Nicotinamide Mononucleotide Adenylyltransferase 2 (Nmnat2) Regulates Axon Integrity in the Mouse Embryo
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Nicotinamide Mononucleotide Adenylyltransferase 2 (Nmnat2) Regulates Axon Integrity in the Mouse Embryo Amy N. Hicks1*, Diego Lorenzetti1, Jonathan Gilley2, Baisong Lu1, Karl-Erik Andersson1, Carol Miligan3,4, Paul A. Overbeek5, Ronald Oppenheim3,4, Colin E. Bishop1 1 Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest University, Winston Salem, North Carolina, United States of America, 2 Signalling Programme, The Babraham Institute, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 3 Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy and the Neuroscience Program, Wake Forest University, Winston Salem, North Carolina, United States of America, 4 The Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Center, Wake Forest University, Winston Salem, North Carolina, United States of America, 5 Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, United States of America Abstract Using transposon-mediated gene-trap mutagenesis, we have generated a novel mouse mutant termed Blad (Bloated Bladder). Homozygous mutant mice die perinatally showing a greatly distended bladder, underdeveloped diaphragm and a reduction in total skeletal muscle mass. Wild type and heterozygote mice appear normal. Using PCR, we identified a transposon insertion site in the first intron of Nmnat2 (Nicotinamide mononucleotide adenyltransferase 2). Nmnat2 is expressed predominantly in the brain and nervous system and has been linked to the survival of axons. Expression of this gene is undetectable in Nmnat2blad/blad mutants. Examination of the brains of E18.5 Nmnat2blad/blad mutant embryos did not reveal any obvious morphological changes. In contrast, E18.5 Nmnat2blad/blad homozygotes showed an approximate 60% reduction of spinal motoneurons in the lumbar region and a more than 80% reduction in the sensory neurons of the dorsal root ganglion (DRG). In addition, facial motoneuron numbers were severely reduced, and there was virtually a complete absence of axons in the hind limb. Our observations suggest that during embryogenesis, Nmnat2 plays an important role in axonal growth or maintenance. It appears that in the absence of Nmnat2, major target organs and tissues (e.g., muscle) are not functionally innervated resulting in perinatal lethality. In addition, neither Nmnat1 nor 3 can compensate for the loss of Nmnat2. Whilst there have been recent suggestions that Nmnat2 may be an endogenous modulator of axon integrity, this work represents the first in vivo study demonstrating that Nmnat2 is involved in axon development or survival in a mammal. Citation: Hicks AN, Lorenzetti D, Gilley J, Lu B, Andersson K-E, et al. (2012) Nicotinamide Mononucleotide Adenylyltransferase 2 (Nmnat2) Regulates Axon Integrity in the Mouse Embryo. PLoS ONE 7(10): e47869. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0047869 Editor: Stefan Strack, University of Iowa, United States of America Received March 27, 2012; Accepted September 24, 2012; Published October 17, 2012 Copyright: ß 2012 Hicks et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Funding: We would like to cite support by National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant type U01 HD43421 to CEB and NS069212 to RO. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. * E-mail: [email protected] Introduction cytosolic pool of NAD+ quickly in response to a stimulus like cell stress. Genes required for axonal development and neuronal survival Nmnat2 has been associated with axonal survival in primary may provide targets for the treatment of neurodegenerative sensory and sympathetic nerve cell injury models in vitro [7,8]. disorders and for the re-innervation of tissues after injury. They Historically, aberrant or exogenous overexpression of the Wlds may also be used to promote innervation of tissues and organs protein (a fusion protein containing Nmnat1)orNmnat1 itself, has created using tissue engineering techniques. Recently, the Nmnat been used to protect axons from Wallerian degeneration after genes (Nmnat1, 2, and 3) have been studied as potential targets injury [1,11], but more recent studies suggest that the endogenous based on their ability to delay Wallerian degeneration after axonal Nmnat isoform required for the normal maintenance of healthy nerve damage [1]. All the Nmnat family members can catalyze the + axons is Nmnat2 [8,12]. This isoform can also delay Wallerian synthesis of NAD both in the de novo pathway and in the recycling degeneration when highly overexpressed [7,8,13]. Studies on the pathway [2]. Nmnat1 is ubiquitously expressed and localizes to the