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Russi M, Martin E, D'Autréaux B, Tixier L, Tricoire H, Monnier V. A Drosophila model of Friedreich ataxia with CRISPR/Cas9 insertion of GAA repeats in the frataxin gene reveals in vivo protection by N-acetyl cysteine. Hum Mol Genet 2020; 29:2831-2844. [PMID: 32744307 DOI: 10.1093/hmg/ddaa170] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2020] [Revised: 07/10/2020] [Accepted: 07/23/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Friedreich ataxia (FA) is caused by GAA repeat expansions in the first intron of FXN, the gene encoding frataxin, which results in decreased gene expression. Thanks to the high degree of frataxin conservation, the Drosophila melanogaster fruitfly appears as an adequate animal model to study this disease and to evaluate therapeutic interventions. Here, we generated a Drosophila model of FA with CRISPR/Cas9 insertion of approximately 200 GAA in the intron of the fly frataxin gene fh. These flies exhibit a developmental delay and lethality associated with decreased frataxin expression. We were able to bypass preadult lethality using genetic tools to overexpress frataxin only during the developmental period. These frataxin-deficient adults are short-lived and present strong locomotor defects. RNA-Seq analysis identified deregulation of genes involved in amino-acid metabolism and transcriptomic signatures of oxidative stress. In particular, we observed a progressive increase of Tspo expression, fully rescued by adult frataxin expression. Thus, Tspo expression constitutes a molecular marker of the disease progression in our fly model and might be of interest in other animal models or in patients. Finally, in a candidate drug screening, we observed that N-acetyl cysteine improved the survival, locomotor function, resistance to oxidative stress and aconitase activity of frataxin-deficient flies. Therefore, our model provides the opportunity to elucidate in vivo, the protective mechanisms of this molecule of therapeutic potential. This study also highlights the strength of the CRISPR/Cas9 technology to introduce human mutations in endogenous orthologous genes, leading to Drosophila models of human diseases with improved physiological relevance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Russi
- Université de Paris, BFA Unit of Functional and Adaptative Biology, UMR 8251, CNRS, Paris F-75013, France
| | - Elodie Martin
- Université de Paris, BFA Unit of Functional and Adaptative Biology, UMR 8251, CNRS, Paris F-75013, France
| | - Benoit D'Autréaux
- Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell (I2BC), CEA, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette cedex 91198, France
| | - Laura Tixier
- Université de Paris, BFA Unit of Functional and Adaptative Biology, UMR 8251, CNRS, Paris F-75013, France
| | - Hervé Tricoire
- Université de Paris, BFA Unit of Functional and Adaptative Biology, UMR 8251, CNRS, Paris F-75013, France
| | - Véronique Monnier
- Université de Paris, BFA Unit of Functional and Adaptative Biology, UMR 8251, CNRS, Paris F-75013, France
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McMackin MZ, Durbin-Johnson B, Napierala M, Napierala JS, Ruiz L, Napoli E, Perlman S, Giulivi C, Cortopassi GA. Potential biomarker identification for Friedreich's ataxia using overlapping gene expression patterns in patient cells and mouse dorsal root ganglion. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0223209. [PMID: 31665133 PMCID: PMC6821053 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0223209] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2019] [Accepted: 09/15/2019] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Friedreich's ataxia (FA) is a neurodegenerative disease with no approved therapy that is the result of frataxin deficiency. The identification of human FA blood biomarkers related to disease severity and neuro-pathomechanism could support clinical trials of drug efficacy. To try to identify human biomarkers of neuro-pathomechanistic relevance, we compared the overlapping gene expression changes of primary blood and skin cells of FA patients with changes in the Dorsal Root Ganglion (DRG) of the KIKO FA mouse model. As DRG is the primary site of neurodegeneration in FA, our goal was to identify which changes in blood and skin of FA patients provide a 'window' into the FA neuropathomechanism inside the nervous system. In addition, gene expression in frataxin-deficient neuroglial cells and FA mouse hearts were compared for a total of 5 data sets. The overlap of these changes strongly supports mitochondrial changes, apoptosis and alterations of selenium metabolism. Consistent biomarkers were observed, including three genes of mitochondrial stress (MTIF2, ENO2), apoptosis (DDIT3/CHOP), oxidative stress (PREX1), and selenometabolism (SEPW1). These results prompted our investigation of the GPX1 activity as a marker of selenium and oxidative stress, in which we observed a significant change in FA patients. We believe these lead biomarkers that could be assayed in FA patient blood as indicators of disease severity and progression, and also support the involvement of mitochondria, apoptosis and selenium in the neurodegenerative process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marissa Z. McMackin
