Identification of FMR1-Regulated Molecular Networks in Human Neurodevelopment
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Downloaded from genome.cshlp.org on October 6, 2021 - Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press Research Identification of FMR1-regulated molecular networks in human neurodevelopment Meng Li,1,2,6 Junha Shin,3,6 Ryan D. Risgaard,1,2 Molly J. Parries,1,2 Jianyi Wang,1,2 Deborah Chasman,3,7 Shuang Liu,1 Sushmita Roy,3,4 Anita Bhattacharyya,1,5 and Xinyu Zhao1,2 1Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53705, USA; 2Department of Neuroscience, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53705, USA; 3Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53705, USA; 4Department of Biostatistics and Medical Informatics, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53705, USA; 5Department of Cell and Regenerative Biology, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53705, USA RNA-binding proteins (RNA-BPs) play critical roles in development and disease to regulate gene expression. However, genome-wide identification of their targets in primary human cells has been challenging. Here, we applied a modified CLIP-seq strategy to identify genome-wide targets of the FMRP translational regulator 1 (FMR1), a brain-enriched RNA- BP, whose deficiency leads to Fragile X Syndrome (FXS), the most prevalent inherited intellectual disability. We identified FMR1 targets in human dorsal and ventral forebrain neural progenitors and excitatory and inhibitory neurons differentiated from human pluripotent stem cells. In parallel, we measured the transcriptomes of the same four cell types upon FMR1 gene deletion. We discovered that FMR1 preferentially binds long transcripts in human neural cells. FMR1 targets include genes unique to human neural cells and associated with clinical phenotypes of FXS and autism. Integrative network analysis using graph diffusion and multitask clustering of FMR1 CLIP-seq and transcriptional targets reveals critical pathways regulated by FMR1 in human neural development. Our results demonstrate that FMR1 regulates a common set of targets among different neural cell types but also operates in a cell type–specific manner targeting distinct sets of genes in human excitatory and inhibitory neural progenitors and neurons. By defining molecular subnetworks and validating specific high-priority genes, we identify novel components of the FMR1 regulation program. Our results provide new insights into gene regulation by a critical neuronal RNA-BP in human neurodevelopment. [Supplemental material is available for this article.] Human neuronal development, function, and dysfunction rely herited genetic cause of intellectual disability and the leading ge- heavily on translational control of essential genes by RNA-binding netic contributor to autism (Pieretti et al. 1991; Verkerk et al. proteins (RNA-BPs). Key to understanding the mechanisms and 1991; Kaufmann et al. 2017). Studying FMR1 in human neurode- impact of RNA-BPs is to identify their genome-wide targets in cells velopment may serve as a gateway for understanding autism, but of the nervous system. High-throughput sequencing of RNA isolat- the identification of RNA targets of FMR1 in humans is largely un- ed by crosslinking immunoprecipitation (HITS-seq or CLIP-seq) explored, thus limiting our understanding of FMR1 function. To can isolate RNA-BP targets but requires large numbers of cells date, most research on FMR1 function and consequences of and high-quality antibodies (Wheeler et al. 2018). Methods with FMR1 loss has relied on animal models, particularly mouse mod- increased efficiency and specificity have been developed, includ- els. However, recent clinical trials developed based on evidence ing irCLIP (Zarnegar et al. 2016) and eCLIP (Van Nostrand et al. from animal models failed to correct disease-related phenotypes 2016), but the difficulties of isolating large numbers of human in FXS patients (Bailey et al. 2016; Berry-Kravis et al. 2016; Zhao neurons has still limited our ability to identify genome-wide tar- and Bhattacharyya 2018). Discrepant impacts of FMR1 deficiency gets of RNA-BPs. Thus, new strategies are needed to address the on mouse versus human brains (Kwan et al. 2012) and mouse ver- function of RNA-BPs in human brain. sus human embryonic stem cells (Doers et al. 2014; Telias et al. One critical RNA-binding protein that regulates the expres- 2015; Khalfallah et al. 2017) suggest that interspecies differences sion of critical genes in neural development, neuronal function, in brain development and FMR1 function are significant. Thus, and synaptic plasticity is FMRP translational regulator 1 (FMR1) discordance between rodent models and human studies warrants (Pfeiffer and Huber 2009; Darnell and Klann 2013). Loss