Charting and probing the activity of ADARs in human development and cell-fate specification

  • Amir Dailamy
  • , Weiqi Lyu
  • , Sami Nourreddine
  • , Michael Tong
  • , Joseph Rainaldi
  • , Daniella McDonald
  • , Rebecca Panwala
  • , Alysson Muotri
  • , Michael S. Breen
  • , Kun Zhang
  • , Prashant Mali

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

Adenosine deaminases acting on RNA (ADARs) impact diverse cellular processes and pathological conditions, but their functions in early cell-fate specification remain less understood. To gain insights here, we began by charting time-course RNA editing profiles in human organs from fetal to adult stages. Next, we utilized hPSC differentiation to experimentally probe ADARs, harnessing brain organoids as neural specific, and teratomas as pan-tissue developmental models. We show that time-series teratomas faithfully recapitulate fetal developmental trends, and motivated by this, conducted pan-tissue, single-cell CRISPR-KO screens of ADARs in teratomas. Knocking out ADAR leads to a global decrease in RNA editing across all germ-layers. Intriguingly, knocking out ADAR leads to an enrichment of adipogenic cells, revealing a role for ADAR in human adipogenesis. Collectively, we present a multi-pronged framework charting time-resolved RNA editing profiles and coupled ADAR perturbations in developmental models, thereby shedding light on the role of ADARs in cell-fate specification.

Original languageEnglish
Article number9818
JournalNature Communications
Volume15
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2024

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