Gene expression profiling of neurons with Rbfox1 and Rbfox3 knockdown and rescue with cytoplasmic or nuclear Rbfox1 isoform [RNA-seq]

Human genetic studies have identified the neuronal RNA binding protein, Rbfox1, as a candidate gene for autism spectrum disorders. While Rbfox1 functions as a splicing regulator in the nucleus, it is also alternatively spliced to produce cytoplasmic isoforms. To investigate cytoplasmic Rbfox1, we knocked down Rbfox proteins in mouse neurons and rescued with cytoplasmic or nuclear Rbfox1. Transcriptome profiling showed that nuclear Rbfox1 rescued splicing changes induced by knockdown, whereas cytoplasmic Rbfox1 rescued changes in mRNA levels. iCLIP-seq of subcellular fractions revealed that in nascent RNA Rbfox1 bound predominantly to introns, while cytoplasmic Rbox1 bound to 3'' UTRs. Cytoplasmic Rbfox1 binding increased target mRNA stability and translation, and overlapped significantly with miRNA binding sites. Cytoplasmic Rbfox1 target mRNAs were enriched in genes involved in cortical development and autism. Our results uncover a new Rbfox1 regulatory network and highlight the importance of cytoplasmic RNA metabolism to cortical development and disease. In this data set, we included the data from RNA-seq experiments. Overall design: We performed RNA-seq to profile gene expression and splicing changes. The expression levels of Rbfox1 and Rbfox3 in cultured mouse hippocampal neurons were reduced by siRNAs. The reduction of Rbfox1 and 3 was rescued by expression of cytoplasmic or nuclear Rbfox1 splice isoform. The gene expression and splicing profiles were compared between different treatments. Eight samples were analyzed.

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Lee JA, Damianov A, Lin CH, Fontes M, Parikshak NN, Anderson ES, Geschwind DH, Black DL, Martin KC