Project description:Achromatopsia (ACHM) is an autosomal recessive disease that results in severe visual loss. Symptoms of ACHM include impaired visual acuity, nystagmus, and photoaversion starting from infancy; furthermore, ACHM is associated with bilateral foveal hypoplasia and absent or severely reduced cone photoreceptor function on electroretinography. Here, we performed genetic sequencing in 3 patients from 2 families with ACHM, identifying and functionally characterizing 2 mutations in the activating transcription factor 6 (ATF6) gene. We identified a homozygous deletion covering exons 8–14 of the ATF6 gene from 2 siblings from the same family. In another patient from a different family, we identified a heterozygous deletion covering exons 2 and 3 of the ATF6 gene found in trans with a previously identified ATF6 c.970C>T (p.Arg324Cys) ACHM disease allele. Recombinant ATF6 proteins bearing these exon deletions showed markedly impaired transcriptional activity by qPCR and RNA-Seq analysis compared with WT-ATF6. Finally, RNAscope revealed that ATF6 and the related ATF6B transcripts were expressed in cones as well as in all retinal layers in normal human retina. Overall, our data identify loss-of-function ATF6 disease alleles that cause human foveal disease.
Project description:Achromatopsia (ACHM) is an autosomal recessive disease that results in severe visual loss. Symptoms of ACHM include impaired visual acuity, nystagmus, and photoaversion starting from infancy; furthermore, ACHM is associated with bilateral foveal hypoplasia and absent or severely reduced cone photoreceptor function on electroretinography. Here, we performed genetic sequencing in 3 patients from 2 families with ACHM, identifying and functionally characterizing 2 mutations in the activating transcription factor 6 (ATF6) gene. We identified a homozygous deletion covering exons 8-14 of the ATF6 gene from 2 siblings from the same family. In another patient from a different family, we identified a heterozygous deletion covering exons 2 and 3 of the ATF6 gene found in trans with a previously identified ATF6 c.970C>T (p.Arg324Cys) ACHM disease allele. Recombinant ATF6 proteins bearing these exon deletions showed markedly impaired transcriptional activity by qPCR and RNA-Seq analysis compared with WT-ATF6. Finally, RNAscope revealed that ATF6 and the related ATF6B transcripts were expressed in cones as well as in all retinal layers in normal human retina. Overall, our data identify loss-of-function ATF6 disease alleles that cause human foveal disease.
Project description:The Unfolded Protein Response is a conserved intracellular signal transduction mechanism that maintains endoplasmic reticulum homeostasis and may contribute to the pathogenesis and progression of human diseases associated with ER stress. Genetic mutations in the UPR regulator, ATF6, lead to vision loss in heritable retinal diseases. Our prior studies found that disease mutations disrupt ATF6 function, but the pathomechanism by which loss of ATF6 activity causes vision loss in people is unknown. To investigate this, we developed retinal organoids from patient iPSCs carrying ATF6 disease mutations and from hESCs bearing CRISPR-edited ATF6 null alleles. Unexpectedly, we found that retinal organoids lacking functional ATF6 failed to form cone photoreceptors while rod photoreceptors were unaffected. We used adaptive optics imaging of the retinas in patients with ATF6 mutations and saw pronounced loss of cones and preservation of rods that closely mirrored our in vitro organoid phenotypes. Last, we found that a small molecule proteostasis agonist partially restored cone photoreceptor outer segment formation and gene expression in ATF6 mutant retinal organoids. Our results reveal a surprising and novel function for ATF6 in human cone photoreceptor development. Our findings identify a potential therapeutic strategy for patients based on small molecule reprogramming of the proteostasis network in the retina. Our study suggests that the UPR guides intrinsic developmental processes in specialized metazoan cell types in addition to its role in responding to extrinsic pathologic events.
Project description:ATF6 encodes a transcription factor that is activated during the Unfolded Protein Response to protect cells from ER stress. Loss of ATF6α and its paralog ATF6β, results in embryonic lethality, notochord dysgenesis, and in people, loss of ATF6α specifically, results in malformed neuroretina and congenital vision loss. These phenotypes implicate an essential role for ATF6 during vertebrate development. We investigated the function of ATF6 in development using human stem cells undergoing differentiation into multipotent germ layers, nascent tissues, and organs. We artificially activated ATF6 in stem cells with a recently identified small molecule ATF6 agonist, and we inhibited ATF6 using iPSCs from patients harboring ATF6 mutations. We discovered that ATF6 suppresses pluripotency, enhances differentiation, and surprisingly, guides stem cells toward mesodermal cell fates. Our findings reveal a novel role for ATF6 during differentiation and identify a new strategy to robustly create mesodermal tissues through modulation of the ATF6 arm of the UPR.