of identification of FMR1 targets in human neurons. FMR1 results in Fragile X Syndrome (FXS), the most common in- Genome-wide binding studies show that FMR1 binds hun- dreds of mRNAs in the mouse brain (Brown et al. 2001; Darnell et al. 2011; Tabet et al. 2016; Maurin et al. 2018; Sawicka et al. 6These authors contributed equally to this work. 7Present address: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, © 2020 Li et al. This article is distributed exclusively by Cold Spring Harbor University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI 53715, USA Laboratory Press for the first six months after the full-issue publication date Corresponding authors: [email protected], (see http://genome.cshlp.org/site/misc/terms.xhtml). After six months, it is [email protected], [email protected] available under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial Article published online before print. Article, supplemental material, and publi- 4.0 International), as described at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by- cation date are at http://www.genome.org/cgi/doi/10.1101/gr.251405.119. nc/4.0/. 30:361–374 Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press; ISSN 1088-9051/20; www.genome.org Genome Research 361 www.genome.org Downloaded from genome.cshlp.org on October 6, 2021 - Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press Li et al. 2019), but only a handful of these targets have been validated in 3xFLAG tag (Fig. 1B). Since FMR1 is an X-linked gene, we generated humans. In vitro binding kinetic assays estimate that FMR1 inter- FMR1-FLAG hPSCs from three male hPSC lines as biological repli- acts with ∼4% of mRNAs expressed in human fetal brain tissue cates: two hESC lines (H1 and H13) and one hiPSC line (GM1) (Ashley et al. 1993), and a few reports identifying human FMR1 tar- (Fig. 1C). From each of the three parental hPSC lines (referred to gets have emerged (Ascano et al. 2012; Van Nostrand et al. 2016, as wild type or WT), at least two isogenic colonies with successful 2017; Tran et al. 2019). CLIP-seq using the HEK293 cell line over- fusion of FLAG tag to FMR1 were confirmed by PCR (Supplemental expressing tagged FMR1 identified over 6000 RNAs as direct FMR1 Fig. S1A), Sanger sequencing (Supplemental Fig. S1B), and immu- targets (Ascano et al. 2012). However, it is unclear how these find- noblot (Fig. 1C). One FMR1-FLAG line from each parental line was ings in immortalized non-neural cell lines inform FMR1 functions used for subsequent experiments (red in Fig. 1C and Supplemental in the brain. Recent work addressed this challenge by identifying Fig. S1A). Integrity of the FMR1-FLAG hPSC lines was confirmed by FMR1 targets in post-mortem adult human frontal cortex (Tran karyotyping and immunofluorescence for stem cell markers, et al. 2019) with an emphasis on FMR1’s involvement in RNA ed- POU5F1 (also known as OCT4), SOX2, and PODXL, as well as ab- iting in autism. This study used adult brain tissues containing sence of the neuroepithelial marker PAX6 (Supplemental Fig. S1C, mixed cell types, making it difficult to attribute the binding of D). Off-target CRISPR mutations at the top five predicted sites in FMR1 to specific cell types that are relevant to neurodevelopment. the FMR1-FLAG hPSC lines were examined by Sanger sequencing, These genome-wide studies provide a framework for unveiling and no off-target mutations were detected (Supplemental Fig. S1E). mechanisms of FMR1 function, but it remains unknown whether We differentiated the three parental hPSCs (parental) and iso- the identified RNA targets are regulated by FMR1 in human neuro- genic FMR1-FLAG hPSCs (FLAG) into dorsal forebrain and ventral nal cell types and the extent to which FMR1 targets differ across forebrain neural progenitor cells and then to dorsal and ventral related cell types. Further, FMR1’s role is critical in neurodevelop- forebrain neurons, hereafter referred to as dNPC, vNPC, dNeuron, ment, and the reports thus far do not interrogate developing neu- and vNeuron, respectively. Differentiation was carried out using ral cells. established methods of dual SMAD inhibition followed by pattern- Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) provide a paradigm to ing with a sonic hedgehog (SHH) inhibitor (cyclopamine) for study aspects of human neurodevelopment because of their ability dNPC and SHH for vNPC (Fig. 1D; Chambers et al. 2009; Li et al. to generate specific neural cell types in vitro over a period of time 2009; Maroof et al. 2013). Successful patterning of the two lineages corresponding to in vivo human development, thus recapitulating was confirmed by expression of PAX6 in dNPCs and NKX2-1 in many of the developmental steps relevant and unique to humans vNPCs (Supplemental Fig. S2A–C). The dNPCs and vNPCs were (Anderson