Project description:The 16p11.2 deletion and duplication syndromes have been associated with developmental delay and autism spectrum disorders, and a reciprocal effect on body mass index. Here we explored these links with new engineered mouse models carrying a deletion (Del/+) and duplication (Dup/+) of the whole 16p11.2 homologous Sult1a1-Spn region. On a pure genetic background, compared to wild-types, Del/+ mice carrying the deletion showed weight and adipogenesis deficits, hyperactivity, repetitive behaviors, and recognition memory deficits, whereas Dup/+ mice showed the opposite phenotypes and Del/Dup individuals displayed no changes. Alterations in social interaction were also observed in Del/+ and Dup/+ animals on a mixed genetic background. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that the majority of genes located on the Sult1a1-Spn were dosage-sensitive and potentially implicated in the opposite phenotypes described above on the neurocognitive aspect. Nevertheless, the outcome of the 16p11 region genetic dosage on metabolism depends on different genetic contributions between human and mouse.
Project description:Copy number variations (CNVs) of the human 16p11.2 locus are associated with several developmental/neurocognitive syndromes. Particularly, deletion and duplication of this genetic interval are found in patients with autism spectrum disorders, intellectual disability and other psychiatric traits. The high gene density associated with the region and the strong phenotypic variability of incomplete penetrance, make the study of the 16p11.2 syndromes extremely complex. To systematically study the effect of 16p11.2 CNVs and identify candidate genes and molecular mechanisms involved in the pathophysiology, mouse models were generated previously and showed learning and memory, and to some extent social deficits. To go further in understanding the social deficits caused by 16p11.2 syndromes, we engineered deletion and duplication of the homologous region to the human 16p11.2 genetic interval in two rat outbred strains, Sprague Dawley (SD) and Long Evans (LE). The 16p11.2 rat models displayed convergent defects in social behaviour and only a few cognitive defects. Interestingly major pathways affecting MAPK3 and CUL3 were found altered in the rat 16p11.2 models with additional changes in males compared to females. Altogether, the consequences of the 16p11.2 genetic region dosage on social behaviour are now found in three different species: humans, mice and rats. In addition, the rat models pointed to sexual dimorphism, with lower severity of phenotypes in rat females compared to male mutants. This phenomenon is also observed in humans. We are convinced that the two rat models will be key to further investigating social behaviour and understanding the brain mechanisms and specific brain regions that are key to controlling social behaviour.
Project description:Copy number variations (CNVs) of the human 16p11.2 locus are associated with several developmental/neurocognitive syndromes. Particularly, deletion and duplication of this genetic interval are found in patients with autism spectrum disorders, intellectual disability and other psychiatric traits. The high gene density associated with the region and the strong phenotypic variability of incomplete penetrance, make the study of the 16p11.2 syndromes extremely complex. To systematically study the effect of 16p11.2 CNVs and identify candidate genes and molecular mechanisms involved in the pathophysiology, mouse models were generated previously and showed learning and memory, and to some extent social deficits. To go further in understanding the social deficits caused by 16p11.2 syndromes, we engineered deletion and duplication of the homologous region to the human 16p11.2 genetic interval in two rat outbred strains, Sprague Dawley (SD) and Long Evans (LE). The 16p11.2 rat models displayed convergent defects in social behaviour and only a few cognitive defects. Interestingly major pathways affecting MAPK3 and CUL3 were found altered in the rat 16p11.2 models with additional changes in males compared to females. Altogether, the consequences of the 16p11.2 genetic region dosage on social behaviour are now found in three different species: humans, mice and rats. In addition, the rat models pointed to sexual dimorphism, with lower severity of phenotypes in rat females compared to male mutants. This phenomenon is also observed in humans. We are convinced that the two rat models will be key to further investigating social behaviour and understanding the brain mechanisms and specific brain regions that are key to controlling social behaviour.
Project description:Recurrent Copy Number Variations (CNVs) of human 16p11.2 have been associated with a variety of developmental/neurocognitive syndromes. In particular, deletion of 16p11.2 is found in patients with autism, developmental delay, and obesity. Patients with deletions or duplications have a wide range of clinical features, and siblings carrying the same deletion often have diverse symptoms. To study the consequence of 16p11.2 CNVs in a systematic manner, we used chromosome engineering to generate mice harboring deletion of the chromosomal region corresponding to 16p11.2, as well as mice harboring the reciprocal duplication. These 16p11.2 CNV models have dosage-dependent changes in gene expression, viability, brain architecture, and behavior. For each phenotype, the consequence of the deletion is more severe than that of the duplication. Of particular note is that half of the 16p11.2 deletion mice die postnatally; those that survive to adulthood are healthy and fertile, but have alterations in the hypothalamus and exhibit a ‘behavior trap’ phenotype—a specific behavior characteristic of rodents with lateral hypothalamic and nigrostriatal lesions. Our findings indicate that 16p11.2 CNVs cause both brain and behavioral anomalies, providing new insight into human neurodevelopmental disorders.
