosenbluth J, Bobrowski-Khoury N. Structural bases for central nervous system malfunction in the quaking mouse: dysmyelination in a potential model of schizophrenia. J Neurosci Res 2012; 91:374-81. [PMID: 23224912 DOI: 10.1002/jnr.23167] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2012] [Revised: 09/20/2012] [Accepted: 10/08/2012] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
The dysmyelinating mouse mutant quaking (qk) is thought to be a model of schizophrenia based on diminution of CNS myelin (Andreone et al., 2007) and downregulation of the Qk gene (Haroutunian et al., 2006) in the brains of schizophrenic patients. The purpose of this study was to identify specific structural defects in the qk mouse CNS that could compromise physiologic function and that in humans might account for some of the cognitive defects characteristic of schizophrenia. Ultrastructural analysis of qk mouse CNS myelinated fibers shows abnormalities in nodal, internodal, and paranodal regions, including marked variation in myelin thickness among neighboring fibers, spotty disruption of paranodal junctions, abnormal distribution of nodal and paranodal ion channel complexes, generalized thinning and incompactness of myelin, and on many axonal profiles complete absence of myelin. These structural defects are likely to cause abnormalities in conduction velocity, synchrony of activation, temporal ordering of signals, and other physiological parameters. We conclude that the structural abnormalities described are likely to be responsible for significant functional impairment both in the qk mouse CNS and in the human CNS with comparable myelin pathology.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Rosenbluth
- Department of Physiology and Neuroscience, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York 10016, USA.
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Takahashi N, Sakurai T. Roles of glial cells in schizophrenia: possible targets for therapeutic approaches. Neurobiol Dis 2012; 53:49-60. [PMID: 23146995 DOI: 10.1016/j.nbd.2012.11.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2012] [Revised: 09/30/2012] [Accepted: 11/01/2012] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Glial cells consisting of oligodendrocytes, astrocytes, microglia, and NG2 positive cells are major cell populations in the central nervous system, number-wise. They function as effectors and modulators of neurodevelopment through a wide variety of neuron-glial cell interactions in brain development and functions. Glial cells can be affected by both genetic and environmental factors, leading to their dysfunctions in supporting neuronal development and functions. These in turn can affect neuronal cells, causing alterations at the circuitry level that manifest as behavioral characteristics associated with schizophrenia in late teens-early twenties. Glial cells are also involved in neuroinflammatory processes, which sometimes have deleterious effects on the normal brain development. If the glial involvement plays significant roles in schizophrenia, the processes involving glial cells can become possible therapeutic targets for schizophrenia. A number of known antipsychotics are shown to have beneficial effects on glial cells, but other drugs targeting glial cell functions may also have therapeutic effects on schizophrenia. The latter can be taken into consideration for future drug development for schizophrenia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nagahide Takahashi
- Department of Psychiatry, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Showa-ku, Nagoya, Japan
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Loss of function studies in mice and genetic association link receptor protein tyrosine phosphatase α to schizophrenia. Biol Psychiatry 2011; 70:626-35. [PMID: 21831360 PMCID: PMC3176920 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2011.06.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2010] [Revised: 05/17/2011] [Accepted: 06/02/2011] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Solid evidence links schizophrenia (SZ) susceptibility to neurodevelopmental processes involving tyrosine phosphorylation-mediated signaling. Mouse studies implicate the Ptpra gene, encoding protein tyrosine phosphatase RPTPα, in the control of radial neuronal migration, cortical cytoarchitecture, and oligodendrocyte differentiation. The human gene encoding RPTPα, PTPRA, maps to a chromosomal region (20p13) associated with susceptibility to psychotic illness. METHODS We characterized neurobehavioral parameters, as well as gene expression in the central nervous system, of mice with a null mutation in the Ptpra gene. We searched for genetic association between polymorphisms in PTPRA and schizophrenia risk (two independent cohorts, 1420 cases and 1377 controls), and we monitored PTPRA expression in prefrontal dorsolateral cortex of SZ patients (35 cases, 2 control groups of 35 cases). RESULTS We found that Ptpra⁻/⁻ mice reproduce neurobehavioral endophenotypes of human SZ: sensitization to methamphetamine-induced hyperactivity, defective sensorimotor gating, and defective habituation to a startle response. Ptpra loss of function also leads to reduced expression of multiple myelination genes, mimicking the hypomyelination-associated changes in gene expression observed in postmortem patient brains. We further report that a polymorphism at the PTPRA locus is genetically associated with SZ, and that PTPRA mRNA levels are reduced in postmortem dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of subjects with SZ. CONCLUSIONS The implication of this well-studied signaling protein in SZ risk and endophenotype manifestation provides novel entry points into the etiopathology of this disease.
