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Lebek T, Malaguti M, Boezio GL, Zoupi L, Briscoe J, Elfick A, Lowell S. PUFFFIN: an ultra-bright, customisable, single-plasmid system for labelling cell neighbourhoods. EMBO J 2024:10.1038/s44318-024-00154-w. [PMID: 38997504 DOI: 10.1038/s44318-024-00154-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2023] [Revised: 06/05/2024] [Accepted: 06/10/2024] [Indexed: 07/14/2024] Open
Abstract
Cell communication coordinates developmental processes, maintains homeostasis, and contributes to disease. Therefore, understanding the relationship between cells in a shared environment is crucial. Here we introduce Positive Ultra-bright Fluorescent Fusion For Identifying Neighbours (PUFFFIN), a cell neighbour-labelling system based upon secretion and uptake of positively supercharged fluorescent protein s36GFP. We fused s36GFP to mNeonGreen or to a HaloTag, facilitating ultra-bright, sensitive, colour-of-choice labelling. Secretor cells transfer PUFFFIN to neighbours while retaining nuclear mCherry, making identification, isolation, and investigation of live neighbours straightforward. PUFFFIN can be delivered to cells, tissues, or embryos on a customisable single-plasmid construct composed of interchangeable components with the option to incorporate any transgene. This versatility enables the manipulation of cell properties, while simultaneously labelling surrounding cells, in cell culture or in vivo. We use PUFFFIN to ask whether pluripotent cells adjust the pace of differentiation to synchronise with their neighbours during exit from naïve pluripotency. PUFFFIN offers a simple, sensitive, customisable approach to profile non-cell-autonomous responses to natural or induced changes in cell identity or behaviour.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tamina Lebek
- Centre for Regenerative Medicine, Institute for Regeneration and Repair, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH16 4UU, UK
| | - Mattias Malaguti
- Centre for Regenerative Medicine, Institute for Regeneration and Repair, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH16 4UU, UK
- Centre for Engineering Biology, Institute of Quantitative Biology, Biochemistry and Biotechnology, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH9 3FF, UK
| | | | - Lida Zoupi
- Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH8 9XD, UK
- Simons Initiative for the Developing Brain, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH8 9XD, UK
| | | | - Alistair Elfick
- Institute for Bioengineering, School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH8 3DW, UK
- UK Centre for Mammalian Synthetic Biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH9 3BF, UK
| | - Sally Lowell
- Centre for Regenerative Medicine, Institute for Regeneration and Repair, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH16 4UU, UK.
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2
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Shu J, Jelinek J, Chen H, Zhang Y, Qin T, Li M, Liu L, Issa JPJ. Genome-wide screening and functional validation of methylation barriers near promoters. Nucleic Acids Res 2024; 52:4857-4871. [PMID: 38647050 PMCID: PMC11109949 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkae302] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2023] [Revised: 03/13/2024] [Accepted: 04/09/2024] [Indexed: 04/25/2024] Open
Abstract
CpG islands near promoters are normally unmethylated despite being surrounded by densely methylated regions. Aberrant hypermethylation of these CpG islands has been associated with the development of various human diseases. Although local genetic elements have been speculated to play a role in protecting promoters from methylation, only a limited number of methylation barriers have been identified. In this study, we conducted an integrated computational and experimental investigation of colorectal cancer methylomes. Our study revealed 610 genes with disrupted methylation barriers. Genomic sequences of these barriers shared a common 41-bp sequence motif (MB-41) that displayed homology to the chicken HS4 methylation barrier. Using the CDKN2A (P16) tumor suppressor gene promoter, we validated the protective function of MB-41 and showed that loss of such protection led to aberrant hypermethylation. Our findings highlight a novel sequence signature of cis-acting methylation barriers in the human genome that safeguard promoters from silencing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jingmin Shu
- College of Health Solutions, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, USA
- Center for Personalized Diagnostics, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | - Jaroslav Jelinek
- Fels Institute for Cancer Research, Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19140, USA
- Cooper Medical School at Rowan University, Camden, NJ 08103, USA
- Coriell Institute for Medical Research, Camden, NJ 08103, USA
| | - Hai Chen
- College of Health Solutions, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, USA
- Center for Personalized Diagnostics, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | - Yan Zhang
- Fels Institute for Cancer Research, Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19140, USA
| | - Taichun Qin
- Fels Institute for Cancer Research, Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19140, USA
| | - Ming Li
- Phoenix VA Health Care System, Phoenix, AZ 85012, USA
- University of Arizona College of Medicine, Phoenix, AZ 85004, USA
| | - Li Liu
- College of Health Solutions, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, USA
- Center for Personalized Diagnostics, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | - Jean-Pierre J Issa
- Fels Institute for Cancer Research, Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19140, USA
- Cooper Medical School at Rowan University, Camden, NJ 08103, USA
- Coriell Institute for Medical Research, Camden, NJ 08103, USA
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3
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Ortabozkoyun H, Huang PY, Gonzalez-Buendia E, Cho H, Kim S, Tsirigos A, Mazzoni E, Reinberg D. Members of an array of zinc finger proteins specify distinct Hox chromatin boundaries. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2023.04.25.538167. [PMID: 37162865 PMCID: PMC10168243 DOI: 10.1101/2023.04.25.538167] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/11/2023]
Abstract
The partitioning of repressive from actively transcribed chromatin domains in mammalian cells fosters cell-type specific gene expression patterns. During differentiation, this partitioning is reconstructed, reflecting gene expression profiles appropriate to new cellular identities. Yet, the chromatin occupancy of the key chromatin insulator, CTCF, at the developmentally important Hox clusters remains unchanged during differentiation. Thus, dynamic changes in chromatin boundaries must entail other activities, such as the previously identified MAZ insulator. Given its requirement for chromatin loop formation, we examined cohesin-based chromatin occupancy without the known insulators, CTCF and MAZ, and identified a novel family of zinc finger proteins (ZNFs), some of which exhibit tissue-specific expression. Thus far, two of these novel ZNFs facilitate the formation of chromatin boundaries at the Hox clusters that are distinct from each other and from that of MAZ. PATZ1 was critical to the thoracolumbar boundary of Hox clusters in differentiating motor neurons in vitro , skeletal development in vivo, and to looping interactions within the genome. On the other hand, ZNF263 contributed to cervicothoracic boundaries in motor neurons. We propose that these novel insulating activities act in concert with cohesin, alone or combinatorially, with or without CTCF, to implement precise positional identity and cell fate during development.
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4
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Yoshimoto T, Chaya T, Varner LR, Ando M, Tsujii T, Motooka D, Kimura K, Furukawa T. The Rax homeoprotein in Müller glial cells is required for homeostasis maintenance of the postnatal mouse retina. J Biol Chem 2023; 299:105461. [PMID: 37977220 PMCID: PMC10714373 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbc.2023.105461] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2023] [Revised: 10/25/2023] [Accepted: 11/04/2023] [Indexed: 11/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Müller glial cells, which are the most predominant glial subtype in the retina, play multiple important roles, including the maintenance of structural integrity, homeostasis, and physiological functions of the retina. We have previously found that the Rax homeoprotein is expressed in postnatal and mature Müller glial cells in the mouse retina. However, the function of Rax in postnatal and mature Müller glial cells remains to be elucidated. In the current study, we first investigated Rax function in retinal development using retroviral lineage analysis and found that Rax controls the specification of late-born retinal cell types, including Müller glial cells in the postnatal retina. We next generated Rax tamoxifen-induced conditional KO (Rax iCKO) mice, where Rax can be depleted in mTFP-labeled Müller glial cells upon tamoxifen treatment, by crossing Raxflox/flox mice with Rlbp1-CreERT2 mice, which we have produced. Immunohistochemical analysis showed a characteristic of reactive gliosis and enhanced gliosis of Müller glial cells in Rax iCKO retinas under normal and stress conditions, respectively. We performed RNA-seq analysis on mTFP-positive cells purified from the Rax iCKO retina and found significantly reduced expression of suppressor of cytokinesignaling-3 (Socs3). Reporter gene assays showed that Rax directly transactivates the Socs3 promoter. We observed decreased expression of Socs3 in Müller glial cells of Rax iCKO retinas by immunostaining. Taken together, the present results suggest that Rax suppresses inflammation in Müller glial cells by transactivating Socs3. This study sheds light on the transcriptional regulatory mechanisms underlying retinal Müller glial cell homeostasis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Takuya Yoshimoto
- Laboratory for Molecular and Developmental Biology, Institute for Protein Research, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan; Department of Ophthalmology, Yamaguchi University Graduate School of Medicine, Yamaguchi University, Ube, Yamaguchi, Japan
| | - Taro Chaya
- Laboratory for Molecular and Developmental Biology, Institute for Protein Research, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan
| | - Leah R Varner
- Laboratory for Molecular and Developmental Biology, Institute for Protein Research, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan
| | - Makoto Ando
- Laboratory for Molecular and Developmental Biology, Institute for Protein Research, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan
| | - Toshinori Tsujii
- Laboratory for Molecular and Developmental Biology, Institute for Protein Research, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan
| | - Daisuke Motooka
- Genome Information Research Center, Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan
| | - Kazuhiro Kimura
- Department of Ophthalmology, Yamaguchi University Graduate School of Medicine, Yamaguchi University, Ube, Yamaguchi, Japan
| | - Takahisa Furukawa
- Laboratory for Molecular and Developmental Biology, Institute for Protein Research, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan.
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5
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Pickles S, Zanetti Alepuz D, Koike Y, Yue M, Tong J, Liu P, Zhou Y, Jansen-West K, Daughrity LM, Song Y, DeTure M, Oskarsson B, Graff-Radford NR, Boeve BF, Petersen RC, Josephs KA, Dickson DW, Ward ME, Dong L, Prudencio M, Cook CN, Petrucelli L. CRISPR interference to evaluate modifiers of C9ORF72-mediated toxicity in FTD. Front Cell Dev Biol 2023; 11:1251551. [PMID: 37614226 PMCID: PMC10443592 DOI: 10.3389/fcell.2023.1251551] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2023] [Accepted: 07/26/2023] [Indexed: 08/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Treatments for neurodegenerative disease, including Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), remain rather limited, underscoring the need for greater mechanistic insight and disease-relevant models. Our ability to develop novel disease models of genetic risk factors, disease modifiers, and other FTD/ALS-relevant targets is impeded by the significant amount of time and capital required to develop conventional knockout and transgenic mice. To overcome these limitations, we have generated a novel CRISPRi interference (CRISPRi) knockin mouse. CRISPRi uses a catalytically dead form of Cas9, fused to a transcriptional repressor to knockdown protein expression, following the introduction of single guide RNA against the gene of interest. To validate the utility of this model we have selected the TAR DNA binding protein (TDP-43) splicing target, stathmin-2 (STMN2). STMN2 RNA is downregulated in FTD/ALS due to loss of TDP-43 activity and STMN2 loss is suggested to play a role in ALS pathogenesis. The involvement of STMN2 loss of function in FTD has yet to be determined. We find that STMN2 protein levels in familial FTD cases are significantly reduced compared to controls, supporting that STMN2 depletion may be involved in the pathogenesis of FTD. Here, we provide proof-of-concept that we can simultaneously knock down Stmn2 and express the expanded repeat in the Chromosome 9 open reading frame 72 (C9ORF72) gene, successfully replicating features of C9-associated pathology. Of interest, depletion of Stmn2 had no effect on expression or deposition of dipeptide repeat proteins (DPRs), but significantly decreased the number of phosphorylated Tdp-43 (pTdp-43) inclusions. We submit that our novel CRISPRi mouse provides a versatile and rapid method to silence gene expression in vivo and propose this model will be useful to understand gene function in isolation or in the context of other neurodegenerative disease models.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah Pickles
- Department of Neuroscience, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, United States
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, Mayo Graduate School, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, United States
| | | | - Yuka Koike
- Department of Neuroscience, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, United States
| | - Mei Yue
- Department of Neuroscience, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, United States
| | - Jimei Tong
- Department of Neuroscience, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, United States
| | - Pinghu Liu
- Genetic Engineering Core, National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Yugui Zhou
- Genetic Engineering Core, National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Karen Jansen-West
- Department of Neuroscience, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, United States
| | | | - Yuping Song
- Department of Neuroscience, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, United States
| | - Michael DeTure
- Department of Neuroscience, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, United States
| | - Björn Oskarsson
- Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, United States
| | | | - Bradley F. Boeve
- Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, United States
| | | | - Keith A. Josephs
- Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, United States
| | - Dennis W. Dickson
- Department of Neuroscience, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, United States
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, Mayo Graduate School, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, United States
- Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, United States
| | - Michael E. Ward
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Lijin Dong
- Genetic Engineering Core, National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Mercedes Prudencio
- Department of Neuroscience, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, United States
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, Mayo Graduate School, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, United States
| | - Casey N. Cook
- Department of Neuroscience, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, United States
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, Mayo Graduate School, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, United States
| | - Leonard Petrucelli
- Department of Neuroscience, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, United States
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, Mayo Graduate School, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, United States
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6
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Pandupuspitasari NS, Khan FA, Huang C, Ali A, Yousaf MR, Shakeel F, Putri EM, Negara W, Muktiani A, Prasetiyono BWHE, Kustiawan L, Wahyuni DS. Recent advances in chromosome capture techniques unraveling 3D genome architecture in germ cells, health, and disease. Funct Integr Genomics 2023; 23:214. [PMID: 37386239 DOI: 10.1007/s10142-023-01146-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2023] [Revised: 06/16/2023] [Accepted: 06/20/2023] [Indexed: 07/01/2023]
Abstract
In eukaryotes, the genome does not emerge in a specific shape but rather as a hierarchial bundle within the nucleus. This multifaceted genome organization consists of multiresolution cellular structures, such as chromosome territories, compartments, and topologically associating domains, which are frequently defined by architecture, design proteins including CTCF and cohesin, and chromatin loops. This review briefly discusses the advances in understanding the basic rules of control, chromatin folding, and functional areas in early embryogenesis. With the use of chromosome capture techniques, the latest advancements in technologies for visualizing chromatin interactions come close to revealing 3D genome formation frameworks with incredible detail throughout all genomic levels, including at single-cell resolution. The possibility of detecting variations in chromatin architecture might open up new opportunities for disease diagnosis and prevention, infertility treatments, therapeutic approaches, desired exploration, and many other application scenarios.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nuruliarizki Shinta Pandupuspitasari
- Laboratory of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science, Animal Science Department, Faculty of Animal and Agricultural Sciences, Universitas Diponegoro, Semarang, Indonesia.
