TDP-43 Interactor and Motor Neuron Tagged Ribosome Affinity Purification in a Drosophila Model of ALS

We report the enrichment of mRNAs with motor neuron specific TDP-43 and tagged ribosomes in control as well as multiple models of TDP-43 induced neurodegeneration. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a genetically heterogeneous neurodegenerative disease in which 97% of patients exhibit cytoplasmic aggregates containing the RNA binding protein TDP-43. The goal of this study is to understand the translational consequences of TDP-43 pathology. Using the GAL4-UAS system, we expressed TDP-43WT and TDP-43G298S in the motor neurons of our drosophila to induce ALS-like neurodegeneration. TDP-43 was immunoprecipitated from the larvae at the 3rd instar stage; TDP-43 associated mRNAs, the whole larvae input, and ventral nerve cords of the same genotype were then sequenced. To identify translational changes we conducted TRAP (translating ribosome affinity purifications) in 3rd instar larvae by immunoprecipitating the motor neuron specific tagged ribosomal subunit RpL10-GFP in both ALS models as well as a RpL10-GFP control. The RpL10-GFP associated mRNAs, the whole larval input, and ventral nerve cords of the same genotype. From this data, we identified both compensatory alterations to translation induced by TDP-43 pathology and direct targets of TDP-43 mediated translational inhibition. Overall design: Examination of mRNA association with TDP-43 and tagged ribosomal subunit RpL10 in motor neurons during TDP-43 induced neurodegeneration. The antibody used for both IPs was rabbit anti-GFP Lifetech A11122.