Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have been identified from various tissues and species, but their regulatory functions during developmental processes are not well understood. We examined circRNA expression profiles of two developmental stages of bovine skeletal muscle (embryonic and adult musculus longissimus) to provide first insights into their potential involvement in bovine myogenesis. We identified 12 981 circRNAs and annotated them to the Bos taurus reference genome, including 530 circular intronic RNAs (ciRNAs). One parental gene could generate multiple circRNA isoforms, with only one or two isoforms being expressed at higher expression levels. Also, several host genes produced different isoforms when comparing development stages. Most circRNA candidates contained two to seven exons, and genomic distances to back-splicing sites were usually less than 50 kb. The length of upstream or downstream flanking introns was usually less than 105 nt (mean≈11 000 nt). Several circRNAs differed in abundance between developmental stages, and real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) analysis largely confirmed differential expression of the 17 circRNAs included in this analysis. The second part of our study characterized the role of circLMO7—one of the most down-regulated circRNAs when comparing adult to embryonic muscle tissue—in bovine muscle development. Overexpression of circLMO7 inhibited the differentiation of primary bovine myoblasts, and it appears to function as a competing endogenous RNA for miR-378a-3p, whose involvement in bovine muscle development has been characterized beforehand. Congruent with our interpretation, circLMO7 increased the number of myoblasts in the S-phase of the cell cycle and decreased the proportion of cells in the G0/G1 phase. Moreover, it promoted the proliferation of myoblasts and protected them from apoptosis. Our study provides novel insights into the regulatory mechanisms underlying skeletal muscle development and identifies a number of circRNAs whose regulatory potential will need to be explored in the future.

Adult mammalian brains have largely lost neuroregeneration capability except for a few niches. Previous studies have converted glial cells into neurons, but the total number of neurons generated is limited and the therapeutic potential is unclear. Here, we demonstrate that NeuroD1-mediated in situ astrocyte-to-neuron conversion can regenerate a large number of functional new neurons after ischemic injury. Specifically, using NeuroD1 adeno-associated virus (AAV)-based gene therapy, we were able to regenerate one third of the total lost neurons caused by ischemic injury and simultaneously protect another one third of injured neurons, leading to a significant neuronal recovery. RNA sequencing and immunostaining confirmed neuronal recovery after cell conversion at both the mRNA level and protein level. Brain slice recordings found that the astrocyte-converted neurons showed robust action potentials and synaptic responses at 2 months after NeuroD1 expression. Anterograde and retrograde tracing revealed long-range axonal projections from astrocyte-converted neurons to their target regions in a time-dependent manner. Behavioral analyses showed a significant improvement of both motor and cognitive functions after cell conversion. Together, these results demonstrate that in vivo cell conversion technology through NeuroD1-based gene therapy can regenerate a large number of functional new neurons to restore lost neuronal functions after injury.

Despite intense research efforts, the physiological function and molecular environment of the amyloid precursor protein has remained enigmatic. Here we describe the application of time-controlled transcardiac perfusion cross-linking, a method for the in vivo mapping of protein interactions in intact tissue, to study the interactome of the amyloid precursor protein (APP). To gain insights into the specificity of reported protein interactions the study was extended to the mammalian amyloid precursor-like proteins (APLP1 and APLP2). Alzheimer disease (AD) 1 is the most prevalent neurodegenerative disorder worldwide. A defining pathological hallmark of AD is the deposition of plaques, largely consisting of the 40 -42-amino acid amyloid ␤-peptide (A␤). A␤ is generated by the consecutive cleavage of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) by two proteases, ␤-secretase and ␥-secretase (1). Less than 10% of all AD cases are inherited. All mutations known to date that lead to early onset familial forms of AD occur either in APP itself or in protein components of the ␥-secretase complex (2). Although a large body of literature exists that establishes the importance of a few key proteins for AD, our understanding of the cellular context in which these proteins operate is sketchy at best. It has, for example, long been hypothesized that APP represents a transmembrane receptor. However, despite the presence of a large and structurally complex extracellular domain within this protein, to this date no extracellular APP ligand has been firmly established as a physiological interactor. The significance of a recently reported in vitro interaction between F-spondin and a recombinant APP construct consisting of a conserved central extracellular domain of APP fused to GST remains to be established (3). Early studies suggested binding of APP to the intracellular GTP-binding protein G o (4). Various other intracellular interactions of APP, in particular with proteins (FE65, mDab1, X11␣, and Shc) that bear phosphotyrosine interaction domains, have been reported (5-7). Most of these phosphotyrosine interaction domain-mediated interactions involve an NPXY motif present in the C-terminal domain of APP but are, somewhat surprisingly, observed to be independent of the phosphorylation status of the tyrosine within this motif (8). Following phosphorylation of FE65, a trimeric complex consisting of the APP intracellular domain (AICD), FE65 and the From the

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