1
|
Zahn N, James-Zorn C, Ponferrada VG, Adams DS, Grzymkowski J, Buchholz DR, Nascone-Yoder NM, Horb M, Moody SA, Vize PD, Zorn AM. Normal Table of Xenopus development: a new graphical resource. Development 2022; 149:dev200356. [PMID: 35833709 PMCID: PMC9445888 DOI: 10.1242/dev.200356] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2021] [Accepted: 03/17/2022] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
Normal tables of development are essential for studies of embryogenesis, serving as an important resource for model organisms, including the frog Xenopus laevis. Xenopus has long been used to study developmental and cell biology, and is an increasingly important model for human birth defects and disease, genomics, proteomics and toxicology. Scientists utilize Nieuwkoop and Faber's classic 'Normal Table of Xenopus laevis (Daudin)' and accompanying illustrations to enable experimental reproducibility and reuse the illustrations in new publications and teaching. However, it is no longer possible to obtain permission for these copyrighted illustrations. We present 133 new, high-quality illustrations of X. laevis development from fertilization to metamorphosis, with additional views that were not available in the original collection. All the images are available on Xenbase, the Xenopus knowledgebase (http://www.xenbase.org/entry/zahn.do), for download and reuse under an attributable, non-commercial creative commons license. Additionally, we have compiled a 'Landmarks Table' of key morphological features and marker gene expression that can be used to distinguish stages quickly and reliably (https://www.xenbase.org/entry/landmarks-table.do). This new open-access resource will facilitate Xenopus research and teaching in the decades to come.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Christina James-Zorn
- Xenbase, Division of Developmental Biology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Research Foundation, 3333 Burnet Ave, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
| | - Virgilio G. Ponferrada
- Xenbase, Division of Developmental Biology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Research Foundation, 3333 Burnet Ave, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
| | - Dany S. Adams
- Lucell Diagnostics Inc, 16 Stearns Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| | - Julia Grzymkowski
- Department of Molecular Biomedical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA
| | - Daniel R. Buchholz
- Department of Biology Sciences, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221, USA
| | - Nanette M. Nascone-Yoder
- Department of Molecular Biomedical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA
| | - Marko Horb
- National Xenopus Resource, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA
| | - Sally A. Moody
- Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, George Washington University Medical Center, Washington, DC 20037, USA
| | - Peter D. Vize
- Xenbase, Department of Biological Science, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada
| | - Aaron M. Zorn
- Xenbase, Division of Developmental Biology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Research Foundation, 3333 Burnet Ave, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Wang J, Lu C, Wei S. Whole-genome sequencing identifies I-SceI-mediated transgene integration sites in Xenopus tropicalis snai2:eGFP line. G3 (BETHESDA, MD.) 2022; 12:jkac037. [PMID: 35171990 PMCID: PMC9073676 DOI: 10.1093/g3journal/jkac037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2021] [Accepted: 01/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Transgenesis with the meganuclease I-SceI is a safe and efficient method, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear due to the lack of information on transgene localization. Using I-SceI, we previously developed a transgenic Xenopus tropicalis line expressing enhanced green fluorescent protein driven by the neural crest-specific snai2 promoter/enhancer, which is a powerful tool for studying neural crest development and craniofacial morphogenesis. Here, we carried out whole-genome shotgun sequencing for the snai2:eGFP embryos to identify the transgene integration sites. With a 19x sequencing coverage, we estimated that 6 copies of the transgene were inserted into the Xenopus tropicalis genome in the hemizygous transgenic embryos. Two transgene integration loci adjacent to each other were identified in a noncoding region on chromosome 1, possibly as a result of duplication after a single transgene insertion. Interestingly, genomic DNA at the boundaries of the transgene integration loci contains short sequences homologous to the I-SceI recognition site, suggesting that the integration was not random but probably mediated by sequence homology. To our knowledge, our work represents the first genome-wide sequencing study on a transgenic organism generated with I-SceI, which is useful for evaluating the potential genetic effects of I-SceI-mediated transgenesis and further understanding the mechanisms underlying this transgenic method.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jian Wang
- Department of Biological Sciences and Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA
- Department of Computational Biology, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105, USA
| | - Congyu Lu
- Department of Biological Sciences and Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA
| | - Shuo Wei
- Department of Biological Sciences and Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Fisher ME, Segerdell E, Matentzoglu N, Nenni MJ, Fortriede JD, Chu S, Pells TJ, Osumi-Sutherland D, Chaturvedi P, James-Zorn C, Sundararaj N, Lotay VS, Ponferrada V, Wang DZ, Kim E, Agalakov S, Arshinoff BI, Karimi K, Vize PD, Zorn AM. The Xenopus phenotype ontology: bridging model organism phenotype data to human health and development. BMC Bioinformatics 2022; 23:99. [PMID: 35317743 PMCID: PMC8939077 DOI: 10.1186/s12859-022-04636-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2021] [Accepted: 03/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Ontologies of precisely defined, controlled vocabularies are essential to curate the results of biological experiments such that the data are machine searchable, can be computationally analyzed, and are interoperable across the biomedical research continuum. There is also an increasing need for methods to interrelate phenotypic data easily and accurately from experiments in animal models with human development and disease. Results Here we present the Xenopus phenotype ontology (XPO) to annotate phenotypic data from experiments in Xenopus, one of the major vertebrate model organisms used to study gene function in development and disease. The XPO implements design patterns from the Unified Phenotype Ontology (uPheno), and the principles outlined by the Open Biological and Biomedical Ontologies (OBO Foundry) to maximize interoperability with other species and facilitate ongoing ontology management. Constructed in Web Ontology Language (OWL) the XPO combines the existing uPheno library of ontology design patterns with additional terms from the Xenopus Anatomy Ontology (XAO), the Phenotype and Trait Ontology (PATO) and the Gene Ontology (GO). The integration of these different ontologies into the XPO enables rich phenotypic curation, whilst the uPheno bridging axioms allows phenotypic data from Xenopus experiments to be related to phenotype data from other model organisms and human disease. Moreover, the simple post-composed uPheno design patterns facilitate ongoing XPO development as the generation of new terms and classes of terms can be substantially automated. Conclusions The XPO serves as an example of current best practices to help overcome many of the inherent challenges in harmonizing phenotype data between different species. The XPO currently consists of approximately 22,000 terms and is being used to curate phenotypes by Xenbase, the Xenopus Model Organism Knowledgebase, forming a standardized corpus of genotype–phenotype data that can be directly related to other uPheno compliant resources. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12859-022-04636-8.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Malcolm E Fisher
- Division of Developmental Biology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA
| | - Erik Segerdell
- Division of Developmental Biology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA
| | - Nicolas Matentzoglu
- Monarch Initiative, London, UK.,Semanticly Ltd, London, UK.,European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), Hinxton, UK
| | - Mardi J Nenni
- Division of Developmental Biology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA
| | - Joshua D Fortriede
- Division of Developmental Biology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA
| | - Stanley Chu
- Department of Biological Science, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Troy J Pells
- Department of Biological Science, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | | | - Praneet Chaturvedi
- Division of Developmental Biology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA
| | - Christina James-Zorn
- Division of Developmental Biology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA
| | - Nivitha Sundararaj
- Division of Developmental Biology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA
| | - Vaneet S Lotay
- Department of Biological Science, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Virgilio Ponferrada
- Division of Developmental Biology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA
| | - Dong Zhuo Wang
- Department of Biological Science, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Eugene Kim
