The effects of differential gene expression on coding sequence features: Analysis by one-way ANOVA

Senescent endothelial cells' response to the degradation of bioresorbable scaffold induces intimal dysfunction accelerating in-stent restenosis

Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease is a typical age-related disease accompanied by stiffening arteries. We aimed to elucidate the influence of aged arteries on in-stent restenosis (ISR) after the implantation of bioresorbable scaffolds (BRS). Histology and optical coherence tomography showed increased lumen loss and ISR in the aged abdominal aorta of Sprague-Dawley rats, with apparent scaffold degradation and deformation, which induce lower wall shear stress (WSS). This was also the case at the distal end of BRS, where the scaffolds degraded faster, and significant lumen loss was followed by a lower WSS. In addition, early thrombosis, inflammation, and delayed re-endothelialization were presented in the aged arteries. Degradation of BRS causes more senescent cells in the aged vasculature, increasing endothelial cell dysfunction and the risk of ISR. Thus, profoundly understanding the mechanism between BRS and senescent cells may give a meaningful guide for the age-related scaffold design. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: The degradation of bioresorbable scaffolds aggravates senescent endothelial cells and a much lower wall shear stress areas in the aged vasculature, lead to intimal dysfunction and increasing in-stent restenosis risk. Early thrombosis and inflammation, as well as delayed re-endothelialization, are presented in the aged vasculature after bioresorbable scaffolds implantation. Age stratification during the clinical evaluation and senolytics in the design of new bioresorbable scaffolds should be considered, especially for old patients.

Drug Repurposing and Systems Biology approaches of Enzastaurin can target potential biomarkers and critical pathways in Colorectal Cancer

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a severe health concern that results from a cocktail of genetic, epigenetic, and environmental abnormalities. Because it is the second most lethal malignancy in the world and the third-most common malignant tumor, but the treatment is unavailable. The goal of the current study was to use bioinformatics and systems biology techniques to determine the pharmacological mechanism underlying putative important genes and linked pathways in early-onset CRC. Computer-aided methods were used to uncover similar biological targets and signaling pathways associated with CRC, along with bioinformatics and network pharmacology techniques to assess the effects of enzastaurin on CRC. The KEGG and gene ontology (GO) pathway analysis revealed several significant pathways including in positive regulation of protein phosphorylation, negative regulation of the apoptotic process, nucleus, nucleoplasm, protein tyrosine kinase activity, PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, pathways in cancer, focal adhesion, HIF-1 signaling pathway, and Rap1 signaling pathway. Later, the hub protein module identified from the protein-protein interactions (PPIs) network, molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation represented that enzastaurin showed strong binding interaction with two hub proteins including CASP3 (-8.6 kcal/mol), and MCL1 (-8.6 kcal/mol), which were strongly implicated in CRC management than other the five hub proteins. Moreover, the pharmacokinetic features of enzastaurin revealed that it is an effective therapeutic agent with minimal adverse effects. Enzastaurin may inhibit the potential biological targets that are thought to be responsible for the advancement of CRC and this study suggests a potential novel therapeutic target for CRC.

Burkholderia thailandensis strain E555 is a surrogate for the investigation of Burkholderia pseudomallei replication and survival in macrophages

Background

Burkholderia pseudomallei is a human pathogen causing severe infections in tropical and subtropical regions and is classified as a bio-threat agent. B. thailandensis strain E264 has been proposed as less pathogenic surrogate for understanding the interactions of B. pseudomallei with host cells.

Results

We show that, unlike B. thailandensis strain E264, the pattern of growth of B. thailandensis strain E555 in macrophages is similar to that of B. pseudomallei. We have genome sequenced B. thailandensis strain E555 and using the annotated sequence identified genes and proteins up-regulated during infection. Changes in gene expression identified more of the known B. pseudomallei virulence factors than changes in protein levels and used together we identified 16% of the currently known B. pseudomallei virulence factors. These findings demonstrate the utility of B. thailandensis strain E555 to study virulence of B. pseudomallei.

