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Toxic gain of function from mutant FUS protein is crucial to trigger cell autonomous motor neuron loss - PubMed

  • ️Fri Jan 01 2016

Toxic gain of function from mutant FUS protein is crucial to trigger cell autonomous motor neuron loss

Jelena Scekic-Zahirovic et al. EMBO J. 2016.

Abstract

FUS is an RNA-binding protein involved in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Cytoplasmic FUS-containing aggregates are often associated with concomitant loss of nuclear FUS Whether loss of nuclear FUS function, gain of a cytoplasmic function, or a combination of both lead to neurodegeneration remains elusive. To address this question, we generated knockin mice expressing mislocalized cytoplasmic FUS and complete FUS knockout mice. Both mouse models display similar perinatal lethality with respiratory insufficiency, reduced body weight and length, and largely similar alterations in gene expression and mRNA splicing patterns, indicating that mislocalized FUS results in loss of its normal function. However, FUS knockin mice, but not FUS knockout mice, display reduced motor neuron numbers at birth, associated with enhanced motor neuron apoptosis, which can be rescued by cell-specific CRE-mediated expression of wild-type FUS within motor neurons. Together, our findings indicate that cytoplasmic FUS mislocalization not only leads to nuclear loss of function, but also triggers motor neuron death through a toxic gain of function within motor neurons.

Keywords: FUS; PY‐NLS; amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; frontotemporal dementia; motor neuron degeneration.

© 2016 The Authors. Published under the terms of the CC BY NC ND 4.0 license.

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Figures

Figure EV1
Figure EV1. Relevance of Fus Δ NLS mice to human ALS

Upper panel: Scheme of the wild‐type

FUS

protein. The

NLS

, encoded by exon 15, includes the C‐terminal amino acids (aa 507–526, boundaries shown by the two dashed lines). Middle panels: 11 frameshift mutations (upper middle panel) and 2 truncating mutations (lower middle panel) in the FUS gene have been identified in

ALS

families. The corresponding mutant

FUS

proteins are shown. Insertions of abnormal polypeptide sequences induced by frameshift mutations are shown as red boxes. Lower panel: structure of

FUS

NLS

protein in Fus Δ

NLS

mice.

Figure 1
Figure 1. FUS mislocalization in Fus Δ NLS NLS mice
  1. Schematic representation of the Fus gene locus (upper panel). Lower panels depict exons 11–15 in the wild‐type allele (left) and ∆NLS allele (right) with localization of PCR primers used for genotyping (gDNA, used in B) and for RT–PCR (Total and ∆NLS, used in C). Arrow: translational start site. STOP cassettes are indicated in red; loxP sites as black triangles; coding regions are in dark blue and UTRs in light blue. Location of the region encoding the nuclear localization signal (NLS) is indicated in exon 15.

  2. Representative PCR genotyping results from 2 Fus +/+, 2 Fus Δ NLS /+, and 2 Fus Δ NLS NLS knockin mice using primers designed around the distal loxP site of the Fus Δ NLS allele and shown as gDNA in (A). The expected size of the PCR product of the ∆NLS allele is 240 bp; the size of wild‐type allele is 160 bp.

  3. RT–PCR analysis of brain from 2 Fus +/+, 2 Fus Δ NLS /+, and 2 Fus Δ NLS NLS knockin P0 mice using primers located in the STOP cassette, and thus specific to the ∆NLS mRNA (∆NLS, upper panel), or primers located in exon 11, that is, upstream of the floxed cDNA insertion, and thus amplifying total Fus‐derived mRNA (Total, middle panel). PCR amplification of 18S rRNA is shown as a standard gene (lower panel).

  4. Immunoblot analysis of FUS protein in cerebral cortex of 2 Fus +/+, 2 Fus Δ NLS /+, and 2 Fus Δ NLS NLS knockin mice using a combination of two different antibodies targeting either the C‐terminal (C‐ter. 1 and C‐ter. 2) NLS, the N‐terminal part (N‐ter. 1), or an internal part (N‐ter. 2) of FUS. Molecular weight markers are shown on the left, and apparent MW is indicated.