- Department of Biological Science, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Sergei Agalakov
- Department of Biological Science, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Bradley I Arshinoff
- Department of Biological Science, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Kamran Karimi
- Department of Biological Science, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Peter D Vize
- Department of Biological Science, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Aaron M Zorn
- Division of Developmental Biology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Arshinoff BI, Cary GA, Karimi K, Foley S, Agalakov S, Delgado F, Lotay VS, Ku CJ, Pells TJ, Beatman TR, Kim E, Cameron RA, Vize PD, Telmer C, Croce JC, Ettensohn CA, Hinman VF. Echinobase: leveraging an extant model organism database to build a knowledgebase supporting research on the genomics and biology of echinoderms. Nucleic Acids Res 2022; 50:D970-D979. [PMID: 34791383 PMCID: PMC8728261 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkab1005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 20.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2021] [Revised: 10/05/2021] [Accepted: 10/13/2021] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Echinobase (www.echinobase.org) is a third generation web resource supporting genomic research on echinoderms. The new version was built by cloning the mature Xenopus model organism knowledgebase, Xenbase, refactoring data ingestion pipelines and modifying the user interface to adapt to multispecies echinoderm content. This approach leveraged over 15 years of previous database and web application development to generate a new fully featured informatics resource in a single year. In addition to the software stack, Echinobase uses the private cloud and physical hosts that support Xenbase. Echinobase currently supports six echinoderm species, focused on those used for genomics, developmental biology and gene regulatory network analyses. Over 38 000 gene pages, 18 000 publications, new improved genome assemblies, JBrowse genome browser and BLAST + services are available and supported by the development of a new echinoderm anatomical ontology, uniformly applied formal gene nomenclature, and consistent orthology predictions. A novel feature of Echinobase is integrating support for multiple, disparate species. New genomes from the diverse echinoderm phylum will be added and supported as data becomes available. The common code development design of the integrated knowledgebases ensures parallel improvements as each resource evolves. This approach is widely applicable for developing new model organism informatics resources.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Bradley I Arshinoff
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada
| | - Gregory A Cary
- Department of Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
| | - Kamran Karimi
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada
| | - Saoirse Foley
- Department of Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
| | - Sergei Agalakov
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada
| | - Francisco Delgado
- Department of Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
| | - Vaneet S Lotay
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada
| | - Carolyn J Ku
- Department of Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
| | - Troy J Pells
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada
| | - Thomas R Beatman
- Department of Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
| | - Eugene Kim
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada
| | - R Andrew Cameron
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
| | - Peter D Vize
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada
| | - Cheryl A Telmer
- Department of Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
| | - Jenifer C Croce
- Laboratoire de Biologie du Développement de Villefranche-sur-Mer (LBDV), Institut de la Mer de Villefranche (IMEV), Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Villefranche-sur-Mer, France
| | - Charles A Ettensohn
- Department of Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
| | - Veronica F Hinman
- Department of Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Abstract
Apical constriction refers to the active, actomyosin-driven process that reduces apical cell surface area in epithelial cells. Apical constriction is utilized in epithelial morphogenesis during embryonic development in multiple contexts, such as gastrulation, neural tube closure, and organogenesis. Defects in apical constriction can result in congenital birth defects, yet our understanding of the molecular control of apical constriction is relatively limited. To uncover new genetic regulators of apical constriction and gain mechanistic insight into the cell biology of this process, we need reliable assay systems that allow real-time observation and quantification of apical constriction as it occurs and permit gain- and loss-of-function analyses to explore gene function and interaction during apical constriction. In this chapter, we describe using the early Xenopus embryo as an assay system to investigate molecular mechanisms involved in apical constriction during both gastrulation and neurulation.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Austin T Baldwin
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Ivan K Popov
- Department of Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA
| | - John B Wallingford
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
| | - Chenbei Chang
- Department of Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Brayton CF. Laboratory Codes in Nomenclature and Scientific Communication (Advancing Organism Nomenclature in Scientific Communication to Improve Research Reporting and Reproducibility). ILAR J 2021; 62:295-309. [PMID: 36528817 DOI: 10.1093/ilar/ilac016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2022] [Revised: 08/23/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Laboratory registration codes, also known as laboratory codes or lab codes, are a key element in standardized laboratory animal and genetic nomenclature. As such they are critical to accurate scientific communication and to research reproducibility and integrity. The original committee on Mouse Genetic Nomenclature published nomenclature conventions for mice genetics in 1940, and then conventions for inbred strains in 1952. Unique designations were needed, and have been in use since the 1950s, for the sources of animals and substrains, for the laboratories that identified new alleles or mutations, and then for developers of transgenes and induced mutations. Current laboratory codes are typically a 2- to 4-letter acronym for an institution or an investigator. Unique codes are assigned from the International Laboratory Code Registry, which was developed and is maintained by ILAR in the National Academies (National Academies of Sciences Engineering and Medicine and previously National Academy of Sciences). As a resource for the global research community, the registry has been online since 1997. Since 2003 mouse and rat genetic and strain nomenclature rules have been reviewed and updated annually as a joint effort of the International Committee on Standardized Genetic Nomenclature for Mice and the Rat Genome and Nomenclature Committee. The current nomenclature conventions (particularly conventions for non-inbred animals) are applicable beyond rodents, although not widely adopted. Ongoing recognition, since at least the 1930s, of the research relevance of genetic backgrounds and origins of animals, and of spontaneous and induced genetic variants speaks to the need for broader application of standardized nomenclature for animals in research, particularly given the increasing numbers and complexities of genetically modified swine, nonhuman primates, fish, and other species.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Cory F Brayton
- Johns Hopkins Medicine, Molecular and Comparative Pathobiology, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Low-temperature incubation improves both knock-in and knock-down efficiencies by the CRISPR/Cas9 system in Xenopus laevis as revealed by quantitative analysis. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 2021; 543:50-55. [PMID: 33515912 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2020.11.038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2020] [Accepted: 11/11/2020] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
The recent development of the CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing technique has provided various gene knock-down and knock-in methods for Xenopus laevis. Gene-edited F0 individuals created by these methods, however, are mosaics with both mutated/knocked-in and unedited wild-type cells, and therefore precise determination and higher efficiency of knock-down and knock-in methods are desirable, especially for analyses of F0 individuals. To clarify the ratio of cells that are gene-edited by CRISPR/Cas9 methods to the whole cells in F0 individuals, we subjected Inference of CRISPR Edits analysis for knock-down experiments and flow cytometry for knock-in experiments to the F0 individuals. With these quantitative methods, we showed that low-temperature incubation of X. laevis embryos after microinjection improved the mutation rate in the individuals. Moreover, we applied low-temperature incubation when using a knock-in method with long single-strand DNA and found improved knock-in efficiency. Our results provide a simple and useful way to evaluate and improve the efficiency of gene editing in X. laevis.
