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In vitro and in vivo CRISPR-Cas9 screens reveal drivers of aging in neural stem cells of the brain.

ABSTRACT: Here we develop in vitro and in vivo high-throughput CRISPR-Cas9 screening platforms to systematically uncover genes whose knockout boosts NSC activation in old mice. Our genome-wide screening pipeline in primary cultures of young and old NSCs identifies over 300 gene knockouts that specifically restore old NSC activation. Interestingly, the top gene knockouts are involved in glucose import, cilium organization and ribonucleoprotein structures. To determine which gene knockouts have a rejuvenating effect for the aging brain, we establish a scalable CRISPR-Cas9 screening platform in vivo in old mice. Of the 50 gene knockouts we tested in vivo, 23 boost old NSC activation and production of new neurons in old brains. Notably, the knockout of Slc2a4, which encodes for the GLUT4 glucose transporter, is a top rejuvenating intervention for old NSCs. GLUT4 protein expression increases in the stem cell niche during aging, and we show that old NSCs indeed uptake ~2-fold more glucose than their young counterparts. Transient glucose starvation increases the ability of old NSCs to activate, which is not further improved by knockout of Slc2a4/GLUT4

ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus

PROVIDER: GSE189251 | GEO | 2023/11/01

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:The adult mammalian brain entails a reservoir of neural stem cells (NSCs) generating glial cells and neurons. However, NSCs become increasingly quiescent with age, which hampers their regenerative capacity. New means are therefore required to genetically modify adult NSCs for re-enabling endogenous brain repair. Recombinant adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) are ideal gene therapy vectors due to an excellent safety profile and high transduction efficiency. We thus conducted a high-throughput screening of 157 intraventricularly injected barcoded AAV variants profiled by transcriptome sequencing. Transcriptome analysis identified two synthetic capsids, AAV9_A2 and AAV1_P5 transducing active and quiescent NSCs. Further optimization of AAV1_P5 by judicious selection of promoter and dose of injected viral genomes enabled targeting of 57% of the NSC compartment. Importantly, transduced NSC readily produced neurons. The present study identifies AAV variants with a high specificity and transduction efficiency of adult NSCs thereby paving the way for preclinical testing of regenerative gene therapy. We identified a synthetic Adeno-associated virus (AAV) capsid, AAV1_P5, that transduces active and quiescent neural stem cells (NSCs). In order to fully characterize the identity of AAV1_P5-transduced cells, as well as potential changes arising by the AAV-transduction itself, we profiled these cells and untransduced ones from the same mouse by single cell RNA sequencing. To this end, three months-old eYFP-reporter mice were injected with 109 vg/mouse AAV1_P5 harboring the CMV_Cre construct. Transduction induces expression of eYFP. 37 days post injection, we isolated cells from the v-SVZ and other brain regions. More precisely, we isolated labeled cells of the ventricular-subventricular zone and the striatum, rostral migratory stream (RMS) and olfactory bulb, here referred to as rest of the brain (RoB). To capture the remaining unlabeled cells of the NSC-lineage in the v-SVZ, we also isolated GLAST+ v-SVZ cells. Two samples of two pooled mice each were subjected to single cell RNA sequencing.

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In vitro and in vivo CRISPR-Cas9 screens reveal drivers of aging in neural stem cells of the brain.

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