Transcriptome of iPSC-derived Neural Cells with Heterozygous Knockout in CHD8

CHD8, encoding Chromodomain helicase DNA binding protein 8, is a top autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) risk gene. To better understanding the molecular links between CHD8 functions and ASD, we have applied the CRISPR/Cas9 technology to knockout one copy of CHD8 in induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to mimic the loss of function status that would exist in the developing human embryo prior to neuronal differentiation. Transcriptome profiling (RNA-seq) in neural progenitors and early differentiating neurons revealed that CHD8 hemizygosity (CHD8+/-) affected the expression of several thousands of genes, enriched for functions of neural development, β-catenin/Wnt signaling, extracellular matrix, and skeletal system development. Moreover, CHD8 regulates multiple genes implicated in ASD, schizophrenia and genes associated with brain volume. iPSCs derived from a healthy subject were transduced with CRISPR/Cas9 vectors with single guide RNA sequences to target the N-terminal of CHD8 protein to generate truncated mutation seach of the two target sequences. Two clones, one with a 2-bp (KO1) and the other with a 10-bp (KO2) heterozygous deletion were found.The CHD8+/- iPSC lines were used to generate NPCs and early differentiating neurons for RNA-seq analysis, together with samples prepared from the parental clones, for a total of 8 samples (two biological replicates of wild-type (WT) and CHD8+/- at two neurodevelopmental stages).