Co-ordinate inhibiton of autism candidate genes by topoisomerase inhibitors [array]

Topoisomerases are necessary for the expression of neurodevelopmental genes, and are mutated in some patients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We have studied the effects of inhibitors of Topoisomerase 1 (Top1) and Topoisomerase 2 (Top2) enzymes on mouse cortical neurons. We find that topoisomerases selectively inhibit long genes (>100kb), with little effect on all other gene expression. Using ChIPseq against RNA Polymerase II (Pol2) we show that the Top1 inhibitor topotecan blocks transcriptional elongation of long genes specifically. Many of the genes inhibited by topotecan are candidate ASD genes, leading us to propose that topoisomerase inhibition might contribute to ASD pathology.

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King IF, Yandava CN, Mabb AM, Hsiao JS, Huang HS, Pearson BL, Calabrese JM, Starmer J, Parker JS, Magnuson T, Chamberlain SJ, Philpot BD, Zylka MJ