| | - Faheem Ahmed Khan
- Research Center for Animal Husbandry, National Research and Innovation Agency, Bogor, Indonesia
| | - Chunjie Huang
- Institute of Reproductive Medicine, School of Medicine, Nantong University, Nantong, 226001, China
| | - Azhar Ali
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Genomics, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Central Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
| | - Muhammad Rizwan Yousaf
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Genomics, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Central Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
| | - Farwa Shakeel
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Genomics, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Central Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
| | - Ezi Masdia Putri
- Research Center for Animal Husbandry, National Research and Innovation Agency, Bogor, Indonesia
| | - Windu Negara
- Research Center for Animal Husbandry, National Research and Innovation Agency, Bogor, Indonesia
| | - Anis Muktiani
- Laboratory of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science, Animal Science Department, Faculty of Animal and Agricultural Sciences, Universitas Diponegoro, Semarang, Indonesia
| | - Bambang Waluyo Hadi Eko Prasetiyono
- Laboratory of Feed Technology, Animal Science Department, Faculty of Animal and Agricultural Sciences Universitas Diponegoro, Semarang, Indonesia
| | - Limbang Kustiawan
- Laboratory of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science, Animal Science Department, Faculty of Animal and Agricultural Sciences, Universitas Diponegoro, Semarang, Indonesia
| | - Dimar Sari Wahyuni
- Research Center for Animal Husbandry, National Research and Innovation Agency, Bogor, Indonesia
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7
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Carlsen H, Ebihara K, Kuwata NH, Kuwata K, Aydemir G, Rühl R, Blomhoff R. A transgenic reporter mouse model for in vivo assessment of retinoic acid receptor transcriptional activation. INT J VITAM NUTR RES 2023; 93:29-41. [PMID: 33928787 DOI: 10.1024/0300-9831/a000705] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Background: Vitamin A is essential for a wide range of life processes throughout embryogenesis to adult life. With the aim of developing an in vivo model to monitor retinoic acid receptor (RAR) transactivation real-time in intact animals, we generated transgenic mice carrying a luciferase (luc) reporter gene under the control of retinoic acid response elements (RAREs) consisting of three copies of a direct repeat with five spacing nucleotides (DR5). Methods: Transgenic mice carrying a RARE dependent luciferase reporter flanked with insulator sequence were generated by pronuclear injection. RARE dependent luciferase activity was detected by in vivo imaging or in tissue extracts following manipulations with RAR/retinoid X receptor (RXR) agonists, RAR antagonists or in vitamin A deficient mice. Results: We found a strong induction of luciferase activity in a time and dose dependent manner by retinoic acid as well as RAR agonists, but not by the RXR agonist (using n=4-6 per group; 94 mice). In addition, luciferase activity was strongly reduced in vitamin A-deficient mice (n=6-9; 30 mice). These observations confirm that luciferase activity was controlled by RAR activation in the RARE-luc mouse. Luciferase activity was detectable in various organs, with high activity especially in brain and testis, indicating strong retinoid signalling in these tissues. Conclusion: The RARE-luc transgenic mice, which enabled real-time in vivo assessment of RAR activation, will be useful in understanding the normal physiology of vitamin A, the role of retinoid signalling in pathologies as well as to evaluate pharmacological ligands for RARs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Harald Carlsen
- Department of Nutrition, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.,Faculty of Chemistry, Biotechnology and Food Science, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway
| | - Kanae Ebihara
- Department of Nutrition, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Nobuyo H Kuwata
- Department of Nutrition, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Kazuhisa Kuwata
- Department of Nutrition, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Gamze Aydemir
- Laboratory of Nutritional Bioactivation and Bioanalysis, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Medical and Health Science Center, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary
| | - Ralph Rühl
- Laboratory of Nutritional Bioactivation and Bioanalysis, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Medical and Health Science Center, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary.,Paprika Bioanalytics BT, Debrecen, Hungary
| | - Rune Blomhoff
- Department of Nutrition, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.,Department of Clinical Service, Division of Cancer Medicine, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
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8
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Mouri K, Dewey HB, Castro R, Berenzy D, Kales S, Tewhey R. Whole-genome functional characterization of RE1 silencers using a modified massively parallel reporter assay. CELL GENOMICS 2023; 3:100234. [PMID: 36777181 PMCID: PMC9903721 DOI: 10.1016/j.xgen.2022.100234] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2022] [Revised: 09/12/2022] [Accepted: 11/23/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Both upregulation and downregulation by cis-regulatory elements help modulate precise gene expression. However, our understanding of repressive elements is far more limited than activating elements. To address this gap, we characterized RE1, a group of transcriptional silencers bound by REST, at genome-wide scale using a modified massively parallel reporter assay (MPRAduo). MPRAduo empirically defined a minimal binding strength of REST (REST motif-intrinsic value [m-value]), above which cofactors colocalize and silence transcription. We identified 1,500 human variants that alter RE1 silencing and found that their effect sizes are predictable when they overlap with REST-binding sites above the m-value. Additionally, we demonstrate that non-canonical REST-binding motifs exhibit silencer function only if they precisely align half sites with specific spacer lengths. Our results show mechanistic insights into RE1, which allow us to predict its activity and effect of variants on RE1, providing a paradigm for performing genome-wide functional characterization of transcription-factor-binding sites.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - Susan Kales
- The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, ME 04609, USA
| | - Ryan Tewhey
- The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, ME 04609, USA
- Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Engineering, University of Maine, Orono, ME, USA
- Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA
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9
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Abstract
In animals, the sequences for controlling gene expression do not concentrate just at the transcription start site of genes, but are frequently thousands to millions of base pairs distal to it. The interaction of these sequences with one another and their transcription start sites is regulated by factors that shape the three-dimensional (3D) organization of the genome within the nucleus. Over the past decade, indirect tools exploiting high-throughput DNA sequencing have helped to map this 3D organization, have identified multiple key regulators of its structure and, in the process, have substantially reshaped our view of how 3D genome architecture regulates transcription. Now, new tools for high-throughput super-resolution imaging of chromatin have directly visualized the 3D chromatin organization, settling some debates left unresolved by earlier indirect methods, challenging some earlier models of regulatory specificity and creating hypotheses about the role of chromatin structure in transcriptional regulation.
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10
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Cabrera A, Edelstein HI, Glykofrydis F, Love KS, Palacios S, Tycko J, Zhang M, Lensch S, Shields CE, Livingston M, Weiss R, Zhao H, Haynes KA, Morsut L, Chen YY, Khalil AS, Wong WW, Collins JJ, Rosser SJ, Polizzi K, Elowitz MB, Fussenegger M, Hilton IB, Leonard JN, Bintu L, Galloway KE, Deans TL. The sound of silence: Transgene silencing in mammalian cell engineering. Cell Syst 2022; 13:950-973. [PMID: 36549273 PMCID: PMC9880859 DOI: 10.1016/j.cels.2022.11.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2022] [Revised: 09/22/2022] [Accepted: 11/22/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
To elucidate principles operating in native biological systems and to develop novel biotechnologies, synthetic biology aims to build and integrate synthetic gene circuits within native transcriptional networks. The utility of synthetic gene circuits for cell engineering relies on the ability to control the expression of all constituent transgene components. Transgene silencing, defined as the loss of expression over time, persists as an obstacle for engineering primary cells and stem cells with transgenic cargos. In this review, we highlight the challenge that transgene silencing poses to the robust engineering of mammalian cells, outline potential molecular mechanisms of silencing, and present approaches for preventing transgene silencing. We conclude with a perspective identifying future research directions for improving the performance of synthetic gene circuits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alan Cabrera
- Department of Bioengineering, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, USA; Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Hailey I Edelstein
- Center for Synthetic Biology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA; The Eli and Edythe Broad CIRM Center, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA
| | - Fokion Glykofrydis
- Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90033-9080, USA
| | - Kasey S Love
- Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Sebastian Palacios
- Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Josh Tycko
- Department of Genetics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Meng Zhang
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
| | - Sarah Lensch
- Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Cara E Shields
- Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
| | - Mark Livingston
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
| | - Ron Weiss
- Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Synthetic Biology Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Huimin Zhao
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
| | - Karmella A Haynes
- Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
| | - Leonardo Morsut
- Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90033-9080, USA
| | - Yvonne Y Chen
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA; Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA; Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy Center at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Ahmad S Khalil
- Biological Design Center and Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA; Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Wilson W Wong
- Biological Design Center and Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA
| | - James J Collins
- Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90033-9080, USA; Synthetic Biology Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA; Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA; Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Susan J Rosser
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Karen Polizzi
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London, UK; Imperial College Centre for Synthetic Biology, South Kensington Campus, London, UK
| | - Michael B Elowitz
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
| | - Martin Fussenegger
- Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering, ETH Zurich, Mattenstrasse 26, Basel 4058, Switzerland; Faculty of Science, University of Basel, Mattenstrasse 26, Basel 4058, Switzerland
| | - Isaac B Hilton
- Department of Bioengineering, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, USA
| | - Joshua N Leonard
- Center for Synthetic Biology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA; The Eli and Edythe Broad CIRM Center, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA
| | - Lacramioara Bintu
- Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Kate E Galloway
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Tara L Deans
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA.
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11
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Jiang L, Liu Y, Wen Z, Yang Y, Singer SD, Bennett D, Xu W, Su Z, Yu Z, Cohn J, Luo X, Liu Z, Chae H, Que Q, Liu Z. CW198 acts as a genetic insulator to block enhancer-promoter interaction in plants. Transgenic Res 2022; 31:647-660. [PMID: 36053433 DOI: 10.1007/s11248-022-00326-6] [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: 09/24/2021] [Accepted: 08/15/2022] [Indexed: 01/20/2023]
Abstract
Insulators in vertebrates play a role in genome architecture and orchestrate temporo-spatial enhancer-promoter interactions. In plants, insulators and their associated binding factors have not been documented as of yet, largely as a result of a lack of characterized insulators. In this study, we took a comprehensive strategy to identify and validate the enhancer-blocking insulator CW198. We show that a 1.08-kb CW198 fragment from Arabidopsis can, when interposed between an enhancer and a promoter, efficiently abrogate the activation function of both constitutive and floral organ-specific enhancers in transgenic Arabidopsis and tobacco plants. In plants, both transcriptional crosstalk and spreading of histone modifications were rarely detectable across CW198, which resembles the insulation property observed across the CTCF insulator in the mammalian genome. Taken together, our findings support that CW198 acts as an enhancer-blocking insulator in both Arabidopsis and tobacco. The significance of the present findings and their relevance to the mitigation of mutual interference between enhancers and promoters, as well as multiple promoters in transgenes, is discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Li Jiang
- College of Food Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China.,USDA-ARS, -Appalachian Fruit Research Station, 2217 Wiltshire Road, Kearneysville, WV, 25430, USA
| | - Yue Liu
- College of Horticulture, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, 266109, China
| | - Zhifeng Wen
- USDA-ARS, -Appalachian Fruit Research Station, 2217 Wiltshire Road, Kearneysville, WV, 25430, USA.,College of Horticulture, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, 350002, China
| | - Yingjun Yang
- USDA-ARS, -Appalachian Fruit Research Station, 2217 Wiltshire Road, Kearneysville, WV, 25430, USA.,Forestry College, Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang, 471023, China
| | - Stacy D Singer
- Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Lethbridge Research and Development Centre, Lethbridge, AB, T1J 4B1, Canada
| | - Dennis Bennett
- USDA-ARS, -Appalachian Fruit Research Station, 2217 Wiltshire Road, Kearneysville, WV, 25430, USA
| | - Wenying Xu
- State Key Laboratory of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, China
| | - Zhen Su
- State Key Laboratory of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, China
| | - Zhifang Yu
- College of Food Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China
| | - Josh Cohn
- Syngenta Crop Protection, LLC, Research Triangle Park, NC, 27709, USA
| | - Xi Luo
- Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
| | - Zhongchi Liu
- Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
| | - Hyunsook Chae
- Syngenta Crop Protection, LLC, Research Triangle Park, NC, 27709, USA
| | - Qiudeng Que
- Syngenta Crop Protection, LLC, Research Triangle Park, NC, 27709, USA
| | - Zongrang Liu
- USDA-ARS, -Appalachian Fruit Research Station, 2217 Wiltshire Road, Kearneysville, WV, 25430, USA.