Conclusions

A weakness of studies using B. thailandensis as a surrogate for B. pseudomallei is that the strains used replicate at a slower rate in infected cells. We show that the pattern of growth of B. thailandensis strain E555 in macrophages closely mirrors that of B. pseudomallei. Using this infection model we have shown that virulence factors of B. pseudomallei can be identified as genes or proteins whose expression is elevated on the infection of macrophages. This finding confirms the utility of B. thailandensis strain E555 as a surrogate for B. pseudomallei and this strain should be used for future studies on virulence mechanisms.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12866-019-1469-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Genome-Wide and Experimental Resolution of Relative Translation Elongation Speed at Individual Gene Level in Human Cells

In the process of translation, ribosomes first assemble on mRNAs (translation initiation) and then translate along the mRNA (elongation) to synthesize proteins. Elongation pausing is deemed highly relevant to co-translational folding of nascent peptides and the functionality of protein products, which positioned the evaluation of elongation speed as one of the central questions in the field of translational control. By integrating three types of RNA-seq methods, we experimentally and computationally resolved elongation speed, with our proposed elongation velocity index (EVI), a relative measure at individual gene level and under physiological condition in human cells. We successfully distinguished slow-translating genes from the background translatome. We demonstrated that low-EVI genes encoded more stable proteins. We further identified cell-specific slow-translating codons, which might serve as a causal factor of elongation deceleration. As an example for the biological relevance, we showed that the relatively slow-translating genes tended to be associated with the maintenance of malignant phenotypes per pathway analyses. In conclusion, EVI opens a new view to understand why human cells tend to avoid simultaneously speeding up translation initiation and decelerating elongation, and the possible cancer relevance of translating low-EVI genes to gain better protein quality.

In protein synthesis, ribosome assembles to mRNA to initiate translation, followed by the process of elongation to read the codons along the mRNA molecule for polypeptide chain production. It is known that slowing down the elongation speed at certain regions of mRNA is critical for the correct folding of numerous proteins—the so-called “pause-to-fold”. However, it has been an open question to evaluate elongation speed under cellular physiological conditions in genome-wide scale. Here, we used three types of next-generation sequencing approaches to experimentally and computationally address this question. With a new relative measure of elongation velocity index (EVI), we successfully distinguished slow-translating genes. Their protein products are more stable than the background genes. We found that different cell types tended to have distinct slow-translating codons, which might be relevant to the cell/tissue specific tRNA composition. Such elongation deceleration is potentially disease-relevant: cancer cells tend to slow down numerous cancer-favorable genes, and vice versa. Furthermore, we justified that translation initiation and elongation are evolutionarily synergistic as no gene with both high initiation efficiency and low elongation speed was observed: that would cause a traffic jam of ribosomes that should be maximally avoided per evolution.

Expression of macrophage migration inhibitory factor in the mouse neocortex and posterior piriform cortices during postnatal development

Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) functions as a pleiotropic protein, participating in a vast array of cellular and biological processes. Abnormal expression of MIF has been implicated in many neurological diseases, including Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, Alzheimer's Disease, stroke, and neuropathic pain. However, the expression patterns of mif transcript and MIF protein from the early postnatal period through adulthood in the mouse brain are still poorly understood. We therefore investigated the temporal and spatial expression of MIF in the mouse neocortex during postnatal development in detail and partially in posterior piriform cortices (pPC). As determined by quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR), mif transcript gradually increased during development, with the highest level noted at postnatal day 30 (P30) followed by a sharp decline at P75. In contrast, Western blotting results showed that MIF increased constantly from P7 to P75. The highest level of MIF was at P75, while the lowest level of MIF was at P7. Immunofluorescence histochemistry revealed that MIF-immunoreactive (ir) cells were within the entire depth of the developed neocortex, and MIF was heterogeneously distributed among cortical cells, especially at P7, P14, P30, and P75; MIF was abundant in the pyramidal layer within pPC. Double immunostaining showed that all the mature neurons were MIF-ir and all the intensely stained MIF-ir cells were parvalbumin positive (Pv +) at adult. Moreover, it was demonstrated that MIF protein localized in the perikaryon, processes, presynaptic structures, and the nucleus in neurons. Taken together, the developmentally regulated expression and the subcellular localization of MIF should form a platform for an analysis of MIF neurodevelopmental biology and MIF-related nerve diseases.

GroEL dependency affects codon usage--support for a critical role of misfolding in gene evolution

Integrating genome-scale sequence, expression, structural and protein interaction data from E. coli we establish an interaction between chaperone (GroEL) dependency and optimal codon usage.

