Differential Toxicity of Nuclear RNA Foci Versus Dipeptide Repeat Proteins in a Drosophila Model of C9ORF72 FTD/ALS

Nuclear RNA foci are often associated with mis-regulation of RNA processing in repeat expansion diseases. Here we report transcriptomic analysis of flies carrying expanded G4C2 repeats, the most common genetic cause of FTD/ALS. By obtaining an average of 32 million reads per library, we show that the presence of numerous nuclear G4C2 repeat RNA foci does not cause extensive changes in RNA processing in this model organism. Comparision of the transcriptomic profile of flies expressing 5R or 160R from two different chromosomes