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Gregor A, Zweier C. Modelling phenotypes, variants and pathomechanisms of syndromic diseases in different systems. MED GENET-BERLIN 2024; 36:121-131. [PMID: 38854643 PMCID: PMC11154186 DOI: 10.1515/medgen-2024-2020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2024]
Abstract
In this review we describe different model organisms and systems that are commonly used to study syndromic disorders. Different use cases in modeling diseases, underlying pathomechanisms and specific effects of certain variants are elucidated. We also highlight advantages and limitations of different systems. Models discussed include budding yeast, the nematode worm, the fruit fly, the frog, zebrafish, mice and human cell-based systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anne Gregor
- University of BernDepartment of Human GeneticsInselspital Bern3010BernSwitzerland
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Wang L, Sun F, Li Q, Ma H, Zhong J, Zhang H, Cheng S, Wu H, Zhao Y, Wang N, Xie Z, Zhao M, Zhu P, Zheng H. CytoSIP: an annotated structural atlas for interactions involving cytokines or cytokine receptors. Commun Biol 2024; 7:630. [PMID: 38789577 PMCID: PMC11126726 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-024-06289-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2023] [Accepted: 05/03/2024] [Indexed: 05/26/2024] Open
Abstract
Therapeutic agents targeting cytokine-cytokine receptor (CK-CKR) interactions lead to the disruption in cellular signaling and are effective in treating many diseases including tumors. However, a lack of universal and quick access to annotated structural surface regions on CK/CKR has limited the progress of a structure-driven approach in developing targeted macromolecular drugs and precision medicine therapeutics. Herein we develop CytoSIP (Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), Interface, and Phenotype), a rich internet application based on a database of atomic interactions around hotspots in experimentally determined CK/CKR structural complexes. CytoSIP contains: (1) SNPs on CK/CKR; (2) interactions involving CK/CKR domains, including CK/CKR interfaces, oligomeric interfaces, epitopes, or other drug targeting surfaces; and (3) diseases and phenotypes associated with CK/CKR or SNPs. The database framework introduces a unique tri-level SIP data model to bridge genetic variants (atomic level) to disease phenotypes (organism level) using protein structure (complexes) as an underlying framework (molecule level). Customized screening tools are implemented to retrieve relevant CK/CKR subset, which reduces the time and resources needed to interrogate large datasets involving CK/CKR surface hotspots and associated pathologies. CytoSIP portal is publicly accessible at https://CytoSIP.biocloud.top , facilitating the panoramic investigation of the context-dependent crosstalk between CK/CKR and the development of targeted therapeutic agents.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lu Wang
- Bioinformatics Center, Hunan University College of Biology, Changsha, Hunan, 410082, China
- Guangdong Cardiovascular Institute, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510100, China
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Pathogenesis, Targeted Prevention and Treatment of Heart Disease, Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Cardiac Pathogenesis and Prevention, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510100, China
| | - Fang Sun
- Bioinformatics Center, Hunan University College of Biology, Changsha, Hunan, 410082, China
- Department of Pediatrics, The Third Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, 410006, China
| | - Qianying Li
- Bioinformatics Center, Hunan University College of Biology, Changsha, Hunan, 410082, China
| | - Haojie Ma
- Bioinformatics Center, Hunan University College of Biology, Changsha, Hunan, 410082, China
| | - Juanhong Zhong
- Bioinformatics Center, Hunan University College of Biology, Changsha, Hunan, 410082, China
| | - Huihui Zhang
- Bioinformatics Center, Hunan University College of Biology, Changsha, Hunan, 410082, China
| | - Siyi Cheng
- Guangdong Cardiovascular Institute, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510100, China
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Pathogenesis, Targeted Prevention and Treatment of Heart Disease, Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Cardiac Pathogenesis and Prevention, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510100, China
| | - Hao Wu
- Guangdong Cardiovascular Institute, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510100, China
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Pathogenesis, Targeted Prevention and Treatment of Heart Disease, Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Cardiac Pathogenesis and Prevention, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510100, China
| | - Yanmin Zhao
- Bioinformatics Center, Hunan University College of Biology, Changsha, Hunan, 410082, China
| | - Nasui Wang
- Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, No. 57 Changping Road, Shantou, 515041, China
| | - Zhongqiu Xie
- Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, 22908, USA
| | - Mingyi Zhao
- Department of Pediatrics, The Third Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, 410006, China.
| | - Ping Zhu
- Guangdong Cardiovascular Institute, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510100, China.
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Pathogenesis, Targeted Prevention and Treatment of Heart Disease, Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Cardiac Pathogenesis and Prevention, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510100, China.
| | - Heping Zheng
- Bioinformatics Center, Hunan University College of Biology, Changsha, Hunan, 410082, China.
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Catalano F, O’Brien TJ, Mekhova AA, Sepe LV, Elia M, De Cegli R, Gallotta I, Santonicola P, Zampi G, Ilyechova EY, Romanov AA, Samuseva PD, Salzano J, Petruzzelli R, Polishchuk EV, Indrieri A, Kim BE, Brown AEX, Puchkova LV, Di Schiavi E, Polishchuk RS. A new Caenorhabditis elegans model to study copper toxicity in Wilson disease. Traffic 2024; 25:e12920. [PMID: 37886910 PMCID: PMC10841361 DOI: 10.1111/tra.12920] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2023] [Revised: 09/28/2023] [Accepted: 10/03/2023] [Indexed: 10/28/2023]
Abstract
Wilson disease (WD) is caused by mutations in the ATP7B gene that encodes a copper (Cu) transporting ATPase whose trafficking from the Golgi to endo-lysosomal compartments drives sequestration of excess Cu and its further excretion from hepatocytes into the bile. Loss of ATP7B function leads to toxic Cu overload in the liver and subsequently in the brain, causing fatal hepatic and neurological abnormalities. The limitations of existing WD therapies call for the development of new therapeutic approaches, which require an amenable animal model system for screening and validation of drugs and molecular targets. To achieve this objective, we generated a mutant Caenorhabditis elegans strain with a substitution of a conserved histidine (H828Q) in the ATP7B ortholog cua-1 corresponding to the most common ATP7B variant (H1069Q) that causes WD. cua-1 mutant animals exhibited very poor resistance to Cu compared to the wild-type strain. This manifested in a strong delay in larval development, a shorter lifespan, impaired motility, oxidative stress pathway activation, and mitochondrial damage. In addition, morphological analysis revealed several neuronal abnormalities in cua-1 mutant animals exposed to Cu. Further investigation suggested that mutant CUA-1 is retained and degraded in the endoplasmic reticulum, similarly to human ATP7B-H1069Q. As a consequence, the mutant protein does not allow animals to counteract Cu toxicity. Notably, pharmacological correctors of ATP7B-H1069Q reduced Cu toxicity in cua-1 mutants indicating that similar pathogenic molecular pathways might be activated by the H/Q substitution and, therefore, targeted for rescue of ATP7B/CUA-1 function. Taken together, our findings suggest that the newly generated cua-1 mutant strain represents an excellent model for Cu toxicity studies in WD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Federico Catalano
- Telethon Institute of Genetics and Medicine (TIGEM), Pozzuoli, Italy
- Institute of Biosciences and BioResources (IBBR), National Research Council (CNR), Napoli, Italy
| | - Thomas J O’Brien
- MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences, London, United Kingdom
- Institute of Clinical Sciences, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Aleksandra A Mekhova
- Research center of advanced functional materials and laser communication systems, ADTS Institute, ITMO University, St. Petersburg, Russia
| | | | | | - Rossella De Cegli
- Telethon Institute of Genetics and Medicine (TIGEM), Pozzuoli, Italy
| | - Ivan Gallotta
- Telethon Institute of Genetics and Medicine (TIGEM), Pozzuoli, Italy
- Institute of Genetics and Biophysics Adriano Buzzati-Traverso (IGB-ABT), National Research Council (CNR), Napoli, Italy
| | - Pamela Santonicola
