Nascent polypeptide-Associated Complex and Signal Recognition Particle have cardiac-specific roles in heart development and remodeling

Abstract

Establishing a catalog of Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) genes and identifying functional networks would improve our understanding of its oligogenic underpinnings. Our studies identified protein biogenesis cofactors Nascent polypeptide-Associated Complex (NAC) and Signal-Recognition-Particle (SRP) as disease candidates and novel regulators of cardiac differentiation and morphogenesis. Knockdown (KD) of the alpha- (Nacα) or beta-subunit (bicaudal, bic) of NAC in the developing Drosophila heart disrupted cardiac developmental remodeling resulting in a fly with no heart. Heart loss was rescued by combined KD of Nacα with the posterior patterning Hox gene Abd-B. Consistent with a central role for this interaction in cardiogenesis, KD of Nacα in cardiac progenitors derived from human iPSCs impaired cardiac differentiation while co-KD with human HOXC12 and HOXD12 rescued this phenotype. Our data suggest that Nacα KD preprograms cardioblasts in the embryo for abortive remodeling later during metamorphosis, as Nacα KD during translation-intensive larval growth or pupal remodeling only causes moderate heart defects. KD of SRP subunits in the developing fly heart produced phenotypes that targeted specific segments and cell types, again suggesting cardiac-specific and spatially regulated activities. Together, we demonstrated directed function for NAC and SRP in heart development, and that regulation of NAC function depends on Hox genes.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Oct 14, 2022
Source ID
10.1371/journal.pgen.1010448

Entities

People

  • Alexandre R. Colas
  • Analyne M. Schroeder
  • Georg Vogler
  • Michaela Lynott
  • Rolf Bodmer
  • Tanja Nielsen

Organizations

  • Foundation for the National Institutes of Health
  • United States Department of Defense

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Biology

Readers

  • Molecular Biology and Genetics
  • Molecular and Cellular Biology