Project description:The unfolded protein response maintains endoplasmic reticulum (ER) homeostasis by sensing protein-folding stress and orchestrating cellular adaptation via the ER-transmembrane proteins IRE1, PERK and ATF6. Malignant cells can co-opt IRE1 and PERK to sustain growth; however, the importance of ATF6 in cancer remains poorly deciphered. We observed elevated ATF6 transcriptional activity in several cancers including colorectal carcinoma (CRC). Genetic silencing or small molecule inhibition of ATF6 blocked cell cycle progression and reduced viability of several human CRC cell lines in vitro and disrupted tumor progression in vivo. Unexpectedly, ATF6 interference disabled Wnt and Myc signaling and reduced stemness. ATF6 inhibition attenuated growth of organoids derived from malignant but not normal human intestinal tissue, decreasing Wnt-pathway activity and driving cellular differentiation. Wnt-surrogate agonism in a Wnt-dependent CRC organoid restored pathway activity and rescued growth under ATF6 blockade. Our findings identify ATF6 as an unexpected facilitator of oncogenic Wnt signaling in CRC.
Project description:We wished to determine the effects of activating the transcription factor, ATF6, on global miRNA expression. We utilized transgenic mice with a conditionally tamoxien-responsive form of ATF6 and assessed cardiac lysates from NTG and TG mice, both treated with tamoxifen and untreated, in order to identify differentially expressed miRNAs. We then focused on miRNAs of interest as well as the genes they are predicted to regulate.
Project description:The unfolded protein response maintains endoplasmic reticulum (ER) homeostasis by sensing protein-folding stress and orchestrating cellular adaptation via the ER-transmembrane proteins IRE1, PERK and ATF6. Malignant cells can co-opt IRE1 and PERK to sustain growth; however, the importance of ATF6 in cancer remains poorly deciphered. We observed elevated ATF6 transcriptional activity in several cancers including colorectal carcinoma (CRC). Genetic silencing or small molecule inhibition of ATF6 blocked cell cycle progression and reduced viability of several human CRC cell lines in vitro and disrupted tumor progression in vivo. Unexpectedly, ATF6 interference disabled Wnt and Myc signaling and reduced stemness. ATF6 inhibition attenuated growth of organoids derived from malignant but not normal human intestinal tissue, decreasing Wnt-pathway activity and driving cellular differentiation. Wnt-surrogate agonism in a Wnt-dependent CRC organoid restored pathway activity and rescued growth under ATF6 blockade. Our findings identify ATF6 as an unexpected facilitator of oncogenic Wnt signaling in CRC.
Project description:We wished to determine the effects of activating the transcription factor, ATF6, on global miRNA expression. We utilized transgenic mice with a conditionally tamoxien-responsive form of ATF6 and assessed cardiac lysates from NTG and TG mice, both treated with tamoxifen and untreated, in order to identify differentially expressed miRNAs. We then focused on miRNAs of interest as well as the genes they are predicted to regulate. Four sample groups were assessed for miRNA expression: non-transgenic (NTG) mice treated with vehicle, NTG mice treated with tamoxifen, ATF6 transgenic (TG) mice treated with vehicle, and TG mice treated with tamoxifen
Project description:Activating transcription factor 6 alpha (ATF6⍺) is one of the three endoplasmic reticulum (ER) transmembrane stress sensors that mediate the unfolded protein response (UPR). Despite its significant involvement in long-term ER stress adaption, regulation of ATF6⍺ signalling is still poorly understood, possibly because its activation involves Golgi and nucleus trafficking. Here, we have generated a dual CHO-K1 ATF6⍺/IRE1⍺ reporter cell line to perform an unbiased genome-wide CRISPR/Cas9 mutagenesis screen, in the presence and absence of ER stress, to systematically profile genetic factors that specifically contribute to ATF6⍺ signalling. Anticipated and new candidate genes that regulate ATF6⍺ activation were discovered. Among these, calreticulin (CRT), a key ER luminal chaperone, emerged as a selective repressor molecule of ATF6⍺ signalling. Cells lacking CRT constitutively activated a BiP::sfGFP ATF6⍺-dependent reporter, had higher BiP levels and an increased rate of trafficking and processing of ATF6⍺. Purified CRT interacts with the luminal domain of ATF6⍺ in vitro and the two proteins co-immunoprecipitated from cell lysates. CRT depletion exposed a negative feedback loop implicating ATF6⍺ in repressing IRE1⍺ activity basally and overexpression of CRT reversed phenotype. Our data indicate that CRT, in addition to its known role as a chaperone, also serves as an ER repressor of ATF6⍺ to maintain selective regulation of the UPR.
Project description:To gain insight into the global ATF6 target gene profile in prostate cancer cells, we performed RNA-seq analysis in DU145 cells upon either ATF6 siRNA-mediated knockdown (siATF6) or Ceapin-A7-mediated ATF6α inhibition.