Highly expressed sporadic substrates of GroEL employ more optimal codons than expected, show enrichment for optimal codons at structurally sensitive sites and greater conservation of codon optimality under conditions of relaxed purifying selection.

We suggest that highly expressed genes cannot routinely utilize GroEL for error control so that codon usage has evolved to provide complementary error limitation, whereas obligate GroEL substrates experience relaxed selection on codon usage.

Our results support a critical role of misfolding prevention in gene evolution.

Errors during gene expression are relatively commonplace, which has prompted speculations that many features of gene and genome anatomy and organization have evolved to reduce or mitigate such errors. One type of error that can be particularly costly occurs when the polypeptide chain that emerges from the ribosome fails to fold into its native structure. Some aberrantly folded proteins, exposing hydrophobic residues that would normally be buried, may begin to promiscuously interact with other proteins, become toxic to the cell and thus pose a substantial fitness concern (Gregersen et al, 2006).

In trans, molecular chaperones have long been recognized to play crucial roles in misfolding prevention and remedy. In cis, it has recently been suggested that the use of optimal codons limits mistranslation-induced protein misfolding (Drummond and Wilke, 2008). Evidence for the latter is centred on the argument that synonymous codons differ in their propensity to cause mistranslation. Translationally optimal codons, typically represented by more abundant cognate tRNAs (Duret, 2000), are thought less likely to cause ribosomal stalling and/or incorporation of the wrong amino acid.

Here, we suggest that the role, if any, of error limitation in cis can be revealed by studying its interaction with well-established error management systems in trans (chaperones). If codon usage does indeed play a tangible role in misfolding prevention, we would expect selection on codon identity to vary with the degree to which a protein can rely on other error control mechanisms, namely chaperones. We use the E. coli chaperonin GroEL as a model system to explore whether there is any interaction between optimal codon usage and chaperone dependency.

Kerner et al (2005) had previously determined GroEL substrates on a genome-wide scale. Based on enrichment in GroEL complexes the authors assigned ∼250 proteins to three classes reflecting GroEL dependency: class-I proteins, only a small fraction of which (<1%) associates with GroEL and which spontaneously regain some activity; class-II proteins, which only exhibit spontaneous refolding at more permissive temperatures and class-III proteins, which are obligate substrates of GroEL and largely fail to refold even under more benign conditions. Notably, although on average less abundant than class-I/II proteins (‘sporadic clients'), class-III proteins (‘obligate clients') occupy ∼80% of GroEL's capacity in vivo. Consequently, a higher proportion (∼100% versus ∼20% for class-II and ∼1% for class-I) of these proteins is routinely processed by the GroEL system.

We demonstrate that sporadic but not obligate clients of GroEL exhibit enhanced codon adaptation, carefully controlling for possible confounding factors, notably expression level and protein length (Figure 1). We also point out that genes that recently entered the E. coli genome via horizontal gene transfer will distort equilibrium analyses of codon usage in bacteria and should thus be routinely eliminated from analysis.

Building on earlier work by Zhou et al (2009), we further show that sporadic substrates are conspicuously enriched for optimal codons at structurally sensitive sites, consistent with more severe fitness implications of codon choice for these proteins.

Lastly, we reveal that codon optimality in sporadic clients is more highly conserved in S. dysenteriae. S. dysenteriae is an E. coli clone that has diverged relatively recently from the E. coli K12 strain and has adopted an intracellular lifestyle (Balbi et al, 2009). Concomitant with that lifestyle, Shigella has experienced a lower effective population size and therefore reduced efficiency of purifying selection. This has generated conditions where, overall, codon optimality has started to decay. However, when we followed the fate of ancestrally optimal codons at buried sites in the S. dysenteriae and E. coli K12 genomes, we found that a lower fraction of buried sites has lost codon optimality in sporadic substrates (Figure 4), again consistent with greater structural importance of codon choice in these substrates.

Based on the these findings, we suggest the following explanation: As mentioned above, class-III substrates are defined not only by GroEL being critical for proper folding, but also by occupying most of GroEL's capacity (∼80%). With a high proportion of class-III protein passaged through the GroEL system, mistranslation errors in these proteins weigh less severely as GroEL can remedy at least some misfolding that ensues. In contrast, class-I and II genes are more highly expressed and cannot routinely rely on GroEL to rectify folding errors. Yet class-I/II proteins are clearly liable to misfold as testified by their sporadic association with GroEL. We argue that augmenting GroEL's capacity to address the misfolding propensity of these genes would be prohibitively costly to the organism and that, as an alternative strategy, these genes employ optimal codons to reduce the rate of misfolding error.