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12
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Dehingia B, Milewska M, Janowski M, Pękowska A. CTCF
shapes chromatin structure and gene expression in health and disease. EMBO Rep 2022; 23:e55146. [PMID: 35993175 PMCID: PMC9442299 DOI: 10.15252/embr.202255146] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2022] [Revised: 05/31/2022] [Accepted: 07/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Bondita Dehingia
- Dioscuri Centre for Chromatin Biology and Epigenomics, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology Polish Academy of Sciences Warsaw Poland
| | - Małgorzata Milewska
- Dioscuri Centre for Chromatin Biology and Epigenomics, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology Polish Academy of Sciences Warsaw Poland
| | - Marcin Janowski
- Dioscuri Centre for Chromatin Biology and Epigenomics, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology Polish Academy of Sciences Warsaw Poland
| | - Aleksandra Pękowska
- Dioscuri Centre for Chromatin Biology and Epigenomics, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology Polish Academy of Sciences Warsaw Poland
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13
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Harbers M, Nakao H, Watanabe T, Matsuyama K, Tohyama S, Nakao K, Kishimoto Y, Kano M, Aiba A. mGluR5 Is Substitutable for mGluR1 in Cerebellar Purkinje Cells for Motor Coordination, Developmental Synapse Elimination, and Motor Learning. Cells 2022; 11:cells11132004. [PMID: 35805089 PMCID: PMC9265771 DOI: 10.3390/cells11132004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2022] [Revised: 06/17/2022] [Accepted: 06/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Group I metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) include mGluR1 and mGluR5, which are coupled to the Gq family of heterotrimeric G-proteins and readily activated by their selective agonist 3,5-dihydroxyphenilglycine (DHPG). mGluR1 and mGluR5 exhibit nearly complementary distributions spatially or temporally in the central nervous system (CNS). In adult cerebellar Purkinje cells (PCs), mGluR1 is a dominant group I mGluR and mGluR5 is undetectable. mGluR1 expression increases substantially during the first three weeks of postnatal development and remains high throughout adulthood. On the other hand, mGluR5 expression is observed during the first two postnatal weeks and then decreases. However, functional differences between mGluR1 and mGluR5 in the CNS remains to be elucidated. To address this issue, we generated “mGluR5-rescue” mice in which mGluR5 is specifically expressed in PCs in global mGluR1-knockout (KO) mice. mGluR5-rescue mice exhibited apparently normal motor coordination, developmental elimination of redundant climbing fiber (CF)-PC synapses, and delay eyeblink conditioning, which were severely impaired in mGluR1-KO mice. We concluded that mGluR5 is functionally comparable with mGluR1 in cerebellar PCs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Harbers
- Laboratory of Animal Resources, Center for Disease Biology and Integrative Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan; (M.H.); (H.N.); (K.N.)
| | - Harumi Nakao
- Laboratory of Animal Resources, Center for Disease Biology and Integrative Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan; (M.H.); (H.N.); (K.N.)
| | - Takaki Watanabe
- Department of Neurophysiology, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan; (T.W.); (K.M.); (M.K.)
- International Research Center for Neurointelligence (WPI-IRCN), The University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan
| | - Kyoko Matsuyama
- Department of Neurophysiology, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan; (T.W.); (K.M.); (M.K.)
| | - Shoichi Tohyama
- Laboratory of Physical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharma-Science, Teikyo University, 2-11-1 Kaga, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo 173-8605, Japan; (S.T.); (Y.K.)
| | - Kazuki Nakao
- Laboratory of Animal Resources, Center for Disease Biology and Integrative Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan; (M.H.); (H.N.); (K.N.)
- Institute of Experimental Animal Sciences, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, 2-2 Yamadaoka, Osaka 565-0871, Japan
| | - Yasushi Kishimoto
- Laboratory of Physical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharma-Science, Teikyo University, 2-11-1 Kaga, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo 173-8605, Japan; (S.T.); (Y.K.)
| | - Masanobu Kano
- Department of Neurophysiology, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan; (T.W.); (K.M.); (M.K.)
- International Research Center for Neurointelligence (WPI-IRCN), The University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan
| | - Atsu Aiba
- Laboratory of Animal Resources, Center for Disease Biology and Integrative Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan; (M.H.); (H.N.); (K.N.)
- Correspondence:
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14
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Lensch S, Herschl MH, Ludwig CH, Sinha J, Hinks MM, Mukund A, Fujimori T, Bintu L. Dynamic spreading of chromatin-mediated gene silencing and reactivation between neighboring genes in single cells. eLife 2022; 11:e75115. [PMID: 35678392 PMCID: PMC9183234 DOI: 10.7554/elife.75115] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2021] [Accepted: 03/23/2022] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
In mammalian cells genes that are in close proximity can be transcriptionally coupled: silencing or activating one gene can affect its neighbors. Understanding these dynamics is important for natural processes, such as heterochromatin spreading during development and aging, and when designing synthetic gene regulation circuits. Here, we systematically dissect this process in single cells by recruiting and releasing repressive chromatin regulators at dual-gene synthetic reporters, and measuring how fast gene silencing and reactivation spread as a function of intergenic distance and configuration of insulator elements. We find that silencing by KRAB, associated with histone methylation, spreads between two genes within hours, with a time delay that increases with distance. This fast KRAB-mediated spreading is not blocked by the classical cHS4 insulators. Silencing by histone deacetylase HDAC4 of the upstream gene can also facilitate background silencing of the downstream gene by PRC2, but with a days-long delay that does not change with distance. This slower silencing can sometimes be stopped by insulators. Gene reactivation of neighboring genes is also coupled, with strong promoters and insulators determining the order of reactivation. Our data can be described by a model of multi-gene regulation that builds upon previous knowledge of heterochromatin spreading, where both gene silencing and gene reactivation can act at a distance, allowing for coordinated dynamics via chromatin regulator recruitment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah Lensch
- Department of Bioengineering, Stanford UniversityStanfordUnited States
| | - Michael H Herschl
- University of California, Berkeley—University of California, San Francisco Graduate Program in BioengineeringBerkeleyUnited States
| | - Connor H Ludwig
- Department of Bioengineering, Stanford UniversityStanfordUnited States
| | - Joydeb Sinha
- Department of Chemical and Systems Biology, Stanford UniversityStanfordUnited States
| | - Michaela M Hinks
- Department of Bioengineering, Stanford UniversityStanfordUnited States
| | - Adi Mukund
- Biophysics Program, Stanford UniversityStanfordUnited States
| | - Taihei Fujimori
- Department of Bioengineering, Stanford UniversityStanfordUnited States
| | - Lacramioara Bintu
- Department of Bioengineering, Stanford UniversityStanfordUnited States
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15
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Establishment of H3K9-methylated heterochromatin and its functions in tissue differentiation and maintenance. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 2022; 23:623-640. [PMID: 35562425 PMCID: PMC9099300 DOI: 10.1038/s41580-022-00483-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 136] [Impact Index Per Article: 68.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/30/2022] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Heterochromatin is characterized by dimethylated or trimethylated histone H3 Lys9 (H3K9me2 or H3K9me3, respectively) and is found at transposable elements, satellite repeats and genes, where it ensures their transcriptional silencing. The histone methyltransferases (HMTs) that methylate H3K9 — in mammals Suppressor of variegation 3–9 homologue 1 (SUV39H1), SUV39H2, SET domain bifurcated 1 (SETDB1), SETDB2, G9A and G9A-like protein (GLP) — and the ‘readers’ of H3K9me2 or H3K9me3 are highly conserved and show considerable redundancy. Despite their redundancy, genetic ablation or mistargeting of an individual H3K9 methyltransferase can correlate with impaired cell differentiation, loss of tissue identity, premature aging and/or cancer. In this Review, we discuss recent advances in understanding the roles of the known H3K9-specific HMTs in ensuring transcriptional homeostasis during tissue differentiation in mammals. We examine the effects of H3K9-methylation-dependent gene repression in haematopoiesis, muscle differentiation and neurogenesis in mammals, and compare them with mechanistic insights obtained from the study of model organisms, notably Caenorhabditis elegans and Drosophila melanogaster. In all these organisms, H3K9-specific HMTs have both unique and redundant roles that ensure the maintenance of tissue integrity by restricting the binding of transcription factors to lineage-specific promoters and enhancer elements. Histone H3 Lys9 (H3K9)-methylated heterochromatin ensures transcriptional silencing of repetitive elements and genes, and its deregulation leads to impaired cell and tissue identity, premature aging and cancer. Recent studies in mammals clarified the roles H3K9-specific histone methyltransferases in ensuring transcriptional homeostasis during tissue differentiation.
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16
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Abbasalipour M, Khosravi MA, Zeinali S, Khanahmad H, Azadmanesh K, Karimipoor M. Lentiviral vector containing beta-globin gene for beta thalassemia gene therapy. GENE REPORTS 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.genrep.2022.101615] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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17
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Liu H, Jiang L, Wen Z, Yang Y, Singer SD, Bennett D, Xu W, Su Z, Yu Z, Cohn J, Chae H, Que Q, Liu Y, Liu C, Liu Z. Rice RS2-9, which is bound by transcription factor OSH1, blocks enhancer-promoter interactions in plants. THE PLANT JOURNAL : FOR CELL AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 2022; 109:541-554. [PMID: 34773305 PMCID: PMC9303810 DOI: 10.1111/tpj.15574] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2021] [Accepted: 11/02/2021] [Indexed: 05/13/2023]
Abstract
Insulators characterized in Drosophila and mammals have been shown to play a key role in the restriction of promiscuous enhancer-promoter interactions, as well as reshaping the topological landscape of chromosomes. Yet the role of insulators in plants remains poorly understood, in large part because of a lack of well-characterized insulators and binding factor(s). In this study, we isolated a 1.2-kb RS2-9 insulator from the Oryza sativa (rice) genome that can, when interposed between an enhancer and promoter, efficiently block the activation function of both constitutive and floral organ-specific enhancers in transgenic Arabidopsis and Nicotiana tabacum (tobacco). In the rice genome, the genes flanking RS2-9 exhibit an absence of mutual transcriptional interactions, as well as a lack of histone modification spread. We further determined that O. sativa Homeobox 1 (OSH1) bound two regions of RS2-9, as well as over 50 000 additional sites in the rice genome, the majority of which resided in intergenic regions. Mutation of one of the two OSH1-binding sites in RS2-9 impaired insulation activity by up to 60%, whereas the mutation of both binding sites virtually abolished insulator function. We also demonstrated that OSH1 binding sites were associated with 72% of the boundaries of topologically associated domains (TADs) identified in the rice genome, which is comparable to the 77% of TAD boundaries bound by the insulator CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF) in mammals. Taken together, our findings indicate that OSH1-RS2-9 acts as a true insulator in plants, and highlight a potential role for OSH1 in gene insulation and topological organization in plant genomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Huawei Liu
- USDA‐ARS, Appalachian Fruit Research StationKearneysvilleWest Virginia25430USA
- College of Food Science and TechnologyNanjing Agricultural UniversityNanjing210095China
| | - Li Jiang
- USDA‐ARS, Appalachian Fruit Research StationKearneysvilleWest Virginia25430USA
- College of Food Science and TechnologyNanjing Agricultural UniversityNanjing210095China
| | - Zhifeng Wen
- USDA‐ARS, Appalachian Fruit Research StationKearneysvilleWest Virginia25430USA
- College of HorticultureFujian Agriculture and Forestry UniversityFuzhou350002China
| | - Yingjun Yang
- USDA‐ARS, Appalachian Fruit Research StationKearneysvilleWest Virginia25430USA
- Forestry CollegeHenan University of Science and TechnologyLuoyang471023China
| | - Stacy D. Singer
- Agriculture and Agri‐Food CanadaLethbridge Research and Development CentreLethbridgeAlbertaT1J 4B1Canada
| | - Dennis Bennett
- USDA‐ARS, Appalachian Fruit Research StationKearneysvilleWest Virginia25430USA
| | - Wenying Xu
- State Key Laboratory of Plant Physiology and BiochemistryCollege of Biological SciencesChina Agricultural UniversityBeijing100193China
| | - Zhen Su
- State Key Laboratory of Plant Physiology and BiochemistryCollege of Biological SciencesChina Agricultural UniversityBeijing100193China
| | - Zhifang Yu
- College of Food Science and TechnologyNanjing Agricultural UniversityNanjing210095China
| | - Jonathan Cohn
- Syngenta Crop ProtectionLLCResearch Triangle ParkNorth Carolina27709USA
| | - Hyunsook Chae
- Syngenta Crop ProtectionLLCResearch Triangle ParkNorth Carolina27709USA
| | - Qiudeng Que
- Syngenta Crop ProtectionLLCResearch Triangle ParkNorth Carolina27709USA
| | - Yue Liu
- College of HorticultureQingdao Agricultural UniversityQingdao266109China
| | - Chang Liu
- Department of EpigeneticsUniversity of HohenheimStuttgart70599Germany
| | - Zongrang Liu
- USDA‐ARS, Appalachian Fruit Research StationKearneysvilleWest Virginia25430USA
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18
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Ribeiro-Dos-Santos AM, Hogan MS, Luther RD, Brosh R, Maurano MT. Genomic context sensitivity of insulator function. Genome Res 2022; 32:425-436. [PMID: 35082140 PMCID: PMC8896466 DOI: 10.1101/gr.276449.121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2021] [Accepted: 01/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
The specificity of interactions between genomic regulatory elements and potential target genes is influenced by the binding of insulator proteins such as CTCF, which can act as potent enhancer blockers when interposed between an enhancer and a promoter in a reporter assay. But not all CTCF sites genome-wide function as insulator elements, depending on cellular and genomic context. To dissect the influence of genomic context on enhancer blocker activity, we integrated reporter constructs with promoter-only, promoter and enhancer, and enhancer blocker configurations at hundreds of thousands of genomic sites using the Sleeping Beauty transposase. Deconvolution of reporter activity by genomic position reveals distinct expression patterns subject to genomic context, including a compartment of enhancer blocker reporter integrations with robust expression. The high density of integration sites permits quantitative delineation of characteristic genomic context sensitivity profiles and their decomposition into sensitivity to both local and distant DNase I hypersensitive sites. Furthermore, using a single-cell expression approach to test the effect of integrated reporters for differential expression of nearby endogenous genes reveals that CTCF insulator elements do not completely abrogate reporter effects on endogenous gene expression. Collectively, our results lend new insight into genomic regulatory compartmentalization and its influence on the determinants of promoter–enhancer specificity.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Megan S Hogan
- Institute for Systems Genetics, NYU Grossman School of Medicine
| | - Raven D Luther
- Institute for Systems Genetics, NYU Grossman School of Medicine
| | - Ran Brosh
- Institute for Systems Genetics, NYU Grossman School of Medicine
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19
