A CRISPR/Cas9-generated mutation in the zebrafish orthologue of PPP2R3B causes idiopathic scoliosis

In Search of a Target Gene for a Desirable Phenotype in Aquaculture: Genome Editing of Cyprinidae and Salmonidae Species

Aquaculture supplies the world food market with a significant amount of valuable protein. Highly productive aquaculture fishes can be derived by utilizing genome-editing methods, and the main problem is to choose a target gene to obtain the desirable phenotype. This paper presents a review of the studies of genome editing for genes controlling body development, growth, pigmentation and sex determination in five key aquaculture Salmonidae and Cyprinidae species, such as rainbow trout (Onchorhynchus mykiss), Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), common carp (Cyprinus carpio), goldfish (Carassius auratus), Gibel carp (Carassius gibelio) and the model fish zebrafish (Danio rerio). Among the genes studied, the most applicable for aquaculture are mstnba, pomc, and acvr2, the knockout of which leads to enhanced muscle growth; runx2b, mutants of which do not form bones in myoseptae; lepr, whose lack of function makes fish fast-growing; fads2, Δ6abc/5Mt, and Δ6bcMt, affecting the composition of fatty acids in fish meat; dnd mettl3, and wnt4a, mutants of which are sterile; and disease-susceptibility genes prmt7, gab3, gcJAM-A, and cxcr3.2. Schemes for obtaining common carp populations consisting of only large females are promising for use in aquaculture. The immobilized and uncolored zebrafish line is of interest for laboratory use.

SOX9 gene shows association with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis predisposition in Northwest Indians

BACKGROUND

Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is a common structural deformity of the spine affecting adolescent individuals globally. The disorder is polygenic and is accompanied by the association of various genetic loci. Genetic studies in Chinese and Japanese populations have shown the association of genetic variants of SOX9 with AIS curve severity. However, no genetic study evaluating the association of SRY-Box Transcription Factor 9 (SOX9) variants with AIS predisposition has been conducted in any Indian population. Thus, we aimed to investigate the association of the genetic variants of the SOX9 along with 0.88 Mb upstream region with AIS susceptibility in the population of Northwest India.

METHODS

In total, 113 AIS cases and 500 non-AIS controls were recruited from the population of Northwest India in the study and screened for 155 genetic variants across the SOX9 gene and 0.88 Mb upstream region of the gene using Global Screening Array-24 v3.0 chip (Illumina). The statistical significance of the Bonferroni threshold was set at 0.000322.

RESULT

The results showed the association of 11 newly identified variants; rs9302936, rs7210997, rs77736349, rs12940821, rs9302937, rs77447012, rs8071904, rs74898711, rs9900249, rs2430514, and rs1042667 with the AIS susceptibility in the studied population. Only one variant, rs2430514, was inversely associated with AIS in the population, while the ten variants were associated with the AIS risk. Moreover, 47 variants clustered in the gene desert region of the SOX9 gene were associated at a p-value ≤ 0.05.

CONCLUSION

The present study is the first to demonstrate the association of SOX9 enhancer locus variants with AIS in any South Asian Indian population. The results are interesting as rs1042667, a 3' untranslated region (UTR) variant in the exon 3 and upstream variants of the SOX9 gene, were associated with AIS susceptibility in the Northwest Indian population. This provides evidence that the variants in the enhancer region of SOX9 might regulate its gene expression, thus leading to AIS pathology and might act as an important gene for AIS susceptibility.