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Nix JL, Schettini GP, Speckhart SL, Ealy AD, Biase FH. Ablation of OCT4 function in cattle embryos by double electroporation of CRISPR-Cas for DNA and RNA targeting (CRISPR-DART). PNAS NEXUS 2023; 2:pgad343. [PMID: 37954164 PMCID: PMC10637268 DOI: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgad343] [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] [Received: 07/18/2023] [Accepted: 10/11/2023] [Indexed: 11/14/2023]
Abstract
CRISPR-Cas ribonucleoproteins (RNPs) are important tools for gene editing in preimplantation embryos. However, the inefficient production of biallelic deletions in cattle zygotes has hindered mechanistic studies of gene function. In addition, the presence of maternal RNAs that support embryo development until embryonic genome activation may cause confounding phenotypes. Here, we aimed to improve the efficiency of biallelic deletions and deplete specific maternal RNAs in cattle zygotes using CRISPR-Cas editing technology. Two electroporation sessions with Cas9D10A RNPs targeting exon 1 and the promoter of OCT4 produced biallelic deletions in 91% of the embryos tested. In most cases, the deletions were longer than 1,000 nucleotides long. Electroporation of Cas13a RNPs prevents the production of the corresponding proteins. We electroporated Cas9D10A RNPs targeting exon 1, including the promoter region, of OCT4 in two sessions with inclusion of Cas13a RNPs targeting OCT4 mRNAs in the second session to ablate OCT4 function in cattle embryos. A lack of OCT4 resulted in embryos arresting development prior to blastocyst formation at a greater proportion (13%) than controls (31.6%, P < 0.001). The few embryos that developed past the morula stage did not form a normal inner cell mass. Transcriptome analysis of single blastocysts, confirmed to lack exon 1 and promoter region of OCT4, revealed a significant (False Discovery Rate, FDR < 0.1) reduction in transcript abundance of many genes functionally connected to stemness, including markers of pluripotency (CADHD1, DPPA4, GNL3, RRM2). The results confirm that OCT4 is a key regulator of genes that modulate pluripotency and is required to form a functional blastocyst in cattle.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jada L Nix
- School of Animal Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 175 W Campus dr, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
| | - Gustavo P Schettini
- School of Animal Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 175 W Campus dr, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
| | - Savannah L Speckhart
- School of Animal Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 175 W Campus dr, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
| | - Alan D Ealy
- School of Animal Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 175 W Campus dr, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
| | - Fernando H Biase
- School of Animal Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 175 W Campus dr, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
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2
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Upreti D, Rouzer SK, Bowring A, Labbe E, Kumar R, Miranda RC, Mahnke AH. Microbiota and nutrition as risk and resiliency factors following prenatal alcohol exposure. Front Neurosci 2023; 17:1182635. [PMID: 37397440 PMCID: PMC10308314 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1182635] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2023] [Accepted: 05/23/2023] [Indexed: 07/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Alcohol exposure in adulthood can result in inflammation, malnutrition, and altered gastroenteric microbiota, which may disrupt efficient nutrient extraction. Clinical and preclinical studies have documented convincingly that prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) also results in persistent inflammation and nutrition deficiencies, though research on the impact of PAE on the enteric microbiota is in its infancy. Importantly, other neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism spectrum and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorders, have been linked to gut microbiota dysbiosis. The combined evidence from alcohol exposure in adulthood and from other neurodevelopmental disorders supports the hypothesis that gut microbiota dysbiosis is likely an etiological feature that contributes to negative developmental, including neurodevelopmental, consequences of PAE and results in fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. Here, we highlight published data that support a role for gut microbiota in healthy development and explore the implication of these studies for the role of altered microbiota in the lifelong health consequences of PAE.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | | | - Amanda H. Mahnke
- Department of Neuroscience and Experimental Therapeutics, Texas A&M University School of Medicine, Bryan, TX, United States
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Popova S, Charness ME, Burd L, Crawford A, Hoyme HE, Mukherjee RAS, Riley EP, Elliott EJ. Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. Nat Rev Dis Primers 2023; 9:11. [PMID: 36823161 DOI: 10.1038/s41572-023-00420-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 47.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/16/2023] [Indexed: 02/25/2023]
Abstract