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Stepaniak MD, Square TA, Miller CT. Evolved Bmp6 enhancer alleles drive spatial shifts in gene expression during tooth development in sticklebacks. Genetics 2021; 219:6374454. [PMID: 34849839 PMCID: PMC8664583 DOI: 10.1093/genetics/iyab151] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2021] [Accepted: 08/31/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Mutations in enhancers have been shown to often underlie natural variation but the evolved differences in enhancer activity can be difficult to identify in vivo. Threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) are a robust system for studying enhancer evolution due to abundant natural genetic variation, a diversity of evolved phenotypes between ancestral marine and derived freshwater forms, and the tractability of transgenic techniques. Previous work identified a series of polymorphisms within an intronic enhancer of the Bone morphogenetic protein 6 (Bmp6) gene that are associated with evolved tooth gain, a derived increase in freshwater tooth number that arises late in development. Here, we use a bicistronic reporter construct containing a genetic insulator and a pair of reciprocal two-color transgenic reporter lines to compare enhancer activity of marine and freshwater alleles of this enhancer. In older fish, the two alleles drive partially overlapping expression in both mesenchyme and epithelium of developing teeth, but the freshwater enhancer drives a reduced mesenchymal domain and a larger epithelial domain relative to the marine enhancer. In younger fish, these spatial shifts in enhancer activity are less pronounced. Comparing Bmp6 expression by in situ hybridization in developing teeth of marine and freshwater fish reveals similar evolved spatial shifts in gene expression. Together, these data support a model in which the polymorphisms within this enhancer underlie evolved tooth gain by shifting the spatial expression of Bmp6 during tooth development, and provide a general strategy to identify spatial differences in enhancer activity in vivo.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark D Stepaniak
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Tyler A Square
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Craig T Miller
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
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20
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Amândio AR, Beccari L, Lopez-Delisle L, Mascrez B, Zakany J, Gitto S, Duboule D. Sequential in cis mutagenesis in vivo reveals various functions for CTCF sites at the mouse HoxD cluster. Genes Dev 2021; 35:1490-1509. [PMID: 34711654 PMCID: PMC8559674 DOI: 10.1101/gad.348934.121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2021] [Accepted: 09/21/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Mammalian Hox gene clusters contain a range of CTCF binding sites. In addition to their importance in organizing a TAD border, which isolates the most posterior genes from the rest of the cluster, the positions and orientations of these sites suggest that CTCF may be instrumental in the selection of various subsets of contiguous genes, which are targets of distinct remote enhancers located in the flanking regulatory landscapes. We examined this possibility by producing an allelic series of cumulative in cis mutations in these sites, up to the abrogation of CTCF binding in the five sites located on one side of the TAD border. In the most impactful alleles, the global chromatin architecture of the locus was modified, yet not drastically, illustrating that CTCF sites located on one side of a strong TAD border are sufficient to organize at least part of this insulation. Spatial colinearity in the expression of these genes along the major body axis was nevertheless maintained, despite abnormal expression boundaries. In contrast, strong effects were scored in the selection of target genes responding to particular enhancers, leading to the misregulation of Hoxd genes in specific structures. Altogether, while most enhancer-promoter interactions can occur in the absence of this series of CTCF sites, the binding of CTCF in the Hox cluster is required to properly transform a rather unprecise process into a highly discriminative mechanism of interactions, which is translated into various patterns of transcription accompanied by the distinctive chromatin topology found at this locus. Our allelic series also allowed us to reveal the distinct functional contributions for CTCF sites within this Hox cluster, some acting as insulator elements, others being necessary to anchor or stabilize enhancer-promoter interactions, and some doing both, whereas they all together contribute to the formation of a TAD border. This variety of tasks may explain the amazing evolutionary conservation in the distribution of these sites among paralogous Hox clusters or between various vertebrates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ana Rita Amândio
- School of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
- Department of Genetics and Evolution, University of Geneva, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Leonardo Beccari
- Department of Genetics and Evolution, University of Geneva, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Lucille Lopez-Delisle
- School of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Bénédicte Mascrez
- Department of Genetics and Evolution, University of Geneva, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Jozsef Zakany
- Department of Genetics and Evolution, University of Geneva, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Sandra Gitto
- Department of Genetics and Evolution, University of Geneva, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Denis Duboule
- School of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
- Department of Genetics and Evolution, University of Geneva, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland
- Collège de France, 75231 Paris, France
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21
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Yannaki E, Psatha N, Papadopoulou A, Athanasopoulos T, Gravanis A, Roubelakis MG, Tsirigotis P, Anagnostopoulos A, Anagnou NP, Vassilopoulos G. Success Stories and Challenges Ahead in Hematopoietic Stem Cell Gene Therapy: Hemoglobinopathies as Disease Models. Hum Gene Ther 2021; 32:1120-1137. [PMID: 34662232 DOI: 10.1089/hum.2021.196] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Gene therapy is a relatively novel field that amounts to around four decades of continuous growth with its good and bad moments. Currently, the field has entered the clinical arena with the ambition to fulfil its promises for a permanent fix of incurable genetic disorders. Hemoglobinopathies as target diseases and hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) as target cells of genetic interventions had a major share in the research effort toward efficiently implementing gene therapy. Dissection of HSC biology and improvements in gene transfer and gene expression technologies evolved in an almost synchronous manner to a point where the two fields seem to be functionally intercalated. In this review, we focus specifically on the development of gene therapy for hemoglobin disorders and look at both gene addition and gene correction strategies that may dominate the field of HSC-directed gene therapy in the near future and transform the therapeutic landscape for genetic diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Evangelia Yannaki
- Hematology Department-HCT Unit, Gene and Cell Therapy Center, George Papanikolaou Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - Nikoletta Psatha
- Altius Institute for Biomedical Sciences, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Anastasia Papadopoulou
- Hematology Department-HCT Unit, Gene and Cell Therapy Center, George Papanikolaou Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - Takis Athanasopoulos
- Cell and Gene Therapy (CGT), Medicinal Science and Technology (MST), GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Medicines Research Centre, Stevenage, United Kingdom
| | - Achilleas Gravanis
- Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece
| | - Maria G Roubelakis
- Laboratory of Biology, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece and Centre of Basic Research, Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens (BRFAA), Athens, Greece
| | - Panagiotis Tsirigotis
- 2nd Department of Internal Medicine, ATTIKO General University Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
| | - Achilles Anagnostopoulos
- Hematology Department-HCT Unit, Gene and Cell Therapy Center, George Papanikolaou Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece
| | | | - George Vassilopoulos
- BRFAA, Cell and Gene Therapy Lab, Athens, Greece.,Department of Hematology, UHL, University of Thessaly Medical School, Athens, Greece
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22
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A Tendon-Specific Double Reporter Transgenic Mouse Enables Tracking Cell Lineage and Functions Alteration In Vitro and In Vivo. Int J Mol Sci 2021; 22:ijms222011189. [PMID: 34681849 PMCID: PMC8537162 DOI: 10.3390/ijms222011189] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2021] [Revised: 10/09/2021] [Accepted: 10/14/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
We generated and characterized a transgenic mouse line with the tendon-specific expression of a double fluorescent reporter system, which will fulfill an unmet need for animal models to support real-time monitoring cell behaviors during tendon development, growth, and repair in vitro and in vivo. The mScarlet red fluorescent protein is driven by the Scleraxis (Scx) promoter to report the cell lineage alteration. The blue fluorescent protein reporter is expressed under the control of the 3.6kb Collagen Type I Alpha 1 Chain (Col1a1) proximal promoter. In this promoter, the existence of two promoter regions named tendon-specific cis-acting elements (TSE1, TSE2) ensure the specific expression of blue fluorescent protein (BFP) in tendon tissue. Collagen I is a crucial marker for tendon regeneration that is a major component of healthy tendons. Thus, the alteration of function during tendon repair can be estimated by BFP expression. After mechanical stimulation, the expression of mScarlet and BFP increased in adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADMSCs) from our transgenic mouse line, and there was a rising trend on tendon key markers. These results suggest that our tendon-specific double reporter system is a novel model used to study cell re-differentiation and extracellular matrix alteration in vitro and in vivo.
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23
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McBroome J, Liang D, Corbett-Detig R. Fine-Scale Position Effects Shape the Distribution of Inversion Breakpoints in Drosophila melanogaster. Genome Biol Evol 2021; 12:1378-1391. [PMID: 32437518 PMCID: PMC7487137 DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evaa103] [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] [Accepted: 05/18/2020] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Chromosomal inversions are among the primary drivers of genome structure evolution in a wide range of natural populations. Although there is an impressive array of theory and empirical analyses that have identified conditions under which inversions can be positively selected, comparatively little data are available on the fitness impacts of these genome structural rearrangements themselves. Because inversion breakpoints can disrupt functional elements and alter chromatin domains, the precise positioning of an inversion’s breakpoints can strongly affect its fitness. Here, we compared the fine-scale distribution of low-frequency inversion breakpoints with those of high-frequency inversions and inversions that have gone to fixation between Drosophila species. We identified a number of differences among frequency classes that may influence inversion fitness. In particular, breakpoints that are proximal to insulator elements, generate large tandem duplications, and minimize impacts on gene coding spans which are more prevalent in high-frequency and fixed inversions than in rare inversions. The data suggest that natural selection acts to preserve both genes and larger cis-regulatory networks in the occurrence and spread of rearrangements. These factors may act to limit the availability of high-fitness arrangements when suppressed recombination is favorable.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jakob McBroome
- Department of Biomolecular Engineering, University of California Santa Cruz
| | - David Liang
- Department of Biomolecular Engineering, University of California Santa Cruz
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24
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Schang LM, Hu M, Cortes EF, Sun K. Chromatin-mediated epigenetic regulation of HSV-1 transcription as a potential target in antiviral therapy. Antiviral Res 2021; 192:105103. [PMID: 34082058 PMCID: PMC8277756 DOI: 10.1016/j.antiviral.2021.105103] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2021] [Revised: 05/21/2021] [Accepted: 05/26/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
The ability to establish, and reactivate from, latent infections is central to the biology and pathogenesis of HSV-1. It also poses a strong challenge to antiviral therapy, as latent HSV-1 genomes do not replicate or express any protein to be targeted. Although the processes regulating the establishment and maintenance of, and reactivation from, latency are not fully elucidated, the current general consensus is that epigenetics play a major role. A unifying model postulates that whereas HSV-1 avoids or counteracts chromatin silencing in lytic infections, it becomes silenced during latency, silencing which is somewhat disrupted during reactivation. Many years of work by different groups using a variety of approaches have also shown that the lytic HSV-1 chromatin is distinct and has unique biophysical properties not shared with most cellular chromatin. Nonetheless, the lytic and latent viral chromatins are typically enriched in post translational modifications or histone variants characteristic of active or repressed transcription, respectively. Moreover, a variety of small molecule epigenetic modulators inhibit viral replication and reactivation from latency. Despite these successes in culture and animal models, it is not obvious how epigenetic modulation would be used in antiviral therapy if the same epigenetic mechanisms governed viral and cellular gene expression. Recent work has highlighted several important differences between the viral and cellular chromatins, which appear to be of consequence to their respective epigenetic regulations. In this review, we will discuss the distinctiveness of the viral chromatin, and explore whether it is regulated by mechanisms unique enough to be exploited in antiviral therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luis M Schang
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology and Baker Institute for Animal Health, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University. 235 Hungerford Hill Road, Ithaca, NY, 14850, USA.
| | - MiYao Hu
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology and Baker Institute for Animal Health, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University. 235 Hungerford Hill Road, Ithaca, NY, 14850, USA; Departments of Biochemistry and Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Alberta. 470 MSB, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2H7, Canada.
| | - Esteban Flores Cortes
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology and Baker Institute for Animal Health, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University. 235 Hungerford Hill Road, Ithaca, NY, 14850, USA.
| | - Kairui Sun
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology and Baker Institute for Animal Health, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University. 235 Hungerford Hill Road, Ithaca, NY, 14850, USA.
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25
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Ivanovitch K, Soro-Barrio P, Chakravarty P, Jones RA, Bell DM, Mousavy Gharavy SN, Stamataki D, Delile J, Smith JC, Briscoe J. Ventricular, atrial, and outflow tract heart progenitors arise from spatially and molecularly distinct regions of the primitive streak. PLoS Biol 2021; 19:e3001200. [PMID: 33999917 PMCID: PMC8158918 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001200] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2020] [Revised: 05/27/2021] [Accepted: 03/23/2021] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The heart develops from 2 sources of mesoderm progenitors, the first and second heart field (FHF and SHF). Using a single-cell transcriptomic assay combined with genetic lineage tracing and live imaging, we find the FHF and SHF are subdivided into distinct pools of progenitors in gastrulating mouse embryos at earlier stages than previously thought. Each subpopulation has a distinct origin in the primitive streak. The first progenitors to leave the primitive streak contribute to the left ventricle, shortly after right ventricle progenitor emigrate, followed by the outflow tract and atrial progenitors. Moreover, a subset of atrial progenitors are gradually incorporated in posterior locations of the FHF. Although cells allocated to the outflow tract and atrium leave the primitive streak at a similar stage, they arise from different regions. Outflow tract cells originate from distal locations in the primitive streak while atrial progenitors are positioned more proximally. Moreover, single-cell RNA sequencing demonstrates that the primitive streak cells contributing to the ventricles have a distinct molecular signature from those forming the outflow tract and atrium. We conclude that cardiac progenitors are prepatterned within the primitive streak and this prefigures their allocation to distinct anatomical structures of the heart. Together, our data provide a new molecular and spatial map of mammalian cardiac progenitors that will support future studies of heart development, function, and disease.
