Open AccessTDP-43 mutations link Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis with R-loop homeostasis and R loop-mediated DNA damage
Author(s) -
Marta Gianini,
Aleix Bayona-Feliú,
Daisy Sproviero,
Sónia Barroso,
Cristina Cereda,
Andrés Aguilera
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
plos genetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.587
H-Index - 233
eISSN - 1553-7404
pISSN - 1553-7390
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pgen.1009260
Subject(s) - biology , amyotrophic lateral sclerosis , dna damage , genome instability , rna , microbiology and biotechnology , dna , dna repair , mutation , ubiquitin , genetics , cancer research , gene , disease , pathology , medicine
TDP-43 is a DNA and RNA binding protein involved in RNA processing and with structural resemblance to heterogeneous ribonucleoproteins (hnRNPs), whose depletion sensitizes neurons to double strand DNA breaks (DSBs). Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disorder, in which 97% of patients are familial and sporadic cases associated with TDP-43 proteinopathies and conditions clearing TDP-43 from the nucleus, but we know little about the molecular basis of the disease. After showing with the non-neuronal model of HeLa cells that TDP-43 depletion increases R loops and associated genome instability, we prove that mislocalization of mutated TDP-43 (A382T) in transfected neuronal SH-SY5Y and lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) from an ALS patient cause R-loop accumulation, R loop-dependent increased DSBs and Fanconi Anemia repair centers. These results uncover a new role of TDP-43 in the control of co-transcriptional R loops and the maintenance of genome integrity by preventing harmful R-loop accumulation. Our findings thus link TDP-43 pathology to increased R loops and R loop-mediated DNA damage opening the possibility that R-loop modulation in TDP-43-defective cells might help develop ALS therapies.