Alcohol readily crosses the placenta and may disrupt fetal development. Harm from prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) is determined by the dose, pattern, timing and duration of exposure, fetal and maternal genetics, maternal nutrition, concurrent substance use, and epigenetic responses. A safe dose of alcohol use during pregnancy has not been established. PAE can cause fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD), which are characterized by neurodevelopmental impairment with or without facial dysmorphology, congenital anomalies and poor growth. FASD are a leading preventable cause of birth defects and developmental disability. The prevalence of FASD in 76 countries is >1% and is high in individuals living in out-of-home care or engaged in justice and mental health systems. The social and economic effects of FASD are profound, but the diagnosis is often missed or delayed and receives little public recognition. Future research should be informed by people living with FASD and be guided by cultural context, seek consensus on diagnostic criteria and evidence-based treatments, and describe the pathophysiology and lifelong effects of FASD. Imperatives include reducing stigma, equitable access to services, improved quality of life for people with FASD and FASD prevention in future generations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Svetlana Popova
- Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
| | - Michael E Charness
- VA Boston Healthcare System, West Roxbury, MA, USA.,Department of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.,Department of Neurology, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.,Department of Neurology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Larry Burd
- North Dakota Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Center, Department of Pediatrics, University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Pediatric Therapy Services, Altru Health System, Grand Forks, ND, USA
| | - Andi Crawford
- Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - H Eugene Hoyme
- Sanford Children's Genomic Medicine Consortium, Sanford Health, and University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine, Sioux Falls, SD, USA
| | - Raja A S Mukherjee
- National UK FASD Clinic, Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, Redhill, Surrey, UK
| | - Edward P Riley
- Center for Behavioral Teratology, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Elizabeth J Elliott
- Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.,New South Wales FASD Assessment Service, CICADA Centre for Care and Intervention for Children and Adolescents affected by Drugs and Alcohol, Sydney Children's Hospitals Network, Westmead, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
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Dose-related shifts in proteome and function of extracellular vesicles secreted by fetal neural stem cells following chronic alcohol exposure. Heliyon 2022; 8:e11348. [PMID: 36387439 PMCID: PMC9649983 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e11348] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2022] [Revised: 09/07/2022] [Accepted: 10/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
Accumulating evidence indicates that extracellular vesicles (EVs) mediate endocrine functions and also pathogenic effects of neurodevelopmental perturbagens like ethanol. We performed mass-spectrometry on EVs secreted by fetal murine cerebral cortical neural stem cells (NSCs), cultured ex-vivo as sex-specific neurosphere cultures, to identify overrepresented proteins and signaling pathways in EVs relative to parental NSCs in controls, and following exposure of parental NSCs to a dose range of ethanol. EV proteomes differ substantially from parental NSCs, and though EVs sequester proteins across sub-cellular compartments, they are enriched for distinct morphogenetic signals including the planar cell polarity pathway. Ethanol exposure favored selective protein sequestration in EVs and depletion in parental NSCs, and also resulted in dose-independent overrepresentation of cell-cycle and DNA replication pathways in EVs as well as dose-dependent overrepresentation of rRNA processing and mTor stress pathways. Transfer of untreated EVs to naïve cells resulted in decreased oxidative metabolism and S-phase, while EVs derived from ethanol-treated NSCs exhibited diminished effect. Collectively, these data show that NSCs secrete EVs with a distinct proteome that may have a general growth-inhibitory effect on recipient cells. Moreover, while ethanol results in selective transfer of proteins from NSCs to EVs, the efficacy of these exposure-derived EVs is diminished.
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Pinson MR, Chung DD, Mahnke AH, Salem NA, Osorio D, Nair V, Payne EA, Del Real JJ, Cai JJ, Miranda RC. Gag-like proteins: Novel mediators of prenatal alcohol exposure in neural development. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 2022; 46:556-569. [PMID: 35187673 PMCID: PMC9018584 DOI: 10.1111/acer.14796] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2021] [Revised: 01/24/2022] [Accepted: 02/15/2022] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
Background We previously showed that ethanol did not kill fetal neural stem cells (NSCs), but that their numbers nevertheless are decreased due to aberrant maturation and loss of self‐renewal. To identify mechanisms that mediate this loss of NSCs, we focused on a family of Gag‐like proteins (GLPs), derived from retroviral gene remnants within mammalian genomes. GLPs are important for fetal development, though their role in brain development is virtually unexplored. Moreover, GLPs may be transferred between cells in extracellular vesicles (EVs) and thereby transfer environmental adaptations between cells. We hypothesized that GLPs may mediate some effects of ethanol in NSCs. Methods Sex‐segregated male and female fetal murine cortical NSCs, cultured ex vivo as nonadherent neurospheres, were exposed to a dose range of ethanol and to mitogen‐withdrawal‐induced differentiation. We used siRNAs to assess the effects of NSC‐expressed GLP knockdown on growth, survival, and maturation