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of California, Davis, Davis, California, United States of America
| | - Blythe Durbin-Johnson
- Bioinformatics, University of California, Davis, Davis, California, United States of America
| | - Marek Napierala
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, United States of America
| | - Jill S. Napierala
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, United States of America
| | - Luis Ruiz
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of California, Davis, Davis, California, United States of America
| | - Eleonora Napoli
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of California, Davis, Davis, California, United States of America
| | - Susan Perlman
- Department of Neurology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States of America
| | - Cecilia Giulivi
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of California, Davis, Davis, California, United States of America
| | - Gino A. Cortopassi
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of California, Davis, Davis, California, United States of America
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Ferreira GC, Oberstaller J, Fonseca R, Keller TE, Adapa SR, Gibbons J, Wang C, Liu X, Li C, Pham M, Dayhoff Ii GW, Duong LM, Reyes LT, Laratelli LE, Franz D, Fatumo S, Bari AG, Freischel A, Fiedler L, Dokur O, Sharma K, Cragun D, Busby B, Jiang RHY. Iron Hack - A symposium/hackathon focused on porphyrias, Friedreich's ataxia, and other rare iron-related diseases. F1000Res 2019; 8:1135. [PMID: 31824661 PMCID: PMC6894363 DOI: 10.12688/f1000research.19140.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/05/2019] [Indexed: 01/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Background: Basic and clinical scientific research at the University of South Florida (USF) have intersected to support a multi-faceted approach around a common focus on rare iron-related diseases. We proposed a modified version of the National Center for Biotechnology Information’s (NCBI) Hackathon-model to take full advantage of local expertise in building “Iron Hack”, a rare disease-focused hackathon. As the collaborative, problem-solving nature of hackathons tends to attract participants of highly-diverse backgrounds, organizers facilitated a symposium on rare iron-related diseases, specifically porphyrias and Friedreich’s ataxia, pitched at general audiences. Methods: The hackathon was structured to begin each day with presentations by expert clinicians, genetic counselors, researchers focused on molecular and cellular biology, public health/global health, genetics/genomics, computational biology, bioinformatics, biomolecular science, bioengineering, and computer science, as well as guest speakers from the American Porphyria Foundation (APF) and Friedreich’s Ataxia Research Alliance (FARA) to inform participants as to the human impact of these diseases. Results: As a result of this hackathon, we developed resources that are relevant not only to these specific disease-models, but also to other rare diseases and general bioinformatics problems. Within two and a half days, “Iron Hack” participants successfully built collaborative projects to visualize data, build databases, improve rare disease diagnosis, and study rare-disease inheritance. Conclusions: The purpose of this manuscript is to demonstrate the utility of a hackathon model to generate prototypes of generalizable tools for a given disease and train clinicians and data scientists to interact more effectively.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gloria C Ferreira
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, MDC 7, Tampa, FL, 33612, USA
| | - Jenna Oberstaller
- Global and Planetary Health, College of Public Health, University of South Florida, USF Genomics Program, 3720 Spectrum Blvd, Tampa, FL, 33612, USA
| | - Renée Fonseca
- Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, 12901 Bruce B Downs Blvd, Tampa, FL, 33612, USA
| | - Thomas E Keller
- University of South Florida, USF Genomics Program, 3720 Spectrum Blvd, Tampa, FL, 33612, USA
| | - Swamy Rakesh Adapa
- Global and Planetary Health, College of Public Health, University of South Florida, USF Genomics Program, 3720 Spectrum Blvd, Tampa, FL, 33612, USA
| | - Justin Gibbons
- Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, 12901 Bruce B Downs Blvd, Tampa, FL, 33612, USA
| | - Chengqi Wang
- Global and Planetary Health, College of Public Health, University of South Florida, USF Genomics Program, 3720 Spectrum Blvd, Tampa, FL, 33612, USA
| | - Xiaoming Liu
- Global and Planetary Health, College of Public Health, University of South Florida, USF Genomics Program, 3720 Spectrum Blvd, Tampa, FL, 33612, USA
