RNAseq analysis of DPSC-derived neurons from Neurotypical control subjects and PWS subjects

A major challenge to the study and treatment of neurogenetic syndromes is the difficulty in gaining access to live neurons from individuals with these disorders. Although other sources of stem cells are currently available for differentiation into neurons, these can involve invasive procedures and be difficult or expensive to generate limiting their use on a broad scale, especially for rare syndromes which may not be well represented in the local population. Dental pulp stem cells (DPSC) are neural crest derived multipotent stem cells that reside deep the pulp of shed (baby) teeth and have the potential for broad use in the study of neurogenetic disease. Here, we use DPSC-derived neurons to investigate the transcriptional differences between neurotypical controls and Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) conferred by uniparental disomy (UPD) versus deletion. Additionally, we investigated the increased autism incidence within the UPD genotype by sequencing PW-UPD patients with and without autism. Using this data, we defined a PWS molecular signature and discovered a global reduction in mitochondrial transcripts in the PW-UPD +ASD neurons.