Locus-specific analysis of Transposable Elements during the progression of ALS in the SOD1G93A mouse model

PLoS One. 2021 Oct 6;16(10):e0258291. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0258291. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

Transposable Elements (TEs) are ubiquitous genetic elements with the ability to move within a genome. TEs contribute to a large fraction of the repetitive elements of a genome, and because of their nature, they are not routinely analyzed in RNA-Seq gene expression studies. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a lethal neurodegenerative disease, and a well-accepted model for its study is the mouse harboring the human SOD1G93A mutant. In this model, landmark stages of the disease can be recapitulated at specific time points, making possible to understand changes in gene expression across time. While there are several works reporting TE activity in ALS models, they have not explored their activity through the disease progression. Moreover, they have done it at the expense of losing their locus of expression. Depending on their genomic location, TEs can regulate genes in cis and in trans, making locus-specific analysis of TEs of importance in order to understand their role in modulating gene expression. Particularly, the locus-specific role of TEs in ALS has not been fully elucidated. In this work, we analyzed publicly available RNA-Seq datasets of the SOD1G93A mouse model, to understand the locus-specific role of TEs. We show that TEs become up-regulated at the early stages of the disease, and via statistical associations, we speculate that they can regulate several genes, which in turn might be contributing to the genetic dysfunction observed in ALS.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / genetics*
  • Animals
  • Computer Simulation
  • DNA Transposable Elements / genetics*
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Disease Progression*
  • Gene Expression Profiling
  • Genetic Loci*
  • Mice, Transgenic
  • Protein Interaction Maps / genetics
  • RNA-Seq
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Software
  • Superoxide Dismutase / genetics*

Substances

  • DNA Transposable Elements
  • Superoxide Dismutase

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the Núcleo Científico Multidisciplinario Universidad de Talca to BVM (NCM-UTAL), the Millennium Nucleus for the Study of Pain to BVM (MiNuSPain), the Millennium Science Initiative Program to GR (NCN19_168), the Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo Fondecyt Grants to GR (11140869), to JCT (1160888 and 1200951), and to MC (1161014). There was no additional external funding received for this study. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.