Concomitant gain and loss of function pathomechanisms in C9ORF72 amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

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Contributors

Abstract

Intronic hexanucleotide repeat expansions (HREs) in C9ORF72 are the most frequent genetic cause of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a devastating, incurable motoneuron (MN) disease. The mechanism by which HREs trigger pathogenesis remains elusive. The discovery of repeat-Associated non-ATG (RAN) translation of dipeptide repeat proteins (DPRs) from HREs along with reduced exonic C9ORF72 expression suggests gain of toxic functions (GOFs) through DPRs versus loss of C9ORF72 functions (LOFs). Through multiparametric high-content (HC) live profiling in spinal MNs from induced pluripotent stem cells and comparison to mutant FUS and TDP43, we show that HRE C9ORF72 caused a distinct, later spatiotemporal appearance of mainly proximal axonal organelle motility deficits concomitant to augmented DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs), RNA foci, DPRs, and apoptosis. We show that both GOFs and LOFs were necessary to yield the overall C9ORF72 pathology. Increased RNA foci and DPRs concurred with onset of axon trafficking defects, DSBs, and cell death, although DSB induction itself did not phenocopy C9ORF72 mutants. Interestingly, the majority of LOF-specific DEGs were shared with HRE-mediated GOF DEGs. Finally, C9ORF72 LOF was sufficient albeit to a smaller extent to induce premature distal axonal trafficking deficits and increased DSBs.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere202000764
JournalLife science alliance
Volume4
Issue number4
Publication statusPublished - Apr 2021
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

ORCID /0000-0002-7688-3124/work/142250015
PubMed 33619157
PubMedCentral PMC7918691

Keywords

Keywords

  • Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis/genetics, Apoptosis, Axons/metabolism, C9orf72 Protein/genetics, Cells, Cultured, Cellular Senescence, Cytoskeleton/metabolism, DNA Breaks, Double-Stranded, DNA-Binding Proteins/genetics, Energy Metabolism, Gain of Function Mutation, Humans, Loss of Function Mutation, Microscopy, Fluorescence, Motor Neurons/metabolism, Organelles/metabolism, RNA-Binding Protein FUS/genetics, Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid

Library keywords