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Neurodevelopmental deficits and cell-type-specific transcriptomic perturbations in a mouse model of HNRNPU haploinsufficiency

Dugger, S. A.; Dhindsa, R. S.; De Almeida Sampaio, G.; Rafikian, E.; Petri, S.; Teoh, J.; Ye, J.; Colombo, S.; Yang, M.; Boland, M.; Frankel, W.; Goldstein, D.

2020-05-01 neuroscience
10.1101/2020.05.01.072512 bioRxiv
Show abstract

Heterozygous de novo loss-of-function mutations in the gene expression regulator HNRNPU cause an early-onset developmental and epileptic encephalopathy. To gain insight into pathological mechanisms and lay the potential groundwork for developing targeted therapies, we characterized the neurophysiologic and cell-type-specific transcriptomic consequences of a mouse model of HNRNPU haploinsufficiency. Heterozygous mutants demonstrated neuroanatomical abnormalities, global developmental delay, impaired ultrasonic vocalizations and increased seizure susceptibility, thus modeling aspects of the human disease. Single-cell RNA-sequencing of hippocampal and neocortical cells revealed widespread, yet modest, dysregulation of gene expression across mutant neuronal subtypes. We observed an increased burden of differentially-expressed genes in mutant excitatory neurons of the subiculum--a region of the hippocampus implicated in temporal lobe epilepsy. Evaluation of transcriptomic signature reversal as a therapeutic strategy highlights the potential importance of generating cell-type-specific signatures. Overall, this work provides insight into HNRNPU-mediated disease mechanisms, and provides a framework for using single-cell RNA-sequencing to study transcriptional regulators implicated in disease.

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