UsnRNP trafficking is regulated by stress granules and compromised by mutant ALS proteins

Activation of the integrated stress response (ISR), alterations in nucleo-cytoplasmic (N/C) transport and changes in alternative splicing regulation are all common traits of the pathogenesis of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). However, whether these processes act independently from each other, or are part of a coordinated mechanism of gene expression regulation that is affected in pathogenic conditions, is still rather undefined. To answer these questions, in this work we set out to characterise the functional connections existing between ISR activation and nucleo-cytosol trafficking and nuclear localization of spliceosomal U-rich small nuclear ribonucleoproteins (UsnRNPs), the core constituents of the spliceosome, and to study how ALS-linked mutant proteins affect this interplay. Activation of the ISR induces a profound reorganization of nuclear Gems and Cajal bodies, the membrane-less particles that assist UsnRNP maturation and storage. This effect requires the cytoplasmic assembly of SGs and is associated to the disturbance of the nuclear import of UsnRNPs by the snurportin-1/importin-β1 system. Notably, these effects are reversed by both inhibiting the ISR or upregulating importin-β1. This indicates that that SGs are major determinants of Cajal bodies assembly and that the modulation of N/C trafficking of UsnRNPs might control alternative splicing in response to stress. Importantly, the dismantling of nuclear Gems and Cajal bodies by ALS-linked mutant FUS or C9orf72-derived dipeptide repeat proteins is halted by overexpression of importin-β1, but not by inhibition of the ISR. This suggests that changes in the nuclear localization of the UsnRNP complexes induced by mutant ALS proteins are uncoupled from ISR activation, and that defects in the N/C trafficking of UsnRNPs might play a role in ALS pathogenesis.