HAT cofactor TRRAP modulates microtubule dynamics via SP1 signaling to prevent neurodegeneration

  1. Alicia Tapias
  2. David Lázaro
  3. Bo-Kun Yin
  4. Seyed Mohammad Mahdi Rasa
  5. Anna Krepelova
  6. Erika Kelmer Sacramento
  7. Paulius Grigaravicius
  8. Philipp Koch
  9. Joanna Kirkpatrick
  10. Alessandro Ori
  11. Francesco Neri
  12. Zhao-Qi Wang  Is a corresponding author
  1. Leibniz Institute on Ageing - Fritz Lipmann Institute, Germany
  2. Leibniz Institute on Aging - Fritz Lipmann Institute, Germany

Abstract

Brain homeostasis is regulated by the viability and functionality of neurons. HAT (histone acetyltransferase) and HDAC (histone deacetylase) inhibitors have been applied to treat neurological deficits in humans; yet, the epigenetic regulation in neurodegeneration remains elusive. Mutations of HAT cofactor TRRAP (Transformation/translation domain-associated protein) cause human neuropathies, including psychosis, intellectual disability, autism and epilepsy, with unknown mechanism. Here we show that Trrap deletion in Purkinje neurons results in neurodegeneration of old mice. Integrated transcriptomics, epigenomics and proteomics reveal that TRRAP via SP1 conducts a conserved transcriptomic program. TRRAP is required for SP1 binding at the promoter proximity of target genes, especially microtubule dynamics. The ectopic expression of Stathmin3/4 ameliorates defects of TRRAP-deficient neurons, indicating that the microtubule dynamics is particularly vulnerable to the action of SP1 activity. This study unravels a network linking three well-known, but up-to-date unconnected, signaling pathways, namely TRRAP, HAT and SP1 with microtubule dynamics, in neuroprotection.

Data availability

The data discussed in this publication have been deposited in NCBI's Gene Expression Omnibus [80] and are accessible through the GEO Series accession numbers GSE131213 (RNA-seq aNSCs), GSE131283 (RNA-seq brain tissues) and GSE131028 (ChIP-seq aNSCs). The mass spectrometry proteomics data have been deposited to the ProteomeXchange Consortium (http://proteomecentral.proteomexchange.org) [81] via the PRIDE partner repository [82], with the dataset identifier PXD013730.

The following data sets were generated
The following previously published data sets were used

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Alicia Tapias

    Leibniz Institute on Ageing - Fritz Lipmann Institute, Jena, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  2. David Lázaro

    Leibniz Institute on Ageing - Fritz Lipmann Institute, Jena, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  3. Bo-Kun Yin

    Leibniz Institute on Ageing - Fritz Lipmann Institute, Jena, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  4. Seyed Mohammad Mahdi Rasa

    Leibniz Institute on Ageing - Fritz Lipmann Institute, Jena, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0001-6850-8909
  5. Anna Krepelova

    Leibniz Institute on Ageing - Fritz Lipmann Institute, Jena, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  6. Erika Kelmer Sacramento

    Leibniz Institute on Ageing - Fritz Lipmann Institute, Jena, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  7. Paulius Grigaravicius

    Leibniz Institute on Ageing - Fritz Lipmann Institute, Jena, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  8. Philipp Koch

    Core Facility Life Science Computing, Leibniz Institute on Aging - Fritz Lipmann Institute, Jena, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-2825-7943
  9. Joanna Kirkpatrick

    Leibniz Institute on Ageing - Fritz Lipmann Institute, Jena, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  10. Alessandro Ori

    Leibniz Institute on Ageing - Fritz Lipmann Institute, Jena, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-3046-0871
  11. Francesco Neri

    Leibniz Institute on Ageing - Fritz Lipmann Institute, Jena, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  12. Zhao-Qi Wang

    Leibniz Institute on Ageing - Fritz Lipmann Institute, Jena, Germany
    For correspondence
    Zhao-Qi.Wang@leibniz-fli.de
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-8336-3485

Funding

Leibniz Publik

  • Zhao-Qi Wang

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Ethics

Animal experimentation: Animal experiments were conducted according to German animal welfare legislation, and the protocol is approved by Thüringen Landesamt für Verbraucherschutz (TLV) (03-042/16), Germany.