Project description:Reciprocal deletion and duplication of 16p11.2 is the most common copy number variation (CNV) associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and other developmental disorders, and has significant effect on brain size. We used cortical organoids derived from ASD cases to investigate neurodevelopmental pathways dysregulated by dosage changes of 16p11.2 CNV. We show that organoids recapitulate patients’ macrocephaly and microcephaly phenotypes. Deletions and duplications have “mirror” effects on cell proliferation, maturation and synapse number, consistent with “mirror” effects on brain development in humans. Neuronal migration was decreased in both, deletion and duplication organoids. Transcriptomic and proteomic profiling revealed synaptic defects and neuronal migration as key drivers of 16p11.2 functional effect. We implicate upregulation of small GTPase RhoA involved in regulation of cytoskeletal dynamics, neuron migration and neurite outgrowth as one of the pathways impacted by the 16p11.2 CNV in ASD. Treatment with the RhoA inhibitor Rhosin rescued neuron migration, but not synaptic defects. This study identifies pathways dysregulated by the 16p11.2 CNV during early neocortical development using cortical organoid models. Grant ID: Simons Foundation, #345469 Grant Title: Translational dysregulation of the RhoA pathway in autism Affiliation: University of California San Diego Name: Lilia M. Iakoucheva; Alysson R. Muotri
Project description:Background: Chromosomal 16p11.2 deletions and duplications are genomic disorders which are characterized by neurobehavioral abnormalities, obesity, congenital abnormalities and so on. However, the prenatal phenotypes of 16p11.2 copy number variations (CNVs) are still not well described till now. This study aimed to provide an elaborate summary of intrauterine phenotypic features for such genomic disorders. Methods: Twenty prenatal amniotic fluid samples diagnosed with 16p11.2 microdeletions/microduplications were obtained from pregnant women who opted for invasive prenatal testing. Karyotypic analysis and chromosomal microarray analysis (CMA) were performed in parallel. The pregnancy outcomes and health conditions after birth for all cases were followed up. Meanwhile, we made a pooled analysis on the prenatal phenotypes for the published cases carrying 16p11.2 CNVs. Results: 20 fetuses (20/20884, 0.10%) with 16p11.2 CNVs were identified: five 16p11.2 BP2-BP3 deletion, ten 16p11.2 BP4-BP5 deletion and five 16p11.2 BP4-BP5 duplication. Abnormal ultrasound findings were recorded in ten participants with 16p11.2 deletions.Various degrees of intrauterine phenotypic features, ranging from normal to abnormal, were observed. No ultrasound abnormalities were observed for all 16p11.2 duplication cases during the pregnancy period. For 16p11.2 deletions, eleven cases terminated their pregnancies. For 16p11.2 duplications, four cases gave birth to healthy neonates except one was lost to follow up. Conclusions: Diverse prenatal phenotypes were presented in 16p11.2 CNVs, ranging from normal to abnormal. For 16p11.2 BP4-BP5 deletion, the most common structural and non-structural abnormalities were the abnormality of the vertebral column or rib and thickened nuchal translucency, respectively. 16p11.2 BP2-BP3 deletion might be closely associated with fetal growth restriction and single umbilical artery. No representative ultrasound findings for 16p11.2 duplication were observed till now. Considering the variable expressivity and incomplete penetrance of 16p11.2 CNVs, long term follow up after birth should be carried out for these cases. We identified 20 fetuses carrying the 16p11.2 microdeletions and microduplications using chromosomal microarray analysis. And diverse prenatal phenotypes and the critical genes involved in the deleted/duplicated regions were described in this study.
