BACKGROUND:

Wiedemann-Rautenstrauch Syndrome (WRS) is a neonatal progeroid syndrome for which biallelic pathogenic variants in RNA polymerase III subunit A (POLR3A) have recently been described. POLR3 is a 17 subunits protein complex responsible for the transcription of short RNAs including all the transfer RNAs (tRNAs), the 5 S subunit of ribosomal RNA, the short nuclear RNA U6, among other regulatory RNAs.

OBJECTIVE:

We aim to evaluate the impact of POLR3A pathogenic variants on the relative expression of the short nuclear RNA U6, p53 isoforms and on the differential profile of intron retention in fibroblasts derived from patients with WRS and control fibroblasts.

METHODS:

RNA was extracted by the TRIzol method; intron retention analysis was performed by using IRFinder from an mRNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) platform; P53 isoforms, short nuclear RNA U6 and additional genes related to cell senescence were measured by RT-PCR.

RESULTS:

No significant differences were found in the percentage of intron retention (control: 7.8%, WRS1 : 6.3%and WRS2 : 8.14%). Genes showing higher intron retention profile in both groups were mainly related to RNA binding pathways, cell cycle regulation, positive regulation of transcription, positive regulation of inflammatory pathways, negative regulation of apoptosis, RNA transcription, mitochondria, and regulation of translation initiation. However, in WRS fibroblasts the genes with more intron retention were those related to the immune response and mitochondrial function; while in control those related to the response to oxidative stress had the most introns retained. WRS1 showed higher expression of short nuclear RNA U6 compared to control and WRS2; while both WRS cells showed higher expression of p53β and lower percentage of Δ133p63α, consistent with a higher expression of the cellular senescence markers p16 and p21.

CONCLUSIONS:

These results demonstrated the important role of POLR3A in the maintenance of cellular homeostasis and highlight its potential role in cell senescence in WRS.