Collapse
|
8
|
The Gene Ontology resource: enriching a GOld mine. Nucleic Acids Res 2021; 49:D325-D334. [PMID: 33290552 PMCID: PMC7779012 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkaa1113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1896] [Impact Index Per Article: 632.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2020] [Revised: 10/22/2020] [Accepted: 12/02/2020] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
The Gene Ontology Consortium (GOC) provides the most comprehensive resource currently available for computable knowledge regarding the functions of genes and gene products. Here, we report the advances of the consortium over the past two years. The new GO-CAM annotation framework was notably improved, and we formalized the model with a computational schema to check and validate the rapidly increasing repository of 2838 GO-CAMs. In addition, we describe the impacts of several collaborations to refine GO and report a 10% increase in the number of GO annotations, a 25% increase in annotated gene products, and over 9,400 new scientific articles annotated. As the project matures, we continue our efforts to review older annotations in light of newer findings, and, to maintain consistency with other ontologies. As a result, 20 000 annotations derived from experimental data were reviewed, corresponding to 2.5% of experimental GO annotations. The website (http://geneontology.org) was redesigned for quick access to documentation, downloads and tools. To maintain an accurate resource and support traceability and reproducibility, we have made available a historical archive covering the past 15 years of GO data with a consistent format and file structure for both the ontology and annotations.
Collapse
|
9
|
Romanazzi T, Zanella D, Cheng MH, Smith B, Carter AM, Galli A, Bahar I, Bossi E. Bile Acids Gate Dopamine Transporter Mediated Currents. Front Chem 2021; 9:753990. [PMID: 34957043 PMCID: PMC8702627 DOI: 10.3389/fchem.2021.753990] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2021] [Accepted: 11/16/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Bile acids (BAs) are molecules derived from cholesterol that are involved in dietary fat absorption. New evidence supports an additional role for BAs as regulators of brain function. Sterols such as cholesterol interact with monoamine transporters, including the dopamine (DA) transporter (DAT) which plays a key role in DA neurotransmission and reward. This study explores the interactions of the BA, obeticholic acid (OCA), with DAT and characterizes the regulation of DAT activity via both electrophysiology and molecular modeling. We expressed murine DAT (mDAT) in Xenopus laevis oocytes and confirmed its functionality. Next, we showed that OCA promotes a DAT-mediated inward current that is Na+-dependent and not regulated by intracellular calcium. The current induced by OCA was transient in nature, returning to baseline in the continued presence of the BA. OCA also transiently blocked the DAT-mediated Li+-leak current, a feature that parallels DA action and indicates direct binding to the transporter in the absence of Na+. Interestingly, OCA did not alter DA affinity nor the ability of DA to promote a DAT-mediated inward current, suggesting that the interaction of OCA with the transporter is non-competitive, regarding DA. Docking simulations performed for investigating the molecular mechanism of OCA action on DAT activity revealed two potential binding sites. First, in the absence of DA, OCA binds DAT through interactions with D421, a residue normally involved in coordinating the binding of the Na+ ion to the Na2 binding site (Borre et al., J. Biol. Chem., 2014, 289, 25764-25773; Cheng and Bahar, Structure, 2015, 23, 2171-2181). Furthermore, we uncover a separate binding site for OCA on DAT, of equal potential functional impact, that is coordinated by the DAT residues R445 and D436. Binding to that site may stabilize the inward-facing (IF) open state by preventing the re-formation of the IF-gating salt bridges, R60-D436 and R445-E428, that are required for DA transport. This study suggests that BAs may represent novel pharmacological tools to regulate DAT function, and possibly, associated behaviors.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Tiziana Romanazzi
- Department of Biotechnology and Life Sciences, University of Insubria, Varese, Italy
| | - Daniele Zanella
- Department of Surgery, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, United States
| | - Mary Hongying Cheng
- Department of Computational and Systems Biology, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States
| | - Behrgen Smith
- Department of Physics and Chemistry, Biomolecular Engineering, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Milwaukee, WI, United States
| | - Angela M Carter
- Department of Surgery, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, United States
| | - Aurelio Galli
- Department of Surgery, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, United States
| | - Ivet Bahar
- Department of Computational and Systems Biology, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States
| | - Elena Bossi
- Department of Biotechnology and Life Sciences, University of Insubria, Varese, Italy.,Center for Research in Neuroscience, University of Insubria, Varese, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Schwenty-Lara J, Pauli S, Borchers A. Using Xenopus to analyze neurocristopathies like Kabuki syndrome. Genesis 2020; 59:e23404. [PMID: 33351273 DOI: 10.1002/dvg.23404] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2020] [Revised: 12/09/2020] [Accepted: 12/09/2020] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Neurocristopathies are human congenital syndromes that arise from defects in neural crest (NC) development and are typically associated with malformations of the craniofacial skeleton. Genetic analyses have been very successful in identifying pathogenic mutations, however, model organisms are required to characterize how these mutations affect embryonic development thereby leading to complex clinical conditions. The African clawed frog Xenopus laevis provides a broad range of in vivo and in vitro tools allowing for a detailed characterization of NC development. Due to the conserved nature of craniofacial morphogenesis in vertebrates, Xenopus is an efficient and versatile system to dissect the morphological and cellular phenotypes as well as the signaling events leading to NC defects. Here, we review a set of techniques and resources how Xenopus can be used as a disease model to investigate the pathogenesis of Kabuki syndrome and neurocristopathies in a wider sense.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Janina Schwenty-Lara
- Department of Biology, Molecular Embryology, Philipps-University Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - Silke Pauli
- Institute of Human Genetics, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Annette Borchers
- Department of Biology, Molecular Embryology, Philipps-University Marburg, Marburg, Germany.,DFG Research Training Group, Membrane Plasticity in Tissue Development and Remodeling, GRK 2213, Philipps-University Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
Thessen AE, Walls RL, Vogt L, Singer J, Warren R, Buttigieg PL, Balhoff JP, Mungall CJ, McGuinness DL, Stucky BJ, Yoder MJ, Haendel MA. Transforming the study of organisms: Phenomic data models and knowledge bases. PLoS Comput Biol 2020; 16:e1008376. [PMID: 33232313 PMCID: PMC7685442 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008376] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
