1. FUS-ALS mutants alter FMRP phase separation equilibrium and impair protein translation
- Author
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Oscar G. Wilkins, Pietro Fratta, Seth Jarvis, Brian Tsang, Elizabeth M. C. Fisher, Cristian Bodo, Giampietro Schiavo, Maria Giovanna Garone, Anny Devoy, Gabriella Viero, Julie D. Forman-Kay, Micheal L. Nosella, P. Andrew Chong, Melis Pisiren, Agnieszka M. Ule, Nicol Birsa, Francesca Mattedi, Alessandro Rosa, Jack Humphrey, and Rafaela Fernandez de la Fuente
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,congenital, hereditary, and neonatal diseases and abnormalities ,RNA-binding protein ,Mutant ,Phase separation ,Neurodegenerative diseases ,Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ,Fragile X Mental Retardation Protein ,Mice ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,medicine ,Animals ,Brain ,Cell proliferation ,Neurons ,Proteins ,Psychological repression ,Research Articles ,Multidisciplinary ,Chemistry ,Neurodegeneration ,SciAdv r-articles ,Translation (biology) ,medicine.disease ,In vitro ,nervous system diseases ,Cell biology ,030104 developmental biology ,Cytoplasm ,Protein Biosynthesis ,Cellular Neuroscience ,Mutation ,RNA-Binding Protein FUS ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,Research Article - Abstract
Cytoplasmic mislocalization of FUS-ALS mutants determines aberrant FMRP condensates and protein synthesis repression., FUsed in Sarcoma (FUS) is a multifunctional RNA binding protein (RBP). FUS mutations lead to its cytoplasmic mislocalization and cause the neurodegenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Here, we use mouse and human models with endogenous ALS-associated mutations to study the early consequences of increased cytoplasmic FUS. We show that in axons, mutant FUS condensates sequester and promote the phase separation of fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP), another RBP associated with neurodegeneration. This leads to repression of translation in mouse and human FUS-ALS motor neurons and is corroborated in vitro, where FUS and FMRP copartition and repress translation. Last, we show that translation of FMRP-bound RNAs is reduced in vivo in FUS-ALS motor neurons. Our results unravel new pathomechanisms of FUS-ALS and identify a novel paradigm by which mutations in one RBP favor the formation of condensates sequestering other RBPs, affecting crucial biological functions, such as protein translation.
- Published
- 2021
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