CRISPR/Cas9 Mediated-Disruption of ZNF543 Gene: An Approach Towards Discovering Its Relation to TRIM28 Gene in Parkinson's Disease

Abstract Genetic studies of familial forms of Parkinson’s disease (PD) have shown that the ZNF543 gene is a candidate gene that operates relevant to this disease. However, until now there is no evidence for ZNF543 gene function in PD, and mechanisms resulting from its mutation had not been elucidated. Given the same genetic location of the ZNF543 gene with TRIM28 and effects of both of them on PD pathogenesis, we surmised that ZNF543 may act as a transcription factor for TRIM28 gene expression. By knocking out the ZNF543 gene via the CRISPR/Cas9 editing platform, we assessed the functional effect of loss of expression of this gene on TRIM28 gene expression. Four sgRNAs with different PAM sequences were designed against two parts of the regulatory region of ZNF543 gene, and highly efficient disruption of ZNF543 expression in human neuroblastoma cell line was evaluated by polymerase chain reaction and T7 endonuclease assay. Moreover, evaluation of TRIM28 gene expression in ZNF543-knocked-out cells indicated a significant increase of TRIM28 gene expression, suggesting that ZNF543 probably regulates the expression of TRIM28. This approach offers a window into pinpointing the mechanism by which ZNF543 gene mutations mediate PD pathogenicity.