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Zhu H, Zhao L, Wang E, Dimova N, Liu G, Feng Y, Cambi F. The QKI-PLP pathway controls SIRT2 abundance in CNS myelin. Glia 2011; 60:69-82. [PMID: 21948283 DOI: 10.1002/glia.21248] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2011] [Accepted: 08/30/2011] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
Sirtuin 2 (SIRT2), a nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD)-dependent deacetylase expressed by oligodendrocytes (OLs), the myelin-producing cells of the central nervous system (CNS), is markedly up-regulated during active myelination (Li et al. (2007) J Neurosci 27:2606-2616; Southwood et al. (2007) Neurochem Res 32:187-195; Werner et al. (2007) J Neurosci 27:7717-7730). SIRT2 is a component of the myelin proteome and is severely reduced in the Plp1 knockout mouse brain, in which both proteolipid protein (PLP) and DM20 are absent (Werner et al. (2007) J Neurosci 27:7717-7730). The mechanisms that regulate SIRT2 expression in OLs and myelin remain to be investigated. We report for the first time that the expression of SIRT2 is regulated by the QKI-dependent pathway and this effect is mediated through selective regulation of PLP. In the homozygous quakingviable (qk(v) /qk(v) ) mutant mouse that harbors QKI deficiency in OLs (Bockbrader and Feng (2008) Future Neurol 3:655-668; Ebersole et al. (1996) Nat Genet 12:260-265; Hardy et al. (1996) J Neurosci 16:7941-7949), PLP, but not DM20 mRNA, was selectively down-regulated and SIRT2 protein was severely reduced whereas SIRT2 mRNA expression was unaffected. Expression of the cytoplasmic isoform QKI6 in OLs (Zhao et al. (2006) J Neurosci 26:11278-11286) rescued SIRT2 expression in the qk(v) /qk(v) mutant concomitantly with restoration of PLP expression. Moreover, SIRT2 protein is diminished in myelin tracts and compact myelin of the PLP-ISEdel mutant brain, in which PLP protein but not DM20 is selectively reduced (Wang et al. (2008) Exp Neurol 214:322-330). In contrast, SIRT2 expression and its cellular function in regulating process complexity are not affected by the absence of PLP in PLP-ISEdel non-myelinating OLs. Collectively, our results indicate that the abundance of SIRT2 in myelin is dependent on PLP, but not DM20.