- Institute of Biosciences and BioResources (IBBR), National Research Council (CNR), Napoli, Italy
| | - Giuseppina Zampi
- Institute of Biosciences and BioResources (IBBR), National Research Council (CNR), Napoli, Italy
| | - Ekaterina Y Ilyechova
- Research center of advanced functional materials and laser communication systems, ADTS Institute, ITMO University, St. Petersburg, Russia
- Department of Molecular Genetics, Research Institute of Experimental Medicine, St. Petersburg, Russia
| | - Aleksei A Romanov
- Department of applied mathematics, Institute of applied mathematics and mechanics, Peter the Great Polytechnic University, St. Petersburg, Russia
| | - Polina D Samuseva
- Research center of advanced functional materials and laser communication systems, ADTS Institute, ITMO University, St. Petersburg, Russia
| | - Josephine Salzano
- Telethon Institute of Genetics and Medicine (TIGEM), Pozzuoli, Italy
| | - Raffaella Petruzzelli
- Telethon Institute of Genetics and Medicine (TIGEM), Pozzuoli, Italy
- Scuola Superiore Meridionale (SSM, School of Advanced Studies), Genomics and Experimental Medicine program, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy
| | - Elena V. Polishchuk
- Telethon Institute of Genetics and Medicine (TIGEM), Pozzuoli, Italy
- Institute of Biosciences and BioResources (IBBR), National Research Council (CNR), Napoli, Italy
| | - Alessia Indrieri
- Telethon Institute of Genetics and Medicine (TIGEM), Pozzuoli, Italy
- Institute for Genetic and Biomedical Research (IRGB), National Research Council (CNR), Milan, Italy
| | - Byung-Eun Kim
- Department of Animal and Avian Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
| | - André EX Brown
- MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences, London, United Kingdom
- Institute of Clinical Sciences, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Ludmila V Puchkova
- Research center of advanced functional materials and laser communication systems, ADTS Institute, ITMO University, St. Petersburg, Russia
| | - Elia Di Schiavi
- Institute of Biosciences and BioResources (IBBR), National Research Council (CNR), Napoli, Italy
- Institute of Genetics and Biophysics Adriano Buzzati-Traverso (IGB-ABT), National Research Council (CNR), Napoli, Italy
| | - Roman S. Polishchuk
- Telethon Institute of Genetics and Medicine (TIGEM), Pozzuoli, Italy
- Institute for Genetic and Biomedical Research (IRGB), National Research Council (CNR), Milan, Italy
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Zhang FL, Yang L, He WH, Xie LJ, Yang F, Wang YH, Huang AG. In vivo antibacterial activity of medicinal plant Sophora flavescens against Streptococcus agalactiae infection. JOURNAL OF FISH DISEASES 2023; 46:977-986. [PMID: 37294673 DOI: 10.1111/jfd.13818] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2023] [Revised: 05/19/2023] [Accepted: 05/24/2023] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Streptococcosis disease caused by Streptococcus agalactiae (Group B Streptococcus, GBS) results in a huge economic loss of tilapia culture. It is urgent to find new antimicrobial agents against streptococcosis. In this study, 20 medicinal plants were evaluated in vitro and in vivo to obtain medicinal plants and potential bioactive compounds against GBS infection. The results showed that the ethanol extracts of 20 medicinal plants had low or no antibacterial properties in vitro, with a minimal inhibitory concentration ≥256 mg/L. Interestingly, in vivo tests showed that 7 medicinal plants could significantly inhibit GBS infection in tilapia, and Sophora flavescens (SF) had the strongest anti-GBS activity in tilapia, reaching 92.68%. SF could significantly reduce the bacterial loads of GBS in different