and in silico GLP knockout, in an in vivo single‐cell RNA‐sequencing dataset, to identify GLP‐mediated developmental pathways that were also ethanol‐sensitive. Results PEG10 isoform‐1, isoform‐2, and PNMA2 were identified as dominant GLP species in both NSCs and their EVs. Ethanol‐exposed NSCs exhibited significantly elevated PEG10 isoform‐2 and PNMA2 protein during differentiation. Both PEG10 and PNMA2 were mediated apoptosis resistance and additionally, PEG10 promoted neuronal and astrocyte lineage maturation. Neither GLP influenced metabolism nor cell cycle in NSCs. Virtual PEG10 and PNMA2 knockout identified gene transcription regulation and ubiquitin‐ligation processes as candidate mediators of GLP‐linked prenatal alcohol effects. Conclusions Collectively, GLPs present in NSCs and their EVs may confer apoptosis resistance within the NSC niche and contribute to the abnormal maturation induced by ethanol.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marisa R Pinson
- Department of Neuroscience and Experimental Therapeutics, Texas A&M University Health Science Center, Bryan, Texas, USA
| | - Dae D Chung
- Department of Neuroscience and Experimental Therapeutics, Texas A&M University Health Science Center, Bryan, Texas, USA
| | - Amanda H Mahnke
- Department of Neuroscience and Experimental Therapeutics, Texas A&M University Health Science Center, Bryan, Texas, USA.,Women's Health in Neuroscience Program, Texas A&M University Health Science Center, Bryan, Texas, USA
| | - Nihal A Salem
- Department of Neuroscience and Experimental Therapeutics, Texas A&M University Health Science Center, Bryan, Texas, USA
| | - Daniel Osorio
- Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA
| | - Vijay Nair
- Department of Neuroscience and Experimental Therapeutics, Texas A&M University Health Science Center, Bryan, Texas, USA
| | - Elizabeth A Payne
- Department of Neuroscience and Experimental Therapeutics, Texas A&M University Health Science Center, Bryan, Texas, USA
| | - Jonathan J Del Real
- Department of Neuroscience and Experimental Therapeutics, Texas A&M University Health Science Center, Bryan, Texas, USA
| | - James J Cai
- Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA.,Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA.,Interdisciplinary Program of Genetics, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA.,Center for Statistical Bioinformatics, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA
| | - Rajesh C Miranda
- Department of Neuroscience and Experimental Therapeutics, Texas A&M University Health Science Center, Bryan, Texas, USA.,Women's Health in Neuroscience Program, Texas A&M University Health Science Center, Bryan, Texas, USA.,Interdisciplinary Program of Genetics, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA
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6
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Tozaki T, Ohnuma A, Kikuchi M, Ishige T, Kakoi H, Hirota KI, Kusano K, Nagata SI. Identification of processed pseudogenes in the genome of Thoroughbred horses: Possibility of gene-doping detection considering the presence of pseudogenes. Anim Genet 2022; 53:183-192. [PMID: 35077588 DOI: 10.1111/age.13174] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2021] [Revised: 12/24/2021] [Accepted: 01/10/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Processed pseudogenes, also known as retrocopy genes, are copies of messenger RNAs that have been reverse transcribed into DNA and inserted into the genome. In this study, we identified 62 processed pseudogene candidates as intron-less genes from whole-genome sequencing (WGS) data of Thoroughbred horses using delly structural variation software. The 62 processed pseudogene candidates were confirmed by PCR amplification of intron-less products. A total of 11 processed pseudogenes were confirmed in the genome of all 23 analysed horses, whereas three processed pseudogenes with structures of ATP11B, DPH3 and RPL17 were detected in only one of 115 horses by PCR amplification of intron-less products. Currently, most of the gene doping tests proposed in human and horse sports are adapted PCR-based methods using hydrolysis probes to detect exon/exon junctions in transgenes because the operation is simple and economical. However, when the pseudogene is present in the host genome, the PCR-based methods may have a potential risk of detecting false positives. In this study, because processed pseudogenes that exist less frequently in the horse genome may affect PCR-based transgene detection in gene-doping tests, we propose and demonstrate that PCR amplification and sequencing using primers designed on transgene and promotors and/or polyadenylation signal for gene expression are useful for gene-doping detection as an additional confirmatory test to prevent false positives.
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Affiliation(s)
- Teruaki Tozaki
- Genetic Analysis Department, Laboratory of Racing Chemistry, Utsunomiya, Tochigi, Japan
| | - Aoi Ohnuma
- Genetic Analysis Department, Laboratory of Racing Chemistry, Utsunomiya, Tochigi, Japan
| | - Mio Kikuchi
- Genetic Analysis Department, Laboratory of Racing Chemistry, Utsunomiya, Tochigi, Japan
| | - Taichiro Ishige
- Genetic Analysis Department, Laboratory of Racing Chemistry, Utsunomiya, Tochigi, Japan
| | - Hironaga Kakoi
- Genetic Analysis Department, Laboratory of Racing Chemistry, Utsunomiya, Tochigi, Japan
| | - Kei-Ichi Hirota
- Genetic Analysis Department, Laboratory of Racing Chemistry, Utsunomiya, Tochigi, Japan
| | - Kanichi Kusano
- Equine Department, Japan Racing Association, Minato, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Shun-Ichi Nagata
- Genetic Analysis Department, Laboratory of Racing Chemistry, Utsunomiya, Tochigi, Japan
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