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Liu Y, Di Y, Zheng Q, Qian Z, Fan J, Ren W, Wei Z, Tian Y. Altered expression of glycan patterns and glycan-related genes in the medial prefrontal cortex of the valproic acid rat model of autism. Front Cell Neurosci 2022; 16:1057857. [PMID: 36568890 PMCID: PMC9772556 DOI: 10.3389/fncel.2022.1057857] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2022] [Accepted: 11/23/2022] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) represent a group of neurodevelopmental defects characterized by social deficits and repetitive behaviors. Alteration in Glycosylation patterns could influence the nervous system development and contribute to the molecular mechanism of ASD. Interaction of environmental factors with susceptible genes may affect expressions of glycosylation-related genes and thus result in abnormal glycosylation patterns. Here, we used an environmental factor-induced model of autism by a single intraperitoneal injection of 400 mg/kg valproic acid (VPA) to female rats at day 12.5 post-conception. Following confirmation of reduced sociability and increased self-grooming behaviors in VPA-treated offspring, we analyzed the alterations in the expression profile of glycan patterns and glycan-related genes by lectin microarrays and RNA-seq, respectively. Lectin microarrays detected 14 significantly regulated lectins in VPA rats, with an up-regulation of high-mannose with antennary and down-regulation of Siaα2-3 Gal/GalNAc. Based on the KEGG and CAZy resources, we assembled a comprehensive list of 961 glycan-related genes to focus our analysis on specific genes. Of those, transcription results revealed that there were 107 differentially expressed glycan-related genes (DEGGs) after VPA treatment. Functional analysis of DEGGs encoding anabolic enzymes revealed that the process trimming to form core structure and glycan extension from core structure primarily changed, which is consistent with the changes in glycan patterns. In addition, the DEGGs encoding glycoconjugates were mainly related to extracellular matrix and axon guidance. This study provides insights into the underlying molecular mechanism of aberrant glycosylation after prenatal VPA exposure, which may serve as potential biomarkers for the autism diagnosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yingxun Liu
- Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for Medicinal Plant Resource and Natural Pharmaceutical Chemistry, National Engineering Laboratory for Resource Developing of Endangered Chinese Crude Drugs in Northwest of China, College of Life Sciences, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China,College of Life Sciences, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China,Genetic Engineering Laboratory, College of Biological and Environmental Engineering, Xi’an University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Yuanyuan Di
- College of Life Sciences, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Qi Zheng
- College of Life Sciences, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Zhaoqiang Qian
- College of Life Sciences, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Juan Fan
- Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for Medicinal Plant Resource and Natural Pharmaceutical Chemistry, National Engineering Laboratory for Resource Developing of Endangered Chinese Crude Drugs in Northwest of China, College of Life Sciences, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China,College of Life Sciences, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Wei Ren
- School of Education, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Zhaoming Wei
- Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for Medicinal Plant Resource and Natural Pharmaceutical Chemistry, National Engineering Laboratory for Resource Developing of Endangered Chinese Crude Drugs in Northwest of China, College of Life Sciences, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China,College of Life Sciences, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China,*Correspondence: Zhaoming Wei,
| | - Yingfang Tian
- Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for Medicinal Plant Resource and Natural Pharmaceutical Chemistry, National Engineering Laboratory for Resource Developing of Endangered Chinese Crude Drugs in Northwest of China, College of Life Sciences, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China,College of Life Sciences, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China,Yingfang Tian,
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Krgovic D, Gorenjak M, Rihar N, Opalic I, Stangler Herodez S, Gregoric Kumperscak H, Dovc P, Kokalj Vokac N. Impaired Neurodevelopmental Genes in Slovenian Autistic Children Elucidate the Comorbidity of Autism With Other Developmental Disorders. Front Mol Neurosci 2022; 15:912671. [PMID: 35813072 PMCID: PMC9259896 DOI: 10.3389/fnmol.2022.912671] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2022] [Accepted: 05/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) represent a phenotypically heterogeneous group of patients that strongly intertwine with other neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs), with genetics playing a significant role in their etiology. Whole exome sequencing (WES) has become predominant in molecular diagnostics for ASD by considerably increasing the diagnostic yield. However, the proportion of undiagnosed patients still remains high due to complex clinical presentation, reduced penetrance, and lack of segregation analysis or clinical information. Thus, reverse phenotyping, where we first identified a possible genetic cause and then determine its clinical relevance, has been shown to be a more efficient approach. WES was performed on 147 Slovenian pediatric patients with suspected ASD. Data analysis was focused on identifying ultrarare or “single event” variants in ASD-associated genes and further expanded to NDD-associated genes. Protein function and gene prioritization were performed on detected clinically relevant variants to determine their role in ASD etiology and phenotype. Reverse phenotyping revealed a pathogenic or likely pathogenic variant in ASD-associated genes in 20.4% of patients, with subsequent segregation analysis indicating that 14 were de novo variants and 1 was presumed compound heterozygous. The diagnostic yield was further increased by 2.7% by the analysis of ultrarare or “single event” variants in all NDD-associated genes. Protein function analysis established that genes in which variants of unknown significance (VUS) were detected were predominantly the cause of intellectual disability (ID), and in most cases, features of ASD as well. Using such an approach, variants in rarely described ASD-associated genes, such as SIN3B, NR4A2, and GRIA1, were detected. By expanding the analysis to include functionally similar NDD genes, variants in KCNK9, GNE, and other genes were identified. These would probably have been missed by classic genotype–phenotype analysis. Our study thus demonstrates that in patients with ASD, analysis of ultrarare or “single event” variants obtained using WES with the inclusion of functionally similar genes and reverse phenotyping obtained a higher diagnostic yield despite limited clinical data. The present study also demonstrates that most of the causative genes in our cohort were involved in the syndromic form of ASD and confirms their comorbidity with other developmental disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Danijela Krgovic
- Laboratory of Medical Genetics, University Medical Centre Maribor, Maribor, Slovenia
- Department of Molecular Biology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Maribor, Maribor, Slovenia
- *Correspondence: Danijela Krgovic,
| | - Mario Gorenjak
- Centre for Human Molecular Genetics, and Pharmacogenomics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Maribor, Maribor, Slovenia
| | - Nika Rihar
- Department of Animal Science, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Iva Opalic
- Laboratory of Medical Genetics, University Medical Centre Maribor, Maribor, Slovenia
| | - Spela Stangler Herodez
- Laboratory of Medical Genetics, University Medical Centre Maribor, Maribor, Slovenia
- Department of Molecular Biology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Maribor, Maribor, Slovenia
| | | | - Peter Dovc
- Department of Animal Science, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Nadja Kokalj Vokac
- Laboratory of Medical Genetics, University Medical Centre Maribor, Maribor, Slovenia
- Department of Molecular Biology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Maribor, Maribor, Slovenia
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