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Affiliation(s)
- H Zhu
- Department of Neurology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA
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Xu H, Li XM. White matter abnormalities and animal models examining a putative role of altered white matter in schizophrenia. SCHIZOPHRENIA RESEARCH AND TREATMENT 2011; 2011:826976. [PMID: 22937274 PMCID: PMC3420616 DOI: 10.1155/2011/826976] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2011] [Accepted: 06/21/2011] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder affecting about 1% of the population worldwide. Although the dopamine (DA) hypothesis is still keeping a dominant position in schizophrenia research, new advances have been emerging in recent years, which suggest the implication of white matter abnormalities in schizophrenia. In this paper, we will briefly review some of recent human studies showing white matter abnormalities in schizophrenic brains and altered oligodendrocyte-(OL-) and myelin-related genes in patients with schizophrenia and will consider abnormal behaviors reported in patients with white matter diseases. Following these, we will selectively introduce some animal models examining a putative role of white matter abnormalities in schizophrenia. The emphasis will be put on the cuprizone (CPZ) model. CPZ-fed mice show demyelination and OLs loss, display schizophrenia-related behaviors, and have higher DA levels in the prefrontal cortex. These features suggest that the CPZ model is a novel animal model of schizophrenia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haiyun Xu
- Department of Anatomy, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Carbondale, IL 62901, USA
| | - Xin-Min Li
- Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada R3T 2N2
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Wagnon JL, Mahaffey CL, Sun W, Yang Y, Chao HT, Frankel WN. Etiology of a genetically complex seizure disorder in Celf4 mutant mice. GENES BRAIN AND BEHAVIOR 2011; 10:765-77. [PMID: 21745337 DOI: 10.1111/j.1601-183x.2011.00717.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Mice deficient for the gene encoding the RNA-binding protein CELF4 (CUGBP, ELAV-like family member 4) have a complex seizure phenotype that includes both convulsive and non-convulsive seizures, depending upon gene dosage and strain background, modeling genetically complex epilepsy. Invertebrate CELF is associated with translational control in fruit fly ovary epithelium and with neurogenesis and neuronal function in the nematode. Mammalian CELF4 is expressed widely during early development, but is restricted to the central nervous system in adults. To better understand the etiology of the seizure disorder of Celf4 deficient mice, we studied seizure incidence with spatial and temporal conditional knockout Celf4 alleles. For convulsive seizure phenotypes, it is sufficient to delete Celf4 in adulthood at the age of 7 weeks. This timing is in contrast to absence-like non-convulsive seizures, which require deletion before the end of the first postnatal week. Interestingly, selective deletion of Celf4 from cerebral cortex and hippocampus excitatory neurons, but not from inhibitory neurons, is sufficient to lower seizure threshold and to promote spontaneous convulsions. Correspondingly, Celf4 deficient mice have altered excitatory, but not inhibitory, neurotransmission as measured by patch-clamp recordings of cortical layer V pyramidal neurons. Finally, immunostaining in conjunction with an inhibitory neuron-specific reporter shows that CELF4 is expressed predominantly in excitatory neurons. Our results suggest that CELF4 plays a specific role in regulating excitatory neurotransmission. We posit that altered excitatory neurotransmission resulting from Celf4 deficiency underlies the complex seizure disorder in Celf4 mutant mice.
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Affiliation(s)
- J L Wagnon
- The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, ME 04609-1500, USA
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Calarco JA, Zhen M, Blencowe BJ. Networking in a global world: establishing functional connections between neural splicing regulators and their target transcripts. RNA (NEW YORK, N.Y.) 2011; 17:775-91. [PMID: 21415141 PMCID: PMC3078728 DOI: 10.1261/rna.2603911] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
Recent genome-wide analyses have indicated that almost all primary transcripts from multi-exon human genes undergo alternative pre-mRNA splicing (AS). Given the prevalence of AS and its importance in expanding proteomic complexity, a major challenge that lies ahead is to determine the functional specificity of isoforms in a cellular context. A significant fraction of alternatively spliced transcripts are regulated in a tissue- or cell-type-specific manner, suggesting that these mRNA variants likely function in the generation of cellular diversity. Complementary to these observations, several tissue-specific splicing factors have been identified, and a number of methodological advances have enabled the identification of large repertoires of target transcripts regulated by these proteins. An emerging theme is that tissue-specific splicing factors regulate coherent sets of splice variants in genes known to function in related biological pathways. This review focuses on the recent progress in our understanding of neural-specific splicing factors and their regulatory networks and outlines existing and emerging strategies for uncovering important biological roles for the isoforms that comprise these networks.
