A neuronal transcription factor is required in the prefrontal cortex for transcriptional and behavioral adaptation to chronic stress

ABSTRACT: Stressful life events increase risk for depression, yet the molecular mechanisms by which stress is encoded in the brain to induce maladaptive behaviors are not well understood. Emerging evidence has shown that stress dysregulates gene expression in the brain, yet the cellular origin of these gene expression alterations has yet to be determined. To address this question, we used a chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) paradigm that drives depressive- and anxiety-like behaviors in male and female mice and single-nucleus transcriptomics to identify cell type-specific gene expression changes in the cortex. We find that neocortical excitatory neurons are particularly vulnerable to chronic stress exposure, and that CUS reprograms these cells to decrease transcription of synaptic genes involved in glutamatergic neurotransmission. We identify the ubiquitously expressed factor, Yin Yang 1 (YY1), as a key driver of the transcriptional reprogramming observed in excitatory neurons isolated from CUS mice. Selective depletion of YY1 in excitatory neurons of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) increases the stress sensitivity of mice, inducing depressive- and anxiety-related behaviors following an abbreviated stress exposure and deregulating expression of key stress-related genes in the PFC. Importantly, we find that YY1 functions in both males and females to facilitate stress coping. This work establishes a novel mechanism underlying chronic stress-induced behavior, in which epigenetic responses to stress in PFC excitatory neurons are mediated by stress-dependent YY1 activity. Our findings demonstrate how post-mitotic neurons adapt to stress experience and identify a novel molecular target that is generalizable to males and females for therapeutic treatment of stress-related neuropsychiatric disorders.

ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus

PROVIDER: GSE145970 | GEO | 2021/11/19

REPOSITORIES: GEO