bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.01.10.902064; this version posted January 11, 2020. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license. 1 Cul3 regulates cytoskeleton protein homeostasis and cell migration during a critical 2 window of brain development 3 Jasmin Morandell1, Lena A. Schwarz1, Bernadette Basilico1, Saren Tasciyan1, Armel Nicolas1, 4 Christoph Sommer1, Caroline Kreuzinger1, Christoph P. Dotter1, Lisa S. Knaus1, Zoe Dobler1, 5 Emanuele Cacci2, Johann G. Danzl1, Gaia Novarino1@ 6 7 1Institute of Science and Technology (IST) Austria, Klosterneuburg, Austria 8 2 Department of Biology and Biotechnology “Charles Darwin”, Sapienza, University of Rome 9 @Correspondence to:
[email protected] 10 11 Abstract 12 De novo loss of function mutations in the ubiquitin ligase-encoding gene Cullin3 (CUL3) lead to 13 autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Here, we used Cul3 mouse models to evaluate the 14 consequences of Cul3 mutations in vivo. Our results show that Cul3 haploinsufficient mice 15 exhibit deficits in motor coordination as well as ASD-relevant social and cognitive impairments. 16 Cul3 mutant brain displays cortical lamination abnormalities due to defective neuronal migration 17 and reduced numbers of excitatory and inhibitory neurons. In line with the observed abnormal 18 columnar organization, Cul3 haploinsufficiency is associated with decreased spontaneous 19 excitatory and inhibitory activity in the cortex. At the molecular level, employing a quantitative 20 proteomic approach, we show that Cul3 regulates cytoskeletal and adhesion protein abundance 21 in mouse embryos.