PUBLICATION

Prematurely terminated intron-retaining mRNAs invade axons in SFPQ null-driven neurodegeneration and are a hallmark of ALS

Authors
Taylor, R., Hamid, F., Fielding, T., Gordon, P.M., Maloney, M., Makeyev, E.V., Houart, C.
ID
ZDB-PUB-221123-8
Date
2022
Source
Nature communications   13: 69946994 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Houart, Corinne
Keywords
none
MeSH Terms
  • Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis*/genetics
  • Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis*/metabolism
  • Animals
  • Axons/metabolism
  • Introns/genetics
  • Motor Neurons/metabolism
  • RNA, Messenger/genetics
  • RNA, Messenger/metabolism
  • Zebrafish/genetics
  • Zebrafish/metabolism
PubMed
36414621 Full text @ Nat. Commun.
Abstract
Loss of SFPQ is a hallmark of motor degeneration in ALS and prevents maturation of motor neurons when occurring during embryogenesis. Here, we show that in zebrafish, developing motor neurons lacking SFPQ exhibit axon extension, branching and synaptogenesis defects, prior to degeneration. Subcellular transcriptomics reveals that loss of SFPQ in neurons produces a complex set of aberrant intron-retaining (IR) transcripts coding for neuron-specific proteins that accumulate in neurites. Some of these local IR mRNAs are prematurely terminated within the retained intron (PreT-IR). PreT-IR mRNAs undergo intronic polyadenylation, nuclear export, and localise to neurites in vitro and in vivo. We find these IR and PreT-IR mRNAs enriched in RNAseq datasets of tissue from patients with familial and sporadic ALS. This shared signature, between SFPQ-depleted neurons and ALS, functionally implicates SFPQ with the disease and suggests that neurite-centred perturbation of alternatively spliced isoforms drives the neurodegenerative process.
Genes / Markers
Figures
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Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping