Abstract
Contactin associated protein-like 2 (CNTNAP2) has emerged as a prominent susceptibility gene implicated in multiple complex neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism spectrum disorders (ASD), intellectual disability (ID), and schizophrenia (SCZ). The presence of seizure comorbidity in many of these cases, as well as inhibitory neuron dysfunction in Cntnap2 knockout (KO) mice, suggests CNTNAP2 may be crucial for proper inhibitory network function. However, underlying cellular mechanisms are unclear. Here we show that cultured Cntnap2 KO mouse neurons exhibit an inhibitory neuron-specific simplification of the dendritic tree. These alterations can be replicated by acute knockdown of CNTNAP2 in mature wild-type (WT) neurons and are caused by faulty dendrite stabilization rather than outgrowth. Using structured illumination microscopy (SIM) and stimulated-emission depletion microscopy (STED), two super-resolution imaging techniques, we uncovered relationships between nanoscale CNTNAP2 protein localization and dendrite arborization patterns. Employing yeast two-hybrid screening, biochemical analysis, in situ proximity ligation assay (PLA), SIM, and phenotype rescue, we show that these effects are mediated at the membrane by the interaction of CNTNAP2’s C-terminus with calcium/calmodulin-dependent serine protein kinase (CASK), another ASD/ID risk gene. Finally, we show that adult Cntnap2 KO mice have reduced interneuron dendritic length and branching in particular cortical regions, as well as decreased CASK levels in the cortical membrane fraction. Taken together, our data reveal an interneuron-specific mechanism for dendrite stabilization that may provide a cellular mechanism for inhibitory circuit dysfunction in CNTNAP2-related disorders.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Markram H, Toledo-Rodriguez M, Wang Y, Gupta A, Silberberg G, Wu C. Interneurons of the neocortical inhibitory system. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2004;5:793–807.
Marin O. Interneuron dysfunction in psychiatric disorders. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2012;13:107–20.
Gao R, Penzes P. Common mechanisms of excitatory and inhibitory imbalance in schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorders. Curr Mol Med. 2015;15:146–67.
Srivastava DP, Copits BA, Xie Z, Huda R, Jones KA, Mukherji S, et al. Afadin is required for maintenance of dendritic structure and excitatory tone. J Biol Chem. 2012;287:35964–74.
Kulkarni VA, Firestein BL. The dendritic tree and brain disorders. Mol Cell Neurosci. 2012;50:10–20.
Kalus P, Bondzio J, Federspiel A, Muller TJ, Zuschratter W. Cell-type specific alterations of cortical interneurons in schizophrenic patients. Neuroreport. 2002;13:713–7.
Magloczky Z, Wittner L, Borhegyi Z, Halasz P, Vajda J, Czirjak S, et al. Changes in the distribution and connectivity of interneurons in the epileptic human dentate gyrus. Neuroscience. 2000;96:7–25.
Redolfi N, Galla L, Maset A, Murru L, Savoia E, Zamparo I, et al. Oligophrenin-1 regulates number, morphology and synaptic properties of adult-born inhibitory interneurons in the olfactory bulb. Hum Mol Genet. 2016;25:5198–211.
Cahill ME, Jones KA, Rafalovich I, Xie Z, Barros CS, Muller U, et al. Control of interneuron dendritic growth through NRG1/erbB4-mediated kalirin-7 disinhibition. Mol Psychiatry. 2012;17:99–107.
Cobos I, Calcagnotto ME, Vilaythong AJ, Thwin MT, Noebels JL, Baraban SC, et al. Mice lacking Dlx1 show subtype-specific loss of interneurons, reduced inhibition and epilepsy. Nat Neurosci. 2005;8:1059–68.
Gomez-Climent MA, Guirado R, Castillo-Gomez E, Varea E, Gutierrez-Mecinas M, Gilabert-Juan J, et al. The polysialylated form of the neural cell adhesion molecule (PSA-NCAM) is expressed in a subpopulation of mature cortical interneurons characterized by reduced structural features and connectivity. Cereb Cortex. 2011;21:1028–41.
