Expression data from Ankrd11Yod/+ and WT embryonic cortical neurospheres

Ankrd11 is a potential chromatin regulator implicated in neural development and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) with no known function in the brain. Here, we show that knockdown of Ankrd11 in developing murine or human cortical neural precursors caused decreased proliferation, reduced neurogenesis, and aberrant neuronal positioning. Similar cellular phenotypes and aberrant ASD-like behaviors were observed in Yoda mice carrying a point mutation in the Ankrd11 HDAC-binding domain. Consistent with a role for Ankrd11 in histone acetylation, Ankrd11 was associated with chromatin, colocalized with HDAC3, and expression and histone acetylation of Ankrd11 target genes were altered in Yoda neural precursors. Moreover, the Ankrd11 knockdown-mediated decrease in precursor proliferation was rescued by inhibiting histone acetyltransferase activity or expressing HDAC3. Thus, Ankrd11 is a crucial epigenetic regulator of neural development that controls histone acetylation and gene expression, thereby providing a likely explanation for its association with cognitive dysfunction and ASD. We used microarrays to compare the gene expression profile in embryonic neurospheres prepared from neocortices of WT and Ankrd11Yod/+ mice E14.5 cortical secondary neurosheres 5 days post-passage were collected and total RNA extracted. cDNA was hybridized on Affymetrix Mouse Gene 2.0 ST Array and gene expression was analyzed using Parterk software. In total, 6 Ankrd11Yod/+ and 5 WT embryos were used.