The role of UBE3A in the autism and epilepsy-related Dup15q syndrome using patient-derived, CRISPR-corrected neurons

Stem Cell Reports. 2023 Apr 11;18(4):884-898. doi: 10.1016/j.stemcr.2023.02.002. Epub 2023 Mar 9.

Abstract

Chromosome 15q11-q13 duplication syndrome (Dup15q) is a neurodevelopmental disorder caused by maternal duplications of this region. Autism and epilepsy are key features of Dup15q. UBE3A, which encodes an E3 ubiquitin ligase, is likely a major driver of Dup15q because UBE3A is the only imprinted gene expressed solely from the maternal allele. Nevertheless, the exact role of UBE3A has not been determined. To establish whether UBE3A overexpression is required for Dup15q neuronal deficits, we generated an isogenic control line for a Dup15q patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cell line. Dup15q neurons exhibited hyperexcitability compared with control neurons, and this phenotype was generally prevented by normalizing UBE3A levels using antisense oligonucleotides. Overexpression of UBE3A resulted in a profile similar to that of Dup15q neurons except for synaptic phenotypes. These results indicate that UBE3A overexpression is necessary for most Dup15q cellular phenotypes but also suggest a role for other genes in the duplicated region.

Keywords: CRISPR; Dup15q; UBE3A; autism; chromosome 15; electrophysiology; epilepsy; iPSC; neurodevelopment; patch clamp.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Autistic Disorder* / genetics
  • Autistic Disorder* / metabolism
  • Chromosome Aberrations*
  • Chromosomes, Human, Pair 15*
  • Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats
  • Humans
  • Intellectual Disability / genetics
  • Intellectual Disability / metabolism
  • Neurons / metabolism
  • Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases* / genetics
  • Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases* / metabolism

Substances

  • UBE3A protein, human
  • Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases