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Nuclear microRNA-mediated transcriptional control determines adult microglial homeostasis and brain function [cKO RNA-seq]

ABSTRACT: Microglia are versatile regulators in brain development and disorders. Emerging evidence links miRNA-mediated regulation to microglial function; however, the exact underlying mechanism remains largely unknown. Here, we discover that miR-137, a neuropsychiatric disorders-associated miRNA, is abundant in the microglial nucleus and exhibits unexpected epigenetic functions in maintaining the global transcriptomic state, core properties, and functions of microglia. Mechanistically, microglial Mir137 deletion increases the accessibility of chromatin, which harbors binding motifs of microglial master transcription factor Pu.1. Our biochemical and bioinformatics analyses suggest that miR-137 can interact with Pu.1, thus influencing Pu.1-mediated gene expression. Importantly, we find that increased Pu.1 binding upregulates the target gene Jdp2, and Jdp2 knockdown markedly suppresses the impaired cellular phenotypes in Mir137 knockout microglia. Collectively, our study provides evidence supporting a notion that miR-137 acts as an epigenetic regulator, and this microglia-specific function is essential to maintain normal adult brain function.

ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus

PROVIDER: GSE222664 | GEO | 2024/02/22

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Microglia colonize the brain parenchyma at early stages of development and accumulate in specific regions where they actively participate in cell death, angiogenesis, neurogenesis and synapse elimination. A recurring feature of embryonic microglial distribution is their association with developing axon tracts which, together with in vitro data, supports the idea of a physiological role for microglia in neurite development. Yet the demonstration of this role of microglia is still lacking. Here, we have studied the consequences of microglial dysfunction on the formation of the corpus callosum, the largest connective structure in the mammalian brain, which shows consistent microglial accumulation during development. We studied two models of microglial dysfunction: the loss-of-function of DAP12, a key microglial-specific signaling molecule, and a model of maternal inflammation by peritoneal injection of LPS at E15.5. We performed transcriptional profiling of maternally inflamed and Dap12-mutant microglia at E17.5. We found that both treatments principally down-regulated genes involved in nervous system development and function, particularly in neurite formation. We then analyzed the functional consequences of these microglial dysfunctions on the formation of the corpus callosum. We also took advantage of the Pu.1-/- mouse line, which is devoid of microglia. We now show that all three models of altered microglial activity resulted in the same defasciculation phenotype. Our study demonstrates that microglia are actively involved in the fasciculation of corpus callosum axons. To investigate possible roles for microglial during brain development, we challenged microglial function by two complementary approaches. First, we induced maternal inflammation by peritoneal injection of LPS into pregnant dams. Next, we analyzed the consequences of a loss of function of DAP12, a signaling molecule specifically expressed in microglia that is crucial for several aspects of microglia biology (references in Wakselman et al., 2008). We compared the gene expression profiles of microglia from control, maternally-inflamed by LPS (MI), and Dap12-mutated embryos. We isolated RNA from FACS sorted maternally inflamed (by LPS) and Dap12-mutant microglia at E17.5 pooled per pregnant dam; as a control we included PBS treated and untreated (UT) microglia. We compared gene expression between maternally inflamed microlgia (PBSvsLPS) and DAP12-mutant microglia (UTvsDAP12KO).

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Nuclear microRNA-mediated transcriptional control determines adult microglial homeostasis and brain function [cKO RNA-seq]

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