Rapid functional genetics of the oligodendrocyte lineage using pluripotent stem cells

Oligodendrocyte dysfunction underlies many neurological disorders but rapid assessment of mutation-specific effects in these cells has been impractical. To enable functional genetics in oligodendrocytes, here we report a highly efficient method for generating oligodendrocytes and their progenitors from mouse embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells, independent of mouse strain or mutational status. We demonstrate that this approach, when combined with genome engineering, provides a powerful platform for the expeditious study of genotype-phenotype relationships in oligodendrocytes. Cells were lysed directly in 1 ml of TRIzol (Thermo Fisher) and stored at -80°C. Once all samples were collected, samples were thawed on ice and RNA was separated with chloroform using Phase Lock Gel tubes (5prime). RNA was isolated using the miRNeasy Mini Kit (Qiagen) according to the manufacture’s protocol. One microgram of each sample was then subject to ribosome depletion, fragmented, and library prepared using the TruSeq Stranded Total RNA Kit with Ribo Zero Gold (Illumina) according to the manufacturer’s protocol and indexed using TruSeq adapters. One hundred base pair paired-end reads were generated for each sample on the Illumina HiSeq 2500 (Case Western Reserve University Sequencing Core; Cleveland, OH). Samples include mESC derived oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) from four different wildtype mouse strains at 0 hr, 24, hr, 48 hr, and 72 hr after treatment with thyroid hormone T3 (n = 4 biological replicates per time point). Two additional samples include mutant OPCs (shiverer and MYRF knockout 'delMYRF') at 72 hr time point.