| First Author | Rozhdestvensky TS | Year | 2016 |
| Journal | Sci Rep | Volume | 6 |
| Pages | 20398 | PubMed ID | 26848093 |
| Mgi Jnum | J:277085 | Mgi Id | MGI:6216268 |
| Doi | 10.1038/srep20398 | Citation | Rozhdestvensky TS, et al. (2016) Maternal transcription of non-protein coding RNAs from the PWS-critical region rescues growth retardation in mice. Sci Rep 6:20398 |
| abstractText | Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is a neurogenetic disorder caused by loss of paternally expressed genes on chromosome 15q11-q13. The PWS-critical region (PWScr) contains an array of non-protein coding IPW-A exons hosting intronic SNORD116 snoRNA genes. Deletion of PWScr is associated with PWS in humans and growth retardation in mice exhibiting ~15% postnatal lethality in C57BL/6 background. Here we analysed a knock-in mouse containing a 5'HPRT-LoxP-Neo(R) cassette (5'LoxP) inserted upstream of the PWScr. When the insertion was inherited maternally in a paternal PWScr-deletion mouse model (PWScr(p-/m5'LoxP)), we observed compensation of growth retardation and postnatal lethality. Genomic methylation pattern and expression of protein-coding genes remained unaltered at the PWS-locus of PWScr(p-/m5'LoxP) mice. Interestingly, ubiquitous Snord116 and IPW-A exon transcription from the originally silent maternal chromosome was detected. In situ hybridization indicated that PWScr(p-/m5'LoxP) mice expressed Snord116 in brain areas similar to wild type animals. Our results suggest that the lack of PWScr RNA expression in certain brain areas could be a primary cause of the growth retardation phenotype in mice. We propose that activation of disease-associated genes on imprinted regions could lead to general therapeutic strategies in associated diseases. |