  5. Double immunostaining for the motor neuronal marker ChAT and Fus (N‐terminal part) in the ventral horn of spinal cord.

  6. Double immunostaining for nuclei (DAPI, blue) and Fus (N‐terminal part) in the cerebral cortex.

Source data are available online for this figure.

Figure EV2
Figure EV2. Expression of the Fus gene in various tissues of Fus Δ NLS mice
  1. RT–PCR analysis of spinal cord and gastrocnemius muscle from 2 Fus +/+, 2 Fus Δ NLS /+, and 2 Fus Δ NLS NLS P0 mice using primers located in the STOP cassette, and thus specific to the Fus ∆NLS mRNA (∆NLS, upper panel), or primers located in exon 11 and 12, that is, upstream of the floxed cDNA insertion, and thus amplifying total Fus mRNA (Total, lower panel).

  2. Immunoblot analysis of FUS protein in spinal cord and gastrocnemius of 2 Fus +/+, 2 Fus Δ NLS /+, and 2 Fus Δ NLS NLS mice using two different antibodies targeting the C‐terminal (C‐ter. 1 and C‐ter. 2) NLS or antibodies targeting the N‐terminal (N‐ter. 1) and internal parts (N‐ter. 2) of FUS.

  3. Representative confocal images for fluorescence immunocytochemical localization of FUS protein in mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs).

Figure 2
Figure 2. Perinatal lethality in Fus NLS /∆ NLS mice
  1. A

    Photographs of Fus +/+ and Fus Δ NLS NLS pups immediately after birth (P0 animals).

  2. B, C

    Fus Δ NLS NLS mice showed significantly reduced body weight (B) and length (C). Weight and length values normalized to wild type (Fus +/+) are presented (mean ± SEM). N = 11 Fus +/+, N = 26 Fus Δ NLS /+ and N = 14 Fus Δ NLS NLS; *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 versus Fus +/+, # P < 0.05 versus Fus NLS /+; one‐way ANOVA followed by Tukey's post hoc test.

  3. D

    Representative hematoxylin and eosin stainings of lungs of Fus +/+ and Fus Δ NLS NLS at birth.

Figure 3
Figure 3. Generation of a complete Fus / loss‐of‐function mouse model
  1. A

    Schematic representation of the Fus gene locus (upper panel). Lower panels depict exons 1–3 in the wild‐type allele (left) and loss‐of‐function allele (right). Arrow: translational start site; SA: splice acceptor; βgeo: β‐galactosidase/neomycin phosphotransferase fusion gene; pA: polyA.

  2. B

    Representative immunoblot for FUS on protein extracts of E18.5 brain. Histone 3 is used as a loading control.

  3. C

    Quantification of FUS protein levels from immunoblots.

  4. D

    Quantitative real‐time PCR for Fus transcript in Fus +/+ and Fus −/− mice. ND: not detected.

  5. E

    Immunostaining for the neuronal marker NeuN and FUS on the spinal cord ventral horn of E18.5 Fus +/+ and Fus / mice.

  6. F, G

    Body weight (F) and length (G) of Fus +/+, Fus +/−, and Fus −/− pups at birth; N = 14 Fus +/+, N = 36 Fus +/−, and N = 13 Fus / for body weight; N = 6 per genotype for body length.

Data information: Data represent mean ±

SEM

. **P < 0.01 versus Fus +/+, ## P < 0.01 versus Fus +/; one‐way

ANOVA

followed by Tukey's post hoc test.Source data are available online for this figure.