The rapidly decreasing cost of gene sequencing has resulted in a deluge of genomic data from across the tree of life; however, outside a few model organism databases, genomic data are limited in their scientific impact because they are not accompanied by computable phenomic data. The majority of phenomic data are contained in countless small, heterogeneous phenotypic data sets that are very difficult or impossible to integrate at scale because of variable formats, lack of digitization, and linguistic problems. One powerful solution is to represent phenotypic data using data models with precise, computable semantics, but adoption of semantic standards for representing phenotypic data has been slow, especially in biodiversity and ecology. Some phenotypic and trait data are available in a semantic language from knowledge bases, but these are often not interoperable. In this review, we will compare and contrast existing ontology and data models, focusing on nonhuman phenotypes and traits. We discuss barriers to integration of phenotypic data and make recommendations for developing an operationally useful, semantically interoperable phenotypic data ecosystem.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Anne E. Thessen
- Environmental and Molecular Toxicology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, United States of America
- Ronin Institute for Independent Scholarship, Monclair, New Jersey, United States of America
| | - Ramona L. Walls
- Bio5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, United States of America
| | - Lars Vogt
- TIB Leibniz Information Centre for Science and Technology, Hannover, Germany
| | | | | | - Pier Luigi Buttigieg
- Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung, Bremerhaven, Germany
| | - James P. Balhoff
- Renaissance Computing Institute, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States of America
| | - Christopher J. Mungall
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, United States of America
| | | | - Brian J. Stucky
- Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, United States of America
| | - Matthew J. Yoder
- Illinois Natural History Survey, Champaign, Illinois, United States of America
| | - Melissa A. Haendel
- Environmental and Molecular Toxicology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, United States of America
| |
Collapse
|
12
|
Shefchek KA, Harris NL, Gargano M, Matentzoglu N, Unni D, Brush M, Keith D, Conlin T, Vasilevsky N, Zhang XA, Balhoff JP, Babb L, Bello SM, Blau H, Bradford Y, Carbon S, Carmody L, Chan LE, Cipriani V, Cuzick A, Della Rocca M, Dunn N, Essaid S, Fey P, Grove C, Gourdine JP, Hamosh A, Harris M, Helbig I, Hoatlin M, Joachimiak M, Jupp S, Lett KB, Lewis SE, McNamara C, Pendlington ZM, Pilgrim C, Putman T, Ravanmehr V, Reese J, Riggs E, Robb S, Roncaglia P, Seager J, Segerdell E, Similuk M, Storm AL, Thaxon C, Thessen A, Jacobsen JOB, McMurry JA, Groza T, Köhler S, Smedley D, Robinson PN, Mungall CJ, Haendel MA, Munoz-Torres MC, Osumi-Sutherland D. The Monarch Initiative in 2019: an integrative data and analytic platform connecting phenotypes to genotypes across species. Nucleic Acids Res 2020; 48:D704-D715. [PMID: 31701156 PMCID: PMC7056945 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkz997] [Citation(s) in RCA: 134] [Impact Index Per Article: 33.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2019] [Revised: 10/09/2019] [Accepted: 10/14/2019] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
In biology and biomedicine, relating phenotypic outcomes with genetic variation and environmental factors remains a challenge: patient phenotypes may not match known diseases, candidate variants may be in genes that haven’t been characterized, research organisms may not recapitulate human or veterinary diseases, environmental factors affecting disease outcomes are unknown or undocumented, and many resources must be queried to find potentially significant phenotypic associations. The Monarch Initiative (https://monarchinitiative.org) integrates information on genes, variants, genotypes, phenotypes and diseases in a variety of species, and allows powerful ontology-based search. We develop many widely adopted ontologies that together enable sophisticated computational analysis, mechanistic discovery and diagnostics of Mendelian diseases. Our algorithms and tools are widely used to identify animal models of human disease through phenotypic similarity, for differential diagnostics and to facilitate translational research. Launched in 2015, Monarch has grown with regards to data (new organisms, more sources, better modeling); new API and standards; ontologies (new Mondo unified disease ontology, improvements to ontologies such as HPO and uPheno); user interface (a redesigned website); and community development. Monarch data, algorithms and tools are being used and extended by resources such as GA4GH and NCATS Translator, among others, to aid mechanistic discovery and diagnostics.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kent A Shefchek
- Center for Genome Research and Biocomputing, Environmental and Molecular Toxicology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA
| | - Nomi L Harris
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94710, USA
| | - Michael Gargano
- The Jackson Laboratory For Genomic Medicine, Farmington, CT 06032, USA
| | - Nicolas Matentzoglu
- European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK
| | - Deepak Unni
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94710, USA
| | - Matthew Brush
- Oregon Clinical and Translational Research Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR 97239, USA
| | - Daniel Keith
- Center for Genome Research and Biocomputing, Environmental and Molecular Toxicology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA
| | - Tom Conlin
- Center for Genome Research and Biocomputing, Environmental and Molecular Toxicology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA
| | - Nicole Vasilevsky
- Oregon Clinical and Translational Research Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR 97239, USA
| | | | - James P Balhoff
- Renaissance Computing Institute at UNC, Chapel Hill, NC 27517, USA
| | - Larry Babb
- Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
| | | | - Hannah Blau
- The Jackson Laboratory For Genomic Medicine, Farmington, CT 06032, USA
| | - Yvonne Bradford
- Institute of Neuroscience, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97401, USA
| | - Seth Carbon
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94710, USA
| | - Leigh Carmody
- The Jackson Laboratory For Genomic Medicine, Farmington, CT 06032, USA
| | - Lauren E Chan
- College of Public Health and Human Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA
| | - Valentina Cipriani
- William Harvey Research Institute, Barts & The London School of Medicine & Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, Charterhouse Square, London EC1M 6BQ, UK
| | | | - Maria Della Rocca
- Office of Rare Diseases Research (ORDR), National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Nathan Dunn
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94710, USA
| | - Shahim Essaid
- Oregon Clinical and Translational Research Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR 97239, USA
| | - Petra Fey
- dictyBase, Center for Genetic Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL 60611, USA
| | - Chris Grove
- California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
| | - Jean-Phillipe Gourdine
- Oregon Clinical and Translational Research Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR 97239, USA
| | - Ada Hamosh
- McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | | | - Ingo Helbig
- Division of Neurology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.,Department of Biomedical and Health Informatics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.,Department of Neuropediatrics, Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, 24105 Kiel, Germany.,Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Maureen Hoatlin
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR 97239, USA
| | - Marcin Joachimiak
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94710, USA
| | - Simon Jupp
- European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK
| | - Kenneth B Lett
- Center for Genome Research and Biocomputing, Environmental and Molecular Toxicology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA
| | - Suzanna E Lewis
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94710, USA
| | | | - Zoë M Pendlington
- European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK
| | | | - Tim Putman
- Center for Genome Research and Biocomputing, Environmental and Molecular Toxicology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA
| | - Vida Ravanmehr
- The Jackson Laboratory For Genomic Medicine, Farmington, CT 06032, USA
| | - Justin Reese
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94710, USA
| | - Erin Riggs
- Autism & Developmental Medicine Institute, Geisinger, Danville, PA 17837, USA
| | - Sofia Robb
- Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, MO 64110, USA
| | - Paola Roncaglia
- European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK
| | | | - Erik Segerdell
- Xenbase, Cincinnati Children's Hospital, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
| | - Morgan Similuk
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Andrea L Storm
- Office of Rare Diseases Research (ORDR), National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Courtney Thaxon
- University of North Carolina Medical School, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27516, USA
| | - Anne Thessen
- Center for Genome Research and Biocomputing, Environmental and Molecular Toxicology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA
| | - Julius O B Jacobsen
- William Harvey Research Institute, Barts & The London School of Medicine & Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, Charterhouse Square, London EC1M 6BQ, UK
| | - Julie A McMurry
- College of Public Health and Human Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA
| | | | - Sebastian Köhler
- Institute for Medical Genetics and Human Genetics, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Damian Smedley
- William Harvey Research Institute, Barts & The London School of Medicine & Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, Charterhouse Square, London EC1M 6BQ, UK
| | - Peter N Robinson
- The Jackson Laboratory For Genomic Medicine, Farmington, CT 06032, USA
| | - Christopher J Mungall
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94710, USA
| | - Melissa A Haendel
- Center for Genome Research and Biocomputing, Environmental and Molecular Toxicology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA.,Oregon Clinical and Translational Research Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR 97239, USA
| | - Monica C Munoz-Torres
- Center for Genome Research and Biocomputing, Environmental and Molecular Toxicology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA
| | - David Osumi-Sutherland
- European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK
| |
Collapse
|
13
|
Fortriede JD, Pells TJ, Chu S, Chaturvedi P, Wang D, Fisher ME, James-Zorn C, Wang Y, Nenni MJ, Burns KA, Lotay VS, Ponferrada VG, Karimi K, Zorn AM, Vize PD. Xenbase: deep integration of GEO & SRA RNA-seq and ChIP-seq data in a model organism database. Nucleic Acids Res 2020; 48:D776-D782. [PMID: 31733057 PMCID: PMC7145613 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkz933] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2019] [Revised: 10/04/2019] [Accepted: 11/12/2019] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Xenbase (www.xenbase.org) is a knowledge base for researchers and biomedical scientists that employ the amphibian Xenopus as a model organism in biomedical research to gain a deeper understanding of developmental and disease processes. Through expert curation and automated data provisioning from various sources Xenbase strives to integrate the body of knowledge on Xenopus genomics and biology together with the visualization of biologically significant interactions. Most current studies utilize next generation sequencing (NGS) but until now the results of different experiments were difficult to compare and not integrated with other Xenbase content. Xenbase has developed a suite of tools, interfaces and data processing pipelines that transforms NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) NGS content into deeply integrated gene expression and chromatin data, mapping all aligned reads to the most recent genome builds. This content can be queried and visualized via multiple tools and also provides the basis for future automated ‘gene expression as a phenotype’ and gene regulatory network analyses.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Joshua D Fortriede
- Cincinnati Children's Hospital, Division of Developmental Biology, 3333 Burnet Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
| | - Troy J Pells
- Departments of Biological Sciences and Computer Science, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N1N4, Canada
| | - Stanley Chu
- Departments of Biological Sciences and Computer Science, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N1N4, Canada
| | - Praneet Chaturvedi
- Cincinnati Children's Hospital, Division of Developmental Biology, 3333 Burnet Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
| | - DongZhuo Wang
- Departments of Biological Sciences and Computer Science, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N1N4, Canada
| | - Malcom E Fisher
- Cincinnati Children's Hospital, Division of Developmental Biology, 3333 Burnet Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
| | - Christina James-Zorn
- Departments of Biological Sciences and Computer Science, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N1N4, Canada
| | - Ying Wang
- Cincinnati Children's Hospital, Division of Developmental Biology, 3333 Burnet Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
| | - Mardi J Nenni
- Cincinnati Children's Hospital, Division of Developmental Biology, 3333 Burnet Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
| | - Kevin A Burns
- Cincinnati Children's Hospital, Division of Developmental Biology, 3333 Burnet Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
| | - Vaneet S Lotay
- Departments of Biological Sciences and Computer Science, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N1N4, Canada
| | - Virgilio G Ponferrada
- Cincinnati Children's Hospital, Division of Developmental Biology, 3333 Burnet Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
| | - Kamran Karimi
- Departments of Biological Sciences and Computer Science, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N1N4, Canada
| | - Aaron M Zorn
- Cincinnati Children's Hospital, Division of Developmental Biology, 3333 Burnet Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
| | - Peter D Vize
- Departments of Biological Sciences and Computer Science, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N1N4, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
14
|
Nakayama T, Grainger RM, Cha SW. Simple embryo injection of long single-stranded donor templates with the CRISPR/Cas9 system leads to homology-directed repair in Xenopus tropicalis and Xenopus laevis. Genesis 2020; 58:e23366. [PMID: 32277804 DOI: 10.1002/dvg.23366] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2020] [Revised: 03/24/2020] [Accepted: 03/27/2020] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
We report model experiments in which simple microinjection of fertilized eggs has been used to effectively perform homology-directed repair (HDR)-mediated gene editing in the two Xenopus species used most frequently for research: X. tropicalis and X. laevis. We have used long single-stranded DNAs having phosphorothioate modifications as donor templates for HDR at targeted genomic sites using the Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats/CRISPR-associated protein 9 (CRISPR/Cas9) system. First, X. tropicalis tyr mutant (i.e., albino) embryos were successfully rescued: partially pigmented tadpoles were seen in up to 35% of injected embryos, demonstrating the potential for efficient insertion of targeted point mutations. Second, in order to demonstrate the ability to tag genes with fluorescent proteins (FPs), we targeted the melanocyte-specific gene slc45a2.L of X. laevis to label it with the Superfolder green FP (sfGFP), seeing mosaic expression of sfGFP in melanophores in up to 20% of injected tadpoles. Tadpoles generated by these two approaches were raised to sexual maturity, and shown to successfully transmit HDR constructs through the germline with precise targeting and seamless recombination. F1 embryos showed rescue of the tyr mutation (X. tropicalis) and tagging in the appropriate pigment cell-specific manner of slc45a2.L with sfGFP (X. laevis).