Copyright

© 2021, Tapias et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

Metrics

  • 1,295
    views
  • 215
    downloads
  • 11
    citations

Views, downloads and citations are aggregated across all versions of this paper published by eLife.

Download links

A two-part list of links to download the article, or parts of the article, in various formats.

Downloads (link to download the article as PDF)

Open citations (links to open the citations from this article in various online reference manager services)

Cite this article (links to download the citations from this article in formats compatible with various reference manager tools)

  1. Alicia Tapias
  2. David Lázaro
  3. Bo-Kun Yin
  4. Seyed Mohammad Mahdi Rasa
  5. Anna Krepelova
  6. Erika Kelmer Sacramento
  7. Paulius Grigaravicius
  8. Philipp Koch
  9. Joanna Kirkpatrick
  10. Alessandro Ori
  11. Francesco Neri
  12. Zhao-Qi Wang
(2021)
HAT cofactor TRRAP modulates microtubule dynamics via SP1 signaling to prevent neurodegeneration
eLife 10:e61531.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.61531

Share this article

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.61531

Further reading

    1. Chromosomes and Gene Expression
    2. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics
    Zhuohan Lao, Kartik D Kamat ... Bin Zhang
    Research Article

    The intricate structural organization of the human nucleus is fundamental to cellular function and gene regulation. Recent advancements in experimental techniques, including high-throughput sequencing and microscopy, have provided valuable insights into nuclear organization. Computational modeling has played significant roles in interpreting experimental observations by reconstructing high-resolution structural ensembles and uncovering organization principles. However, the absence of standardized modeling tools poses challenges for furthering nuclear investigations. We present OpenNucleome—an open-source software designed for conducting GPU-accelerated molecular dynamics simulations of the human nucleus. OpenNucleome offers particle-based representations of chromosomes at a resolution of 100 KB, encompassing nuclear lamina, nucleoli, and speckles. This software furnishes highly accurate structural models of nuclear architecture, affording the means for dynamic simulations of condensate formation, fusion, and exploration of non-equilibrium effects. We applied OpenNucleome to uncover the mechanisms driving the emergence of ‘fixed points’ within the nucleus—signifying genomic loci robustly anchored in proximity to specific nuclear bodies for functional purposes. This anchoring remains resilient even amidst significant fluctuations in chromosome radial positions and nuclear shapes within individual cells. Our findings lend support to a nuclear zoning model that elucidates genome functionality. We anticipate OpenNucleome to serve as a valuable tool for nuclear investigations, streamlining mechanistic explorations and enhancing the interpretation of experimental observations.

    1. Chromosomes and Gene Expression
    2. Developmental Biology
    Roger Huerlimann, Natacha Roux ... Timothy Ravasi
    Research Article

    Most teleost fishes exhibit a biphasic life history with a larval oceanic phase that is transformed into morphologically and physiologically different demersal, benthic, or pelagic juveniles. This process of transformation is characterized by a myriad of hormone-induced changes, during the often abrupt transition between larval and juvenile phases called metamorphosis. Thyroid hormones (TH) are known to be instrumental in triggering and coordinating this transformation but other hormonal systems such as corticoids, might be also involved as it is the case in amphibians. In order to investigate the potential involvement of these two hormonal pathways in marine fish post-embryonic development, we used the Malabar grouper (Epinephelus malabaricus) as a model system. We assembled a chromosome-scale genome sequence and conducted a transcriptomic analysis of nine larval developmental stages. We studied the expression patterns of genes involved in TH and corticoid pathways, as well as four biological processes known to be regulated by TH in other teleost species: ossification, pigmentation, visual perception, and metabolism. Surprisingly, we observed an activation of many of the same pathways involved in metamorphosis also at an early stage of the larval development, suggesting an additional implication of these pathways in the formation of early larval features. Overall, our data brings new evidence to the controversial interplay between corticoids and thyroid hormones during metamorphosis as well as, surprisingly, during the early larval development. Further experiments will be needed to investigate the precise role of both pathways during these two distinct periods and whether an early activation of both corticoid and TH pathways occurs in other teleost species.