dNmnat ortholog in Drosophila indicate that it has a protective nucleus. Nmnat3 shows a more restricted expression pattern and function analogous to the mouse Nmnat2 gene [14,15,16]. Recent localizes to mitochondria [3]. Nmnat2 is expressed predominantly studies show that decreased endogenous Nmnat2 expression and in neurons [3,4,5,6,7]. Its protein product has been shown to function may play a role in mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease localize to the trans-Golgi complex [3,4] where it is packaged and and tauopathy neurodegenerative diseases [7,17]. transported down axons to the synapse [8]. In addition to Using a unique mouse mutant we present in vivo data indicating differences in tissue expression and intracellular localization, there that during embryogenesis Nmnat2 plays an essential role in axonal is an isoform-specific domain on each of the Nmnat genes [9]. In growth and/or survival. In its absence, major organs and muscles Nmnat2 this region is palmitoylated at two cysteine residues and, + are not functionally innervated resulting in perinatal lethality, when cleaved, the NAD synthesis activity of the enzyme increases which is likely due to failure of respiratory function at birth. significantly [4,10]. This provides a mechanism to increase the PLOS ONE | www.plosone.org 1 October 2012 | Volume 7 | Issue 10 | e47869 Nmnat2 Affects Peripheral Nerve Development Materials and Methods erates a 350bp X-specific band in males and females and a 300bp Y-specific band in males only. Mouse Mutant Generation and Insertion Localization Mouse mutants were generated at Baylor College of Medicine Gene Expression (Houston, TX) as previously described [18]. Female transgenic Three fetuses of each genotype were obtained from timed mice containing a Sleeping Beauty transposon-based coat color gene pregnant mice at E18.5. The genotype and sex were determined trap construct pT2. BART3 [19] (Figure 1C) were crossed to using DNA extracted from the tail. The bladder, liver, kidney, transgenic mice carrying the SB11 transposase under the control lung, heart, and brain were isolated and stored in RNALaterH at of a 1.4-kb testis-specific human PGK2 promoter [20] After 220uC (Ambion cat# AM7021). The tissues were homogenized mobilization of the gene trap in the double transgenic male using sonication, and RNA was extracted using a QIAcube gametes and crossing to wild type FVB females, new coat color automated extraction procedure employing an RNeasyH mini plus variants were isolated and those showing novel phenotypes were kit (Qiagen cat# 74134). cDNA was synthesized using the Applied maintained as independent families. Once F1 coat color variants Biosystems High Capacity cDNA Reverse Transcription Kit (ABI were identified, the transposase was bred out of the family to cat# 4374966). TaqManH gene expression assays for Nmnat1, 2, prevent further transposon jumping. and 3 (ABI assay ID# Mm01257929_m1, Mm00615393_m1, and An asymmetric PCR amplification technique (APA) was to used Mm00513791_m1) were used to quantitate the levels of RNA in to identify mouse DNA flanking transposon integration sites as different tissues. The Primers PpidF1: previously described [19] using an APAgene kit (BioS&T Inc., TCGTCTTTGGACTCTTTGGAA and PpidR1: AGCGCT- Canada). Amplified bands were purified from agarose gels and CACCATAGATGCTC were designed across exon junctions of directly sequenced. Sequences were compared to that of the mouse the mouse peptidylprolyl isomerase B (Ppib) gene and were used as genome and PCR primers were designed to verify the presence of a loading/normalization control. We performed a statistical the Nmnat2 insertion site. The locations of these primers are analysis on the Pipb qPCR data to confirm that there was no pictured in Figure 1C and their sequences are as follows; (A) significant difference in expression across sample groups. The data Chr1F:CCATAAGAATAAATGCAGAATTAC , are presented as the mean difference in mRNA fold expression, 6 (B)Chr1R:TGTGCAGTTCAGTGGGTCTT , and standard deviation, relative to the wild-type brain sample. (C)SB25:CTGGAATTTTCCAAGCTGTTTAAAGGCACAGT- CAAC. Primers in the X-Y common Kdm5d (lysine (K)-specific Western Blot demethylase 5D) gene [21] were used to sex the embryos: SmcpF: Whole brains were isolated from E18.5 embryos, frozen in CCTGAAGCYTTTGGCTTTGAGCA and SmcpR: liquid nitrogen, and stored at 280uC. The tissue was homogenized AAMCCRCTGCCAAATTCTTTGGA. This primer pair gen- using a sonicator on ice with 10x volume to weight of a lysis buffer containing 50 mM Tris, 150 mM NaCl, 1% Tergitol-type NP-40, Figure 1. Identification of Nmnat2 mutants and transposon localization. Images of E18.5 embryos (A, B). In both images, the wild-type