Proteomics analysis of the TDP-43 interactome in cellular models of ALS pathogenesis

Cytoplasmic aggregation and nuclear depletion of TAR DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP-43) is a hallmark pathology of several neurodegenerative diseases including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) and limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy (LATE). However, the protein interactome of TDP-43 remains incompletely defined. In this study, we aimed to identify putative TDP-43 protein partners within the nucleus and the cytoplasm and with different disease models of TDP-43 by comparing TDP-43 interaction partners in three different cell lines. We verified the levels of interaction of protein partners under stress conditions as well as after introducing TDP-43 variants containing ALS missense mutations (G294V and A315T). Overall, we identified 58 putative wild-type TDP-43 interactors, including novel binding partners responsible for RNA metabolism and splicing. Oxidative stress exposure broadly led to changes in TDP-43WT interactions with proteins involved in mRNA metabolism, suggesting a dysregulation of the transcriptional machinery early in disease. Conversely, although G294V and A315T mutations are both located in the C-terminal domain of TDP-43, both mutants presented different interactome profiles with most interaction partners involved in translational and transcriptional machinery. Overall, by correlating different cell lines and disease-simulating interventions, we provide a list of high-confidence TDP-43 interaction partners, including novel and previously reported proteins. Understanding pathological changes to TDP-43 and its specific interaction partners in different models of stress is critical to better understand TDP-43 proteinopathies and provide novel potential therapeutic targets and biomarkers.