Project description:Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a neuromuscular disease caused by mutations in the survival of motor neuron (SMN) gene. Although the primary manifestation of SMA is degeneration of motor neurons in a dying-back manner, deficient SMN intrinsic to motor neurons does not cause severe motor neuron loss, as is the case in SMA mouse models. Thus, the involvement of non-neuronal cells in the pathogenesis of SMA has been suggested. Here, we report that a novel subset of fibro-adipogenic progenitors expressing Dpp4 (Dpp4+ FAPs) is required for the survival of motor neurons, in which BRCA1-associating protein 1 (Bap1) is crucial for the stabilization of SMN by preventing its ubiquitination-dependent degradation. Inactivation of Bap1 in FAPs decreased SMN levels and accompanied degeneration of the neuromuscular junction, leading to dying-back loss of motor neurons and muscle atrophy, reminiscent of SMA pathogenesis. Overexpression of ubiquitination-resistant SMN variant, SMNK186R, in Bap1-null FAPs completely prevented neuromuscular degenerations. In addition, transplantation of Dpp4+ FAPs, but not Dpp4- FAPs, completely rescued neuromuscular defects in the mutant mice. Our data revealed that Bap1-mediated stabilization of SMN in Dpp4+ FAPs is crucial for the survival of motor neurons and provided a new therapeutic approach to treat SMA.
Project description:Muscular atrophy (SMA) is an autosomal recessive disease causing selective motor neuron death by the loss of telomeric survival motor neuron gene, SMN1. Axonal SMN, a-SMN, is a truncated form of SMN, derived from an alternatively spliced SMN1 gene. (Setola, et. al. 2007 PNAS 104, 1959-1964). The cellular clones expressing a-SMN in a tetracycline-dependent manner were isolated from NSC34 by two-step stable transfection, first with the tetracycline-repressor construct and subsequently with the a-SMN cDNA. To identify novel a-SMN target genes, the transcriptome of several a-SMN clones was analyzed and compared with that of parental cells.
Project description:The neurodegenerative disease spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a leading genetic cause of infant death caused by deficiency in the survival motor neuron (SMN) protein. Currently approved SMA treatments aim to restore SMN, but the potential for expression of SMN beyond physiological levels is a unique feature of AAV9-SMN gene therapy. Here, we show that long-term AAV9-mediated SMN overexpression in mouse models induces dose-dependent, late-onset motor dysfunction associated with loss of proprioceptive synapses and neurodegeneration. Mechanistically, aggregation of overexpressed SMN in the cytoplasm of motor circuit neurons sequesters components of small nuclear ribonucleoproteins (snRNPs), leading to splicing dysregulation and widespread transcriptome abnormalities with prominent signatures of neuroinflammation and innate immune response. Thus, long-term SMN overexpression can interfere with its normal activity in RNA regulation and trigger SMA-like pathogenic events through toxic gain of function mechanisms. These unanticipated, SMN-dependent and neuron-specific liabilities of AAV9-SMN warrant further evaluation of the long-term safety of gene therapy in SMA.
Project description:The survival of motor neuron (SMN) protein is a major component of the pre-mRNA splicing machinery and is required for RNA metabolism. Although SMN has been considered a fundamental gene for the central nervous system, due to its relationship with neuromuscular diseases, such as spinal muscular atrophy, recent studies have also revealed the requirement of SMN in non-neuronal cells in the peripheral regions. Here, we report that the fibro-adipogenic progenitor subpopulation expressing Dpp4 (Dpp4+ FAPs) is required for the neuromuscular system. Furthermore, we also reveal that BRCA1-associated protein-1 (Bap1) is crucial for the stabilization of SMN in FAPs by preventing its ubiquitination-dependent degradation. Inactivation of Bap1 in FAPs decreased SMN levels and accompanied degeneration of the neuromuscular junction, leading to loss of motor neurons and muscle atrophy. Overexpression of the ubiquitination-resistant SMN variant, SMNK186R, in Bap1-null FAPs completely prevented neuromuscular degeneration. In addition, transplantation of Dpp4+ FAPs, but not Dpp4- FAPs, completely rescued neuromuscular defects. Our data reveal the crucial role of Bap1-mediated SMN stabilization in Dpp4+ FAPs for the neuromuscular system and provide the possibility of cell-based therapeutics to treat neuromuscular diseases.
Project description:Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) is a devastating neuromuscular disease caused by hypomorphic loss of function in the Survival Motor Neuron (SMN) protein. SMA presents across broad spectrum of disease severity. Unfortunately, vertebrate models of intermediate SMA have been difficult to generate and are thus unable to address key aspects of disease etiology. To address these issues, we developed a Drosophila model system that recapitulates the full range of SMA severity, allowing studies of pre-onset biology as well as late-stage disease processes. In this study, TMT-based quantitative proteomic profiling was performed on mild and intermediate Drosophila models of SMA to elucidate proteins and pathways that contribute to the disease. Using this approach, we elaborated a role for the SMN complex in the regulation of innate immune signaling.
