Partial depletion of SRSF1 rescued the C9ORF72-repeat neurodegeneration-associated locomotor deficits in G4C2x36 Drosophila lines

In this study we investigated the role of SRSF1 in mitigating locomotor defect in C9ORF72-ALS/FTD Drosophila lines. We analysed the transcriptomes of Drosophila heads from the same lines: (i) control flies expressing 3 G4C2 repeats and a luciferase-RNAi control (G4C2x3 + C-RNAi); (ii) C9ORF72-ALS/FTD model expressing 36 G4C2 repeats and the RNAi control (G4C2x36 + C-RNAi); (iii) C9ORF72-ALS/FTD-neuroprotected flies expressing 36 G4C2 repeats and the disrupted SRSF1 allele (G4C2x36 + ΔSRSF1). RNA samples were profiled using Drosophila 3' IVT gene expression Affymetrix microarrays prior to qRT-PCR validation of the SRSF1 depletion in neuroprotected flies. This study is part of a larger study that investigates the mitigating role of SRSF1 at whole-genome level to detect transcriptomal alterations and neuronal hyperexcitability in C9ORF72-linked amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. We used RNA from Drosophila heads belonging to the same lines. The over we analysed 9 Affymetrix GeneChip. The experimental design consisted in: (i) 3 samples from control flies expressing 3 G4C2 repeats and a luciferase-RNAi control (G4C2x3 + C-RNAi); (ii) 3 samples C9ORF72-ALS/FTD model expressing 36 G4C2 repeats and the RNAi control (G4C2x36 + C-RNAi); (iii) 3 samples C9ORF72-ALS/FTD-neuroprotected flies expressing 36 G4C2 repeats and the disrupted SRSF1 allele (G4C2x36 + ΔSRSF1).