tissues (liver, spleen and brain) of tilapia after treated with different tested concentrations (12.5, 25.0, 50.0 and 100.0 mg/kg) for 24 h. Moreover, 50 mg/kg SF could significantly improve the survival rate of GBS-infected tilapia by inhibiting GBS replication. Furthermore, the expression of antioxidant gene cat, immune-related gene c-type lysozyme and anti-inflammatory cytokine il-10 in liver tissue of GBS-infected tilapia significantly increased after treated with SF for 24 h. Meanwhile, SF significantly reduced the expression of immune-related gene myd88 and pro-inflammatory cytokines il-8 and il-1β in liver tissue of GBS-infected tilapia. The negative and positive models of UPLC-QE-MS, respectively, identified 27 and 57 components of SF. The major components of SF extract in the negative model were α, α-trehalose, DL-malic acid, D- (-)-fructose and xanthohumol, while in the positive model were oxymatrine, formononetin, (-)-maackiain and xanthohumol. Interestingly, oxymatrine and xanthohumol could significantly inhibit GBS infection in tilapia. Taken together, these results suggest that SF can inhibit GBS infection in tilapia, and it has potential for the development of anti-GBS agents.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fa-Li Zhang
- School of Marine Sciences, Guangxi Laboratory on the Study of Coral Reefs in the South China Sea, Guangxi University, Nanning, China
| | - Liu Yang
- Institute of Green and Low Carbon Technology, Guangxi lnstitute of lndustrial Technology, Nanning, China
| | - Wei-Hao He
- School of Marine Sciences, Guangxi Laboratory on the Study of Coral Reefs in the South China Sea, Guangxi University, Nanning, China
| | - Ling-Jun Xie
- School of Marine Sciences, Guangxi Laboratory on the Study of Coral Reefs in the South China Sea, Guangxi University, Nanning, China
| | - Fei Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Ying-Hui Wang
- Institute of Green and Low Carbon Technology, Guangxi lnstitute of lndustrial Technology, Nanning, China
| | - Ai-Guo Huang
- School of Marine Sciences, Guangxi Laboratory on the Study of Coral Reefs in the South China Sea, Guangxi University, Nanning, China
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Gümüşderelioğlu S, Resch L, Brock T, Luxton GWG, Cope H, Tan QKG, Hopkins C, Starr DA. A humanized Caenorhabditis elegans model of hereditary spastic paraplegia-associated variants in KLC4. Dis Model Mech 2023; 16:dmm050076. [PMID: 37565267 PMCID: PMC10481945 DOI: 10.1242/dmm.050076] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2023] [Accepted: 07/31/2023] [Indexed: 08/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP) is a group of degenerative neurological disorders. We identified a variant in human kinesin light chain 4 (KLC4) that is suspected to be associated with autosomal-dominant HSP. How this and other variants relate to pathologies is unknown. We created a humanized Caenorhabditis elegans model in which klc-2 was replaced by human KLC4 (referred to as hKLC4) and assessed the extent to which hKLC4 retained function in the worm. We observed a slight decrease in motility but no nuclear migration defects in the humanized worms, suggesting that hKLC4 retains much of the function of klc-2. Five hKLC4 variants were introduced into the humanized model. The clinical variant led to early lethality, with significant defects in nuclear migration when homozygous and a weak nuclear migration defect when heterozygous, possibly correlating with the clinical finding of late-onset HSP when the proband was heterozygous. Thus, we were able to establish humanized C. elegans as an animal model for HSP and to use it to test the significance of five variants of uncertain significance in the human gene KLC4.