Project description:Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a devastating neuromuscular disorder that affects the spinal motor neurons and leads to progressive muscle wasting and atrophy. It is caused by a reduction in SMN protein levels due to the mutations in the survival motor neuron 1 (SMN1) gene. Human are unique as they possess a homologous pseudogene known as survival motor neuron 2 (SMN2) gene. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play a role in either translational repression or mRNA degradation. It has been highlighted that dysregulation of miRNA has been a common feature of motor neuron disease such as SMA. Moreover, it is speculated that the dysregulation of miRNAs expression contributes to the pathophysiology of SMA and the vulnerability of SMN protein can be altered by the modulation of specific miRNA. However, there are still lacking of studies on the dysregulation of miRNAs in human SMA patients using iPSC cell models and how the miRNAs correlate with the SMN protein. Hence, we utilized miRNA microarray to identify the miRNAs dysregulated in SMA patients as compared to normal controls in both fibroblast and its derivative induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). Human fibroblasts and iPSCs were cultured and their respective RNA were extracted.
Project description:Molecular chaperones and co-chaperones are highly conserved cellular components that perform variety of duties related to the proper three-dimensional folding of the proteome. The Survival Motor Neuron (SMN) complex is an RNP assembly chaperone and serves as a paradigm for studying how specific small nuclear (sn)RNAs are identified and paired with their client substrate proteins. SMN forms the oligomeric core of this complex, and missense mutations in its YG box self-interaction domain are known to cause Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). The basic framework for understanding how snRNAs are assembled into U-snRNPs is known, the pathways and mechanisms used by cells to regulate their biogenesis are poorly understood. Given the importance of these processes to normal development as well as neurodegenerative disease, we set out to identify and characterize novel SMN binding partners. Here, we carried out affinity purification mass spectrometry (AP-MS) of SMN using stable fly lines exclusively expressing either wildtype or SMA-causing missense alleles. Bioinformatic analyses of the pulldown data, along with comparisons to proximity labeling studies carried out in human cells, revealed conserved connections to at least two other major chaperone systems including heat shock folding chaperones (HSPs) and histone/nucleosome assembly chaperones.
Project description:TDP-43, a DNA/RNA binding protein involved in RNA transcription and splicing has been associated with the pathophysiology of neurodegenerative diseases, including ALS. However, the function of TDP-43 in motor neurons remains undefined. Here, we employ both gain- and loss-of-function approaches to determine roles of TDP-43 in motor neurons. Mice expressing human TDP-43 in neurons exhibited growth retardation and premature death that are characterized by abnormal intranuclear inclusions comprised of TDP-43 and Fused in Sarcoma (FUS), and massive accumulation of mitochondria in TDP-43-negative cytoplasmic inclusions in motor neurons, lack of mitochondria in motor axon terminals and immature neuromuscular junctions. Whereas elevated level of TDP-43 disrupts the normal nuclear distribution of Survival Motor Neuron (SMN)-associated Gemini of coiled bodies (GEMs) in motor neurons, its absence prevents the formation of GEMs in the nuclei of these cells. Moreover, transcriptome-wide deep sequencing analysis revealed that decrease in abundance of neurofilament transcripts contributed to the reduction of caliber of motor axons in TDP-43 mice. In concert, our findings indicate that TDP-43 participates in pathways critical for motor neuron physiology, including those that regulate the normal distributions of SMN-associated GEMs in the nucleus and mitochondria in the cytoplasm. Human TDP-43 coding region were inserted into pThy1.2 expression cassette and subsequently injected into C57BL/6;SJL hybrid mouse embryos to make human TDP-43 transgenic mice
Project description:TDP-43, a DNA/RNA binding protein involved in RNA transcription and splicing has been associated with the pathophysiology of neurodegenerative diseases, including ALS. However, the function of TDP-43 in motor neurons remains undefined. Here, we employ both gain- and loss-of-function approaches to determine roles of TDP-43 in motor neurons. Mice expressing human TDP-43 in neurons exhibited growth retardation and premature death that are characterized by abnormal intranuclear inclusions comprised of TDP-43 and Fused in Sarcoma (FUS), and massive accumulation of mitochondria in TDP-43-negative cytoplasmic inclusions in motor neurons, lack of mitochondria in motor axon terminals and immature neuromuscular junctions. Whereas elevated level of TDP-43 disrupts the normal nuclear distribution of Survival Motor Neuron (SMN)-associated Gemini of coiled bodies (GEMs) in motor neurons, its absence prevents the formation of GEMs in the nuclei of these cells. Moreover, transcriptome-wide deep sequencing analysis revealed that decrease in abundance of neurofilament transcripts contributed to the reduction of caliber of motor axons in TDP-43 mice. In concert, our findings indicate that TDP-43 participates in pathways critical for motor neuron physiology, including those that regulate the normal distributions of SMN-associated GEMs in the nucleus and mitochondria in the cytoplasm.
Project description:Spinal motor atrophy mice (SMN delta 7 mice) and wild-type control hindlimb skeletal muscle tissue was used for transcriptome profiling by mRNA-seq.