Wirth MJ, Brun A, Grabert J, Patz S, Wahle P. Accelerated dendritic development of rat cortical pyramidal cells and interneurons after biolistic transfection with BDNF and NT4/5. Development. 2003;130:5827–38.
Zweier C, de Jong EK, Zweier M, Orrico A, Ousager LB, Collins AL, et al. CNTNAP2 and NRXN1 are mutated in autosomal-recessive Pitt-Hopkins-like mental retardation and determine the level of a common synaptic protein in Drosophila. Am J Hum Genet. 2009;85:655–66.
Sehested LT, Moller RS, Bache I, Andersen NB, Ullmann R, Tommerup N, et al. Deletion of 7q34-q36.2 in two siblings with mental retardation, language delay, primary amenorrhea, and dysmorphic features. Am J Med Genet A. 2010;152A:3115–9.
Bakkaloglu B, O’Roak BJ, Louvi A, Gupta AR, Abelson JF, Morgan TM, et al. Molecular cytogenetic analysis and resequencing of contactin associated protein-like 2 in autism spectrum disorders. Am J Hum Genet. 2008;82:165–73.
Rossi E, Verri AP, Patricelli MG, Destefani V, Ricca I, Vetro A, et al. A 12Mb deletion at 7q33-q35 associated with autism spectrum disorders and primary amenorrhea. Eur J Med Genet. 2008;51:631–8.
Alarcon M, Abrahams BS, Stone JL, Duvall JA, Perederiy JV, Bomar JM, et al. Linkage, association, and gene-expression analyses identify CNTNAP2 as an autism-susceptibility gene. Am J Hum Genet. 2008;82:150–9.
O’Roak BJ, Deriziotis P, Lee C, Vives L, Schwartz JJ, Girirajan S, et al. Exome sequencing in sporadic autism spectrum disorders identifies severe de novo mutations. Nat Genet. 2011;43:585–9.
Anney R, Klei L, Pinto D, Almeida J, Bacchelli E, Baird G, et al. Individual common variants exert weak effects on the risk for autism spectrum disorders. Hum Mol Genet. 2012;21:4781–92.
Ji W, Li T, Pan Y, Tao H, Ju K, Wen Z, et al. CNTNAP2 is significantly associated with schizophrenia and major depression in the Han Chinese population. Psychiatry Res. 2013;207:225–8.
Friedman JI, Vrijenhoek T, Markx S, Janssen IM, van der Vliet WA, Faas BH, et al. CNTNAP2 gene dosage variation is associated with schizophrenia and epilepsy. Mol Psychiatry. 2008;13:261–6.
Lee IS, Carvalho CM, Douvaras P, Ho SM, Hartley BJ, Zuccherato LW, et al. Characterization of molecular and cellular phenotypes associated with a heterozygous CNTNAP2 deletion using patient-derived hiPSC neural cells. NPJ Schizophr. 2015;1:pii: 15019.
Rodenas-Cuadrado P, Ho J, Vernes SC. Shining a light on CNTNAP2: complex functions to complex disorders. Eur J Hum Genet. 2014;22:171–8.
Rodenas-Cuadrado P, Pietrafusa N, Francavilla T, La Neve A, Striano P, Vernes SC. Characterisation of CASPR2 deficiency disorder--a syndrome involving autism, epilepsy and language impairment. BMC Med Genet. 2016;17:8.
Strauss KA, Puffenberger EG, Huentelman MJ, Gottlieb S, Dobrin SE, Parod JM, et al. Recessive symptomatic focal epilepsy and mutant contactin-associated protein-like 2. N Engl J Med. 2006;354:1370–7.
Smogavec M, Cleall A, Hoyer J, Lederer D, Nassogne MC, Palmer EE, et al. Eight further individuals with intellectual disability and epilepsy carrying bi-allelic CNTNAP2 aberrations allow delineation of the mutational and phenotypic spectrum. J Med Genet. 2016;53:820–7.
Penagarikano O, Abrahams BS, Herman EI, Winden KD, Gdalyahu A, Dong H, et al. Absence of CNTNAP2 leads to epilepsy, neuronal migration abnormalities, and core autism-related deficits. Cell. 2011;147:235–46.
