Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) are profoundly debilitating and fatal neurodegenerative diseases with overlapping clinical, pathologic and genetic features. Despite advances in our understanding of the pathology and genetic basis of ALS/FTD, the cellular mechanisms underlying neurodegeneration remain poorly understood, and current treatments extend life for only a few months. Almost all ALS patients and nearly half of FTD patients have pathologic aggregates composed of transactive response DNA-binding protein of 43 kDa (TDP-43), a DNA and RNA-binding protein with multiple roles in RNA stability, splicing and post-transcriptional RNA processing. Moreover, mutations in TDP-43 and other RNA-binding proteins cause familial and sporadic ALS/FTD, highlighting altered RNA metabolism as a common pathogenic mechanism of neurodegeneration. Recent studies have identified genetic interactions between TDP-43 and Ataxin-2, an RNA-binding protein that contains a polyglutamine (polyQ) tract normally 22-23 glutamines in length. Expansions of the Ataxin-2 polyQ tract (27-33 glutamines) increase risk for ALS and ALS-FTD overlap disease. However, the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which Ataxin-2 / TDP-43 interactions increase disease risk are unknown. The objective of this proposal is to determine the molecular basis of Ataxin-2 / TDP- 43 interactions and their impact on TDP-43 dependent RNA regulation, including RNA splicing and stability as well as spatiotemporal localization and translation of mRNA. In preliminary and published work, we and others find that TDP-43 and Ataxin-2 are components of neuronal ribonucleoprotein granules, RNA/protein-rich compartments that regulate mRNA stability, transport and translation. Our preliminary data show that Ataxin-2 polyQ expansions disrupt anterograde transport and fluorescence recovery after photobleaching of TDP-43 RNA granules that contain mutant Ataxin-2. Collectively, these data support our central hypothesis: Ataxin-2 polyQ expansions aberrantly scaffold TDP-43 / Ataxin-2 interactions and sequester TDP-43, disrupting nuclear and cytoplasmic functions of TDP-43. We will test this central hypothesis using complementary live-cell imaging and single-molecule imaging approaches, single-molecule FRET, translation assays, and RNA- sequencing/transcriptomics (i) to study the effect of Ataxin-2 polyQ expansions on TDP-43 transport and post- transcriptional regulation of TDP-43 target mRNAs in wild-type or Ataxin-2 mutant neurons; and (ii) to identify Ataxin-2 and TDP-43 domains required for aberrant interaction and to design small molecule inhibitors of TDP- 43 / Ataxin-2 polyQ interactions. The proposed research will provide new insights into (1) the molecular basis of Ataxin-2/TDP-43 interactions that confer increased ALS and ALS-FTD risk, (2) how Ataxin-2 polyQ expansions interact with TDP-43 to impact the transcriptome and spatiotemporal localization of mRNA in neurons, and (3) potential molecular targets for mechanism-based therapies.

This proposal will use a multidisciplinary approach to elucidate neuron-specific mechanisms that underlie increased risk for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia –motor neuron disease (FTD-MND) in patients with Ataxin-2 intermediate-length polyglutamine expansions. Results from these analyses will provide new insights into (1) the molecular basis of Ataxin-2 / TDP-43 interactions, (2) how Ataxin-2 polyQ expansions interact with TDP-43 at the cellular level to impact post-transcriptional RNA regulation, and (3) potential molecular targets for mechanism-based therapies.