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Affiliation(s)
- Selin Gümüşderelioğlu
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA
| | | | | | | | - G. W. Gant Luxton
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA
| | - Heidi Cope
- Division of Medical Genetics, Department of Pediatrics, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA
| | - Queenie K.-G. Tan
- Division of Medical Genetics, Department of Pediatrics, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA
| | | | - Daniel A. Starr
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA
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Hopkins CE, McCormick K, Brock T, Wood M, Ruggiero S, Mcbride K, Kim C, Lawson JA, Helbig I, Bainbridge MN. Clinical variants in Caenorhabditis elegans expressing human STXBP1 reveal a novel class of pathogenic variants and classify variants of uncertain significance. GENETICS IN MEDICINE OPEN 2023; 1:100823. [PMID: 38827422 PMCID: PMC11141691 DOI: 10.1016/j.gimo.2023.100823] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/04/2024]
Abstract
Purpose Modeling disease variants in animals is useful for drug discovery, understanding disease pathology, and classifying variants of uncertain significance (VUS) as pathogenic or benign. Methods Using Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, we performed a Whole-gene Humanized Animal Model procedure to replace the coding sequence of the animal model's unc-18 ortholog with the coding sequence for the human STXBP1 gene. Next, we used Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats to introduce precise point variants in the Whole-gene Humanized Animal Model-humanized STXBP1 locus from 3 clinical categories (benign, pathogenic, and VUS). Twenty-six phenotypic features extracted from video recordings were used to train machine learning classifiers on 25 pathogenic and 32 benign variants. Results Using multiple models, we were able to obtain a diagnostic sensitivity near 0.9. Twenty-three VUS were also interrogated and 8 of 23 (34.8%) were observed to be functionally abnormal. Interestingly, unsupervised clustering identified 2 distinct subsets of known pathogenic variants with distinct phenotypic features; both p.Tyr75Cys and p.Arg406Cys cluster away from other variants and show an increase in swim speed compared with hSTXBP1 worms. This leads to the hypothesis that the mechanism of disease for these 2 variants may differ from most STXBP1-mutated patients and may account for some of the clinical heterogeneity observed in the patient population. Conclusion We have demonstrated that automated analysis of a small animal system is an effective, scalable, and fast way to understand functional consequences of variants in STXBP1 and identify variant-specific intensities of aberrant activity suggesting a genotype-to-phenotype correlation is likely to occur in human clinical variations of STXBP1.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - Sarah Ruggiero
- Division of Neurology, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
- The Epilepsy NeuroGenetics Initiative (ENGIN), Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
- Department of Biomedical and Health Informatics (DBHi), Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
- University of Pennsylvania, Neuroscience Program, Philadelphia, PA
| | | | | | | | - Ingo Helbig
- Division of Neurology, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
- The Epilepsy NeuroGenetics Initiative (ENGIN), Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
- Department of Biomedical and Health Informatics (DBHi), Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
- University of Pennsylvania, Neuroscience Program, Philadelphia, PA
| | - Matthew N. Bainbridge
- Codified Genomics, LLC, Houston, TX
- Rady Children’s Institute for Genomic Medicine, San Diego, CA
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Gümüşderelioğlu S, Resch L, Brock T, Luxton GWG, Tan QKG, Hopkins C, Starr DA. A humanized Caenorhabditis elegans model of Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia-associated variants in kinesin light chain KLC4. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.01.07.523106. [PMID: 36789438 PMCID: PMC9928042 DOI: 10.1101/2023.01.07.523106] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
Hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP) is a group of degenerative neurological disorders. We identified a variant in human kinesin light chain KLC4 that is suspected to be associated with autosomal dominant HSP. How this and other variants relate to pathologies is unknown. We created a humanized C. elegans model where klc- 2 was replaced with human KLC4 and assessed the extent to which hKLC4 retained function in the worm. We observed a slight decrease in motility but no nuclear migration defects in the humanized worms, suggesting that hKLC4 retains much of the function of klc-2 . Five hKLC4 variants were introduced into the humanized model. The clinical variant led to early lethality with significant defects in nuclear migration when homozygous, and a weak nuclear migration defect when heterozygous, possibly correlating with the clinical finding of late onset HSP when the proband was heterozygous. Thus, we were able to establish humanized C. elegans as an animal model for HSP and use it to test the significance of five variants of uncertain significance in the human gene KLC4 . Summary Statement We identified a variant in KLC4 associated with Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia. The variant had physiological relevance in a humanized C. elegans model where we replaced klc-2 with human KLC4 .
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Affiliation(s)
- Selin Gümüşderelioğlu
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
| | | | | | - G W Gant Luxton
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Queenie K-G Tan
- Division of Medical Genetics, Department of Pediatrics, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA
| | | | - Daniel A Starr
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
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