Jurgensen S, Castillo PE. Selective dysregulation of hippocampal inhibition in the mouse lacking autism candidate gene CNTNAP2. J Neurosci. 2015;35:14681–7.
Bridi MS, Park SM, Huang S. Developmental disruption of GABAAR-meditated inhibition in Cntnap2 KO mice. eNeuro. 2017;4:5.
Vogt D, Cho KKA, Shelton SM, Paul A, Huang ZJ, Sohal VS, et al. Mouse Cntnap2 and human CNTNAP2 ASD alleles cell autonomously regulate PV+ cortical interneurons. Cereb Cortex 2017;1–12.
Ramanathan S, Wong CH, Rahman Z, Dale RC, Fulcher D, Bleasel AF. Myoclonic status epilepticus as a presentation of caspr2 antibody-associated autoimmune encephalitis. Epileptic Disord. 2014;16:477–81.
van Sonderen A, Arino H, Petit-Pedrol M, Leypoldt F, Kortvelyessy P, Wandinger KP, et al. The clinical spectrum of Caspr2 antibody-associated disease. Neurology. 2016;87:521–8.
Pinatel D, Hivert B, Boucraut J, Saint-Martin M, Rogemond V, Zoupi L, et al. Inhibitory axons are targeted in hippocampal cell culture by anti-Caspr2 autoantibodies associated with limbic encephalitis. Front Cell Neurosci. 2015;9:265.
Poliak S, Salomon D, Elhanany H, Sabanay H, Kiernan B, Pevny L, et al. Juxtaparanodal clustering of Shaker-like K+ channels in myelinated axons depends on Caspr2 and TAG-1. J Cell Biol. 2003;162:1149–60.
Fazzari P, Paternain AV, Valiente M, Pla R, Lujan R, Lloyd K, et al. Control of cortical GABA circuitry development by Nrg1 and ErbB4 signalling. Nature. 2010;464:1376–80.
Chattopadhyaya B, Di Cristo G, Higashiyama H, Knott GW, Kuhlman SJ, Welker E, et al. Experience and activity-dependent maturation of perisomatic GABAergic innervation in primary visual cortex during a postnatal critical period. J Neurosci. 2004;24:9598–611.
Srivastava DP, Woolfrey KM, Penzes P. Analysis of dendritic spine morphology in cultured CNS neurons. J Vis Exp. 2011;53:e2794.
Nakagawa T, Cheng Y, Ramm E, Sheng M, Walz T. Structure and different conformational states of native AMPA receptor complexes. Nature. 2005;433:545–9.
Varea O, Martin-de-Saavedra MD, Kopeikina KJ, Schurmann B, Fleming HJ, Fawcett-Patel JM, et al. Synaptic abnormalities and cytoplasmic glutamate receptor aggregates in contactin associated protein-like 2/Caspr2 knockout neurons. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2015;112:6176–181.
Scorcioni R, Polavaram S, Ascoli GA. L-Measure: a web-accessible tool for the analysis, comparison and search of digital reconstructions of neuronal morphologies. Nat Protoc. 2008;3:866–76.
Smith KR, Kopeikina KJ, Fawcett-Patel JM, Leaderbrand K, Gao R, Schurmann B, et al. Psychiatric risk factor ANK3/ankyrin-G nanodomains regulate the structure and function of glutamatergic synapses. Neuron. 2014;84:399–415.
Chen N, Koopmans F, Gordon A, Paliukhovich I, Klaassen RV, van der Schors RC, et al. Interaction proteomics of canonical Caspr2 (CNTNAP2) reveals the presence of two Caspr2 isoforms with overlapping interactomes. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2015;1854:827–33.
Mo A, Mukamel EA, Davis FP, Luo C, Henry GL, Picard S, et al. Epigenomic signatures of neuronal diversity in the mammalian brain. Neuron. 2015;86:1369–84.
Scott EK, Luo L. How do dendrites take their shape? Nat Neurosci. 2001;4:359–65.
Gustafsson MG. Nonlinear structured-illumination microscopy: wide-field fluorescence imaging with theoretically unlimited resolution. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2005;102:13081–6.
Hell SW, Wichmann J. Breaking the diffraction resolution limit by stimulated emission: stimulated-emission-depletion fluorescence microscopy. Opt Lett. 1994;19:780–2.
Cavallaro U, Dejana E. Adhesion molecule signalling: not always a sticky business. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol. 2011;12:189–97.
Hata Y, Butz S, Sudhof TC. CASK: a novel dlg/PSD95 homolog with an N-terminal calmodulin-dependent protein kinase domain identified by interaction with neurexins. J Neurosci. 1996;16:2488–94.
Hsueh YP, Yang FC, Kharazia V, Naisbitt S, Cohen AR, Weinberg RJ, et al. Direct interaction of CASK/LIN-2 and syndecan heparan sulfate proteoglycan and their overlapping distribution in neuronal synapses. J Cell Biol. 1998;142:139–51.
Frese CK, Mikhaylova M, Stucchi R, Gautier V, Liu Q, Mohammed S, et al. Quantitative map of proteome dynamics during neuronal differentiation. Cell Rep. 2017;18:1527–42.
Chao HW, Hong CJ, Huang TN, Lin YL, Hsueh YP. SUMOylation of the MAGUK protein CASK regulates dendritic spinogenesis. J Cell Biol. 2008;182:141–55.
Liska A, Bertero A, Gomolka R, Sabbioni M, Galbusera A, Barsotti N, et al. Homozygous loss of autism-risk gene CNTNAP2 results in reduced local and long-range prefrontal functional connectivity. Cereb Cortex 2017;1–13.
Selimbeyoglu A, Kim CK, Inoue M, Lee SY, Hong ASO, Kauvar I, et al. Modulation of prefrontal cortex excitation/inhibition balance rescues social behavior in CNTNAP2-deficient mice. Sci Transl Med. 2017;9:401.
Jan YN, Jan LY. Branching out: mechanisms of dendritic arborization. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2010;11:316–28.
Anderson GR, Galfin T, Xu W, Aoto J, Malenka RC, Sudhof TC. Candidate autism gene screen identifies critical role for cell-adhesion molecule CASPR2 in dendritic arborization and spine development. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2012;109:18120–5.
Yam PT, Pincus Z, Gupta GD, Bashkurov M, Charron F, Pelletier L, et al. N-cadherin relocalizes from the periphery to the center of the synapse after transient synaptic stimulation in hippocampal neurons. PLoS ONE. 2013;8:e79679.
Gregor A, Albrecht B, Bader I, Bijlsma EK, Ekici AB, Engels H, et al. Expanding the clinical spectrum associated with defects in CNTNAP2 and NRXN1. BMC Med Genet. 2011;12:106.
Bel C, Oguievetskaia K, Pitaval C, Goutebroze L, Faivre-Sarrailh C. Axonal targeting of Caspr2 in hippocampal neurons via selective somatodendritic endocytosis. J Cell Sci. 2009;122:3403–13.
Denisenko-Nehrbass N, Oguievetskaia K, Goutebroze L, Galvez T, Yamakawa H, Ohara O, et al. Protein 4.1B associates with both Caspr/paranodin and Caspr2 at paranodes and juxtaparanodes of myelinated fibres. Eur J Neurosci. 2003;17:411–6.
Horresh I, Bar V, Kissil JL, Peles E. Organization of myelinated axons by Caspr and Caspr2 requires the cytoskeletal adapter protein 4.1B. J Neurosci. 2010;30:2480–9.
Samuels BA, Hsueh YP, Shu T, Liang H, Tseng HC, Hong CJ, et al. Cdk5 promotes synaptogenesis by regulating the subcellular distribution of the MAGUK family member CASK. Neuron. 2007;56:823–37.
Jeyifous O, Waites CL, Specht CG, Fujisawa S, Schubert M, Lin EI, et al. SAP97 and CASK mediate sorting of NMDA receptors through a previously unknown secretory pathway. Nat Neurosci. 2009;12:1011–9.
Wang GS, Hong CJ, Yen TY, Huang HY, Ou Y, Huang TN, et al. Transcriptional modification by a CASK-interacting nucleosome assembly protein. Neuron. 2004;42:113–28.