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26
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Bruter AV, Korshunova DS, Kubekina MV, Sergiev PV, Kalinina AA, Ilchuk LA, Silaeva YY, Korshunov EN, Soldatov VO, Deykin AV. Novel transgenic mice with Cre-dependent co-expression of GFP and human ACE2: a safe tool for study of COVID-19 pathogenesis. Transgenic Res 2021; 30:10.1007/s11248-021-00249-8. [PMID: 33855640 PMCID: PMC8045570 DOI: 10.1007/s11248-021-00249-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2021] [Accepted: 03/26/2021] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
The current coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic remains one of the most serious public health problems. Increasing evidence shows that infection by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) causes a very complex and multifaceted disease that requires detailed study. Nevertheless, experimental research on COVID-19 remains challenging due to the lack of appropriate animal models. Herein, we report novel humanized mice with Cre-dependent expression of hACE2, the main entry receptor of SARS-CoV-2. These mice carry hACE2 and GFP transgenes floxed by the STOP cassette, allowing them to be used as breeders for the creation of animals with tissue-specific coexpression of hACE2 and GFP. Moreover, inducible expression of hACE2 makes this line biosafe, whereas coexpression with GFP simplifies the detection of transgene-expressing cells. In our study, we tested our line by crossing with Ubi-Cre mice, characterized by tamoxifen-dependent ubiquitous activation of Cre recombinase. After tamoxifen administration, the copy number of the STOP cassette was decreased, and the offspring expressed hACE2 and GFP, confirming the efficiency of our system. We believe that our model can be a useful tool for studying COVID-19 pathogenesis because the selective expression of hACE2 can shed light on the roles of different tissues in SARS-CoV-2-associated complications. Obviously, it can also be used for preclinical trials of antiviral drugs and new vaccines.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexandra V. Bruter
- Core Facility Centre, Institute of Gene Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Vavilova st. 34/5, Moscow, Russian Federation 119334
| | - Diana S. Korshunova
- Center for Precision Genome Editing and Genetic Technologies for Biomedicine, Institute of Gene Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Vavilova st. 34/5, Moscow, Russian Federation 119334
| | - Marina V. Kubekina
- Core Facility Centre, Institute of Gene Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Vavilova st. 34/5, Moscow, Russian Federation 119334
| | - Petr V. Sergiev
- Institute of Functional Genomics, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russian Federation 119991
| | - Anastasiia A. Kalinina
- Federal State Budgetary Institution “N. N. Blokhin National Medical Research Center of Oncology”, Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Kashirskoe sh. 24, Moscow, Russian Federation 115478
| | - Leonid A. Ilchuk
- Core Facility Centre, Institute of Gene Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Vavilova st. 34/5, Moscow, Russian Federation 119334
| | - Yuliya Yu. Silaeva
- Core Facility Centre, Institute of Gene Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Vavilova st. 34/5, Moscow, Russian Federation 119334
| | - Eugenii N. Korshunov
- Core Facility Centre, Institute of Gene Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Vavilova st. 34/5, Moscow, Russian Federation 119334
| | - Vladislav O. Soldatov
- Core Facility Centre, Institute of Gene Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Vavilova st. 34/5, Moscow, Russian Federation 119334
- Laboratory of Genome Editing for Veterinary and Biomedicine, Belgorod State National Research University, 85, Pobedy St., Belgorod, Belgorod region Russian Federation 308015
| | - Alexey V. Deykin
- Center for Precision Genome Editing and Genetic Technologies for Biomedicine, Institute of Gene Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Vavilova st. 34/5, Moscow, Russian Federation 119334
- Laboratory of Genome Editing for Veterinary and Biomedicine, Belgorod State National Research University, 85, Pobedy St., Belgorod, Belgorod region Russian Federation 308015
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27
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Rao AN, Campbell HM, Guan X, Word TA, Wehrens XH, Xia Z, Cooper TA. Reversible cardiac disease features in an inducible CUG repeat RNA-expressing mouse model of myotonic dystrophy. JCI Insight 2021; 6:143465. [PMID: 33497365 PMCID: PMC8021116 DOI: 10.1172/jci.insight.143465] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2020] [Accepted: 01/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) is caused by a CTG repeat expansion in the DMPK gene. Expression of pathogenic expanded CUG repeat (CUGexp) RNA causes multisystemic disease by perturbing the functions of RNA-binding proteins, resulting in expression of fetal protein isoforms in adult tissues. Cardiac involvement affects 50% of individuals with DM1 and causes 25% of disease-related deaths. We developed a transgenic mouse model for tetracycline-inducible and heart-specific expression of human DMPK mRNA containing 960 CUG repeats. CUGexp RNA is expressed in atria and ventricles and induced mice exhibit electrophysiological and molecular features of DM1 disease, including cardiac conduction delays, supraventricular arrhythmias, nuclear RNA foci with Muscleblind protein colocalization, and alternative splicing defects. Importantly, these phenotypes were rescued upon loss of CUGexp RNA expression. Transcriptome analysis revealed gene expression and alternative splicing changes in ion transport genes that are associated with inherited cardiac conduction diseases, including a subset of genes involved in calcium handling. Consistent with RNA-Seq results, calcium-handling defects were identified in atrial cardiomyocytes isolated from mice expressing CUGexp RNA. These results identify potential tissue-specific mechanisms contributing to cardiac pathogenesis in DM1 and demonstrate the utility of reversible phenotypes in our model to facilitate development of targeted therapeutic approaches.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Hannah M Campbell
- Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, and.,Medical Scientist Training Program, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA
| | - Xiangnan Guan
- Computational Biology Program, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon, USA
| | - Tarah A Word
- Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, and
| | - Xander Ht Wehrens
- Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, and.,Cardiovascular Research Institute, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA
| | - Zheng Xia
- Computational Biology Program, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon, USA.,Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon, USA
| | - Thomas A Cooper
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology.,Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, and.,Cardiovascular Research Institute, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA.,Department of Pathology and Immunology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA
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28
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D’Arienzo V, Ferguson J, Giraud G, Chapus F, Harris JM, Wing PAC, Claydon A, Begum S, Zhuang X, Balfe P, Testoni B, McKeating JA, Parish JL. The CCCTC-binding factor CTCF represses hepatitis B virus enhancer I and regulates viral transcription. Cell Microbiol 2021; 23:e13274. [PMID: 33006186 PMCID: PMC7116737 DOI: 10.1111/cmi.13274] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2020] [Revised: 09/09/2020] [Accepted: 09/29/2020] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is of global importance with over 2 billion people exposed to the virus during their lifetime and at risk of progressive liver disease, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. HBV is a member of the Hepadnaviridae family that replicates via episomal copies of a covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA) genome. The chromatinization of this small viral genome, with overlapping open reading frames and regulatory elements, suggests an important role for epigenetic pathways to regulate viral transcription. The chromatin-organising transcriptional insulator protein, CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF), has been reported to regulate transcription in a diverse range of viruses. We identified two conserved CTCF binding sites in the HBV genome within enhancer I and chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) analysis demonstrated an enrichment of CTCF binding to integrated or episomal copies of the viral genome. siRNA knock-down of CTCF results in a significant increase in pre-genomic RNA levels in de novo infected HepG2 cells and those supporting episomal HBV DNA replication. Furthermore, mutation of these sites in HBV DNA minicircles abrogated CTCF binding and increased pre-genomic RNA levels, providing evidence of a direct role for CTCF in repressing HBV transcription.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jack Ferguson
- institute of Cancer and Genomic sciences, College of Medical and Dental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
| | - Guillaume Giraud
- CRCL INSERM and Cancer Research Center of Lyon (CRCL), Lyon, France
| | - Fleur Chapus
- CRCL INSERM and Cancer Research Center of Lyon (CRCL), Lyon, France
| | - James M. Harris
- Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Peter A. C. Wing
- Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Adam Claydon
- institute of Cancer and Genomic sciences, College of Medical and Dental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
| | - Sophia Begum
- institute of Cancer and Genomic sciences, College of Medical and Dental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
| | - Xiaodong Zhuang
- Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Peter Balfe
- Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Barbara Testoni
- CRCL INSERM and Cancer Research Center of Lyon (CRCL), Lyon, France
| | | | - Joanna L. Parish
- institute of Cancer and Genomic sciences, College of Medical and Dental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
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29
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Tran A, Johnson DA. Mutational analysis identifies functional Rap1, Su(Hw), and CTCF insulator sites in Arabidopsis thaliana. PLANT CELL REPORTS 2020; 39:1743-1753. [PMID: 32959125 DOI: 10.1007/s00299-020-02601-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2020] [Accepted: 09/10/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Genetic analysis identifies multiple, potential protein binding sites important for insulator function in Arabidopsis thaliana: Rap1 site in UASrpg, Su(Hw) site in UASrpg, and CTCF site in BEAD1c. Three non-plant insulators UASrpg, BEAD1c, and gypsy isolated from Ashbya gossypii, Homo sapiens and Drosophila melanogaster gypsy retrotransposon, respectively, demonstrate insulator function in transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana. Here, the hypothesis that DNA sequences functional in A. thaliana are the same as those in the original host as previously assumed, was tested. Genetic analyses of the cloned fragments in an enhancer blocking assay system was performed through deletions and mutations to identify more precisely which sequences within the cloned fragments function as insulators. Significant loss of insulator activity was observed when the UASrpg Rap1 binding site R2 was mutated but not R1. Cloned fragments containing BEAD1c are effective insulators in our assay system and the previously investigated gypsy insulator is non-functional. Further analyses identified potential Su(Hw) and CTCF sites within UASrpg, of which only the Su(Hw) site was functional. Thus, the activity of non-plant insulators in A. thaliana is context dependent. These results support the hypothesis that insulator function is conserved across kingdoms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anh Tran
- Biology Department, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
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30
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Eufrásio A, Perrod C, Ferreira FJ, Duque M, Galhardo M, Bessa J. In Vivo Reporter Assays Uncover Changes in Enhancer Activity Caused by Type 2 Diabetes-Associated Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms. Diabetes 2020; 69:2794-2805. [PMID: 32912862 PMCID: PMC7679775 DOI: 10.2337/db19-1049] [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] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2019] [Accepted: 09/02/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Many single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with type 2 diabetes overlap with putative endocrine pancreatic enhancers, suggesting that these SNPs modulate enhancer activity and, consequently, gene expression. We performed in vivo mosaic transgenesis assays in zebrafish to quantitatively test the enhancer activity of type 2 diabetes-associated loci. Six out of 10 tested sequences are endocrine pancreatic enhancers. The risk variant of two sequences decreased enhancer activity, while in another two incremented it. One of the latter (rs13266634) locates in an SLC30A8 exon, encoding a tryptophan-to-arginine substitution that decreases SLC30A8 function, which is the canonical explanation for type 2 diabetes risk association. However, other type 2 diabetes-associated SNPs that truncate SLC30A8 confer protection from this disease, contradicting this explanation. Here, we clarify this incongruence, showing that rs13266634 boosts the activity of an overlapping enhancer and suggesting an SLC30A8 gain of function as the cause for the increased risk for the disease. We further dissected the functionality of this enhancer, finding a single nucleotide mutation sufficient to impair its activity. Overall, this work assesses in vivo the importance of disease-associated SNPs in the activity of endocrine pancreatic enhancers, including a poorly explored case where a coding SNP modulates the activity of an enhancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ana Eufrásio
- i3S-Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto, and IBMC-Instituto de Biologia Celular e Molecular, Porto, Portugal
| | - Chiara Perrod
- i3S-Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto, and IBMC-Instituto de Biologia Celular e Molecular, Porto, Portugal
| | - Fábio J Ferreira
- i3S-Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto, and IBMC-Instituto de Biologia Celular e Molecular, Porto, Portugal
| | - Marta Duque
- i3S-Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto, and IBMC-Instituto de Biologia Celular e Molecular, Porto, Portugal
| | - Mafalda Galhardo
- i3S-Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto, and IBMC-Instituto de Biologia Celular e Molecular, Porto, Portugal
| | - José Bessa
- i3S-Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto, and IBMC-Instituto de Biologia Celular e Molecular, Porto, Portugal
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31
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Laible G, Cole S, Brophy B, Maclean P, How Chen L, Pollock DP, Cavacini L, Fournier N, De Romeuf C, Masiello NC, Gavin WG, Wells DN, Meade HM. Transgenic goats producing an improved version of cetuximab in milk. FASEB Bioadv 2020; 2:638-652. [PMID: 33205005 PMCID: PMC7655094 DOI: 10.1096/fba.2020-00059] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2020] [Accepted: 08/05/2020] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) represent one of the most important classes of pharmaceutical proteins to treat human diseases. Most are produced in cultured mammalian cells which is expensive, limiting their availability. Goats, striking a good balance between a relatively short generation time and copious milk yield, present an alternative platform for the cost-effective, flexible, large-scale production of therapeutic mAbs. Here, we focused on cetuximab, a mAb against epidermal growth factor receptor, that is commercially produced under the brand name Erbitux and approved for anti-cancer treatments. We generated several transgenic goat lines that produce cetuximab in their milk. Two lines were selected for detailed characterization. Both showed stable genotypes and cetuximab production levels of up to 10 g/L. The mAb could be readily purified and showed improved characteristics compared to Erbitux. The goat-produced cetuximab (gCetuximab) lacked a highly immunogenic epitope that is part of Erbitux. Moreover, it showed enhanced binding to CD16 and increased antibody-dependent cell-dependent cytotoxicity compared to Erbitux. This indicates that these goats produce an improved cetuximab version with the potential for enhanced effectiveness and better safety profile compared to treatments with Erbitux. In addition, our study validates transgenic goats as an excellent platform for large-scale production of therapeutic mAbs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Götz Laible
- AgResearchRuakura Research CentreHamiltonNew Zealand
- School of Medical SciencesUniversity of AucklandAucklandNew Zealand
- Maurice Wilkins Centre for Molecular BiodiscoveryAucklandNew Zealand
| | - Sally Cole
- AgResearchRuakura Research CentreHamiltonNew Zealand
| | - Brigid Brophy
- AgResearchRuakura Research CentreHamiltonNew Zealand
| | - Paul Maclean
- AgResearchRuakura Research CentreHamiltonNew Zealand
| | | | | | - Lisa Cavacini
- MassBiologics of the University of Massachusetts Medical SchoolBostonMAUSA
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32
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Melnikova LS, Georgiev PG, Golovnin AK. The Functions and Mechanisms of Action of Insulators in the Genomes of Higher Eukaryotes. Acta Naturae 2020; 12:15-33. [PMID: 33456975 PMCID: PMC7800606 DOI: 10.32607/actanaturae.11144] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2020] [Accepted: 10/12/2020] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The mechanisms underlying long-range interactions between chromatin regions and the principles of chromosomal architecture formation are currently under extensive scrutiny. A special class of regulatory elements known as insulators is believed to be involved in the regulation of specific long-range interactions between enhancers and promoters. This review focuses on the insulators of Drosophila and mammals, and it also briefly characterizes the proteins responsible for their functional activity. It was initially believed that the main properties of insulators are blocking of enhancers and the formation of independent transcription domains. We present experimental data proving that the chromatin loops formed by insulators play only an auxiliary role in enhancer blocking. The review also discusses the mechanisms involved in the formation of topologically associating domains and their role in the formation of the chromosomal architecture and regulation of gene transcription.