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Takuya Nakayama
- Department of Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia
| | - Robert M Grainger
- Department of Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia
| | - Sang-Wook Cha
- School of Natural Sciences, University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg, Missouri
| |
Collapse
|
15
|
Expression Changes of MHC and Other Immune Genes in Frog Skin during Ontogeny. Animals (Basel) 2020; 10:ani10010091. [PMID: 31935873 PMCID: PMC7022564 DOI: 10.3390/ani10010091] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2019] [Revised: 12/30/2019] [Accepted: 12/31/2019] [Indexed: 01/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Simple Summary Tadpoles undergo many changes in physiology and immunology until metamorphosis into adult frogs. Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules are an important part of vertebrate adaptive immunity, and our study measured the expression of two MHC genes (MHC class I and II) in skin during six tadpole stages of the Montane Brown frog (Rana ornativentris). First, using a qPCR method, we found that both MHC class I and II expression significantly increased between stage 24/25 (‘early’) and stage 28 (‘mid’) tadpole skin. Then, we conducted next-generation sequencing for ‘early’, ‘mid’ and ‘late’ stage tadpole skin mRNA of both R. ornativentris and a model species, Xenopus tropicalis, and confirmed that MHC expression increased from the ‘mid’ stage. We also performed further analyses of transcriptome data and found that several immune-related gene ontology terms were upregulated from the ‘mid’ tadpole stage. Our findings probably support that both MHC class I and II have a functional role during tadpole development. Abstract Anuran amphibians undergo major physiological and immunological changes following metamorphosis. Genes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) code for receptors important for vertebrate adaptive immunity. We used qPCR to measure skin MHC expression in six different ontological stages of Rana ornativentris (n = 10 per stage); normalized MHC class I and II expression at the mRNA level was significantly higher in stage 28 (mid-larval) compared to stages 24/25 (early-larval) tadpoles. Subsequent transcriptomic analyses of three tadpole (early-, mid-, and late-larval) stages of R. ornativentris and model species Xenopus tropicalis focused on mRNA expression of immune-related genes in the skin. Normalized expression of most MHC class I and II transcripts in both species were significantly higher in mid- and late-larval stages compared to early-larval stage. In addition, gene ontology (GO) analyses of differentially expressed transcripts revealed several immune-related GO terms that were significantly upregulated from the mid-larval stage. Our study provides evidence that both MHC class I and II is expressed during development in both R. ornativentris and X. tropicalis.
Collapse
|
16
|
Kha CX, Guerin DJ, Tseng KAS. Studying In Vivo Retinal Progenitor Cell Proliferation in Xenopus laevis. Methods Mol Biol 2020; 2092:19-33. [PMID: 31786778 PMCID: PMC11233400 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-0175-4_2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/04/2023]
Abstract
The efficient generation and maintenance of retinal progenitor cells (RPCs) are key goals needed for developing strategies for productive eye repair. Although vertebrate eye development and retinogenesis are well characterized, the mechanisms that can initiate RPC proliferation following injury-induced regrowth and repair remain unknown. This is partly because endogenous RPC proliferation typically occurs during embryogenesis while studies of retinal regeneration have largely utilized adult (or mature) models. We found that embryos of the African clawed frog, Xenopus laevis, successfully regrew functional eyes after ablation. The initiation of regrowth induced a robust RPC proliferative response with a concomitant delay of the endogenous RPC differentiation program. During eye regrowth, overall embryonic development proceeded normally. Here, we provide a protocol to study regrowth-dependent RPC proliferation in vivo. This system represents a robust and low-cost strategy to rapidly define fundamental mechanisms that regulate regrowth-initiated RPC proliferation, which will facilitate progress in identifying promising strategies for productive eye repair.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Cindy X Kha
- School of Life Sciences and Nevada Institute of Personalized Medicine, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV, USA
| | - Dylan J Guerin
- School of Life Sciences and Nevada Institute of Personalized Medicine, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV, USA
| | - Kelly Ai-Sun Tseng
- School of Life Sciences and Nevada Institute of Personalized Medicine, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
17
|
Lasser M, Pratt B, Monahan C, Kim SW, Lowery LA. The Many Faces of Xenopus: Xenopus laevis as a Model System to Study Wolf-Hirschhorn Syndrome. Front Physiol 2019; 10:817. [PMID: 31297068 PMCID: PMC6607408 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2019.00817] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2018] [Accepted: 06/11/2019] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Wolf–Hirschhorn syndrome (WHS) is a rare developmental disorder characterized by intellectual disability and various physical malformations including craniofacial, skeletal, and cardiac defects. These phenotypes, as they involve structures that are derived from the cranial neural crest, suggest that WHS may be associated with abnormalities in neural crest cell (NCC) migration. This syndrome is linked with assorted mutations on the short arm of chromosome 4, most notably the microdeletion of a critical genomic region containing several candidate genes. However, the function of these genes during embryonic development, as well as the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the disorder, are still unknown. The model organism Xenopus laevis offers a number of advantages for studying WHS. With the Xenopus genome sequenced, genetic manipulation strategies can be readily designed in order to alter the dosage of the WHS candidate genes. Moreover, a variety of assays are available for use in Xenopus to examine how manipulation of WHS genes leads to changes in the development of tissue and organ systems affected in WHS. In this review article, we highlight the benefits of using X. laevis as a model system for studying human genetic disorders of development, with a focus on WHS.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Micaela Lasser
- Department of Biology, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, United States
| | - Benjamin Pratt
- Department of Biology, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, United States
| | - Connor Monahan
- Department of Biology, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, United States
| | - Seung Woo Kim
- Department of Biology, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, United States
| | - Laura Anne Lowery
- Department of Biology, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, United States
| |
Collapse
|
18
|
