C9orf72poly(PR) mediated neurodegeneration is associated with nucleolar stress

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe ALS/FTD-linked intronic hexanucleotide repeat expansion in theC9orf72gene is translated into dipeptide repeat proteins, among which poly-proline-arginine (PR) displays the most aggressive neurotoxicityin-vitroandin-vivo. PR partitions to the nucleus when expressed in neurons and other cell types. Usingdrosophilaand primary rat cortical neurons as model systems, we show that by lessening the nuclear accumulation of PR, we can drastically reduce its neurotoxicity. PR accumulates in the nucleolus, a site of ribosome biogenesis that regulates the cell stress response. We examined the effect of nucleolar PR accumulation and its impact on nucleolar function and determined that PR caused nucleolar stress and increased levels of the transcription factor p53. Downregulating p53 levels, either genetically or by increasing its degradation, also prevented PR-mediated neurotoxic phenotypes both inin-vitroandin-vivomodels. We also investigated whether PR could cause the senescence phenotype in neurons but observed none. Instead, we found induction of apoptosisviacaspase-3 activation. In summary, we uncovered the central role of nucleolar dysfunction upon PR expression in the context of C9-ALS/FTD.