Our findings (a) reveal a cis–trans interaction between codon usage and chaperones in providing an integrated error management system, (b) provide independent evidence for a role of misfolding in shaping gene evolution and (c) suggest that the burden of deleterious mutations in long-term bottlenecking populations like that of the insect endosymbiont Buchnera not only comprises unfavourable amino-acid (Moran, 1996) but also synonymous substitutions.

It has recently been suggested that the use of optimal codons limits mistranslation-induced protein misfolding, yet evidence for this remains largely circumstantial. In contrast, molecular chaperones have long been recognized to play crucial roles in misfolding prevention and remedy. We propose that putative error limitation in cis can be elucidated by examining the interaction between codon usage and chaperoning processes. Using Escherichia coli as a model system, we find that codon optimality covaries with dependency on the chaperonin GroEL. Sporadic but not obligate substrates of GroEL exhibit higher average codon adaptation and are conspicuously enriched for optimal codons at structurally sensitive sites. Further, codon optimality of sporadic clients is more conserved in the E. coli clone Shigella dysenteriae. We suggest that highly expressed genes cannot routinely use GroEL for error control so that codon usage has evolved to provide complementary error limitation. These findings provide independent evidence for a role of misfolding in shaping gene evolution and highlight the need to co-characterize adaptations in cis and trans to unravel the workings of integrated molecular systems.

Correlation of mRNA and protein in complex biological samples

The correlation between mRNA and protein abundances in the cell has been reported to be notoriously poor. Recent technological advances in the quantitative analysis of mRNA and protein species in complex samples allow the detailed analysis of this pathway at the center of biological systems. We give an overview of available methods for the identification and quantification of free and ribosome-bound mRNA, protein abundances and individual protein turnover rates. We review available literature on the correlation of mRNA and protein abundances and discuss biological and technical parameters influencing the correlation of these central biological molecules.

You're one in a googol: optimizing genes for protein expression

A vast number of different nucleic acid sequences can all be translated by the genetic code into the same amino acid sequence. These sequences are not all equally useful however; the exact sequence chosen can have profound effects on the expression of the encoded protein. Despite the importance of protein-coding sequences, there has been little systematic study to identify parameters that affect expression. This is probably because protein expression has largely been tackled on an ad hoc basis in many independent projects: once a sequence has been obtained that yields adequate expression for that project, there is little incentive to continue work on the problem. Synthetic biology may now provide the impetus to transform protein expression folklore into design principles, so that DNA sequences may easily be designed to express any protein in any system. In this review, we offer a brief survey of the literature, outline the major challenges in interpreting existing data and constructing robust design algorithms, and propose a way to proceed towards the goal of rational sequence engineering.

Integrative analyses of posttranscriptional regulation in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae using transcriptomic and proteomic data

Correlation between mRNA and protein expression is typically modest due to substantial posttranscriptional regulation. Using large-scale transcriptomic and proteomic data of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we quantitatively examined the effects of several posttranscriptional biological properties on the correlation between mRNA and protein expression levels (mRNA-protein correlation) on a genomewide scale. The two classes of properties investigated are (1) stability of mRNA and protein molecules and (2) biological properties related to translational process, such as codon usage and amino acid usage, and experimental data of ribosome density and occupancy. The multiple regression analysis showed that while mRNA half-life and translation initiation efficiency (estimated as mRNA secondary structure in the 5'-UTR) do not appear to have remarkable contributions to the variations in the mRNA-protein correlation, protein half-life descriptor (PHD) is identified as the most important property affecting mRNA-protein correlation (contributing to 16.87% of the total variation in mRNA-protein correlation), suggesting protein degradation significantly affects mRNA-protein correlation. Codon usage and amino acid composition contribute to 8.89% and 7.60% of the total variation, respectively, which is consistent with several previous studies in bacteria (such as Escherichia coli, Haemophilus influenzae, and Desulfovibrio vulgaris), suggesting that mRNA-protein correlation is affected the most by elongation during protein translation. Taken together, all posttranscriptional biological properties contributed to 33.15% of the total variation of mRNA-protein correlation.