Horb M, Wlizla M, Abu-Daya A, McNamara S, Gajdasik D, Igawa T, Suzuki A, Ogino H, Noble A, Robert J, James-Zorn C, Guille M. Xenopus Resources: Transgenic, Inbred and Mutant Animals, Training Opportunities, and Web-Based Support. Front Physiol 2019; 10:387. [PMID: 31073289 PMCID: PMC6497014 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2019.00387] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2019] [Accepted: 03/21/2019] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Two species of the clawed frog family, Xenopus laevis and X. tropicalis, are widely used as tools to investigate both normal and disease-state biochemistry, genetics, cell biology, and developmental biology. To support both frog specialist and non-specialist scientists needing access to these models for their research, a number of centralized resources exist around the world. These include centers that hold live and frozen stocks of transgenic, inbred and mutant animals and centers that hold molecular resources. This infrastructure is supported by a model organism database. Here, we describe much of this infrastructure and encourage the community to make the best use of it and to guide the resource centers in developing new lines and libraries.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Marko Horb
- National Xenopus Resource, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA, United States
| | - Marcin Wlizla
- National Xenopus Resource, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA, United States
| | - Anita Abu-Daya
- European Xenopus Resource Centre, Portsmouth, United Kingdom
| | - Sean McNamara
- National Xenopus Resource, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA, United States
| | - Dominika Gajdasik
- School of Biological Sciences, King Henry Building, Portsmouth, United Kingdom
| | - Takeshi Igawa
- Amphibian Research Center, Hiroshima University, Higashihiroshima, Japan
| | - Atsushi Suzuki
- Amphibian Research Center, Hiroshima University, Higashihiroshima, Japan
| | - Hajime Ogino
- Amphibian Research Center, Hiroshima University, Higashihiroshima, Japan
| | - Anna Noble
- European Xenopus Resource Centre, Portsmouth, United Kingdom
| | | | - Jacques Robert
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, United States
| | - Christina James-Zorn
- Xenbase, Division of Developmental Biology, Cincinnati Children's Research Foundation, Cincinnati, OH, United States
| | - Matthew Guille
- European Xenopus Resource Centre, Portsmouth, United Kingdom.,School of Biological Sciences, King Henry Building, Portsmouth, United Kingdom
| |
Collapse
|
19
|
Nenni MJ, Fisher ME, James-Zorn C, Pells TJ, Ponferrada V, Chu S, Fortriede JD, Burns KA, Wang Y, Lotay VS, Wang DZ, Segerdell E, Chaturvedi P, Karimi K, Vize PD, Zorn AM. Xenbase: Facilitating the Use of Xenopus to Model Human Disease. Front Physiol 2019; 10:154. [PMID: 30863320 PMCID: PMC6399412 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2019.00154] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2018] [Accepted: 02/08/2019] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
At a fundamental level most genes, signaling pathways, biological functions and organ systems are highly conserved between man and all vertebrate species. Leveraging this conservation, researchers are increasingly using the experimental advantages of the amphibian Xenopus to model human disease. The online Xenopus resource, Xenbase, enables human disease modeling by curating the Xenopus literature published in PubMed and integrating these Xenopus data with orthologous human genes, anatomy, and more recently with links to the Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man resource (OMIM) and the Human Disease Ontology (DO). Here we review how Xenbase supports disease modeling and report on a meta-analysis of the published Xenopus research providing an overview of the different types of diseases being modeled in Xenopus and the variety of experimental approaches being used. Text mining of over 50,000 Xenopus research articles imported into Xenbase from PubMed identified approximately 1,000 putative disease- modeling articles. These articles were manually assessed and annotated with disease ontologies, which were then used to classify papers based on disease type. We found that Xenopus is being used to study a diverse array of disease with three main experimental approaches: cell-free egg extracts to study fundamental aspects of cellular and molecular biology, oocytes to study ion transport and channel physiology and embryo experiments focused on congenital diseases. We integrated these data into Xenbase Disease Pages to allow easy navigation to disease information on external databases. Results of this analysis will equip Xenopus researchers with a suite of experimental approaches available to model or dissect a pathological process. Ideally clinicians and basic researchers will use this information to foster collaborations necessary to interrogate the development and treatment of human diseases.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Mardi J Nenni
- Division of Developmental Biology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital, Cincinnati, OH, United States
| | - Malcolm E Fisher
- Division of Developmental Biology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital, Cincinnati, OH, United States
| | - Christina James-Zorn
- Division of Developmental Biology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital, Cincinnati, OH, United States
| | - Troy J Pells
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Virgilio Ponferrada
- Division of Developmental Biology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital, Cincinnati, OH, United States
| | - Stanley Chu
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Joshua D Fortriede
- Division of Developmental Biology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital, Cincinnati, OH, United States
| | - Kevin A Burns
- Division of Developmental Biology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital, Cincinnati, OH, United States
| | - Ying Wang
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Vaneet S Lotay
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Dong Zhou Wang
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Erik Segerdell
- Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, United States
| | - Praneet Chaturvedi
- Division of Developmental Biology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital, Cincinnati, OH, United States
| | - Kamran Karimi
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Peter D Vize
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Aaron M Zorn
- Division of Developmental Biology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital, Cincinnati, OH, United States
| |
Collapse
|
20
|
Huizar RL, Lee C, Boulgakov AA, Horani A, Tu F, Marcotte EM, Brody SL, Wallingford JB. A liquid-like organelle at the root of motile ciliopathy. eLife 2018; 7:38497. [PMID: 30561330 PMCID: PMC6349401 DOI: 10.7554/elife.38497] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2018] [Accepted: 11/29/2018] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Motile ciliopathies are characterized by specific defects in cilia beating that result in chronic airway disease, subfertility, ectopic pregnancy, and hydrocephalus. While many patients harbor mutations in the dynein motors that drive cilia beating, the disease also results from mutations in so-called dynein axonemal assembly factors (DNAAFs) that act in the cytoplasm. The mechanisms of DNAAF action remain poorly defined. Here, we show that DNAAFs concentrate together with axonemal dyneins and chaperones into organelles that form specifically in multiciliated cells, which we term DynAPs, for dynein axonemal particles. These organelles display hallmarks of biomolecular condensates, and remarkably, DynAPs are enriched for the stress granule protein G3bp1, but not for other stress granule proteins or P-body proteins. Finally, we show that both the formation and the liquid-like behaviors of DynAPs are disrupted in a model of motile ciliopathy. These findings provide a unifying cell biological framework for a poorly understood class of human disease genes and add motile ciliopathy to the growing roster of human diseases associated with disrupted biological phase separation.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ryan L Huizar
