The ANK3 bipolar disorder gene regulates psychiatric-related behaviors that are modulated by lithium and stress.

BACKGROUND: Ankyrin 3 (ANK3) has been strongly implicated as a risk gene for bipolar disorder (BD) by recent genome-wide association studies of patient populations. However, the genetic variants of ANK3 contributing to BD risk and their pathological function are unknown. METHODS: To gain insight into the potential disease relevance of ANK3, we examined the function of mouse Ank3 in the regulation of psychiatric-related behaviors using genetic, neurobiological, pharmacological, and gene-environment interaction (G×E) approaches. Ank3 expression was reduced in mouse brain either by viral-mediated RNA interference or through disruption of brain-specific Ank3 in a heterozygous knockout mouse. RESULTS: RNA interference of Ank3 in hippocampus dentate gyrus induced a highly specific and consistent phenotype marked by decreased anxiety-related behaviors and increased activity during the light phase, which were attenuated by chronic treatment with the mood stabilizer lithium. Similar behavioral alterations of reduced anxiety and increased motivation for reward were also exhibited by Ank3+/- heterozygous mice compared with wild-type Ank3+/+ mice. Remarkably, the behavioral traits of Ank3+/- mice transitioned to depression-related features after chronic stress, a trigger of mood episodes in BD. Ank3+/- mice also exhibited elevated serum corticosterone, suggesting that reduced Ank3 expression is associated with elevated stress reactivity. CONCLUSIONS: This study defines a new role for Ank3 in the regulation of psychiatric-related behaviors and stress reactivity that lends support for its involvement in BD and establishes a general framework for determining the disease relevance of genes implicated by patient genome-wide association studies.

Altered function of the SCN1A voltage-gated sodium channel leads to gamma-aminobutyric acid-ergic (GABAergic) interneuron abnormalities.

Voltage-gated sodium channels are required for the initiation and propagation of action potentials. Mutations in the neuronal voltage-gated sodium channel SCN1A are associated with a growing number of disorders including generalized epilepsy with febrile seizures plus (GEFS+),(7) severe myoclonic epilepsy of infancy, and familial hemiplegic migraine. To gain insight into the effect of SCN1A mutations on neuronal excitability, we introduced the human GEFS+ mutation SCN1A-R1648H into the orthologous mouse gene. Scn1a(RH/RH) mice homozygous for the R1648H mutation exhibit spontaneous generalized seizures and premature death between P16 and P26, whereas Scn1a(RH/+) heterozygous mice exhibit infrequent spontaneous generalized seizures, reduced threshold and accelerated propagation of febrile seizures, and decreased threshold to flurothyl-induced seizures. Inhibitory cortical interneurons from P5-P15 Scn1a(RH/+) and Scn1a(RH/RH) mice demonstrated slower recovery from inactivation, greater use-dependent inactivation, and reduced action potential firing compared with wild-type cells. Excitatory cortical pyramidal neurons were mostly unaffected. These results suggest that this SCN1A mutation predominantly impairs sodium channel activity in interneurons, leading to decreased inhibition. Decreased inhibition may be a common mechanism underlying clinically distinct SCN1A-derived disorders.

A targeted deleterious allele of the splicing factor SCNM1 in the mouse.

The auxiliary spliceosomal protein SCNM1 contributes to recognition of nonconsensus splice donor sites. SCNM1 was first identified as a modifier of the severity of a sodium channelopathy in the mouse. The most severely affected strain, C57BL/6J, carries the variant allele SCNM1R187X, which is defective in splicing the mutated donor site in the Scn8a(medJ) transcript. To further probe the in vivo function of SCNM1, we constructed a floxed allele and generated a mouse with constitutive deletion of exons 3-5. The SCNM1Delta3-5 protein is produced and correctly localized to the nucleus, but is more functionally impaired than the C57BL/6J allele. Deficiency of SCNM1 did not significantly alter other brain transcripts. We characterized an ENU-induced allele of Scnm1 and evaluated the ability of wild-type SCNM1 to rescue lethal mutations of I-mfa and Brunol4. The phenotypes of the Scnm1Delta3-5 mutant confirm the role of this splice factor in processing the Scn8a(medJ) transcript and provide a new allele of greater severity for future studies.

Identification of evolutionarily conserved, functional noncoding elements in the promoter region of the sodium channel gene SCN8A.

SCN8A is a major neuronal sodium channel gene expressed throughout the central and peripheral nervous systems. Mutations of SCN8A result in movement disorders and impaired cognition. To investigate the basis for the tissue-specific expression of SCN8A, we located conserved, potentially regulatory sequences in the human, mouse, chicken, and fish genes by 5' RACE of brain RNA and genomic sequence comparison. A highly conserved 5' noncoding exon, exon 1c, is present in vertebrates from fish to mammals and appears to define the ancestral promoter region. The distance from exon 1c to the first coding exon increased tenfold during vertebrate evolution, largely by insertion of repetitive elements. The mammalian gene acquired three novel, mutually exclusive noncoding exons that are not represented in the lower vertebrates. Within the shared exon 1c, we identified four short sequence elements of 10-20 bp with an unusually high level of evolutionary conservation. The conserved elements are most similar to consensus sites for the transcription factors Pou6f1/Brn5, YY1, and REST/NRSF. Introduction of mutations into the predicted Pou6f1 and REST sites reduced promoter activity in transfected neuronal cells. A 470-bp promoter fragment containing all of the conserved elements directed brain-specific expression of the LacZ reporter in transgenic mice. Transgene expression was highest in hippocampal neurons and cerebellar Purkinje cells, consistent with the expression of the endogenous gene. The compact cluster of conserved regulatory elements in SCN8A provides a useful target for molecular analysis of neuronal gene expression.

Molecular and pathological effects of a modifier gene on deficiency of the sodium channel Scn8a (Na(v)1.6).

Scn8a encodes an abundant, widely distributed voltage-gated sodium channel found throughout the central and peripheral nervous systems. Mice with different mutant alleles of Scn8a provide models of the movement disorders ataxia, dystonia, tremor and progressive paralysis. We previously reported that the phenotype of the hypomorphic allele of Scn8a, medJ, is dependent upon an unlinked modifier locus, Scnm1. Strain C57BL/6J carries a sensitive allele of the modifier locus that results in juvenile lethality. We now provide evidence that the modifier acts on the splicing efficiency of the mutant splice donor site. Mutant mice display either 90% or 95% reduction in the proportion of correctly spliced mRNA, depending on modifier genotype. The abundance of the channel protein, Na(v)1.6, is also reduced by an order of magnitude in medJ mice, resulting in delayed maturation of nodes of Ranvier, slowed nerve conduction velocity, reduced muscle mass and reduction of brain metabolic activity. medJ mice provide a model for the physiological effects of sodium channel deficiency and the molecular mechanism of bigenic disease.