Modeling microcephaly with cerebral organoids reveals a WDR62–CEP170–KIF2A pathway promoting cilium disassembly in neural progenitors

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 10; no. 1; pp. 2612 - 14
• Main Authors: Zhang, Wei, Yang, Si-Lu, Yang, Mei, Herrlinger, Stephanie, Shao, Qiang, Collar, John L., Fierro, Edgar, Shi, Yanhong, Liu, Aimin, Lu, Hui, Herring, Bruce E., Guo, Ming-Lei, Buch, Shilpa, Zhao, Zhen, Xu, Jian, Lu, Zhipeng, Chen, Jian-Fu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 13.06.2019; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 13; 13/51; 631/136; 631/378; 631/532; 631/80; Ablation; Animals; Cell Culture Techniques; Cell cycle; Cell Cycle Proteins - genetics; Cell Cycle Proteins - metabolism; Cell Differentiation; Cell Line; Cell Proliferation; Cells (biology); Cilia - metabolism; Clonal deletion; Depletion; Depolymerization; Disease Models, Animal; Dismantling; Disruption; Female; Gene Knockout Techniques; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Kinesin - metabolism; Localization; Male; Mice; Mice, Knockout; Microcephaly; Microcephaly - genetics; Microcephaly - pathology; Microtubule-Associated Proteins - genetics; Microtubule-Associated Proteins - metabolism; Modelling; multidisciplinary; Mutation; Nerve Tissue Proteins - genetics; Nerve Tissue Proteins - metabolism; Neural stem cells; Neural Stem Cells - cytology; Neural Stem Cells - pathology; Neuroglia - cytology; Neuroglia - pathology; Neuronal-glial interactions; Organoids; Organoids - pathology; Phosphoproteins - genetics; Phosphoproteins - metabolism; Progenitor cells; Radial glial cells; Repressor Proteins - metabolism; RNA, Small Interfering - metabolism; Science; Science (multidisciplinary)
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-10497-2

Primary microcephaly is caused by mutations in genes encoding centrosomal proteins including WDR62 and KIF2A. However, mechanisms underlying human microcephaly remain elusive. By creating mutant mice and human cerebral organoids, here we found that WDR62 deletion resulted in a reduction in the size of mouse brains and organoids due to the disruption of neural progenitor cells (NPCs), including outer radial glia (oRG). WDR62 ablation led to retarded cilium disassembly, long cilium, and delayed cell cycle progression leading to decreased proliferation and premature differentiation of NPCs. Mechanistically, WDR62 interacts with and promotes CEP170’s localization to the basal body of primary cilium, where CEP170 recruits microtubule-depolymerizing factor KIF2A to disassemble cilium. WDR62 depletion reduced KIF2A’s basal body localization, and enhanced KIF2A expression partially rescued deficits in cilium length and NPC proliferation. Thus, modeling microcephaly with cerebral organoids and mice reveals a WDR62-CEP170-KIF2A pathway promoting cilium disassembly, disruption of which contributes to microcephaly. Mutations in WDR62 are the second most common genetic cause of autosomal recessive primary microcephaly, yet the molecular mechanisms underlying this pathogenesis remain unclear. Here, authors demonstrate that WDR62 depletion leads to neural precursor cell depletion and microcephaly via WDR62-CEP170-KIF2A pathway that promotes cilium disassembly.