Biology subjects

Dick, I. E.

Publications and source records attributed to Dick, I. E..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2024

Voltage Gated Calcium Channel Dysregulation May Contribute to Neurological Symptoms in Calmodulinopathies

Calmodulinopathies are caused by mutations in calmodulin (CaM), and result in debilitating cardiac arrythmias such as long-QT syndrome (LQTS) and catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT). In addition, many patients exhibit neurological comorbidities, including developmental delay and autism spectrum disorder. Until now, most work into these mutations has focused on cardiac effects, identifying impairment of Ca2+/CaM-dependent inactivation (CDI) of CaV1.2 channels as a major pathogenic mechanism. However, the impact of these mutations on neurological function has yet to be fully explored. CaM regulation of voltage-gated calcium channels (VGCCs) is a critical element of neuronal function, implicating multiple VGCC subtypes in the neurological pathogenesis of calmodulinopathies. Here, we explore the potential for pathological CaM variants to impair the Ca2+/CaM-dependent regulation of CaV1.3 and CaV2.1, both essential for neuronal function. We find that mutations in CaM can impair the CDI of CaV1.3 and reduce the Ca2+-dependent facilitation (CDF) of CaV2.1 channels. We find that mutations associated with significant neurological symptoms exhibit marked effects on CaV1.3 CDI, with overlapping but distinct impacts on CaV2.1 CDF. Moreover, while the majority of CaM variants demonstrated the ability to bind the IQ region of each channel, distinct differences were noted between CaV1.3 and CaV2.1, demonstrating distinct CaM interactions across the two channel subtypes. Further, C-domain CaM variants display a reduced ability to sense Ca2+ when in complex with the CaV IQ domains, explaining the Ca2+/CaM regulation deficits. Overall, these results support the possibility that disrupted Ca2+/CaM regulation of VGCCs may contribute to neurological pathogenesis of calmodulinopathies.

biophysics↗

bioRxiv2023

Modeling an ultra-rare epilepsy variant in wildtype mice with in utero prime editing

Generating animal models that mirror a patients seizures within clinically-useful timeframes is an important step toward advancing precision medicine for genetic epilepsies. Here we report a somatic cell genome editing approach that rapidly incorporated a patients genomic variant into mice, which developed seizures recapitulating elements of the patients pathology. This approach offers a versatile in vivo platform for clinical, preclinical, and basic research applications, including tailoring pharmacotherapy, assessing variants of uncertain significance, and screening compounds to develop drugs for rare epilepsies. As proof-of-principle, we modeled an epilepsy patient with an ultra-rare variant of the NMDA receptor subunit GRIN2A using prime editing in utero directly in the developing brain of wild-type mice. This methodology achieved high-fidelity genome editing in vivo sufficient to induce frequent spontaneous seizures without necessitating germline modification or extensive breeding. Leveraging the speed and versatility of this approach, we propose a generalizable workflow to generate bedside-to-bench animal models of individual patients within weeks. This advance holds promise for providing a cost-effective, expedient in vivo testing platform that reduces barriers to access for precision medicine, and accelerates drug development for rare and neglected neurological conditions.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2022

CaV1.2 channelopathic mutations evoke diverse pathophysiological mechanisms

The first pathogenic mutation in CaV1.2 was identified in 2004 and was shown to cause a severe multisystem disorder known as Timothy syndrome (TS). The mutation was localized to the distal S6 region of the channel, a region known to play a major role in channel activation. TS patients suffer from life-threatening cardiac symptoms as well as significant neurodevelopmental deficits including autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Since this discovery, the number and variety of mutations identified in CaV1.2 has grown tremendously, and the distal S6 regions remains a frequent locus for many of these mutations. While the majority of patients harboring these mutations exhibit cardiac symptoms which can be well explained by known pathogenic mechanisms, the same cannot be said for the ASD or neurodevelopmental phenotypes seen in some patients, indicating a gap in our understanding of the pathogenesis of CaV1.2 channelopathies. Here, we use of whole cell patch clamp, quantitative Ca2+ imaging, and single channel recordings to expand the known mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of CaV1.2 channelopathies. Specifically, we find that mutations within the S6 region can exert independent and separable effects on activation, voltage-dependent inactivation (VDI) and Ca2+-dependent inactivation (CDI). Moreover, the mechanisms underlying the CDI effects of these mutations are varied and include altered channel opening and possible disruption of CDI transduction. Overall, these results provide a structure-function framework to conceptualize the role of S6 mutations in pathophysiology and offer insight into the biophysical defects associated with distinct clinical manifestations.

biophysics↗

bioRxiv2021

Resolving the molecular fingerprint of the distal carboxy tail in modulating CaV1 calcium dependent inactivation

Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent inactivation (CDI) of CaV channels is a critical regulatory process required for tuning the kinetics of Ca2+ entry for different cell types and physiologic responses. Calmodulin (CaM) resides on the IQ domain of the CaV carboxy-tail, such that Ca2+ binding initiates a reduction in channel open probability, manifesting as CDI. This regulatory process exerts a significant impact on Ca2+ entry and is tailored by alternative splicing. CaV1.3 and CaV1.4 feature a long-carboxy-tail splice variant that modulates CDI through a competitive mechanism. In these channels, the distal-carboxy-tail (DCT) harbors an inhibitor of CDI (ICDI) module that competitively displaces CaM from the IQ domain, thereby diminishing CDI. While this overall mechanism is now well-described, the detailed interaction loci for ICDI binding to the IQ domain is yet to be elucidated. Here, we perform alanine-scanning mutagenesis of the IQ and ICDI domains and evaluate the contribution of neighboring regions. We identify multiple critical residues within the IQ domain, ICDI and the nearby A region of the channel, which are required for high affinity IQ/ICDI binding. Importantly, disruption of this interaction commensurately diminishes ICDI function, as seen by the re-emergence of CDI in mutant channels. Furthermore, analysis of the homologous ICDI region of CaV1.2 reveals a selective effect of this channel region on CaV1.3 channels, implicating a cross-channel modulatory scheme in cells expressing both channel subtypes. In all, these findings provide new insights into a molecular rheostat that fine tunes Ca2+ entry and supports normal neuronal and cardiac function.

biophysics↗