Figure EV3
Figure EV3. Genomewide expression changes identified by RNA‐seq in FusΔNLSNLS and Fus / brains
  1. Quantification of Fus RNA levels by strand‐specific RNA sequencing in brains from Fus Δ NLS NLS (blue bars), Fus / (red bars), and control littermates (Fus +/+, black bars). RNA levels were determined by fragments per kilobase of transcript per million mapped reads (FPKM) value.

  2. Unsupervised hierarchical cluster analysis using all RNAs expressed in brains of Fus Δ NLS NLS mice (KI‐1 to KI‐5) and their control littermates (Ctrl‐1 to Ctrl‐4).

  3. Unsupervised hierarchical cluster analysis using all RNAs expressed in brains of Fus / mice (KO‐1 to KO‐5) and their control littermates (Ctrl‐1 to Ctrl‐5).

Figure 4
Figure 4. FUS‐dependent expression changes in mouse brain
  1. RNA‐seq reads from brain of homozygous knockin (Fus Δ NLS NLS, upper panel), homozygous knockout (Fus /, middle panel), and control (Fus +/+, lower panel) mice showing the absence of exon 15 (red arrow) in Fus mRNA in Fus Δ NLS NLS mice, while the entire Fus transcript is absent in Fus / mice (green arrows).

  2. Heat map with hierarchical clustering of RNA‐seq data from biological replicates of Fus Δ NLS NLS (N = 5) and control littermates (N = 4), showing genes differentially regulated between both genotypes among which 237 are upregulated and 549 are downregulated in Fus Δ NLS NLS animals as defined by < 0.05 adjusted for multiple testing.

  3. Heat map with hierarchical clustering of RNA‐seq data from biological replicates of Fus / (N = 5) and control littermates (N = 5), showing genes differentially regulated between both genotypes, among which 669 are upregulated and 889 are downregulated in Fus / animals as defined by < 0.05 adjusted for multiple testing.

  4. Venn diagram showing the number of overlapping genes misregulated in Fus Δ NLS NLS (blue circle) and Fus / (red circle) brains with 353 genes similarly downregulated or upregulated upon cytoplasmic mislocalization or complete loss of FUS.

  5. Normalized expression (based on FPKM from RNA‐seq) of genes identified by RNA‐seq to be significantly downregulated (Ahi1, Kcnip1, Nefm, Nefl, Tuba4a, Dmpk, Rad9b, Stac3, Hist1h2bc, Hist1h1c) or upregulated (Fam193b, Pmm2, Bphl, Taf15) in both Fus Δ NLS NLS and Fus / compared to their control. Error bars represent SEM in 4‐5 biological replicates. **P < 0.01, two‐tailed student's t‐test.

  6. Normalized expression (based on FPKM from RNA‐seq) of genes identified by RNA‐seq to be uniquely changed in Fus Δ NLS NLS mice (Trove2, Uhmk1, Ssh3, Vtn, Snrpb, Ephb3). Error bars represent SEM in 4–5 biological replicates. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, two‐tailed Student's t‐test.

Figure EV4
Figure EV4. FUS‐dependent splicing alterations identified by RASL‐seq
  1. Schematic representation of the RASL‐seq strategy to measure ratios of alternative splicing isoforms from thousands of selected splicing events by high‐throughput sequencing.

  2. Unsupervised hierarchical cluster analysis using all splicing events sequenced in brains of Fus Δ NLS NLS mice (KI‐1 to KI‐4), Fus Δ NLS /+ (HET‐1 to HET‐4), and their control littermates (Ctrl‐1 to Ctrl‐4).

  3. Unsupervised hierarchical cluster analysis using all splicing events sequenced in brains of Fus / mice (KO‐1 to KO‐5) and their control littermates (Ctrl‐1 to Ctrl‐5).

  4. Venn diagram showing the number of overlapping splicing events that are misregulated in Fus Δ NLS NLS (blue circle) and Fus / (red circle) brains with 75 exons similarly altered upon cytoplasmic mislocalization or complete loss of FUS.