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of Texas, Austin, United States
| | - Chanjae Lee
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of Texas, Austin, United States
| | | | - Amjad Horani
- Department of Pediatrics, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, United States
| | - Fan Tu
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of Texas, Austin, United States
| | - Edward M Marcotte
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of Texas, Austin, United States
| | - Steven L Brody
- Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, United States
| | - John B Wallingford
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of Texas, Austin, United States
| |
Collapse
|
21
|
Evolutionarily conserved Tbx5- Wnt2/2b pathway orchestrates cardiopulmonary development. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2018; 115:E10615-E10624. [PMID: 30352852 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1811624115] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Codevelopment of the lungs and heart underlies key evolutionary innovations in the transition to terrestrial life. Cardiac specializations that support pulmonary circulation, including the atrial septum, are generated by second heart field (SHF) cardiopulmonary progenitors (CPPs). It has been presumed that transcription factors required in the SHF for cardiac septation, e.g., Tbx5, directly drive a cardiac morphogenesis gene-regulatory network. Here, we report instead that TBX5 directly drives Wnt ligands to initiate a bidirectional signaling loop between cardiopulmonary mesoderm and the foregut endoderm for endodermal pulmonary specification and, subsequently, atrial septation. We show that Tbx5 is required for pulmonary specification in mice and amphibians but not for swim bladder development in zebrafish. TBX5 is non-cell-autonomously required for pulmonary endoderm specification by directly driving Wnt2 and Wnt2b expression in cardiopulmonary mesoderm. TBX5 ChIP-sequencing identified cis-regulatory elements at Wnt2 sufficient for endogenous Wnt2 expression domains in vivo and required for Wnt2 expression in precardiac mesoderm in vitro. Tbx5 cooperated with Shh signaling to drive Wnt2b expression for lung morphogenesis. Tbx5 haploinsufficiency in mice, a model of Holt-Oram syndrome, caused a quantitative decrement of mesodermal-to-endodermal Wnt signaling and subsequent endodermal-to-mesodermal Shh signaling required for cardiac morphogenesis. Thus, Tbx5 initiates a mesoderm-endoderm-mesoderm signaling loop in lunged vertebrates that provides a molecular basis for the coevolution of pulmonary and cardiac structures required for terrestrial life.
Collapse
|
22
|
Patrushev I, James-Zorn C, Ciau-Uitz A, Patient R, Gilchrist MJ. New methods for computational decomposition of whole-mount in situ images enable effective curation of a large, highly redundant collection of Xenopus images. PLoS Comput Biol 2018; 14:e1006077. [PMID: 30157169 PMCID: PMC6160239 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1006077] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2017] [Revised: 09/27/2018] [Accepted: 03/07/2018] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The precise anatomical location of gene expression is an essential component of the study of gene function. For most model organisms this task is usually undertaken via visual inspection of gene expression images by interested researchers. Computational analysis of gene expression has been developed in several model organisms, notably in Drosophila which exhibits a uniform shape and outline in the early stages of development. Here we address the challenge of computational analysis of gene expression in Xenopus, where the range of developmental stages of interest encompasses a wide range of embryo size and shape. Embryos may have different orientation across images, and, in addition, embryos have a pigmented epidermis that can mask or confuse underlying gene expression. Here we report the development of a set of computational tools capable of processing large image sets with variable characteristics. These tools efficiently separate the Xenopus embryo from the background, separately identify both histochemically stained and naturally pigmented regions within the embryo, and can sort images from the same gene and developmental stage according to similarity of gene expression patterns without information about relative orientation. We tested these methods on a large, but highly redundant, collection of 33,289 in situ hybridization images, allowing us to select representative images of expression patterns at different embryo orientations. This has allowed us to put a much smaller subset of these images into the public domain in an effective manner. The ‘isimage’ module and the scripts developed are implemented in Python and freely available on https://pypi.python.org/pypi/isimage/. An important component of research into the function of genes in the developing organism is an understanding of both when and where the gene is expressed. Well established molecular techniques can be used to colour the embryo in regions where the gene of interest appears, and researchers will photograph such treated embryos at different stages of development to build up the story of the gene’s use. Small numbers of these expression pattern images may easily be examined by eye, but getting usable information from large collections of such images would take an enormous investment in time by trained scientists. Computational analysis is much to be preferred, but the task is complex and difficult to generalise. The frog Xenopus is an important model for studying vertebrate development, but up till now has had no purely computational methods available for analysing gene expression. Here we present a suite of computational tools based on a range of mathematical methods, capable of recognising the outline of the embryo against a variety of backgrounds, and within the embryo separately recognising areas of both gene expression and natural pigmentation. These tools work over a wide range of embryo shapes and imaging conditions, and, in our opinion, represent a major step towards full automation of anatomical gene expression annotation in vertebrate embryology.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Christina James-Zorn
- Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Division of Developmental Biology, Cincinnati, Ohio
| | - Aldo Ciau-Uitz
- MRC Molecular Haematology Unit, The Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headington, Oxford
| | - Roger Patient
- MRC Molecular Haematology Unit, The Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headington, Oxford
| | | |
Collapse
|