TET3 prevents terminal differentiation of adult NSCs by a non-catalytic action at Snrpn

• Published in: Nature communications 2019-04, Vol.10 (1), p.1726-1726, Article 1726
• Main Authors: Montalbán-Loro, Raquel, Lozano-Ureña, Anna, Ito, Mitsuteru, Krueger, Christel, Reik, Wolf, Ferguson-Smith, Anne C., Ferrón, Sacri R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 13; 13/51; 38; 38/15; 38/23; 38/39; 49; 49/91; 631/208/176/1968; 631/208/176/1988; 631/337/572; 631/378/368; 631/532/2182; 64; 64/60; Animals; Astrocytes; Astrocytes - cytology; Brain; Brain - metabolism; Catalysis; Cell Differentiation; Demethylation; Deoxyribonucleic acid; Differentiation; Dioxygenases; DNA; DNA-Binding Proteins - metabolism; Gene expression; Gene silencing; Humanities and Social Sciences; Hydroxylation; Lateral Ventricles - metabolism; Mice; multidisciplinary; Neural stem cells; Neural Stem Cells - cytology; Neurogenesis; Proteins; Proto-Oncogene Proteins - metabolism; RNA, Small Interfering - metabolism; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Signal Transduction; snRNP Core Proteins - metabolism; Stem cells; Subventricular zone; Translocation
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-09665-1

Ten-eleven-translocation (TET) proteins catalyze DNA hydroxylation, playing an important role in demethylation of DNA in mammals. Remarkably, although hydroxymethylation levels are high in the mouse brain, the potential role of TET proteins in adult neurogenesis is unknown. We show here that a non-catalytic action of TET3 is essentially required for the maintenance of the neural stem cell (NSC) pool in the adult subventricular zone (SVZ) niche by preventing premature differentiation of NSCs into non-neurogenic astrocytes. This occurs through direct binding of TET3 to the paternal transcribed allele of the imprinted gene Small nuclear ribonucleoprotein-associated polypeptide N ( Snrpn) , contributing to transcriptional repression of the gene. The study also identifies BMP2 as an effector of the astrocytic terminal differentiation mediated by SNRPN. Our work describes a novel mechanism of control of an imprinted gene in the regulation of adult neurogenesis through an unconventional role of TET3. The potential role of TET proteins in adult neurogenesis is unknown. In this study, authors show that TET3 is essentially required for the maintenance of the NSC pool in the adult subventricular zone niche by preventing premature differentiation of NSCs, via direct binding and repression of the paternal transcribed allele of the imprinted gene Snrpn