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Wahbeh MH, Boyd RJ, Yovo C, Rike B, McCallion AS, Avramopoulos D. A Functional Schizophrenia-associated genetic variant near the TSNARE1 and ADGRB1 genes. HGG Adv 2024:100303. [PMID: 38702885 DOI: 10.1016/j.xhgg.2024.100303] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2023] [Revised: 05/01/2024] [Accepted: 04/23/2024] [Indexed: 05/06/2024] Open
Abstract
Recent collaborative genome wide association studies (GWAS) have identified >200 independent loci contributing to risk for schizophrenia (SCZ). The genes closest to these loci have diverse functions, supporting the potential involvement of multiple relevant biological processes; yet there is no direct evidence that individual variants are functional or directly linked to specific genes. Nevertheless, overlap with certain epigenetic marks suggest that most GWAS-implicated variants are regulatory. Based on the strength of association with SCZ and the presence of regulatory epigenetic marks, we chose one such variant near TSNARE1 and ADGRB1, rs4129585, to test for functional potential and assay differences that may drive the pathogenicity of the risk allele. We observed that the variant-containing sequence drives reporter expression in relevant neuronal populations in zebrafish. Next, we introduced each allele into human induced pluripotent cells and differentiated 4 isogenic clones homozygous for the risk allele and 5 clones homozygous for the non-risk allele into neural precursor cells. Employing RNA-seq, we found that the two alleles yield significant transcriptional differences in the expression of 109 genes at FDR <0.05 and 259 genes at FDR <0.1. We demonstrate that these genes are highly interconnected in pathways enriched for synaptic proteins, axon guidance, and regulation of synapse assembly. Exploration of genes near rs4129585 suggests that this variant does not regulate TSNARE1 transcripts, as previously thought, but may regulate the neighboring ADGRB1, a regulator of synaptogenesis. Our results suggest that rs4129585 is a functional common variant that functions in specific pathways likely involved in SCZ risk.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marah H Wahbeh
- McKusick-Nathans Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - Rachel J Boyd
- McKusick-Nathans Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - Christian Yovo
- McKusick-Nathans Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - Bailey Rike
- McKusick-Nathans Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - Andrew S McCallion
- McKusick-Nathans Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA;; Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - Dimitrios Avramopoulos
- McKusick-Nathans Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
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Das D, Sonthalia S, Stein-O 'Brien G, Wahbeh MH, Feuer K, Goff L, Colantuoni C, Mahairaki V, Avramopoulos D. Insights for disease modeling from single-cell transcriptomics of iPSC-derived Ngn2-induced neurons and astrocytes across differentiation time and co-culture. BMC Biol 2024; 22:75. [PMID: 38566045 PMCID: PMC10985965 DOI: 10.1186/s12915-024-01867-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2023] [Accepted: 03/13/2024] [Indexed: 04/04/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Trans-differentiation of human-induced pluripotent stem cells into neurons via Ngn2-induction (hiPSC-N) has become an efficient system to quickly generate neurons a likely significant advance for disease modeling and in vitro assay development. Recent single-cell interrogation of Ngn2-induced neurons, however, has revealed some similarities to unexpected neuronal lineages. Similarly, a straightforward method to generate hiPSC-derived astrocytes (hiPSC-A) for the study of neuropsychiatric disorders has also been described. RESULTS Here, we examine the homogeneity and similarity of hiPSC-N and hiPSC-A to their in vivo counterparts, the impact of different lengths of time post Ngn2 induction on hiPSC-N (15 or 21 days), and the impact of hiPSC-N/hiPSC-A co-culture. Leveraging the wealth of existing public single-cell RNA-seq (scRNA-seq) data in Ngn2-induced neurons and in vivo data from the developing brain, we provide perspectives on the lineage origins and maturation of hiPSC-N and hiPSC-A. While induction protocols in different labs produce consistent cell type profiles, both hiPSC-N and hiPSC-A show significant heterogeneity and similarity to multiple in vivo cell fates, and both more precisely approximate their in vivo counterparts when co-cultured. Gene expression data from the hiPSC-N show enrichment of genes linked to schizophrenia (SZ) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) as has been previously shown for neural stem cells and neurons. These overrepresentations of disease genes are strongest in our system at early times (day 15) in Ngn2-induction/maturation of neurons, when we also observe the greatest similarity to early in vivo excitatory neurons. We have assembled this new scRNA-seq data along with the public data explored here as an integrated biologist-friendly web-resource for researchers seeking to understand this system more deeply: https://nemoanalytics.org/p?l=DasEtAlNGN2&g=NES . CONCLUSIONS While overall we support the use of the investigated cellular models for the study of neuropsychiatric disease, we also identify important limitations. We hope that this work will contribute to understanding and optimizing cellular modeling for complex brain disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- D Das
- Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 733 E. Broadway, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA
| | - S Sonthalia
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA
| | - G Stein-O 'Brien
- Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 733 E. Broadway, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA
| | - M H Wahbeh
- Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 733 E. Broadway, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA
| | - K Feuer
- Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 733 E. Broadway, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA
| | - L Goff
- Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 733 E. Broadway, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA
| | - C Colantuoni
- Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA
- Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA
- Institute of Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA
| | - V Mahairaki
- Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 733 E. Broadway, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA
| | - D Avramopoulos
- Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 733 E. Broadway, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA.
- Department of Psychiatry, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA.
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Wahbeh MH, Boyd RJ, Yovo C, Rike B, McCallion AS, Avramopoulos D. A Functional Schizophrenia-associated genetic variant near the TSNARE1 and ADGRB1 genes. bioRxiv 2023:2023.12.18.570831. [PMID: 38187620 PMCID: PMC10769312 DOI: 10.1101/2023.12.18.570831] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/09/2024]
Abstract
Recent collaborative genome wide association studies (GWAS) have identified >200 independent loci contributing to risk for schizophrenia (SCZ). The genes closest to these loci have diverse functions, supporting the potential involvement of multiple relevant biological processes; yet there is no direct evidence that individual variants are functional or directly linked to specific genes. Nevertheless, overlap with certain epigenetic marks suggest that most GWAS-implicated variants are regulatory. Based on the strength of association with SCZ and the presence of regulatory epigenetic marks, we chose one such variant near TSNARE1 and ADGRB1, rs4129585, to test for functional potential and assay differences that may drive the pathogenicity of the risk allele. We observed that the variant-containing sequence drives reporter expression in relevant neuronal populations in zebrafish. Next, we introduced each allele into human induced pluripotent cells and differentiated 4 isogenic clones homozygous for the risk allele and 5 clones homozygous for the non-risk allele into neural precursor cells. Employing RNA-seq, we found that the two alleles yield significant transcriptional differences in the expression of 109 genes at FDR <0.05 and 259 genes at FDR <0.1. We demonstrate that these genes are highly interconnected in pathways enriched for synaptic proteins, axon guidance, and regulation of synapse assembly. Exploration of genes near rs4129585 suggests that this variant does not regulate TSNARE1 transcripts, as previously thought, but may regulate the neighboring ADGRB1, a regulator of synaptogenesis. Our results suggest that rs4129585 is a functional common variant that functions in specific pathways likely involved in SCZ risk.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marah H Wahbeh
- McKusick-Nathans Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - Rachel J Boyd
- McKusick-Nathans Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - Christian Yovo
- McKusick-Nathans Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - Bailey Rike
- McKusick-Nathans Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - Andrew S McCallion
- McKusick-Nathans Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
- Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - Dimitrios Avramopoulos
- McKusick-Nathans Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
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Wahbeh MH, Peng X, Bacharaki S, Hatzimanolis A, Dimitrakopoulos S, Wohler E, Yang X, Yovo C, Maher BJ, Sobreira N, Stefanis NC, Avramopoulos D. A Missense Variant in CASKIN1's Proline-Rich Region Segregates with Psychosis in a Three-Generation Family. Genes (Basel) 2023; 14:177. [PMID: 36672919 PMCID: PMC9859343 DOI: 10.3390/genes14010177] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/09/2022] [Revised: 01/04/2023] [Accepted: 01/06/2023] [Indexed: 01/11/2023] Open