  5. Heat map using the fold changes of the 75 splicing events commonly regulated in Fus Δ NLS NLS and Fus / mice showing that 100% of the events were differentially included or excluded in the same direction.

  6. Semi‐quantitative RT–PCR analyses of selected targets shown in Fig 5C with alternatively spliced exons depicted in orange boxes with their flanking constitutive exons in blue boxes.

Figure 5
Figure 5. FUS‐dependent alternative splicing alterations in mouse brain
  1. Heat map with hierarchical clustering of RASL‐seq data from biological replicates of Fus Δ NLS NLS (N = 4) and control littermates (N = 4), showing 173 alternative splicing alterations associated with expression of cytoplasmic FUS in knockin animals.

  2. Heat map with hierarchical clustering of RASL‐seq data from biological replicates of Fus / (N = 5) and control littermates (N = 5), showing 252 alternative splicing alterations associated with loss of FUS in knockout animals.

  3. Semi‐quantitative RT–PCR analyses of selected targets. Left panels show representative acrylamide gel pictures of RT–PCR products. Quantification of splicing changes from at least three biological replicates of Fus Δ NLS NLS (blue bars) and Fus / (red bars) compared to their control littermates (Fus +/+, black bars) by semi‐quantitative RT–PCR (middle panel) and RASL‐seq (right panel) are shown. Error bars represent SEM. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, two‐tailed Student's t‐test.

Figure 6
Figure 6. Motor neuron loss in Fus Δ NLS NLS mice
  1. A

    Representative light microscopy images of spinal cord sections of Fus +/+, Fus Δ NLS /+, Fus Δ NLS NLS, and Fus / mice at birth stained with cresyl violet (Nissl, A1, A3 A5, A7), or anti‐choline acetyltransferase (ChAT, A2, A4 A6, A8).

  2. B, C

    Quantification of ChAT + motor neurons (B) and Nissl+ motor neurons (defined as Nissl‐positive cells with a soma area > 80 µm2) (C) per spinal cord ventral horn in Fus Δ NLS NLS mice (mean ± SEM). For Nissl+ N = 8 Fus +/+, N = 5 Fus Δ NLS /+, N = 7 Fus Δ NLS NLS, and for ChAT + N = 7 per genotype, **P < 0.01 versus Fus +/+, ## P < 0.01 versus Fus NLS /+; one‐way ANOVA followed by Tukey's post hoc test.

  3. D, E

    Quantification of ChAT + (D) and Nissl+ (E) motor neurons per spinal cord ventral horn in Fus / mice (mean ± SEM). N = 6 per genotype, no significant differences were found, by Student's unpaired t‐test.

Figure 7
Figure 7. Motor neuron apoptosis in Fus Δ NLS NLS mice
  1. A

    Representative images of TUNEL assay in spinal cord of Fus Δ NLS NLS mice (A4‐A6) and Fus +/+ mice (A1‐A3).

  2. B

    Quantification of the total number of TUNEL and DRAQ5 (blue) double‐positive cells in Fus Δ NLS NLS and Fus +/+ per spinal cord section. Mean ± SEM, N = 3 per genotype, *P < 0.05, by Student's unpaired t‐test.

  3. C, D

    Immunofluorescence microscopy of spinal cord of Fus +/+ (C) and Fus Δ NLS NLS (D) mice showing active caspase‐3 (green), ChAT (red), and DNA (cyan, DRAQ5).

  4. E

    Quantification of caspase‐3 (Cas3)/ChAT/DRAQ5 triple‐positive cells in Fus Δ NLS NLS mice. Mean ± SEM, N = 7 per genotype, **P < 0.01, by Student's unpaired t‐test.

Figure 8
Figure 8. Alterations of SMN, HDAC1, and eIF2α in Fus Δ NLS NLS mice
  1. Representative images of SMN (green) immunofluorescence in spinal cord. Nuclear gems, corresponding to SMN‐immunoreactive foci in nuclei, are marked by arrows.

