articleNatureFeb 23, 2022HYBRID OA

TDP-43 loss and ALS-risk SNPs drive mis-splicing and depletion of UNC13A

National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery · University College London · +67 more institutions

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Abstract

Abstract Variants of UNC13A , a critical gene for synapse function, increase the risk of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia 1–3 , two related neurodegenerative diseases defined by mislocalization of the RNA-binding protein TDP-43 4,5 . Here we show that TDP-43 depletion induces robust inclusion of a cryptic exon in UNC13A , resulting in nonsense-mediated decay and loss of UNC13A protein. Two common intronic UNC13A polymorphisms strongly associated with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia risk overlap with TDP-43 binding sites. These polymorphisms potentiate cryptic exon inclusion, both in cultured cells and in brains and spinal cords from patients with these…

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