Large-scale RNA interference screening in mammalian cells identifies novel regulators of mutant huntingtin aggregation

• Published in: PloS one 2014-04, Vol.9 (4), p.e93891-e93891
• Main Authors: Yamanaka, Tomoyuki, Wong, Hon Kit, Tosaki, Asako, Bauer, Peter O, Wada, Koji, Kurosawa, Masaru, Shimogori, Tomomi, Hattori, Nobutaka, Nukina, Nobuyuki
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agglomeration; Aggregates; Analysis; Animals; Biology and Life Sciences; Brain research; Cells; Cloning; Drosophila; Gene expression; Genes; Genomes; Genomics; High-Throughput Screening Assays; Huntingtin; Huntingtin Protein; Huntington's disease; Huntingtons disease; Image analysis; Image processing; Insects; Kinases; Laboratories; Mammalian cells; Mammals; Medical screening; Medicine; Medicine and Health Sciences; Mice; Microscopy; N-Terminus; Nerve Tissue Proteins - genetics; Nerve Tissue Proteins - metabolism; Neurodegeneration; Neurons; Neurons - metabolism; Neuropathology; Neurosciences; Nuclear Proteins - genetics; Nuclear Proteins - metabolism; Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases - genetics; Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases - metabolism; Phosphorylation; Phosphotransferases; Polyglutamine diseases; Proteasomes; Protein Aggregation, Pathological - genetics; Protein Aggregation, Pathological - metabolism; Protein interaction; Proteins; Regulators; Ribonucleic acid; RNA; RNA Interference; RNA, Small Interfering - genetics; RNA-mediated interference; Rodents; Science; Signal transduction; Transcription Factors - genetics; Transcription Factors - metabolism; Transfection; Trinucleotide repeat diseases; University graduates; Yeast
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0093891

In polyglutamine (polyQ) diseases including Huntington's disease (HD), mutant proteins containing expanded polyQ stretch form aggregates in neurons. Genetic or RNAi screenings in yeast, C. elegans or Drosophila have identified multiple genes modifying polyQ aggregation, a few of which are confirmed effective in mammals. However, the overall molecular mechanism underlying polyQ protein aggregation in mammalian cells still remains obscure. We here perform RNAi screening in mouse neuro2a cells to identify mammalian modifiers for aggregation of mutant huntingtin, a causative protein of HD. By systematic cell transfection and automated cell image analysis, we screen ∼ 12000 shRNA clones and identify 111 shRNAs that either suppress or enhance mutant huntingtin aggregation, without altering its gene expression. Classification of the shRNA-targets suggests that genes with various cellular functions such as gene transcription and protein phosphorylation are involved in modifying the aggregation. Subsequent analysis suggests that, in addition to the aggregation-modifiers sensitive to proteasome inhibition, some of them, such as a transcription factor Tcf20, and kinases Csnk1d and Pik3c2a, are insensitive to it. As for Tcf20, which contains polyQ stretches at N-terminus, its binding to mutant huntingtin aggregates is observed in neuro2a cells and in HD model mouse neurons. Notably, except Pik3c2a, the rest of the modifiers identified here are novel. Thus, our first large-scale RNAi screening in mammalian system identifies previously undescribed genetic players that regulate mutant huntingtin aggregation by several, possibly mammalian-specific mechanisms.