Abstract
The polygenic nature of schizophrenia (SCZ) implicates many variants in disease development. Rare variants of high penetrance have been shown to contribute to the disease prevalence. Whole-exome sequencing of a large three-generation family with SCZ and bipolar disorder identified a single segregating novel, rare, non-synonymous variant in the gene CASKIN1. The variant D1204N is absent from all databases, and CASKIN1 has a gnomAD missense score Z = 1.79 and pLI = 1, indicating its strong intolerance to variation. We find that introducing variants in the proline-rich region where the D1204N resides results in significant cellular changes in iPSC-derived neurons, consistent with CASKIN1’s known functions. We observe significant transcriptomic changes in 368 genes (padj < 0.05) involved in neuronal differentiation and nervous system development. We also observed nominally significant changes in the frequency of action potentials during differentiation, where the speed at which the edited and unedited cells reach the same level of activity differs. Our results suggest that CASKIN1 is an excellent gene candidate for psychosis development with high penetrance in this family.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marah H. Wahbeh
- McKusick-Nathans Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
- Predoctoral Training Program in Human Genetics and Molecular Biology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA
| | - Xi Peng
- McKusick-Nathans Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - Sofia Bacharaki
- Department of Psychiatry, General Hospital of Syros, 84100 Cyclades, Greece
| | - Alexandros Hatzimanolis
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Eginition Hospital, 15772 Athens, Greece
| | - Stefanos Dimitrakopoulos
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Eginition Hospital, 15772 Athens, Greece
| | - Elizabeth Wohler
- McKusick-Nathans Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - Xue Yang
- McKusick-Nathans Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - Christian Yovo
- McKusick-Nathans Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - Brady J. Maher
- Lieber Institute for Brain Development, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
- The Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - Nara Sobreira
- McKusick-Nathans Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - Nikos C. Stefanis
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Eginition Hospital, 15772 Athens, Greece
| | - Dimitrios Avramopoulos
- McKusick-Nathans Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
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Feuer KL, Wahbeh MH, Yovo C, Rabie E, Lam ATN, Abdollahi S, Young LJ, Rike B, Umamageswaran A, Avramopoulos D. CRISPR Del/Rei: a simple, flexible, and efficient pipeline for scarless genome editing. Sci Rep 2022; 12:11928. [PMID: 35831384 PMCID: PMC9279498 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-16004-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2022] [Accepted: 07/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Scarless genome editing of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) is crucial for the precise modeling of genetic disease. Here we present CRISPR Del/Rei, a two-step deletion-reinsertion strategy with high editing efficiency and simple PCR-based screening that generates isogenic clones in ~ 2 months. We apply our strategy to edit iPSCs at 3 loci with only rare off target editing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kyra L Feuer
- McKusick-Nathans Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA.,Predoctoral Training Program in Human Genetics and Molecular Biology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA
| | - Marah H Wahbeh
- McKusick-Nathans Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA.,Predoctoral Training Program in Human Genetics and Molecular Biology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA
| | - Christian Yovo
- McKusick-Nathans Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA
| | - Eman Rabie
- Medical Molecular Genetics Department, Human Genetics and Genome Research Division, National Research Centre, Cairo, Egypt.,Biotechnology Program, School of Sciences and Engineering, The American University in Cairo, Cairo, Egypt
| | - Anh-Thu N Lam
- McKusick-Nathans Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA
| | - Sara Abdollahi
- McKusick-Nathans Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA
| | - Lindsay J Young
- McKusick-Nathans Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA
| | - Bailey Rike
- McKusick-Nathans Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA
| | - Akul Umamageswaran
- McKusick-Nathans Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA
| | - Dimitrios Avramopoulos
- McKusick-Nathans Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA.
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