Loss of Nuclear TDP-43 Is Associated with Decondensation of LINE Retrotransposons [RNA-Seq]

Loss of the nuclear RNA binding protein TAR DNA binding protein-43 (TDP-43) into cytoplasmic aggregates is the strongest correlate to neurodegeneration in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal degeneration. The molecular changes associated with the loss of nuclear TDP-43 in human tissues are not entirely known. Using a novel subcellular fractionation and fluorescent activated cell sorting method to enrich for diseased neuronal nuclei without TDP-43 from post-mortem FTD-ALS human brain, we characterized the effects of TDP-43 loss on the transcriptome and chromatin accessibility. Nuclear TDP-43 loss is associated with gene expression changes that affect RNA processing, nucleocytoplasmic transport, histone processing and DNA damage. Loss of nuclear TDP-43 was also associated with chromatin decondensation around long interspersed nuclear elements (LINEs) and increased LINE1 DNA content. Moreover, loss of TDP-43 leads to increased retrotransposition that can be inhibited with antiretroviral drugs, suggesting that TDP-43 neuropathology is associated with altered chromatin structure including decondensation of LINEs. Overall design: Examination of gene expression profiles and chromatin accessibility in neuronal nuclei, which have either retained or lossed TDP-43, extracted from FTD/ALS patient post-mortem frontal cortex