CLP1 founder mutation links tRNA splicing and maturation to cerebellar development and neurodegeneration

Ashleigh E. Schaffer, Veerle R. C. Eggens, Ahmet Okay Caglayan, Miriam S. Reuter, Eric Scott, Nicole G. Coufal, Jennifer L. Silhavy, Yuanchao Xue, Hulya Kayserili, Katsuhito Yasuno, Rasim Ozgur Rosti, Mostafa Abdellateef, Caner Caglar, Paul R. Kasher, J. Leonie Cazemier, Marian A. Weterman, Vincent Cantagrel, Na Cai, Christiane Zweier, Umut AltunogluN. Bilge Satkin, Fesih Aktar, Beyhan Tuysuz, Cengiz Yalcinkaya, Huseyin Caksen, Kaya Bilguvar, Xiang-Dong Fu, Christopher R. Trotta, Stacey Gabriel, André Reis, Murat Gunel, Frank Baas, Joseph G. Gleeson

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Abstract

Neurodegenerative diseases can occur so early as to affect neurodevelopment. From a cohort of more than 2,000 consanguineous families with childhood neurological disease, we identified a founder mutation in four independent pedigrees in cleavage and polyadenylation factor I subunit 1 (CLP1). CLP1 is a multifunctional kinase implicated in tRNA, mRNA, and siRNA maturation. Kinase activity of the CLP1 mutant protein was defective, and the tRNA endonuclease complex (TSEN) was destabilized, resulting in impaired pre-tRNA cleavage. Germline clp1 null zebrafish showed cerebellar neurodegeneration that was rescued by wild-type, but not mutant, human CLP1 expression. Patient-derived induced neurons displayed both depletion of mature tRNAs and accumulation of unspliced pre-tRNAs. Transfection of partially processed tRNA fragments into patient cells exacerbated an oxidative stress-induced reduction in cell survival. Our data link tRNA maturation to neuronal development and neurodegeneration through defective CLP1 function in humans
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)651-663
JournalCell
Volume157
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2014

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