Identification of in vivo, conserved, FUS RNA binding sites and the impact of FUS on the neuronal transcriptome

FUS, an RNA binding protein was recently implicated in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). ALS is a fatal neurodegenerative disease. We report the identification of the conserved neuronal RNA targets of FUS and the assessment of the impact of FUS depletion on the neuronal transcriptome. We identified that FUS regulates splicing of conserved intron containing transcripts. FUS retains or excludes the conserved intron by binding to them. Overall design: Identification of FUS neuronal targets using normal human brain samples and mouse neurons

FUS作为一种RNA结合蛋白（RNA binding protein），近来被证实与肌萎缩侧索硬化症（Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis，ALS）相关。肌萎缩侧索硬化症是一种致命的神经退行性疾病。本研究报道了FUS保守神经元RNA靶标的鉴定结果，以及FUS缺失对神经元转录组的影响评估。研究发现，FUS可调控携带保守内含子的转录本的剪接过程：FUS通过结合保守内含子，决定其是否被保留或剪除。整体实验设计：利用正常人类脑组织样本与小鼠神经元，鉴定FUS的神经元靶标。