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Affiliation(s)
- L. S. Melnikova
- Institute of Gene Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 119334 Russia
| | - P. G. Georgiev
- Institute of Gene Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 119334 Russia
| | - A. K. Golovnin
- Institute of Gene Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 119334 Russia
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33
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Wu Q, Liu P, Wang L. Many facades of CTCF unified by its coding for three-dimensional genome architecture. J Genet Genomics 2020; 47:407-424. [PMID: 33187878 DOI: 10.1016/j.jgg.2020.06.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2020] [Revised: 04/15/2020] [Accepted: 06/01/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF) is a multifunctional zinc finger protein that is conserved in metazoan species. CTCF is consistently found to play an important role in many diverse biological processes. CTCF/cohesin-mediated active chromatin 'loop extrusion' architects three-dimensional (3D) genome folding. The 3D architectural role of CTCF underlies its multifarious functions, including developmental regulation of gene expression, protocadherin (Pcdh) promoter choice in the nervous system, immunoglobulin (Ig) and T-cell receptor (Tcr) V(D)J recombination in the immune system, homeobox (Hox) gene control during limb development, as well as many other aspects of biology. Here, we review the pleiotropic functions of CTCF from the perspective of its essential role in 3D genome architecture and topological promoter/enhancer selection. We envision the 3D genome as an enormous complex architecture, with tens of thousands of CTCF sites as connecting nodes and CTCF proteins as mysterious bonds that glue together genomic building parts with distinct articulation joints. In particular, we focus on the internal mechanisms by which CTCF controls higher order chromatin structures that manifest its many façades of physiological and pathological functions. We also discuss the dichotomic role of CTCF sites as intriguing 3D genome nodes for seemingly contradictory 'looping bridges' and 'topological insulators' to frame a beautiful magnificent house for a cell's nuclear home.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qiang Wu
- MOE Key Lab of Systems Biomedicine, State Key Laboratory of Oncogenes and Related Genes, Center for Comparative Biomedicine, Institute of Systems Biomedicine, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), Shanghai, 200240, China.
| | - Peifeng Liu
- MOE Key Lab of Systems Biomedicine, State Key Laboratory of Oncogenes and Related Genes, Center for Comparative Biomedicine, Institute of Systems Biomedicine, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), Shanghai, 200240, China
| | - Leyang Wang
- MOE Key Lab of Systems Biomedicine, State Key Laboratory of Oncogenes and Related Genes, Center for Comparative Biomedicine, Institute of Systems Biomedicine, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), Shanghai, 200240, China
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34
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Meuleman W, Muratov A, Rynes E, Halow J, Lee K, Bates D, Diegel M, Dunn D, Neri F, Teodosiadis A, Reynolds A, Haugen E, Nelson J, Johnson A, Frerker M, Buckley M, Sandstrom R, Vierstra J, Kaul R, Stamatoyannopoulos J. Index and biological spectrum of human DNase I hypersensitive sites. Nature 2020; 584:244-251. [PMID: 32728217 PMCID: PMC7422677 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2559-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 153] [Impact Index Per Article: 38.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2019] [Accepted: 07/01/2020] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
DNase I hypersensitive sites (DHSs) are generic markers of regulatory DNA1–5 and contain genetic variations associated with diseases and phenotypic traits6–8. We created high-resolution maps of DHSs from 733 human biosamples encompassing 438 cell and tissue types and states, and integrated these to delineate and numerically index approximately 3.6 million DHSs within the human genome sequence, providing a common coordinate system for regulatory DNA. Here we show that these maps highly resolve the cis-regulatory compartment of the human genome, which encodes unexpectedly diverse cell- and tissue-selective regulatory programs at very high density. These programs can be captured comprehensively by a simple vocabulary that enables the assignment to each DHS of a regulatory barcode that encapsulates its tissue manifestations, and global annotation of protein-coding and non-coding RNA genes in a manner orthogonal to gene expression. Finally, we show that sharply resolved DHSs markedly enhance the genetic association and heritability signals of diseases and traits. Rather than being confined to a small number of distal elements or promoters, we find that genetic signals converge on congruently regulated sets of DHSs that decorate entire gene bodies. Together, our results create a universal, extensible coordinate system and vocabulary for human regulatory DNA marked by DHSs, and provide a new global perspective on the architecture of human gene regulation. High-resolution maps of DNase I hypersensitive sites from 733 human biosamples are used to identify and index regulatory DNA within the human genome.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Eric Rynes
- Altius Institute for Biomedical Sciences, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Jessica Halow
- Altius Institute for Biomedical Sciences, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Kristen Lee
- Altius Institute for Biomedical Sciences, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Daniel Bates
- Altius Institute for Biomedical Sciences, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Morgan Diegel
- Altius Institute for Biomedical Sciences, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Douglas Dunn
- Altius Institute for Biomedical Sciences, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Fidencio Neri
- Altius Institute for Biomedical Sciences, Seattle, WA, USA
| | | | - Alex Reynolds
- Altius Institute for Biomedical Sciences, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Eric Haugen
- Altius Institute for Biomedical Sciences, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Jemma Nelson
- Altius Institute for Biomedical Sciences, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Audra Johnson
- Altius Institute for Biomedical Sciences, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Mark Frerker
- Altius Institute for Biomedical Sciences, Seattle, WA, USA
| | | | | | - Jeff Vierstra
- Altius Institute for Biomedical Sciences, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Rajinder Kaul
- Altius Institute for Biomedical Sciences, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - John Stamatoyannopoulos
- Altius Institute for Biomedical Sciences, Seattle, WA, USA. .,Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA. .,Division of Oncology, Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
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35
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Blood disease-causing and -suppressing transcriptional enhancers: general principles and GATA2 mechanisms. Blood Adv 2020; 3:2045-2056. [PMID: 31289032 DOI: 10.1182/bloodadvances.2019000378] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2019] [Accepted: 05/29/2019] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Intensive scrutiny of human genomes has unveiled considerable genetic variation in coding and noncoding regions. In cancers, including those of the hematopoietic system, genomic instability amplifies the complexity and functional consequences of variation. Although elucidating how variation impacts the protein-coding sequence is highly tractable, deciphering the functional consequences of variation in noncoding regions (genome reading), including potential transcriptional-regulatory sequences, remains challenging. A crux of this problem is the sheer abundance of gene-regulatory sequence motifs (cis elements) mediating protein-DNA interactions that are intermixed in the genome with thousands of look-alike sequences lacking the capacity to mediate functional interactions with proteins in vivo. Furthermore, transcriptional enhancers harbor clustered cis elements, and how altering a single cis element within a cluster impacts enhancer function is unpredictable. Strategies to discover functional enhancers have been innovated, and human genetics can provide vital clues to achieve this goal. Germline or acquired mutations in functionally critical (essential) enhancers, for example at the GATA2 locus encoding a master regulator of hematopoiesis, have been linked to human pathologies. Given the human interindividual genetic variation and complex genetic landscapes of hematologic malignancies, enhancer corruption, creation, and expropriation by new genes may not be exceedingly rare mechanisms underlying disease predisposition and etiology. Paradigms arising from dissecting essential enhancer mechanisms can guide genome-reading strategies to advance fundamental knowledge and precision medicine applications. In this review, we provide our perspective of general principles governing the function of blood disease-linked enhancers and GATA2-centric mechanisms.
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36
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Zhao Y, Schetelig MF, Handler AM. Genetic breakdown of a Tet-off conditional lethality system for insect population control. Nat Commun 2020; 11:3095. [PMID: 32555259 PMCID: PMC7303202 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-16807-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2020] [Accepted: 05/19/2020] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Genetically modified conditional lethal strains have been created to improve the control of insect pest populations damaging to human health and agriculture. However, understanding the potential for the genetic breakdown of lethality systems by rare spontaneous mutations, or selection for inherent suppressors, is critical since field release studies are in progress. This knowledge gap was addressed in a Drosophila tetracycline-suppressible embryonic lethality system by analyzing the frequency and structure of primary-site spontaneous mutations and second-site suppressors resulting in heritable survivors from 1.2 million zygotes. Here we report that F1 survivors due to primary-site deletions and indels occur at a 5.8 × 10−6 frequency, while survival due to second-site maternal-effect suppressors occur at a ~10−5 frequency. Survivors due to inherent lethal effector suppressors could result in a resistant field population, and we suggest that this risk may be mitigated by the use of dual redundant, albeit functionally unrelated, lethality systems. Insect population control using conditional lethal systems could break down due to spontaneous mutations that render the system ineffective. Here the authors analyse the structure and frequency of such mutations in Drosophila and suggest the use of dual lethality systems to mitigate their survival.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yang Zhao
- State Key Lab for Conservation and Utilization of Subtropical Agro-Biology Resources, Guangxi University, 100 Daxuedong Road, 530005, Nanning, Guangxi, China.,Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology, USDA/ARS, 1700 SW 23rd Drive, Gainesville, FL, 32608, USA
| | - Marc F Schetelig
- Department of Insect Biotechnology in Plant Protection, Justus-Liebig University Gießen, Winchesterstr. 2, 35394, Gießen, Germany
| | - Alfred M Handler
- Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology, USDA/ARS, 1700 SW 23rd Drive, Gainesville, FL, 32608, USA.
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37
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Qiu Y, Huang S. CTCF-mediated genome organization and leukemogenesis. Leukemia 2020; 34:2295-2304. [PMID: 32518417 DOI: 10.1038/s41375-020-0906-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2020] [Revised: 05/27/2020] [Accepted: 06/02/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Recent technological advancements and genome-wide studies provide compelling evidence that dynamic chromatin interaction and three-dimensional genome organization in nuclei play an important role in regulating gene expression. Mammalian genomes consist of many small functional domains termed topologically associated domains (TADs), many of them organized by CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF) and the cohesion complex. Changes in genome TADs might result in inappropriate promoter/enhancer communications leading to activation of oncogenes or suppression of tumor suppressors. During normal hematopoiesis and leukemogenesis, genome structure alters considerably to facilitate normal and malignant hematopoiesis, respectively. Delineating theses normal and abnormal processes will evolve our understanding of disease pathogenesis and development of potential treatment strategies. This review highlights the role of CTCF and its associated protein complexes in three-dimensional genome organization in development and leukemogenesis, as well as the roles of CTCF boundary defined TAD in transcription regulation. We further explore the function of chromatin modulators, such as CTCF, cohesin, and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) in chromosomal interactions and hematopoietic genome organization. Finally, we focus on the implication of 3D genome alteration in the pathogenesis of leukemia and provide a scientific basis for targeted intervention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yi Qiu
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, 16033, USA. .,Penn State Cancer Institute, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, 16033, USA.
| | - Suming Huang
- Penn State Cancer Institute, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, 16033, USA. .,Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Department of Pediatrics, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, 16033, USA.
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38
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Clark CD, Lee KH. Second heart field-specific expression of Nkx2-5 requires promoter proximal interaction with Srf. Mech Dev 2020; 162:103615. [PMID: 32450132 DOI: 10.1016/j.mod.2020.103615] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2020] [Revised: 05/17/2020] [Accepted: 05/19/2020] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
The cardiac homeobox transcription factor Nkx2-5 is a major determinant of cardiac identity and cardiac morphogenesis. Nkx2-5 operates as part of a complex and mutually reinforcing network of early transcription factors of the homeobox, GATA zinc finger and MADS domain families to initiate the program of cardiac development and differentiation, particularly in outflow tract precursor cells in the second heart field (SHF). We have now found evidence for another aspect of cardiac transcription factor cooperativity between Nkx2-5 and the cardiac enriched MADS domain transcription factor Srf. Specifically, Srf interaction with an evolutionarily conserved binding site in the Nkx2-5 CpG island-like proximal promoter is required for cardiac specific expression mediated by an SHF enhancer, and for combinatorial activation of these elements by cardiac transcription factors. These results provide further insight into cooperative gene regulation during cardiogenesis at the level of promoter-enhancer interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher D Clark
- Department of Pediatrics, Darby Children's Research Institute and Shawn Jenkins Children's Hospital, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, United States of America
| | - Kyu-Ho Lee
- Department of Pediatrics, Darby Children's Research Institute and Shawn Jenkins Children's Hospital, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, United States of America; Regenerative Medicine and Cell Biology Department, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, United States of America.
