Identification of in vivo, conserved, TAF15 RNA binding sites and the impact of TAF15 on the neuronal transcriptome

TAF15, an RNA binding protein was recently implicated in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). ALS is a fatal neurodegenerative disease. We report the identification of the conserved neuronal RNA targets of TAF15 and the assessment of the impact of TAF15 depletion on the neuronal transcriptome. Our study uncovers regulation of splicing of sets of neuronal RNAs encoding proteins with essential roles in synaptic activities including glutamergic receptors such as zeta-1 subunit of the glutamate N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor (Grin1). Identification of TAF15 neuronal targets using normal human brain samples and mouse neurons. Mouse background: E14Tg2a.4 wildtype cells derived from 129P2/OlaHsd.