Gene network analysis reveals a role for striatal glutamatergic receptors in dysregulated risk-assessment behavior of autism mouse models
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ABSTRACT:
ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus
PROVIDER: GSE138539 | GEO | 2019/10/08
REPOSITORIES: GEO
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Project description:Whole-exome sequencing studies have implicated chromatin modifiers and transcriptional regulators in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) through the identification of de novo loss of function mutations in affected individuals. Many of these genes are co-expressed in mid-fetal human cortex, suggesting ASD risk genes converge in regulatory networks that are perturbed in ASD during neurodevelopment. To elucidate such networks we mapped promoters and enhancers bound by the chromodomain helicase CHD8, which is strongly enriched in ASD-associated de novo loss of function mutations, using ChIP-seq in mid-fetal human brain, human neural stem cells (hNSCs), and embryonic mouse cortex. We find that CHD8 targets are strongly enriched for ASD risk genes that converge in ASD-associated co-expression networks in human midfetal cortex. CHD8 knockdown in hNSCs results in significant dysregulation of ASD risk genes targeted by CHD8, as well as additional genes important for neurodevelopment, including members of the Wnt/M-NM-2-catenin signaling pathway. Integration of CHD8 binding data with genetic and gene co-expression data in ASD risk models provides support for additional ASD risk genes. Together, our results suggest that loss of CHD8 function contributes to ASD through regulatory perturbation of other ASD risk genes during human cortical development. Two biological replicates for each ChIP with appropriate Input control Four biological replicates for each condition in knockdown experiments (Ctrl construct, Chd8 target C, and Chd8 target G)
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Project description:Shank3 is an abundant excitatory postsynaptic scaffolding proteins implicated in various neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders, including ASD, Phelan-McDermid syndrome, intellectual disability, and schizophrenia. Shank3-mutant mice with a homozygous deletion of exons 14-16 (Shank3-HM mice) show ASD-like behavioral deficits and altered synaptic and neuronal functions, but little is known about how different ages, brain regions, and gene dosages contribute to transcriptomic phenotypes in these mice. Here, we performed RNA-Seq-based transcriptomic analyses of the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, and striatum in adult Shank3 heterozygous- and homozygous-mutant mice. In addition, juvenile and adult Shank3 homozygous-mutant forebrain transcriptomes were compared. Juvenile and adult forebrain transcriptomes from Shank3 homozygous-mutant mice showed the patterns that are opposite and similar to those observed in ASD: reverse-ASD and ASD-like patterns, respectively. Here, the juvenile reverse-ASD pattern involved synaptic gene upregulations and ribosomal and mitochondrial downregulations, whereas the adult ASD-like pattern involved opposite changes. Gene set enrichment analyses (GSEA) of brain regional transcripts in adult Shank3-HT and Shank3-HM mice revealed that the cortical, hippocampal, and striatal transcripts show distinctly altered biological functions and ASD-related/risk gene expressions. The cortex and striatum display ASD-like patterns whereas the hippocampus displays reverse-ASD patterns. The cortical ASD-like pattern more strongly involves ASD-risk genes whereas the striatal ASD-like pattern more strongly involves astrocyte/microglia genes. Shank3-HT and Shank3-HM transcripts in a given brain region display largely similar patterns in biological functions and ASD-related/risk gene expressions, suggestive of small gene dosage effects. These results suggest that heterozygous and homozygous Shank3 deletions in mice lead to age, brain region, and gene dosage-differential transcriptomic changes.
2022-11-02 | GSE201853 | GEO
Project description:Shank3 is an abundant excitatory postsynaptic scaffolding proteins implicated in various neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders, including ASD, Phelan-McDermid syndrome, intellectual disability, and schizophrenia. Shank3-mutant mice with a homozygous deletion of exons 14-16 (Shank3-HM mice) show ASD-like behavioral deficits and altered synaptic and neuronal functions, but little is known about how different ages, brain regions, and gene dosages contribute to transcriptomic phenotypes in these mice. Here, we performed RNA-Seq-based transcriptomic analyses of the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, and striatum in adult Shank3 heterozygous- and homozygous-mutant mice. In addition, juvenile and adult Shank3 homozygous-mutant forebrain transcriptomes were compared. Juvenile and adult forebrain transcriptomes from Shank3 homozygous-mutant mice showed the patterns that are opposite and similar to those observed in ASD: reverse-ASD and ASD-like patterns, respectively. Here, the juvenile reverse-ASD pattern involved synaptic gene upregulations and ribosomal and mitochondrial downregulations, whereas the adult ASD-like pattern involved opposite changes. Gene set enrichment analyses (GSEA) of brain regional transcripts in adult Shank3-HT and Shank3-HM mice revealed that the cortical, hippocampal, and striatal transcripts show distinctly altered biological functions and ASD-related/risk gene expressions. The cortex and striatum display ASD-like patterns whereas the hippocampus displays reverse-ASD patterns. The cortical ASD-like pattern more strongly involves ASD-risk genes whereas the striatal ASD-like pattern more strongly involves astrocyte/microglia genes. Shank3-HT and Shank3-HM transcripts in a given brain region display largely similar patterns in biological functions and ASD-related/risk gene expressions, suggestive of small gene dosage effects. These results suggest that heterozygous and homozygous Shank3 deletions in mice lead to age, brain region, and gene dosage-differential transcriptomic changes.