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39
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NandyMazumdar M, Yin S, Paranjapye A, Kerschner JL, Swahn H, Ge A, Leir SH, Harris A. Looping of upstream cis-regulatory elements is required for CFTR expression in human airway epithelial cells. Nucleic Acids Res 2020; 48:3513-3524. [PMID: 32095812 PMCID: PMC7144911 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkaa089] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2019] [Revised: 01/14/2020] [Accepted: 02/03/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
The CFTR gene lies within an invariant topologically associated domain (TAD) demarcated by CTCF and cohesin, but shows cell-type specific control mechanisms utilizing different cis-regulatory elements (CRE) within the TAD. Within the respiratory epithelium, more than one cell type expresses CFTR and the molecular mechanisms controlling its transcription are likely divergent between them. Here, we determine how two extragenic CREs that are prominent in epithelial cells in the lung, regulate expression of the gene. We showed earlier that these CREs, located at -44 and -35 kb upstream of the promoter, have strong cell-type-selective enhancer function. They are also responsive to inflammatory mediators and to oxidative stress, consistent with a key role in CF lung disease. Here, we use CRISPR/Cas9 technology to remove these CREs from the endogenous locus in human bronchial epithelial cells. Loss of either site extinguished CFTR expression and abolished long-range interactions between these sites and the gene promoter, suggesting non-redundant enhancers. The deletions also greatly reduced promoter interactions with the 5' TAD boundary. We show substantial recruitment of RNAPII to the -35 kb element and identify CEBPβ as a key activator of airway expression of CFTR, likely through occupancy at this CRE and the gene promoter.
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Affiliation(s)
- Monali NandyMazumdar
- Department of Genetics and Genome Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44116, USA
| | - Shiyi Yin
- Department of Genetics and Genome Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44116, USA
| | - Alekh Paranjapye
- Department of Genetics and Genome Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44116, USA
| | - Jenny L Kerschner
- Department of Genetics and Genome Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44116, USA
| | - Hannah Swahn
- Department of Genetics and Genome Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44116, USA
| | - Alex Ge
- Department of Genetics and Genome Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44116, USA
| | - Shih-Hsing Leir
- Department of Genetics and Genome Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44116, USA
| | - Ann Harris
- Department of Genetics and Genome Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44116, USA
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40
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Jia Z, Li J, Ge X, Wu Y, Guo Y, Wu Q. Tandem CTCF sites function as insulators to balance spatial chromatin contacts and topological enhancer-promoter selection. Genome Biol 2020; 21:75. [PMID: 32293525 PMCID: PMC7087399 DOI: 10.1186/s13059-020-01984-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2020] [Accepted: 03/04/2020] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND CTCF is a key insulator-binding protein, and mammalian genomes contain numerous CTCF sites, many of which are organized in tandem. RESULTS Using CRISPR DNA-fragment editing, in conjunction with chromosome conformation capture, we find that CTCF sites, if located between enhancers and promoters in the protocadherin (Pcdh) and β-globin clusters, function as an enhancer-blocking insulator by forming distinct directional chromatin loops, regardless whether enhancers contain CTCF sites or not. Moreover, computational simulation in silico and genetic deletions in vivo as well as dCas9 blocking in vitro revealed balanced promoter usage in cell populations and stochastic monoallelic expression in single cells by large arrays of tandem CTCF sites in the Pcdh and immunoglobulin heavy chain (Igh) clusters. Furthermore, CTCF insulators promote, counter-intuitively, long-range chromatin interactions with distal directional CTCF sites, consistent with the cohesin "loop extrusion" model. Finally, gene expression levels are negatively correlated with CTCF insulators located between enhancers and promoters on a genome-wide scale. Thus, single CTCF insulators ensure proper enhancer insulation and promoter activation while tandem CTCF topological insulators determine balanced spatial contacts and promoter choice. CONCLUSIONS These findings have interesting implications on the role of topological chromatin insulators in 3D genome folding and developmental gene regulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhilian Jia
- MOE Key Lab of Systems Biomedicine, Center for Comparative Biomedicine, State Key Lab of Oncogenes and Related Genes, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Joint International Research Laboratory of Metabolic & Developmental Sciences, Institute of Systems Biomedicine, Xin Hua Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China
| | - Jingwei Li
- MOE Key Lab of Systems Biomedicine, Center for Comparative Biomedicine, State Key Lab of Oncogenes and Related Genes, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Joint International Research Laboratory of Metabolic & Developmental Sciences, Institute of Systems Biomedicine, Xin Hua Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China
| | - Xiao Ge
- MOE Key Lab of Systems Biomedicine, Center for Comparative Biomedicine, State Key Lab of Oncogenes and Related Genes, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Joint International Research Laboratory of Metabolic & Developmental Sciences, Institute of Systems Biomedicine, Xin Hua Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China
| | - Yonghu Wu
- MOE Key Lab of Systems Biomedicine, Center for Comparative Biomedicine, State Key Lab of Oncogenes and Related Genes, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Joint International Research Laboratory of Metabolic & Developmental Sciences, Institute of Systems Biomedicine, Xin Hua Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China
| | - Ya Guo
- MOE Key Lab of Systems Biomedicine, Center for Comparative Biomedicine, State Key Lab of Oncogenes and Related Genes, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Joint International Research Laboratory of Metabolic & Developmental Sciences, Institute of Systems Biomedicine, Xin Hua Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China
| | - Qiang Wu
- MOE Key Lab of Systems Biomedicine, Center for Comparative Biomedicine, State Key Lab of Oncogenes and Related Genes, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Joint International Research Laboratory of Metabolic & Developmental Sciences, Institute of Systems Biomedicine, Xin Hua Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China.
- The Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, 510150, China.
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41
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Skipper KA, Hollensen AK, Antoniou MN, Mikkelsen JG. Sustained transgene expression from sleeping beauty DNA transposons containing a core fragment of the HNRPA2B1-CBX3 ubiquitous chromatin opening element (UCOE). BMC Biotechnol 2019; 19:75. [PMID: 31706316 PMCID: PMC6842454 DOI: 10.1186/s12896-019-0570-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2019] [Accepted: 10/15/2019] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Background DNA transposon-based vectors are effective nonviral tools for gene therapy and genetic engineering of cells. However, promoter DNA methylation and a near-random integration profile, which can result in transgene integration into heterochromatin, renders such vectors vulnerable to transcriptional repression. Therefore, to secure persistent transgene expression it may be necessary to protect transposon-embedded transgenes with anti-transcriptional silencing elements. Results We compare four different protective strategies in CHO-K1 cells. Our findings show robust protection from silencing of transgene cassettes mediated by the ubiquitous chromatin-opening element (UCOE) derived from the HNRPA2B1-CBX3 locus. Using a bioinformatic approach, we define a shorter HNRPA2B1-CBX3 UCOE core fragment and demonstrate that this can robustly maintain transgene expression after extended passaging of CHO-K1 cells carrying DNA transposon vectors equipped with this protective feature. Conclusions Our findings contribute to the understanding of the mechanism of HNRPA2B1-CBX3 UCOE-based transgene protection and support the use of a correctly oriented core fragment of this UCOE for DNA transposon vector-based production of recombinant proteins in CHO-K1 cells.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Anne Kruse Hollensen
- Department of Biomedicine, HEALTH, Aarhus University, DK- 8000, Aarhus C, Denmark.,Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Science and Technology, Aarhus University, DK-8000, Aarhus C, Denmark
| | - Michael N Antoniou
- Gene Expression and Therapy Group, King's College London, Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine, Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics, 8th Floor Tower Wing, Guy's Hospital, London, SE1 9RT, UK
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42
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Razin SV, Ulianov SV, Gavrilov AA. 3D Genomics. Mol Biol 2019; 53:802-812. [DOI: 10.1134/s0026893319060153] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2019] [Revised: 06/01/2019] [Accepted: 06/03/2019] [Indexed: 08/30/2023]
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43
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The Role of Insulation in Patterning Gene Expression. Genes (Basel) 2019; 10:genes10100767. [PMID: 31569427 PMCID: PMC6827083 DOI: 10.3390/genes10100767] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2019] [Revised: 09/19/2019] [Accepted: 09/24/2019] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Development is orchestrated by regulatory elements that turn genes ON or OFF in precise spatial and temporal patterns. Many safety mechanisms prevent inappropriate action of a regulatory element on the wrong gene promoter. In flies and mammals, dedicated DNA elements (insulators) recruit protein factors (insulator binding proteins, or IBPs) to shield promoters from regulatory elements. In mammals, a single IBP called CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF) is known, whereas genetic and biochemical analyses in Drosophila have identified a larger repertoire of IBPs. How insulators function at the molecular level is not fully understood, but it is currently thought that they fold chromosomes into conformations that affect regulatory element-promoter communication. Here, we review the discovery of insulators and describe their properties. We discuss recent genetic studies in flies and mice to address the question: Is gene insulation important for animal development? Comparing and contrasting observations in these two species reveal that they have different requirements for insulation, but that insulation is a conserved and critical gene regulation strategy.
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44
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Geeven G, Teunissen H, de Laat W, de Wit E. peakC: a flexible, non-parametric peak calling package for 4C and Capture-C data. Nucleic Acids Res 2019; 46:e91. [PMID: 29800273 PMCID: PMC6125690 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gky443] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2018] [Accepted: 05/13/2018] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
It is becoming increasingly clear that chromosome organization plays an important role in gene regulation. High-resolution methods such as 4C, Capture-C and promoter capture Hi-C (PCHiC) enable the study of chromatin loops such as those formed between promoters and enhancers or CTCF/cohesin binding sites. An important aspect of 4C/Capture-C/PCHiC analyses is the reliable identification of chromatin loops, preferably not based on visual inspection of a DNA contact profile, but on reproducible statistical analysis that robustly scores interaction peaks in the non-uniform contact background. Here, we present peakC, an R package for the analysis of 4C/Capture-C/PCHiC data. We generated 4C data for 13 viewpoints in two tissues in at least triplicate to test our methods. We developed a non-parametric peak caller based on rank-products. Sampling analysis shows that not read depth but template quality is the most important determinant of success in 4C experiments. By performing peak calling on single experiments we show that the peak calling results are similar to the replicate experiments, but that false positive rates are significantly reduced by performing replicates. Our software is user-friendly and enables robust peak calling for one-vs-all chromosome capture experiments. peakC is available at: https://github.com/deWitLab/peakC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Geert Geeven
- Oncode Institute, Hubrecht Institute-KNAW & University Medical Center Utrecht, Uppsalalaan 8, 3584 CT Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - Hans Teunissen
- Oncode Institute and Division of Gene Regulation, the Netherlands Cancer Institute, Plesmanlaan 121, 1066 CX Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Wouter de Laat
- Oncode Institute, Hubrecht Institute-KNAW & University Medical Center Utrecht, Uppsalalaan 8, 3584 CT Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - Elzo de Wit
- Oncode Institute and Division of Gene Regulation, the Netherlands Cancer Institute, Plesmanlaan 121, 1066 CX Amsterdam, the Netherlands
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45
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Ciccone DN, Namiki Y, Chen C, Morshead KB, Wood AL, Johnston CM, Morris JW, Wang Y, Sadreyev R, Corcoran AE, Matthews AGW, Oettinger MA. The murine IgH locus contains a distinct DNA sequence motif for the chromatin regulatory factor CTCF. J Biol Chem 2019; 294:13580-13592. [PMID: 31285261 PMCID: PMC6746451 DOI: 10.1074/jbc.ra118.007348] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2018] [Revised: 06/13/2019] [Indexed: 01/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Antigen receptor assembly in lymphocytes involves stringently-regulated coordination of specific DNA rearrangement events across several large chromosomal domains. Previous studies indicate that transcription factors such as paired box 5 (PAX5), Yin Yang 1 (YY1), and CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF) play a role in regulating the accessibility of the antigen receptor loci to the V(D)J recombinase, which is required for these rearrangements. To gain clues about the role of CTCF binding at the murine immunoglobulin heavy chain (IgH) locus, we utilized a computational approach that identified 144 putative CTCF-binding sites within this locus. We found that these CTCF sites share a consensus motif distinct from other CTCF sites in the mouse genome. Additionally, we could divide these CTCF sites into three categories: intergenic sites remote from any coding element, upstream sites present within 8 kb of the VH-leader exon, and recombination signal sequence (RSS)-associated sites characteristically located at a fixed distance (∼18 bp) downstream of the RSS. We noted that the intergenic and upstream sites are located in the distal portion of the VH locus, whereas the RSS-associated sites are located in the DH-proximal region. Computational analysis indicated that the prevalence of CTCF-binding sites at the IgH locus is evolutionarily conserved. In all species analyzed, these sites exhibit a striking strand-orientation bias, with >98% of the murine sites being present in one orientation with respect to VH gene transcription. Electrophoretic mobility shift and enhancer-blocking assays and ChIP–chip analysis confirmed CTCF binding to these sites both in vitro and in vivo.
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Affiliation(s)
- David N Ciccone
- Department of Molecular Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114
| | - Yuka Namiki
- Department of Molecular Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114
| | - Changfeng Chen
- Department of Molecular Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114
| | - Katrina B Morshead
- Department of Molecular Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114
| | - Andrew L Wood
- Lymphocyte Signalling and Development, Babraham Institute, Babraham Research Campus, Cambridge CB22 3AT, United Kingdom
| | - Colette M Johnston
- Lymphocyte Signalling and Development, Babraham Institute, Babraham Research Campus, Cambridge CB22 3AT, United Kingdom
| | - John W Morris
- Department of Molecular Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114
| | - Yanqun Wang
- Department of Molecular Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114
| | - Ruslan Sadreyev
- Department of Molecular Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114
| | - Anne E Corcoran
- Lymphocyte Signalling and Development, Babraham Institute, Babraham Research Campus, Cambridge CB22 3AT, United Kingdom
| | - Adam G W Matthews
- Department of Molecular Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114.,Department of Biological Sciences and Program in Biochemistry, Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts 02481
| | - Marjorie A Oettinger
- Department of Molecular Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114
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46
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Keenan AB, Torre D, Lachmann A, Leong AK, Wojciechowicz ML, Utti V, Jagodnik KM, Kropiwnicki E, Wang Z, Ma’ayan A. ChEA3: transcription factor enrichment analysis by orthogonal omics integration. Nucleic Acids Res 2019; 47:W212-W224. [PMID: 31114921 PMCID: PMC6602523 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkz446] [Citation(s) in RCA: 473] [Impact Index Per Article: 94.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2019] [Revised: 05/08/2019] [Accepted: 05/09/2019] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Identifying the transcription factors (TFs) responsible for observed changes in gene expression is an important step in understanding gene regulatory networks. ChIP-X Enrichment Analysis 3 (ChEA3) is a transcription factor enrichment analysis tool that ranks TFs associated with user-submitted gene sets. The ChEA3 background database contains a collection of gene set libraries generated from multiple sources including TF-gene co-expression from RNA-seq studies, TF-target associations from ChIP-seq experiments, and TF-gene co-occurrence computed from crowd-submitted gene lists. Enrichment results from these distinct sources are integrated to generate a composite rank that improves the prediction of the correct upstream TF compared to ranks produced by individual libraries. We compare ChEA3 with existing TF prediction tools and show that ChEA3 performs better. By integrating the ChEA3 libraries, we illuminate general transcription factor properties such as whether the TF behaves as an activator or a repressor. The ChEA3 web-server is available from https://amp.pharm.mssm.edu/ChEA3.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexandra B Keenan
- Department of Pharmacological Sciences, Mount Sinai Center for Bioinformatics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, One Gustave L. Levy Place, Box 1603, New York, NY 10029, USA
| | - Denis Torre
- Department of Pharmacological Sciences, Mount Sinai Center for Bioinformatics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, One Gustave L. Levy Place, Box 1603, New York, NY 10029, USA
| | - Alexander Lachmann
- Department of Pharmacological Sciences, Mount Sinai Center for Bioinformatics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, One Gustave L. Levy Place, Box 1603, New York, NY 10029, USA
| | - Ariel K Leong
- Department of Pharmacological Sciences, Mount Sinai Center for Bioinformatics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, One Gustave L. Levy Place, Box 1603, New York, NY 10029, USA
| | - Megan L Wojciechowicz
- Department of Pharmacological Sciences, Mount Sinai Center for Bioinformatics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, One Gustave L. Levy Place, Box 1603, New York, NY 10029, USA
| | - Vivian Utti
- Department of Pharmacological Sciences, Mount Sinai Center for Bioinformatics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, One Gustave L. Levy Place, Box 1603, New York, NY 10029, USA
| | - Kathleen M Jagodnik
- Department of Pharmacological Sciences, Mount Sinai Center for Bioinformatics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, One Gustave L. Levy Place, Box 1603, New York, NY 10029, USA
| | - Eryk Kropiwnicki
- Department of Pharmacological Sciences, Mount Sinai Center for Bioinformatics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, One Gustave L. Levy Place, Box 1603, New York, NY 10029, USA
| | - Zichen Wang
- Department of Pharmacological Sciences, Mount Sinai Center for Bioinformatics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, One Gustave L. Levy Place, Box 1603, New York, NY 10029, USA
| | - Avi Ma’ayan
- Department of Pharmacological Sciences, Mount Sinai Center for Bioinformatics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, One Gustave L. Levy Place, Box 1603, New York, NY 10029, USA
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47
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Farzaneh F, Mirzapoor Z, Jahangirian E, Heidari F, Hashemi E, Rahim-Tayefeh A, Fatemi N, Jamshidizad A, Dashtizad M, Shamsara M. The chicken hypersensitive site-4 insulator cannot fully shield the murine phosphoglycerate kinase-1 promoter from integration site effects in transgenic mice. 3 Biotech 2019; 9:255. [PMID: 31192080 DOI: 10.1007/s13205-019-1786-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2019] [Accepted: 05/30/2019] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Differential expression of transgenes in transgenic animals is one of the main drawbacks of pronuclear injection. To overwhelm this issue, the genetic constructs are equipped with insulators. In this study, the consensus of exerting chicken hypersensitive site-4 (cHS4) insulator was examined on the shield of phosphoglycerate kinase-1 (Pgk-1) promoter from the surrounding chromatin in transgenic mice. The PGK-EGFP cassette was flanked by insertion of three copies of the cHS4 insulators. Mouse zygotes' microinjection by the constructed cassette was resulted in the birth of nine transgenic founders (F0). Copy-number-dependent expression of the EGFP was investigated in the transgenic F1 offspring by fluorometry and real-time PCR. They showed no correlation between the expression level of transgene and gene copy number among the transgenic lines. Moreover, dissection of the EGFP-expressing mice revealed heterogeneous expression of the EGFP in the different organs. In conclusion, for the first time, these findings indicated that the cHS4 sequence is not a perfect insulator to fully protect the Pgk-1 promoter from the side effects of integration site in transgenic mice and it needs probably to some additional elements of the cHS4 locus to reach this goal.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fatemeh Farzaneh
- 1National Research Center for Transgenic Mouse, National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, P.O. Box 14965/161, Tehran, Iran
| | - Zohreh Mirzapoor
- 1National Research Center for Transgenic Mouse, National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, P.O. Box 14965/161, Tehran, Iran
| | - Ehsan Jahangirian
- 1National Research Center for Transgenic Mouse, National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, P.O. Box 14965/161, Tehran, Iran
| | - Farid Heidari
- 1National Research Center for Transgenic Mouse, National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, P.O. Box 14965/161, Tehran, Iran
| | - Ehsan Hashemi
- 1National Research Center for Transgenic Mouse, National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, P.O. Box 14965/161, Tehran, Iran
| | - Aidin Rahim-Tayefeh
- 1National Research Center for Transgenic Mouse, National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, P.O. Box 14965/161, Tehran, Iran
| | - Nayeralsadat Fatemi
- 2Department of Genetics at Reproductive Biomedicine Research Center, Royan Institute for Reproductive Biomedicine, ACECR, P.O. Box 19395-4644, Tehran, Iran
| | - Abbas Jamshidizad
- 1National Research Center for Transgenic Mouse, National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, P.O. Box 14965/161, Tehran, Iran
| | - Mojtaba Dashtizad
- 1National Research Center for Transgenic Mouse, National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, P.O. Box 14965/161, Tehran, Iran
| | - Mehdi Shamsara
- 1National Research Center for Transgenic Mouse, National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, P.O. Box 14965/161, Tehran, Iran
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48
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Ingusci S, Verlengia G, Soukupova M, Zucchini S, Simonato M. Gene Therapy Tools for Brain Diseases. Front Pharmacol 2019; 10:724. [PMID: 31312139 PMCID: PMC6613496 DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2019.00724] [Citation(s) in RCA: 92] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2018] [Accepted: 06/05/2019] [Indexed: 01/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Neurological disorders affecting the central nervous system (CNS) are still incompletely understood. Many of these disorders lack a cure and are seeking more specific and effective treatments. In fact, in spite of advancements in knowledge of the CNS function, the treatment of neurological disorders with modern medical and surgical approaches remains difficult for many reasons, such as the complexity of the CNS, the limited regenerative capacity of the tissue, and the difficulty in conveying conventional drugs to the organ due to the blood-brain barrier. Gene therapy, allowing the delivery of genetic materials that encodes potential therapeutic molecules, represents an attractive option. Gene therapy can result in a stable or inducible expression of transgene(s), and can allow a nearly specific expression in target cells. In this review, we will discuss the most commonly used tools for the delivery of genetic material in the CNS, including viral and non-viral vectors; their main applications; their advantages and disadvantages. We will discuss mechanisms of genetic regulation through cell-specific and inducible promoters, which allow to express gene products only in specific cells and to control their transcriptional activation. In addition, we will describe the applications to CNS diseases of post-transcriptional regulation systems (RNA interference); of systems allowing spatial or temporal control of expression [optogenetics and Designer Receptors Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs (DREADDs)]; and of gene editing technologies (CRISPR/Cas9, Zinc finger proteins). Particular attention will be reserved to viral vectors derived from herpes simplex type 1, a potential tool for the delivery and expression of multiple transgene cassettes simultaneously.
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Affiliation(s)
- Selene Ingusci
- Department of Medical Sciences and National Institute of Neuroscience, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
| | - Gianluca Verlengia
- Department of Medical Sciences and National Institute of Neuroscience, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.,Division of Neuroscience, University Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy
| | - Marie Soukupova
- Department of Medical Sciences and National Institute of Neuroscience, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
| | - Silvia Zucchini
- Department of Medical Sciences and National Institute of Neuroscience, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.,Technopole of Ferrara, LTTA Laboratory for Advanced Therapies, Ferrara, Italy
| | - Michele Simonato
- Department of Medical Sciences and National Institute of Neuroscience, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.,Division of Neuroscience, University Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy
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49
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Zhao Y, Kim JY, Karan R, Jung JH, Pathak B, Williamson B, Kannan B, Wang D, Fan C, Yu W, Dong S, Srivastava V, Altpeter F. Generation of a selectable marker free, highly expressed single copy locus as landing pad for transgene stacking in sugarcane. PLANT MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 2019; 100:247-263. [PMID: 30919152 DOI: 10.1007/s11103-019-00856-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2018] [Accepted: 03/15/2019] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
Abstract
A selectable marker free, highly expressed single copy locus flanked by insulators was created as landing pad for transgene stacking in sugarcane. These events displayed superior transgene expression compared to single-copy transgenic lines lacking insulators. Excision of the selectable marker gene from transgenic sugarcane lines was supported by FLPe/FRT site-specific recombination. Sugarcane, a tropical C4 grass in the genus Saccharum (Poaceae), accounts for nearly 80% of sugar produced worldwide and is also an important feedstock for biofuel production. Generating transgenic sugarcane with predictable and stable transgene expression is critical for crop improvement. In this study, we generated a highly expressed single copy locus as landing pad for transgene stacking. Transgenic sugarcane lines with stable integration of a single copy nptII expression cassette flanked by insulators supported higher transgene expression along with reduced line to line variation when compared to single copy events without insulators by NPTII ELISA analysis. Subsequently, the nptII selectable marker gene was efficiently excised from the sugarcane genome by the FLPe/FRT site-specific recombination system to create selectable marker free plants. This study provides valuable resources for future gene stacking using site-specific recombination or genome editing tools.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yang Zhao
- Agronomy Department, Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Program, Genetics Institute, University of Florida - IFAS, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA
| | - Jae Y Kim
- Agronomy Department, Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Program, Genetics Institute, University of Florida - IFAS, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA
- Department of Plant Resources, College of Industrial Science, Kongju National University, Yesan, 32439, Republic of Korea
| | - Ratna Karan
- Agronomy Department, Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Program, Genetics Institute, University of Florida - IFAS, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA
| | - Je H Jung
- Agronomy Department, Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Program, Genetics Institute, University of Florida - IFAS, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA
- Smart Farm Research Center, Institute of Natural Products, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), Gangwon-do, 25451, Republic of Korea
| | - Bhuvan Pathak
- Agronomy Department, Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Program, Genetics Institute, University of Florida - IFAS, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA
| | - Bruce Williamson
- Agronomy Department, Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Program, Genetics Institute, University of Florida - IFAS, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA
| | - Baskaran Kannan
- Agronomy Department, Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Program, Genetics Institute, University of Florida - IFAS, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA
- DOE Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation, University of Florida - IFAS, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA
| | - Duoduo Wang
- Agronomy Department, Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Program, Genetics Institute, University of Florida - IFAS, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA
- DOE Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation, University of Florida - IFAS, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA
| | - Chunyang Fan
- Syngenta Crop Protection, LLC, Research Triangle Park, NC, 27709, USA
| | - Wenjin Yu
- Syngenta Crop Protection, LLC, Research Triangle Park, NC, 27709, USA
| | - Shujie Dong
- Syngenta Crop Protection, LLC, Research Triangle Park, NC, 27709, USA
| | - Vibha Srivastava
- Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, 72701, USA
| | - Fredy Altpeter
- Agronomy Department, Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Program, Genetics Institute, University of Florida - IFAS, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA.
- DOE Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation, University of Florida - IFAS, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA.
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50
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Yamamoto T, Saitoh N. Non-coding RNAs and chromatin domains. Curr Opin Cell Biol 2019; 58:26-33. [PMID: 30682683 DOI: 10.1016/j.ceb.2018.12.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2018] [Revised: 11/19/2018] [Accepted: 12/06/2018] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Large-scale transcriptome analyses have identified a variety of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) that are not translated into proteins. Many of them are in the nucleus, where they associate with chromatin and regulate its structure and function. Interphase chromosomes are intricately folded into multiple layers and composed of domains. Recent studies using Hi-C technologies have identified a mega-base self-associating chromatin domain: the topologically associating domain (TAD). The domain boundaries are demarcated with the chromatin regulatory proteins CTCF and cohesin, which are often bound to or recruited by ncRNAs. Some ncRNAs form RNA clouds in the nucleus and coordinate the transcription of multiple genes in a chromatin domain. In this review, we describe the emerging link between long ncRNAs and chromatin domains in the nucleus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tatsuro Yamamoto
- Division of Cancer Biology, The Cancer Institute of JFCR, Tokyo 135-8550, Japan; Department of Medical Cell Biology, Institute of Molecular Embryology and Genetics, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto 860-0811, Japan
| | - Noriko Saitoh
- Division of Cancer Biology, The Cancer Institute of JFCR, Tokyo 135-8550, Japan.
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