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Aggregation of α-synuclein scaffolds RNA G-quadruplexes assembly leading to progressive neurodegeneration

ABSTRACT: Synucleinopathies are triggered by the aggregation of α-synuclein (αSyn), leading to progressive neurodegeneration. However, the intracellular mechanism of αSyn aggregation remains unclear. Here we show that assembly of RNA G-quadruplexes (rG4s) form scaffolds for αSyn aggregation, contributing to neurodegeneration. Purified αSyn binds rG4s directly through the N-terminus. rG4 itself undergoes phase separation and assembly by Ca2+, accelerating the sol-gel phase transition of αSyn. In αSyn preformed fibrils (PFF)-treated neurons, rG4s assembly composed of synaptic mRNAs co-aggregates with αSyn upon Ca2+ excess influx into cytoplasm, eliciting synaptic dysfunction. Artificial assembly of rG4s using an optogenetic approach evokes αSyn aggregation and neuronal dysfunction. Administration of 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA), a prodrug of protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) that prevents phase separation of rG4s, attenuating αSyn aggregation, neurodegeneration, and progressive motor deficits in PFF-injected synucleinopathy mice. Together, assembly of rG4s due to dysregulation of intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis accelerates αSyn phase transition and aggregation may contribute to pathogenesis of synucleinopathies.

ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus

PROVIDER: GSE234238 | GEO | 2023/07/18

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by progressive motor symptoms and alpha-synuclein (αsyn) aggregation in the nervous system. For unclear reasons, PD patients with certain GBA mutations (GBA-PD) have a more aggressive clinical progression. Two testable hypotheses that can potentially account for this phenomenon are that GBA1 mutations promote αsyn spread or drive the generation of highly pathogenic αsyn polymorphs (i.e., strains). We tested these hypotheses by treating homozygous GBA1 D409V knockin (KI) mice with human α-syn-preformed fibrils (PFFs) and treating wild-type mice (WT) with several αsyn-PFF polymorphs amplified from brain autopsy samples collected from patients with idiopathic PD and GBA-PD patients with either homozygous or heterozygous GBA1 mutations. Robust phosphorylated-αsyn (PSER129) positive pathology was observed at the injection site (i.e., the olfactory bulb granular layer) and throughout the brain six months following PFF injection. The PFF seeding efficiency and degree of spread were similar regardless of the mouse genotype or PFF polymorphs. We found that PFFs amplified from the human brain, regardless of patient genotype, were generally more effective seeders than wholly synthetic PFFs (i.e., non-amplified); however, PFF concentration differed between these two studies, and this might also account for the observed differences. To investigate whether the molecular composition of pathology differed between different seeding conditions, we permed Biotinylation by Antibody Recognition on PSER129 (BAR-PSER129). We found that for BAR-PSER129, the endogenous PSER129 pool dominated identified interactions, and thus, very few potential interactions were explicitly identified for seeded pathology. However, we found Dctn2 interaction was shared across all PFF conditions, and Nckap1 and Ap3b2 were unique to PFFs amplified from GBA-PD brains of heterozygous mutation carriers. In conclusion, both the genotype and αsyn strain had little effect on overall seeding efficacy and global PSER129-interactions.

Project description:RNA structures are of crucial importance for biological function and gene regulation. Guanine (G)-rich sequences in RNA can assemble to form RNA G-quadruplex (rG4) structures; specific rG4s have been shown to regulate gene expression, and are associated with human diseases. However, no transcriptome-wide method has been reported to map rG4s, limiting our understanding of the rG4 structure and its relationship with function and regulation. Here we introduce a transcriptome-wide rG4 profiling method, rG4-Seq, in which the rG4-mediated reverse transcriptase stalling is read out by next-generation sequencing at nucleotide resolution. We apply this method to human RNA and report the first global map of rG4 structures for any organism. Our analysis identifies over 3,000 rG4s, and increases to over 11,000 upon addition of a rG4 stabilizing ligand Pyridostatin (PDS). Notably, we discover that besides canonical rG4s, many rG4s are non-canonical with novel structural features such as long-loops, bulges, and 2-quartet. We also find that rG4 formation is associated with its stability, Cytosine (C)-content, and the stability of alternative RNA structures. Our data reveals that rG4s can be found in messenger RNAs (mRNAs) and long intergenic noncoding RNAs (lincRNAs). In mRNAs, rG4s are enriched in untranslated regions, and are significantly correlated with microRNA target sites and polyadenylation signals. Remarkably, we found that majority of our in vitro identified rG4s can change the in silico predicted RNA structure to uncover alternative RNA conformation.. Futhermore, the rG4s that have analogues in many ortholog genes across different species show a preferential association with RNA processing and stability. rG4-seq is a broadly applicable method that enables the RNA G4 structurome and its biological roles to be interrogated and can be readily applied in other organisms on a transcriptome-wide scale. 12 samples, 150 bp single-ended RNA-Seq libraries from cell extracts after performing RTS reaction in different buffers (Li, K and K+PDS rich buffer). Each of the 3 conditions has 4 libraries from independent biological replicates.

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Aggregation of α-synuclein scaffolds RNA G-quadruplexes assembly leading to progressive neurodegeneration

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