Decreasing <i>Wapl</i> dosage partially corrects embryonic growth and brain transcriptome phenotypes in <i>Nipbl<sup>+/-</sup></i> embryos.

Kean, Connor M; Tracy, Christopher J; Mitra, Apratim; Rahat, Beenish; Van Winkle, Matthew T; Gebert, Claudia M; Noeker, Jacob A; Calof, Anne L et al. · Sci Adv · 2022

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Cohesin rings interact with DNA and modulate the expression of thousands of genes. NIPBL loads cohesin onto chromosomes, and WAPL takes it off. Haploinsufficiency for <i>NIPBL</i> causes a developmental disorder, Cornelia de Lange syndrome (CdLS), that is modeled by <i>Nipbl<sup>+/-</sup></i> mice. Mutations in <i>WAPL</i> have not been shown to cause disease or gene expression changes in mammals. Here, we show dysregulation of >1000 genes in <i>Wapl</i><sup>Δ<i>/+</i></sup> embryonic mouse brain. The patterns of dysregulation are highly similar in <i>Wapl</i> and <i>Nipbl</i> heterozygotes, suggesting that <i>Wapl</i> mutations may also cause human disease. Since WAPL and NIPBL have opposite effects on cohesin's association with DNA, we asked whether decreasing <i>Wapl</i> dosage could correct phenotypes seen in <i>Nipbl<sup>+/-</sup></i> mice. Gene expression and embryonic growth are partially corrected, but perinatal lethality is not. Our data are consistent with the view that cohesin dynamics play a key role in regulating gene expression.

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