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Project description:Whole-exome sequencing studies have implicated chromatin modifiers and transcriptional regulators in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) through the identification of de novo loss of function mutations in affected individuals. Many of these genes are co-expressed in mid-fetal human cortex, suggesting ASD risk genes converge in regulatory networks that are perturbed in ASD during neurodevelopment. To elucidate such networks we mapped promoters and enhancers bound by the chromodomain helicase CHD8, which is strongly enriched in ASD-associated de novo loss of function mutations, using ChIP-seq in mid-fetal human brain, human neural stem cells (hNSCs), and embryonic mouse cortex. We find that CHD8 targets are strongly enriched for ASD risk genes that converge in ASD-associated co-expression networks in human midfetal cortex. CHD8 knockdown in hNSCs results in significant dysregulation of ASD risk genes targeted by CHD8, as well as additional genes important for neurodevelopment, including members of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. Integration of CHD8 binding data with genetic and gene co-expression data in ASD risk models provides support for additional ASD risk genes. Together, our results suggest that loss of CHD8 function contributes to ASD through regulatory perturbation of other ASD risk genes during human cortical development.
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Project description:Hundreds of genes are implicated in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) but the mechanisms through which they contribute to ASD pathophysiology remain elusive. Here, we analyzed leukocyte transcriptomics from 1-4 year-old male toddlers with ASD or typical development from the general population. We discovered a perturbed gene network that includes genes highly expressed during fetal brain development and which is dysregulated in hiPSC-derived neuron models of ASD. High-confidence ASD risk genes emerge as upstream regulators of the network, and many risk genes may impact the network by modulating RAS/ERK, PI3K/AKT, and WNT/-catenin signaling pathways. We found that the degree of dysregulation in this network correlated with the severity of ASD symptoms in the toddlers. These results demonstrate how the heterogeneous genetics of ASD may dysregulate a core network to influence brain development at prenatal and very early postnatal ages and, thereby, the severity of later ASD symptoms.
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Project description:Gene network analysis reveals a role for striatal glutamatergic receptors in dysregulated risk-assessment behavior of autism mouse models
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2023-10-24 | PXD024325 | Pride
Project description:Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) affects 1 in 44 children. Chromatin regulatory proteins are overrepresented among genes that contain high risk variants in ASD. Disruption of the chromatin environment leads to widespread dysregulation of gene expression, which is traditionally thought of as a mechanism of disease pathogenesis associated with ASD. Alternatively, alterations in chromatin dynamics could also lead to dysregulation of alternative splicing, which is understudied as a mechanism of ASD pathogenesis. The anticonvulsant valproic acid (VPA) is a well-known environmental risk factor for ASD that acts as a class I histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor. However, the precise molecular mechanisms underlying defects in human neuronal development associated with exposure to VPA are understudied. To dissect how VPA exposure and subsequent chromatin hyperacetylation influence molecular signatures involved in ASD pathogenesis, we conducted RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) in human cortical neurons that were treated with VPA. We observed that differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were enriched for mRNA splicing, mRNA processing, histone modification, and metabolism related gene sets. Furthermore, we observed widespread increase in the number and the type of alternative splicing events. Analysis of differential transcript usage (DTU) showed that exposure to VPA induces extensive alterations in transcript isoform usage across neurodevelopmentally important genes. Finally, we find that DEGs and genes that display DTU overlap with known ASD-risk genes. Together, these findings suggest that, in addition to differential gene expression, changes in alternative splicing correlated with alterations in the chromatin environment could act as an additional mechanism of disease in ASD.
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