Project description:This study explores whether HuD could bind to and regulate the expression circRNAs from genes associated with neuronal development and synaptic plasticity circRNAs bound to HuD were isolated from the striatum of HuD-OE mice by RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) as described in Bolognani et al, 2010 (https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkp863) using Dynabeads® (Thermo Fisher Scientific) coated with mouse monoclonal anti-myc tag antibody (9B11; Cell Signalling Technology Inc.) specifically recognizing myc-tagged HuD transgenic protein expressed in HuD-OE as described before (Bolognani et al., 2010; Zimmerman et al., 2020). Controls for RIP assays were performed using either non-immune IgG and HuD-OE tissue or the myc-tag antibody and wild type (WT) tissue.
Project description:Purpose: The goals of this study are to determine how deletion of the RNA-binding protein HuD affects the levels of microRNAs in the striatum of Elav4 (HuD) KO using miRNA-seq Methods: Total RNA from striatum of male adult Elavl4 (HuD) KO and wild-type (WT) littermates (n=3 per genotype) crossbred to C57Bl/6 for more than 10 generations were analyzed by small RNA sequencing, in triplicate, using an Illumina NextSeq platorm. The percentage of the number of bases with Q >30 for all 6 samples were >93%. Results: Using an optimized data analysis workflow (see diagram below), about 6.3 million sequence reads per HuD KO sample and 3.3 million per WT sample were mapped miRBase v22. The expression level (Reads count) of miRNAs were calculated using miRDeep2. The number of identified miRNA per group was calculated based on the mean of CPM in group > 1. Conclusions: We found 309 miRNAs from 54 unique families (FC>1.75- and p<0.05) were significantly upregulated while 161 miRNAs from 143 unique families (FC<0.55 and p<0.05) were significantly downregulated in the striatum of HuD KO mice vs WT samples.
Project description:Post-transcriptional mechanisms play an important role in the control of gene expression. RNA-binding proteins are key players in the post-transcriptional control of many neural genes and they participate in multiple processes, from RNA splicing and mRNA transport to mRNA stability and translation. Our laboratory has developed the first mouse model overexpressing a RNA-binding protein, the ELAV-like protein HuD, in the CNS under the control of the CaMKinII alpha promoter. Initial behavioral characterization of the mice revealed that they had significant learning deficits together with abnormalities in prepulse inhibition (PPI). At the molecular level, we found that the expression of the growth-associated protein GAP-43, one of the targets of HuD, was increased in the hippocampus of HuD transgenic mice. To characterize these mice further and to evaluate the utility of these animals in understanding human diseases, we propose to use DNA microarray methods. To characterize the pattern of gene expression in the hippocampus of HuD overexpressor mice Based on the behavioral and molecular properties of our HuD transgenic mice we hypothesize that these animals may be good models for the studying the basis of learning disabilities and of diseases that show deficits in PPI such as fetal alcohol syndrome and schizophrenia. All mice are in C57BL/6 background and are male approximately 30 days old. Animals are bred and sacrificed according to our approved animal protocol. Brains will be rapidly dissected on ice, quickly frozen and stored at -80C until analysis. Frozen brains will be embedded in OCT and shipped to the DNA microarray facility at Duke University where LCM was performed. Dentate granule cells from control and HuD transgenic mice will be isolated by Susan Su, who will also perform RNA isolation and the first round of RNA amplification. For our first experiment, we want to examine the pattern of gene expression in the hippocampus of 2 transgenic mice and 2 non-transgenic littermates. Keywords: HuD, hippocampus