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Associations of the Intellectual Disability Gene MYT1L with Helix-Loop-Helix Gene Expression, Hippocampus Volume and Hippocampus Activation During Memory Retrieval.

ABSTRACT: The fundamental role of the brain-specific myelin transcription factor 1-like (MYT1L) gene in cases of intellectual disability and in the etiology of neurodevelopmental disorders is increasingly recognized. Yet, its function remains under-investigated. Here, we identify a network of helix-loop-helix (HLH) transcriptional regulators controlled by MYT1L, as indicated by our analyses in human neural stem cells and in the human brain. Using cell-based knockdown approaches and microarray analyses we found that (1) MYT1L is required for neuronal differentiation and identified ID1, a HLH inhibitor of premature neurogenesis, as a target. (2) Although MYT1L prevented expression of ID1, it induced expression of a large number of terminal differentiation genes. (3) Consistently, expression of MYT1L in the human brain coincided with neuronal maturation and inversely correlated with that of ID1 and ID3 throughout the lifespan. (4) Genetic polymorphisms that reduced expression of MYT1L in the hippocampus resulted in increased expression of ID1 and ID3, decreased levels of the proneural basic HLH (bHLH) transcriptional regulators TCF4 and NEUROD6 and decreased expression of genes involved in long-term potentiation and synaptic transmission, cancer and neurodegeneration. Furthermore, our neuroimaging analyses indicated that MYT1L expression associated with hippocampal volume and activation during episodic memory recall, as measured by blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signals. Overall, our findings suggest that MYT1L influences memory-related processes by controlling a neuronal proliferation/differentiation switch of ID-bHLH factors.

SUBMITTER: Kepa A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5549840 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BackgroundNeuroimaging studies show the hippocampus is a crucial node in the neural network supporting episodic autobiographical memory retrieval. Stress-related psychiatric disorders, namely Major Depression and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), are related to reduced hippocampus volume. However, this is not the case for remitted breast cancer patients with co-morbid stress-related psychiatric disorders. This exception may be due to the fact that, consequently to the cancer experience as such, this population might already be characterized by a reduced hippocampus with an episodic autobiographical memory deficit.MethodologyWe scanned, with a 3T Siemens TRIO, 16 patients who had lived through a "standard experience of breast cancer" (breast cancer and a standard treatment in remission since 18 month) in the absence of any associated stress-related psychiatric or neurological disorder and 21 matched controls. We then assessed their episodic autobiographical memory retrieval ability.Principal findingsRemitted breast cancer patients had both a significantly smaller hippocampus and a significant deficit in episodic autobiographical memory retrieval. The hippocampus atrophy was characterized by a smaller posterior hippocampus. The posterior hippocampus volume was intimately related to the ability to retrieve negative memories and to the past experience of breast cancer or not.Conclusions/significanceThese results provide two main findings: (1) we identify a new population with a specific reduction in posterior hippocampus volume that is independent of any psychiatric or neurological pathology; (2) we show the intimate relation of the posterior hippocampus to the ability to retrieve episodic autobiographical memories. These are significant findings as it is the first demonstration that indicates considerable long-term effects of living through the experience of breast cancer and shows very specific hippocampal atrophy with a functional deficit without any presence of psychiatric pathology.

Project description:Sleep has been strongly implicated in learning and especially in the reprocessing of recently acquired memory. Children with intellectual disability (ID) tend to have sleep-wake disturbances, which may contribute to the pathophysiology of the disease. As far as sleep is, in part, a circadian process, we decided to study rhythmic gene expression in hippocampus, a brain structure, which plays a key role in memory in human and rodents. By investigating the transcriptome of mouse adult hippocampus, we report here the identification of 663 circadian rhythm (CR)-regulated genes, which have been clustered in four categories, based on their temporal pattern of expression. In addition to the standard core-clock genes, enrichment analysis of the hippocampal CR-regulated genes revealed the presence of several transcription factors, underlying the existence of an inter-regulation of genes' expression between clusters. Interestingly, these hippocampal circadian rhythm-regulated genes are very enriched in sleep/wakefulness related genes. We show here that glucocorticoid signaling, already shown to be involved in memory regulation, is a circadian regulated pathway in hippocampus. Furthermore, we identified a list of 30 CR-regulated ID genes. Our results demonstrate that hippocampus can be considered as a peripheral oscillator and illustrate the link between circadian rhythm, sleep, intellectual disability and memory consolidation. In order to identify circadian rhythm-regulated genes in mouse hippocampus, we realized a study in dark-dark conditions, thus allowing to overcome the effects induced by light changes. To systematically identify genes with circadian regulated expression, RNA samples from the hippocampus of three mice at four Circadian Time (CT) points were used for expression profiling using Agilent microarray technology. The dark/dark period started at 7 p.m. The Circadian Time (CT) 18 samples were taken after 30 h of continuous dark; the other circadian times followed at 6-h intervals: CT0, CT6 and CT12 after 36, 42 and 48 h of continuous darkness, respectively.

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Associations of the Intellectual Disability Gene MYT1L with Helix-Loop-Helix Gene Expression, Hippocampus Volume and Hippocampus Activation During Memory Retrieval.

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