Project description:Chromosome 16p11.2 reciprocal genomic disorder due to recurrent copy number variants (CNVs) involves intellectual disability, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and schizophrenia but the responsible mechanisms are not known. To systemically dissect molecular effects, we performed transcriptome profiling of 350 libraries from six tissues (cortex, cerebellum, striatum, liver, brown fat, white fat) in mouse models harboring CNVs of the syntenic 7qF3 region, as well as cellular, transcriptional, and single-cell analyses in 54 isogenic neural stem cell, induced neuron, and cerebral organoid models of CRISPR-engineered 16p11.2 CNVs. Transcriptome-wide differentially expressed genes were largely tissue, cell-type, and dosage specific, though more effects were shared between deletion and duplication and across tissue than expected by chance. The broadest effects were observed in the cerebellum (2163 differentially expressed genes) and the greatest enrichments were associated with synaptic pathways in mouse cerebellum and human induced neurons. Pathway and co-expression analyses identified energy and RNA metabolism as shared processes and enrichment for ASD-associated/loss-of-function constraint/FMRP gene sets. Intriguingly, reciprocal 16p11.2 dosage changes resulted in consistent decrements in neurite and electrophysiological features, while single-cell profiling of organoids showed reciprocal alterations to the proportions of excitatory and inhibitory GABAergic neurons. Both neuronal ratios and gene expression changes in our organoid analyses point most directly to calretinin GABAergic inhibitory neurons and the excitatory/inhibitory balance as targets of disruption in 16p11.2 carriers that may contribute to changes in neurodevelopmental and cognitive function. Collectively, our data indicate the genomic disorder involves disruption of multiple contributing biological processes, with relative impacts that are context-specific.
Project description:To study the effect of structural changes on expression, we assessed gene expression in genomic disorder mouse models. Both a microdeletion and its reciprocal microduplication mapping to mouse chromosome 11 (MMU11), which model the rearrangements present in Smith-Magenis (SMS) and Potocki-Lupski (PTLS) syndromes patients, respectively, have been engineered. We profiled the transcriptome of five different tissues affected in human patients in mice with 1n (Deletion/+), 2n (+/+), 3n (Duplication/+) and uniallelic 2n (Deletion/Duplication) copies of the same region in an identical genetic background. The most differentially expressed transcripts between the four studied genotypes were ranked. A highly significant propensity, are mapping to the engineered SMS/PTLS interval in the different tissues. A statistically significant overrepresentation of the genes mapping to the flanks of the engineered interval was also found in the top-ranked differentially expressed genes. A phenomenon efficient across multiple cell lineages and that extends along the entire length of the chromosome, tens of megabases from the breakpoints. These long-range effects are unidirectional and uncoupled from the number of copies of the copy number variation (CNV) genes. Thus, our results suggest that the assortment of genes mapping to a chromosome is not random. They also indicate that a structural change at a given position of the human genome may cause the same perturbation in particular pathways regardless of gene dosage. An issue that should be considered in appreciating the contribution of this class of variation to phenotypic features. Keywords: Genetic modification Comparisons of heterozygous mice carrying a duplication, Dp(11)17/+, a deletion, Df(11)17)/+, or both rearrangements, Df(11)17/Dp(11)17, with wild-type mice. Gene expression of at least two male individuals of each of the four genotypes were measured in hippocampus, cerebellum, testis, kidney and heart.
Project description:To study the effect of structural changes on expression, we assessed gene expression in genomic disorder mouse models. Both a microdeletion and its reciprocal microduplication mapping to mouse chromosome 11 (MMU11), which model the rearrangements present in Smith-Magenis (SMS) and Potocki-Lupski (PTLS) syndromes patients, respectively, have been engineered. We profiled the transcriptome of five different tissues affected in human patients in mice with 1n (Deletion/+), 2n (+/+), 3n (Duplication/+) and uniallelic 2n (Deletion/Duplication) copies of the same region in an identical genetic background. The most differentially expressed transcripts between the four studied genotypes were ranked. A highly significant propensity, are mapping to the engineered SMS/PTLS interval in the different tissues. A statistically significant overrepresentation of the genes mapping to the flanks of the engineered interval was also found in the top-ranked differentially expressed genes. A phenomenon efficient across multiple cell lineages and that extends along the entire length of the chromosome, tens of megabases from the breakpoints. These long-range effects are unidirectional and uncoupled from the number of copies of the copy number variation (CNV) genes. Thus, our results suggest that the assortment of genes mapping to a chromosome is not random. They also indicate that a structural change at a given position of the human genome may cause the same perturbation in particular pathways regardless of gene dosage. An issue that should be considered in appreciating the contribution of this class of variation to phenotypic features. Keywords: Genetic modification
Project description:The 600kb BP4-BP5 16p11.2 CNV (copy number variant) is associated with neuroanatomical, neurocognitive and metabolic disorders. These recurrent rearrangements are associated with reciprocal phenotypes such as obesity and underweight, macro- and microcephaly, as well as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and schizophrenia. Here we interrogated the transcriptome of individuals carrying reciprocal CNVs in 16p11.2. The genome-wide transcript perturbations correlated with clinical endophenotypes of the CNV and were enriched for genes associated with ASD. We uncovered a significant correlation between copy number changes and expression levels of genes mutated in ciliopathies. Transcriptome profiles of lymphoblastoid cell lines of 50 16p11.2 deletion carriers, 31 16p11.2 duplication carriers and 17 controls.