| | - Chang Li
- Global and Planetary Health, College of Public Health, University of South Florida, USF Genomics Program, 3720 Spectrum Blvd, Tampa, FL, 33612, USA
| | - Minh Pham
- Center for Urban Transportation Research, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Avenue, CUT100, Tampa, FL, 33620, USA
| | - Guy W Dayhoff Ii
- Department of Chemistry, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Avenue, CHE 205, Tampa, FL, 33620-5250, USA
| | - Linh M Duong
- College of Public Health, University of South Florida, 13201 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., MDC 56, Tampa, FL, 33612, USA.,Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL, 33612, USA
| | - Luis Tañón Reyes
- Department of Cell Biology, Microbiology and Molecular Biology, University of South Florida, 4202 East Fowler Ave, ISA 2015 Tampa, FL, 33620, USA
| | - Luciano Enrique Laratelli
- Department of Chemistry, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Avenue, CHE 205, Tampa, FL, 33620-5250, USA
| | - Douglas Franz
- Department of Chemistry, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Avenue, CHE 205, Tampa, FL, 33620-5250, USA
| | - Segun Fatumo
- MRC/UVRI and LSHTM (Uganda Research Unit), Entebbe, Uganda
| | - Atm Golam Bari
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA
| | | | - Lindsey Fiedler
- College of Public Health, University of South Florida, 13201 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., MDC 56, Tampa, FL, 33612, USA
| | - Omkar Dokur
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA
| | | | - Deborah Cragun
- Global and Planetary Health, College of Public Health, University of South Florida, USF Genomics Program, 3720 Spectrum Blvd, Tampa, FL, 33612, USA
| | - Ben Busby
- National Library of Medicine, 8600 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD, 20894-6075, USA
| | - Rays H Y Jiang
- Global and Planetary Health, College of Public Health, University of South Florida, USF Genomics Program, 3720 Spectrum Blvd, Tampa, FL, 33612, USA
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Steinkellner H, Singh HN, Muckenthaler MU, Goldenberg H, Moganty RR, Scheiber-Mojdehkar B, Sturm B. No changes in heme synthesis in human Friedreich´s ataxia erythroid progenitor cells. Gene 2017; 621:5-11. [PMID: 28412459 DOI: 10.1016/j.gene.2017.04.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2016] [Revised: 04/03/2017] [Accepted: 04/04/2017] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
Friedreich's ataxia (FRDA) is a neurodegenerative disease caused by reduced expression of the protein frataxin. Frataxin is thought to play a role in iron-sulfur cluster biogenesis and heme synthesis. In this study, we used erythroid progenitor stem cells obtained from FRDA patients and healthy donors to investigate the putative role, if any, of frataxin deficiency in heme synthesis. We used electrochemiluminescence and qRT-PCR for frataxin protein and mRNA quantification. We used atomic absorption spectrophotometry for iron levels and a photometric assay for hemoglobin levels. Protoporphyrin IX and Ferrochelatase were analyzed using auto-fluorescence. An "IronChip" microarray analysis followed by a protein-protein interaction analysis was performed. FRDA patient cells showed no significant changes in iron levels, hemoglobin synthesis, protoporphyrin IX levels, and ferrochelatase activity. Microarray analysis presented 11 genes that were significantly changed in all patients compared to controls. The genes are especially involved in oxidative stress, iron homeostasis and angiogenesis. The mystery about the involvement of frataxin on iron metabolism raises the question why frataxin deficiency in primary FRDA cells did not lead to changes in biochemical parameters of heme synthesis. It seems that alternative pathways can circumvent the impact of frataxin deficiency on heme synthesis. We show for the first time in primary FRDA patient cells that reduced frataxin levels are still sufficient for heme synthesis and possibly other mechanisms can overcome reduced frataxin levels in this process. Our data strongly support the fact that so far no anemia in FRDA patients was reported.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hannes Steinkellner
- Department of Medical Chemistry and Pathobiochemistry, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Department of Medical Genetics, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Himanshu Narayan Singh
- Department of Biochemistry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi 110029, India
| | | | - Hans Goldenberg
- Department of Medical Chemistry and Pathobiochemistry, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Rajeswari R Moganty
- Department of Biochemistry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi 110029, India
| | | | - Brigitte Sturm
- Department of Medical Chemistry and Pathobiochemistry, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
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