Genetic interaction screen for severe neurodevelopmental disorders reveals a functional link between Ube3a and Mef2 in Drosophila melanogaster

Sci Rep. 2020 Jan 27;10(1):1204. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-58182-5.

Abstract

Neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) are clinically and genetically extremely heterogeneous with shared phenotypes often associated with genes from the same networks. Mutations in TCF4, MEF2C, UBE3A, ZEB2 or ATRX cause phenotypically overlapping, syndromic forms of NDDs with severe intellectual disability, epilepsy and microcephaly. To characterize potential functional links between these genes/proteins, we screened for genetic interactions in Drosophila melanogaster. We induced ubiquitous or tissue specific knockdown or overexpression of each single orthologous gene (Da, Mef2, Ube3a, Zfh1, XNP) and in pairwise combinations. Subsequently, we assessed parameters such as lethality, wing and eye morphology, neuromuscular junction morphology, bang sensitivity and climbing behaviour in comparison between single and pairwise dosage manipulations. We found most stringent evidence for genetic interaction between Ube3a and Mef2 as simultaneous dosage manipulation in different tissues including glia, wing and eye resulted in multiple phenotype modifications. We subsequently found evidence for physical interaction between UBE3A and MEF2C also in human cells. Systematic pairwise assessment of the Drosophila orthologues of five genes implicated in clinically overlapping, severe NDDs and subsequent confirmation in a human cell line revealed interactions between UBE3A/Ube3a and MEF2C/Mef2, thus contributing to the characterization of the underlying molecular commonalities.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Drosophila Proteins / genetics*
  • Drosophila melanogaster / genetics*
  • Epistasis, Genetic / genetics*
  • Eye / metabolism
  • Gene Knockdown Techniques
  • HEK293 Cells
  • Humans
  • MEF2 Transcription Factors / genetics
  • Myogenic Regulatory Factors / genetics*
  • Neurodevelopmental Disorders / genetics*
  • Neuroglia / metabolism
  • Phenotype
  • RNA, Small Interfering
  • Transfection
  • Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases / genetics*
  • Wings, Animal / metabolism

Substances

  • Drosophila Proteins
  • MEF2 Transcription Factors
  • MEF2C protein, human
  • Mef2 protein, Drosophila
  • Myogenic Regulatory Factors
  • RNA, Small Interfering
  • UBE3A protein, human
  • Ube3a protein, Drosophila
  • Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases