A human Staufen1 BAC transgenic mouse exhibits abnormal autophagy and neurodegeneration across the central nervous system

RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) play an essential role in development, normal functioning and human disease. Staufen1 (STAU1) is an RBP that regulates mRNA degradation and subcellular localization, and is part of the ATXN2 protein complex. Previously, we showed that STAU1 is overabundant in patient fibroblasts and in mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and spinocerebellar ataxia type 2 (SCA2), where it is associated with impaired autophagic flux due to STAU1-mediated upregulation of mTOR translation. STAU1 overabundance and impaired autophagy cause accumulation of biomolecular condensates and abnormal unfolded protein response (UPR). We generated a mouse model expressing the entire human STAU1 gene (h STAU1 ) in a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) construct. hSTAU1 in these mice was expressed in cerebral hemispheres, cerebellum and spinal cord, as well as cultured cortical neurons and cortical and spinal cord astrocytes and microglia. Expression of hSTAU1 caused dysregulated gene expression, abnormal autophagy, glial activation, and changes in neuronal marker proteins. All of these were significantly improved by reducing STAU1 abundance by RNAi, but exacerbated in BAC-STAU1 mice crossed with Prp-TDP-43(Q331K) transgenic mice. Similar results were also obtained in eye phenotypes in ALS- and SCA2-relevant fly models upon changing staufen-1 dosage. Despite the molecular changes, we observed no overt behavioral changes in mice up to 55 weeks of age, suggesting that STAU1 may function as an epistatic modifier of neuronal degeneration. The BAC-hSTAU1 mouse will be useful for developing therapies targeting the human STAU1 gene.