Project description:Mice of indicated genotypes were perfused and their brains dissected and dissociated. Cells were fixed, immunolabeled and FACS sorted. RNA was extracted from neuron, astrocyte, and microglial cell populations. Typical RIN=4-5 for neurons, 6-8 for astrocytes, and 5-7 for microglia. Typical RNA yields 200-300ng for neurons, ~20ng for microglia, and ~5ng for astrocytes. cDNA was generated from up to 25 ng of total RNA using Nugen’s RNA-Seq method for low-input RNA samples, Ovation RNA-Seq System V2 (NuGEN). (Per manufacturers instructions, total RNA was neither depleted of rRNA nor polyA-selected.) 1 μg of sheared cDNA was taken into further processing, starting at end repair step, using Illumina’s TruSeq RNA Sample Preparation Kit v2 (Illumina). The SAMPLE_ID sample characteristic is a sample identifier internal to Genentech. The ID of this project in Genentech's ExpressionPlot database is PRJ0025262
Project description:To investigate the effects of Cdk5i peptide treatment on gene expression in cortical neurons that isolated from aged Tau P301S mice
Project description:Mice of indicated sexes and genotypes were perfused and their brains dissected and dissociated. Cells were fixed, immunolabeled and FACS sorted. RNA was extracted from neuron, astrocyte, and microglial cell populations. Typical RIN=4-5 for neurons, 6-8 for astrocytes, and 5-7 for microglia. Typical RNA yields ~100ng for neurons, ~20ng for microglia, and ~10ng for astrocytes. cDNA was generated from up to 25 ng of total RNA using Nugen’s RNA-Seq method for low-input RNA samples, Ovation RNA-Seq System V2 (NuGEN). (Per manufacturers instructions, total RNA was neither depleted of rRNA nor polyA-selected.) 1 μg of sheared cDNA was taken into further processing, starting at end repair step, using Illumina’s TruSeq RNA Sample Preparation Kit v2 (Illumina). The "SAMPLE_ID" sample characteristic is a sample identifier internal to Genentech. The ID of this project in Genentech's ExpressionPlot database is PRJ0010699
Project description:Aggregation of the microtubule-associated protein, tau, can lead to neurofibrillary tangle formation in neurons and glia, the hallmark of tauopathy. The cellular damages induced by the tau overexpression and aggregation may lead to multiple pathologic features of tauopathy. However, the effect of aging on tauopathy has not been elucidated yet. Here, we conducted lncRNA/mRNA sequencing analysis on P301S mutant Tau transgenic mouse model (PS19) with different ages to track the genetic changes occurred by the aging and progression of tau overexpression.
Project description:Alzheimer’s disease is known to alter astrocytes, but the effect of Aß and Tau pathology on these cells remains poorly understood. We investigated the transcriptomic behaviour of astrocytes (via translating ribosome affinity purification (TRAP)), and bulk brain tissue, in mouse models of APP/PS1 ß-amyloidopathy and MAPT-P301S tauopathy, in a mouse model overexpressing cytoprotective Nrf2 specifically in astrocytes (GFAP-Nrf2 model), and in crosses between the amyloidopathy and tauopathy models with the GFAP-Nrf2 mouse.
Project description:Tauopathies are age-associated neurodegenerative diseases whose mechanistic underpinnings remain elusive, partially due to lack of appropriate human models. Here, we engineered new human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived neuronal lines to express 4R Tau and 4R Tau carrying the P301S MAPT mutation when differentiated into neurons. 4R-P301S neurons display progressive Tau inclusions upon seeding with Tau fibrils and recapitulate features of tauopathy phenotypes including shared transcriptomic signatures, autophagic body accumulation, and reduced neuronal activity. A CRISPRi screen of genes associated with Tau pathobiology identified over 500 genetic modifiers of seeding-induced Tau propagation, including retromer VPS29 and genes in the UFMylation cascade. In progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) brains, the UFMylation cascade is altered in neurofibrillary-tangle-bearing neurons. Inhibiting the UFMylation cascade in vitro and in vivo suppressed seeding-induced Tau propagation. This model provides a robust platform to identify novel therapeutic strategies for 4R tauopathy.
Project description:Tauopathies are age-associated neurodegenerative diseases whose mechanistic underpinnings remain elusive, partially due to lack of appropriate human models. Here, we engineered new human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived neuronal lines to express 4R Tau and 4R Tau carrying the P301S MAPT mutation when differentiated into neurons. 4R-P301S neurons display progressive Tau inclusions upon seeding with Tau fibrils and recapitulate features of tauopathy phenotypes including shared transcriptomic signatures, autophagic body accumulation, and reduced neuronal activity. A CRISPRi screen of genes associated with Tau pathobiology identified over 500 genetic modifiers of seeding-induced Tau propagation, including retromer VPS29 and genes in the UFMylation cascade. In progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) brains, the UFMylation cascade is altered in neurofibrillary-tangle-bearing neurons. Inhibiting the UFMylation cascade in vitro and in vivo suppressed seeding-induced Tau propagation. This model provides a robust platform to identify novel therapeutic strategies for 4R tauopathy.
Project description:Synapse loss and glial activation are hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease (AD). In Tau P301S transgenic mice, the complement pathway contributes to neuronal damage through microglial elimination of synapses. Here, we used unbiased proteomic profiling of postsynaptic density (PSD) fractions from Tau P301S mice in C1q-WT versus C1q knockout backgrounds to identify C1q-dependent changes at synapses. Integrative multi-omics analysis revealed that astrocyte- and microglia- specific proteins are increased in Tau P301S synapse fractions with age and in a C1q-dependent manner. The same set of glial proteins (including C1q, C4, Gpnmb, and S100a4) is elevated in human AD synaptic fractions, and C4 levels are raised in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from AD patients. Besides microglia, we show that astrocytes contribute substantially to excitatory and inhibitory synapse engulfment in Tau P301S hippocampus. Based on staining of synapse markers within lysosomes, astrocytes showed preference for excitatory synapses whereas microglia preferred to engulf inhibitory synapse markers. Genetic deletion of C1q reduced astrocytic eating of excitatory and inhibitory synapses in Tau P301S mice, and rescued synapse density. Together, our data indicate that astrocytes contact and phagocytose synapses in a C1q- dependent manner and thereby contribute to synapse loss and neurodegeneration in AD.
Project description:The development of an effective therapy against tauopathies like Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) remains challenging, partly due to limited access to fresh brain tissue, the lack of translational in vitro disease models and the fact that underlying molecular pathways remain to be deciphered. Several genes play an important role in the pathogenesis of AD and FTD, one of them being the MAPT gene encoding the microtubule-associated protein tau. Over the past few years, it has been shown that induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) can be used to model various human disorders and can serve as translational in vitro tools. Therefore, we generated iPSC harboring the pathogenic FTDP-17 (frontotemporal dementia and parkinsonism linked to chromosome 17) associated mutations IVS10+16 with and without P301S in MAPT using Zinc Finger Nuclease technology. Whole transcriptome analysis of MAPT IVS10+16 neurons reveals neuronal subtype differences, reduced neural progenitor proliferation potential and aberrant WNT signaling. Notably, all phenotypes were recapitulated using patient-derived neurons. Finally, an additional P301S mutation causes an increased calcium bursting frequency, reduced lysosomal acidity and tau oligomerization. Altogether, these tau mutant iPSC lines allow us to study IVS10+16 and P301S mutations in an isogenic background and to unravel a potential link between pathogenic 4R tau expression and FTDP-17.