Horresh I, Poliak S, Grant S, Bredt D, Rasband MN, Peles E. Multiple molecular interactions determine the clustering of Caspr2 and Kv1 channels in myelinated axons. J Neurosci. 2008;28:14213–22.
Tabuchi K, Biederer T, Butz S, Sudhof TC. CASK participates in alternative tripartite complexes in which Mint 1 competes for binding with caskin 1, a novel CASK-binding protein. J Neurosci. 2002;22:4264–73.
Mukherjee K, Sharma M, Urlaub H, Bourenkov GP, Jahn R, Sudhof TC, et al. CASK Functions as a Mg2+ -independent neurexin kinase. Cell. 2008;133:328–39.
LaConte LE, Chavan V, Liang C, Willis J, Schonhense EM, Schoch S, et al. CASK stabilizes neurexin and links it to liprin-alpha in a neuronal activity-dependent manner. Cell Mol Life Sci. 2016;73:3599–621.
Zhou W, Zhang L, Guoxiang X, Mojsilovic-Petrovic J, Takamaya K, Sattler R, et al. GluR1 controls dendrite growth through its binding partner, SAP97. J Neurosci. 2008;28:10220–33.
Lee S, Fan S, Makarova O, Straight S, Margolis B. A novel and conserved protein-protein interaction domain of mammalian Lin-2/CASK binds and recruits SAP97 to the lateral surface of epithelia. Mol Cell Biol. 2002;22:1778–91.
Hsueh YP, Wang TF, Yang FC, Sheng M. Nuclear translocation and transcription regulation by the membrane-associated guanylate kinase CASK/LIN-2. Nature. 2000;404:298–302.
Moog U, Bierhals T, Brand K, Bautsch J, Biskup S, Brune T, et al. Phenotypic and molecular insights into CASK-related disorders in males. Orphanet J Rare Dis. 2015;10:44.
Hackett A, Tarpey PS, Licata A, Cox J, Whibley A, Boyle J, et al. CASK mutations are frequent in males and cause X-linked nystagmus and variable XLMR phenotypes. Eur J Hum Genet. 2010;18:544–52.
Lee BH, Smith T, Paciorkowski AR. Autism spectrum disorder and epilepsy: Disorders with a shared biology. Epilepsy Behav. 2015;47:191–201.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the grants NS100785 and MH097216 from the NIH-NIMH to P.P and F30MH096457 to R.G. SIM imaging work was performed at the Northwestern University Center for Advanced Microscopy generously supported by the NCI CCSG P30 CA060553 awarded to the Robert H Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center. Structured illumination microscopy was performed on a Nikon N-SIM system, purchased through the support of NIH 1S10OD016342–01. We thank Dr. Joshua Zachary Rappoport for help with SIM imaging, Dr. Daniel Vogt for his consultation, and Xi Chao for help with figure illustrations.
Author contributions
R.G. led the project and performed all confocal and SIM imaging experiments, K.M. performed STED imaging experiments, R.G., A.E.M.-Z, S.Y., and T.A.R. performed in vivo experiments, R.G., N.H.P., M.P.F., and M.D.M.-de.S. performed biochemistry experiments, G.Z. assisted with data analysis. P.P. supervised the project while J.G.C. and D.J.S. advised. R.G. and P.P. wrote the manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Electronic supplementary material
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gao, R., Piguel, N.H., Melendez-Zaidi, A.E. et al. CNTNAP2 stabilizes interneuron dendritic arbors through CASK. Mol Psychiatry 23, 1832–1850 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-018-0027-3
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-018-0027-3
This article is cited by
-
Physiological and pathological effects of phase separation in the central nervous system
Journal of Molecular Medicine (2024)
-
Identifying foetal forebrain interneurons as a target for monogenic autism risk factors and the polygenic 16p11.2 microdeletion
BMC Neuroscience (2023)
-
CNTNAP2 intracellular domain (CICD) generated by γ-secretase cleavage improves autism-related behaviors
Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy (2023)
-
Bioinformatics combined with quantitative proteomics analyses and identification of potential biomarkers in cholangiocarcinoma
Cancer Cell International (2020)
-
Exploring the mechanisms underlying excitation/inhibition imbalance in human iPSC-derived models of ASD
Molecular Autism (2020)