TitleTemporal and spatial mouse brain expression of cereblon, an ionic channel regulator involved in human intelligence.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2010
AuthorsHiggins JJ, Tal AL, Sun X, Hauck SCR, Hao J, Kosofosky BE, Rajadhyaksha AM
JournalJ Neurogenet
Volume24
Issue1
Pagination18-26
Date Published2010 Mar
ISSN1563-5260
KeywordsAging, Animals, Brain, Cell Line, Child, Preschool, Developmental Disabilities, Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental, Humans, Immunohistochemistry, Large-Conductance Calcium-Activated Potassium Channel alpha Subunits, Mice, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Mutation, Nerve Tissue Proteins, Peptide Hydrolases, Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction, RNA, Messenger, Time Factors, Transfection
Abstract

A mild form of autosomal recessive, nonsyndromal intellectual disability (ARNSID) in humans is caused by a homozygous nonsense mutation in the cereblon gene (mutCRBN). Rodent crbn protein binds to the intracellular C-terminus of the large conductance Ca(2+)-activated K(+)channel (BK(Ca)). An mRNA variant (human SITE 2 INSERT or mouse strex) of the BK(Ca) gene (KCNMA1) that is normally expressed during embryonic development is aberrantly expressed in mutCRBN human lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) as compared to wild-type (wt) LCLs. The present study analyzes the temporal and spatial distribution of crbn and kcnma1 mRNAs in the mouse brain by the quantitative real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). The spatial expression pattern of endogenous and exogenous crbn proteins is characterized by immunostaining. The results show that neocortical (CTX) crbn and kcnma1 mRNA expression increases from embryonic stages to adulthood. The strex mRNA variant is >3.5-fold higher in embryos and decreases rapidly postnatally. Mouse crbn mRNA is abundant in the cerebellum (CRBM), with less expression in the CTX, hippocampus (HC), and striatum (Str) in adult mice. The intracytoplasmic distribution of endogenous crbn protein in the mouse CRBM, CTX, HC, and Str is similar to the immunostaining pattern described previously for the BK(Ca) channel. Exogenous hemagglutinin (HA) epitope-tagged human wt- and mutCRBN proteins using cDNA transfection in HEK293T cell lines showed the same intracellular expression distribution as endogenous mouse crbn protein. The results suggest that mutCRBN may cause ARNSID by disrupting the developmental regulation of BK(Ca) in brain regions that are critical for memory and learning.

DOI10.3109/01677060903567849
Alternate JournalJ. Neurogenet.
PubMed ID20131966