PGC-1α senses the CBC of pre-mRNA to dictate the fate of promoter-proximally paused RNAPII.

PGC-1α is well established as a metazoan transcriptional coactivator of cellular adaptation in response to stress. However, the mechanisms by which PGC-1α activates gene transcription are incompletely understood. Here, we report that PGC-1α serves as a scaffold protein that physically and functionally connects the DNA-binding protein estrogen-related receptor α (ERRα), cap-binding protein 80 (CBP80), and Mediator to overcome promoter-proximal pausing of RNAPII and transcriptionally activate stress-response genes. We show that PGC-1α promotes pausing release in a two-arm mechanism (1) by recruiting the positive transcription elongation factor b (P-TEFb) and (2) by outcompeting the premature transcription termination complex Integrator. Using mice homozygous for five amino acid changes in the CBP80-binding motif (CBM) of PGC-1α that destroy CBM function, we show that efficient differentiation of primary myoblasts to myofibers and timely skeletal muscle regeneration after injury require PGC-1α binding to CBP80. Our findings reveal how PGC-1α activates stress-response gene transcription in a previously unanticipated pre-mRNA quality-control pathway.

Dual targeting of brain region-specific kinases potentiates neurological rescue in Spinocerebellar ataxia type 1.

A critical question in neurodegeneration is why the accumulation of disease-driving proteins causes selective neuronal loss despite their brain-wide expression. In Spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 (SCA1), accumulation of polyglutamine-expanded Ataxin-1 (ATXN1) causes selective degeneration of cerebellar and brainstem neurons. Previous studies revealed that inhibiting Msk1 reduces phosphorylation of ATXN1 at S776 as well as its levels leading to improved cerebellar function. However, there are no regulators that modulate ATXN1 in the brainstem-the brain region whose pathology is most closely linked to premature death. To identify new regulators of ATXN1, we performed genetic screens and identified a transcription factor-kinase axis (ZBTB7B-RSK3) that regulates ATXN1 levels. Unlike MSK1, RSK3 is highly expressed in the human and mouse brainstems where it regulates Atxn1 by phosphorylating S776. Reducing Rsk3 rescues brainstem-associated pathologies and deficits, and lowering Rsk3 and Msk1 together improves cerebellar and brainstem function in an SCA1 mouse model. Our results demonstrate that selective vulnerability of brain regions in SCA1 is governed by region-specific regulators of ATXN1, and targeting multiple regulators could rescue multiple degenerating brain areas.

Histone proteoform analysis reveals epigenetic changes in adult mouse brown adipose tissue in response to cold stress.

Regulation of the thermogenic response by brown adipose tissue (BAT) is an important component of energy homeostasis with implications for the treatment of obesity and diabetes. Our preliminary analyses uncovered many nodes representing epigenetic modifiers that are altered in BAT in response to chronic thermogenic activation. Thus, we hypothesized that chronic thermogenic activation broadly alters epigenetic modifications of DNA and histones in BAT. Motivated to understand how BAT function is regulated epigenetically, we developed a novel method for the first-ever unbiased top-down proteomic quantitation of histone modifications in BAT and validated our results with a multi-omic approach. To test our hypothesis, wildtype male C57BL/6J mice were housed under chronic conditions of thermoneutral temperature (TN, 28.8°C), mild cold/room temperature (RT, 22°C), or severe cold (SC, 8°C) and BAT was analyzed for DNA methylation and histone modifications. Methylation of promoters and intragenic regions in genomic DNA decrease in response to chronic cold exposure. Integration of DNA methylation and RNA expression data suggest a role for epigenetic modification of DNA in gene regulation in response to cold. In response to cold housing, we observe increased bulk acetylation of histones H3.2 and H4, increased histone H3.2 proteoforms with di- and trimethylation of lysine 9 (K9me2 and K9me3), and increased histone H4 proteoforms with acetylation of lysine 16 (K16ac) in BAT. Taken together, our results reveal global epigenetically-regulated transcriptional "on" and "off" signals in murine BAT in response to varying degrees of chronic cold stimuli and establish a novel methodology to quantitatively study histones in BAT, allowing for direct comparisons to decipher mechanistic changes during the thermogenic response. Additionally, we make histone PTM and proteoform quantitation, RNA splicing, RRBS, and transcriptional footprint datasets available as a resource for future research.

Integrated analysis of the aging brain transcriptome and proteome in tauopathy.

BACKGROUND: Tau neurofibrillary tangle pathology characterizes Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative tauopathies. Brain gene expression profiles can reveal mechanisms; however, few studies have systematically examined both the transcriptome and proteome or differentiated Tau- versus age-dependent changes. METHODS: Paired, longitudinal RNA-sequencing and mass-spectrometry were performed in a Drosophila model of tauopathy, based on pan-neuronal expression of human wildtype Tau (TauWT) or a mutant form causing frontotemporal dementia (TauR406W). Tau-induced, differentially expressed transcripts and proteins were examined cross-sectionally or using linear regression and adjusting for age. Hierarchical clustering was performed to highlight network perturbations, and we examined overlaps with human brain gene expression profiles in tauopathy. RESULTS: TauWT induced 1514 and 213 differentially expressed transcripts and proteins, respectively. TauR406W had a substantially greater impact, causing changes in 5494 transcripts and 697 proteins. There was a ~ 70% overlap between age- and Tau-induced changes and our analyses reveal pervasive bi-directional interactions. Strikingly, 42% of Tau-induced transcripts were discordant in the proteome, showing opposite direction of change. Tau-responsive gene expression networks strongly implicate innate immune activation. Cross-species analyses pinpoint human brain gene perturbations specifically triggered by Tau pathology and/or aging, and further differentiate between disease amplifying and protective changes. CONCLUSIONS: Our results comprise a powerful, cross-species functional genomics resource for tauopathy, revealing Tau-mediated disruption of gene expression, including dynamic, age-dependent interactions between the brain transcriptome and proteome.

Tau-Mediated Disruption of the Spliceosome Triggers Cryptic RNA Splicing and Neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's Disease.

In Alzheimer's disease (AD), spliceosomal proteins with critical roles in RNA processing aberrantly aggregate and mislocalize to Tau neurofibrillary tangles. We test the hypothesis that Tau-spliceosome interactions disrupt pre-mRNA splicing in AD. In human postmortem brain with AD pathology, Tau coimmunoprecipitates with spliceosomal components. In Drosophila, pan-neuronal Tau expression triggers reductions in multiple core and U1-specific spliceosomal proteins, and genetic disruption of these factors, including SmB, U1-70K, and U1A, enhances Tau-mediated neurodegeneration. We further show that loss of function in SmB, encoding a core spliceosomal protein, causes decreased survival, progressive locomotor impairment, and neuronal loss, independent of Tau toxicity. Lastly, RNA sequencing reveals a similar profile of mRNA splicing errors in SmB mutant and Tau transgenic flies, including intron retention and non-annotated cryptic splice junctions. In human brains, we confirm cryptic splicing errors in association with neurofibrillary tangle burden. Our results implicate spliceosome disruption and the resulting transcriptome perturbation in Tau-mediated neurodegeneration in AD.