Investigation of mitochondrial phenotypes in motor neurons derived by direct conversion of fibroblasts from familial ALS subjects

TL;DR

Researchers studied mitochondrial issues in motor neurons from ALS patients using a direct conversion method, finding varied mitochondrial dysfunction across different genetic mutations.

Contribution

A novel direct conversion technique and machine learning tools were developed to study mitochondrial phenotypes in familial ALS patient-derived motor neurons.

Findings

Mitochondrial membrane potential varied across fALS mutations, with some showing increases and others decreases.

TDP-43N352S iMN showed altered mitochondrial morphology and motility.

Small molecules targeting mitochondrial stress improved survival in some fALS iMN lines.

Abstract

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease of motor neurons, leading to fatal muscle paralysis. Familial forms of ALS (fALS) account for approximately 10% of cases. Alterations of mitochondrial functions have been proposed to contribute to disease pathogenesis. Here, we employed a direct conversion (DC) technique to generate induced motor neurons (iMN) from skin fibroblasts to investigate mitochondrial phenotypes in a patient-derived disease relevant cell culture system. We converted 7 control fibroblast lines and 17 lines harboring the following fALS mutations, SOD1A4V, TDP-43N352S, FUSR521G, CHCHD10R15L, and C9orf72 repeat expansion. We developed new machine learning approaches to identify iMN, analyze their mitochondrial function, and follow their fate longitudinally. Mitochondrial and energetic abnormalities were observed, but not all fALS iMN lines exhibited the same alterations. SOD1A4V, C9orf72, and TDP-43N352S iMN had increased mitochondrial membrane potential, while in CHCHD10R15L cells membrane potential was decreased. TDP-43N352S iMN displayed changes in mitochondrial morphology and increased motility. SOD1A4V, TDP-43N352S, and CHCHD10R15L iMN had increased oxygen consumption rates and altered extracellular acidification rates. FUSR521G mutants had decreased ATP/ADP ratio, suggesting impaired energy metabolism. SOD1A4V, C9orf72, and TDP-43N352S had increased, while FUSR521G had decreased mitochondrial reactive oxygen species production. We tested the viability of iMN and found decreases in survival in SOD1A4V, C9orf72, and FUSR521G, which were corrected by small molecules that target mitochondrial stress and worsened by bioenergetic stressors. Together, our findings reinforce the role of mitochondrial dysfunction in ALS and indicate that fibroblast-derived iMN may be useful to study fALS metabolic alterations. Strengths of the DC iMN approach include low cost, speed of transformation, and the preservation of epigenetic modifications. However, further refinement of the fibroblasts DC iMN technique is still needed to improve transformation efficiency, reproducibility, the relatively short lifespan of iMN, and the senescence of the parental fibroblasts.

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