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Affiliation(s)
- John A Calarco
- Banting and Best Department of Medical Research, Donnelly Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
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Lauridsen JB, Johansen JL, Rekling JC, Thirstrup K, Moerk A, Sager TN. Regulation of the Bcas1 and Baiap3 transcripts in the subthalamic nucleus in mice recovering from MPTP toxicity. Neurosci Res 2011; 70:269-76. [PMID: 21514331 DOI: 10.1016/j.neures.2011.03.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2010] [Revised: 03/25/2011] [Accepted: 03/28/2011] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) exposure leads to significant and irreversible damage to dopaminergic neurons in both mice and humans. While MPTP exposure in humans causes permanent symptoms of Parkinson's disease, MPTP treated mice will recover behaviorally over a 3-week period. This mouse specific recovery might be linked to transcriptional changes in the basal ganglia enabling mice to maintain normal motor function in spite of low striatal dopamine levels. Laser microdissection was used to isolate the subthalamic nucleus from mice 7 and 28 days following MPTP exposure. High quality RNA was recovered and expressional analysis was performed on whole mouse genome microarrays. Identified regulated transcripts were validated in a separate batch of animals using quantitative PCR. Two transcripts with a significant regulation from days 7 to 28 in the MPTP treated groups, were identified: the brain specific angiogenesis inhibitor associated protein 3 (Baiap3) and the breast carcinoma amplified sequence 1 (Bcas1). Further studies of the molecular pathways involving these two transcripts may uncover processes in the subthalamic nucleus associated with the behavioral recovery observed after MPTP exposure.
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Affiliation(s)
- J B Lauridsen
- Department of Neuroscience and Pharmacology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Panum Institute, Blegdamsvej 3, DK-2200 Copenhagen, Denmark.
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Zearfoss NR, Clingman CC, Farley BM, McCoig LM, Ryder SP. Quaking regulates Hnrnpa1 expression through its 3' UTR in oligodendrocyte precursor cells. PLoS Genet 2011; 7:e1001269. [PMID: 21253564 PMCID: PMC3017110 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1001269] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/18/2010] [Accepted: 12/06/2010] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
In mice, Quaking (Qk) is required for myelin formation; in humans, it has been associated with psychiatric disease. QK regulates the stability, subcellular localization, and alternative splicing of several myelin-related transcripts, yet little is known about how QK governs these activities. Here, we show that QK enhances Hnrnpa1 mRNA stability by binding a conserved 3′ UTR sequence with high affinity and specificity. A single nucleotide mutation in the binding site eliminates QK-dependent regulation, as does reduction of QK by RNAi. Analysis of exon expression across the transcriptome reveals that QK and hnRNP A1 regulate an overlapping subset of transcripts. Thus, a simple interpretation is that QK regulates a large set of oligodendrocyte precursor genes indirectly by increasing the intracellular concentration of hnRNP A1. Together, the data show that hnRNP A1 is an important QK target that contributes to its control of myelin gene expression. Myelin is a lipid-rich structure that insulates neuronal axons, facilitating electrical conductance and protecting neurons from degeneration. Myelin comprises multiple compact layers of phospholipid bilayer and specific myelin proteins that occupy distinct positions within the structure. In the central nervous system, an RNA–binding protein termed Quaking is required for formation of compact myelin. Quaking regulates the production of several myelin-related proteins by binding to their mRNAs. Quaking controls the overall levels of these proteins and controls the relative amount of sequence variants of the proteins generated through alternative splicing. Here, we identify a new Quaking mRNA target, the Hnrnpa1 transcript. We show that Quaking regulates the overall level of hnRNP A1. Because hnRNP A1 is itself an RNA regulatory factor and has been implicated in the control of alternative splicing, regulation of hnRNP A1 by Quaking may have consequences for the expression of multiple additional targets. We show that hnRNP A1 and Quaking regulate an overlapping set of transcripts and exons in myelin-forming cells of the central nervous system.
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Affiliation(s)
- N. Ruth Zearfoss
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Carina C. Clingman
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Brian M. Farley
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Lisa M. McCoig
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Sean P. Ryder
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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