  2. HDAC1 immunoreactivity in spinal cord sections of Fus +/+ and Fus Δ NLS NLS mice. Arrows point to HDAC1‐immunoreactive nuclear foci.

  3. Representative images of immunofluorescence staining of motor neurons, labeled with ChAT (red) and HDAC1 (green). Examples of HDAC1 immunoreactive foci in motor neurons are indicated by arrows.

  4. Representative images of immunofluorescence staining of motor neurons labeled with ChAT (red) and phosphorylated eIF2α (green), a general translational stress response marker. DRAQ5 (cyan) was used to label nuclei.

Figure EV5
Figure EV5. The absence of protein aggregates and stress granules in Fus Δ NLS NLS mice
  1. Representative images of ubiquitin staining (green) in the ventral spinal cord.

  2. Representative images of immunofluorescence staining of neurofilament heavy chain (green) and poly‐ubiquitin (lysine 48; red). The neurofilament immunostaining shows normal filamentous staining, and the poly‐ubiquitin staining is very weak and shows no positive aggregates.

  3. Representative images of immunofluorescence staining of neurons labeled with NeuN (green) and TIAR (red), a stress granule marker.

Figure 9
Figure 9. Selective restoration of FUS nuclear import in motor neurons rescues motor neuron loss
  1. A

    Double immunolabeling of spinal cord neurons with ChAT (red) and N‐terminal FUS antibody (green). Nuclei were visualized with DRAQ5 (blue). Cellular localization of FUS was analyzed in the ventral spinal cord of Fus +/+/ChAT‐CRE (A1‐A4), Fus Δ NLS NLS/ (A5‐A8), and Fus Δ NLS NLS/ChAT‐CRE (A9‐A12). FUS was completely nuclear in ChAT + neurons of Fus +/+/ChAT‐CRE, while cytoplasmic in Fus Δ NLS NLS/. In the ventral horn of Fus Δ NLS NLS/ChAT‐CRE mice, ChAT + neurons (motor neurons, e.g., within the dashed square) displayed nuclear FUS immunoreactivity, while ChAT‐negative cells retained cytoplasmic FUS immunoreactivity (arrows).

  2. B

    Representative light microscopy images of spinal cord sections of Fus +/+/ChAT‐CRE (B1, B4), Fus Δ NLS NLS/ (B2, B5), and Fus Δ NLS NLS/ChAT‐CRE (B3, B6) mice at birth stained with cresyl violet (Nissl, B1‐B3) or anti‐choline acetyltransferase (ChAT, B4‐B6).

  3. C, D

    Quantification of Nissl+ (C) and ChAT + (D) motor neurons per spinal cord ventral horn. Mean ± SEM, N = 9 Fus +/+/ChAT‐CRE, N = 8 Fus Δ NLS NLS/, and N = 4 Fus Δ NLS NLS/ChAT‐CRE for Nissl+, and N = 11 Fus +/+/ChAT‐CRE, N = 7 Fus Δ NLS NLS/, and N = 8 Fus Δ NLS NLS/ChAT‐CRE for ChAT +; (**) P < 0.01 versus Fus +/+, ## P < 0.01 versus Fus NLS /+; (ns) non‐significant; one‐way ANOVA followed by Tukey's post hoc test.

  4. E

    Total numbers of caspase‐3 (Cas3)/ChAT/DAPI triple‐positive cells in Fus +/+/ChAT‐CRE, Fus Δ NLS NLS/−, and Fus Δ NLS NLS/ChAT‐CRE mice. N = 9 Fus +/+/ChAT‐CRE, N = 7 Fus Δ NLS NLS/−, and N = 8 Fus Δ NLS NLS/ChAT‐CRE; **P < 0.01 versus Fus +/+, # P < 0.05 versus Fus NLS /+; (ns) non‐significant; one‐way ANOVA followed by Tukey's post hoc test.

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