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Tegtmeyer M, Arora J, Asgari S, Cimini BA, Nadig A, Peirent E, Liyanage D, Way GP, Weisbart E, Nathan A, Amariuta T, Eggan K, Haghighi M, McCarroll SA, O'Connor L, Carpenter AE, Singh S, Nehme R, Raychaudhuri S. High-dimensional phenotyping to define the genetic basis of cellular morphology. Nat Commun 2024; 15:347. [PMID: 38184653 PMCID: PMC10771466 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-44045-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/06/2023] [Accepted: 11/28/2023] [Indexed: 01/08/2024] Open
Abstract
The morphology of cells is dynamic and mediated by genetic and environmental factors. Characterizing how genetic variation impacts cell morphology can provide an important link between disease association and cellular function. Here, we combine genomic sequencing and high-content imaging approaches on iPSCs from 297 unique donors to investigate the relationship between genetic variants and cellular morphology to map what we term cell morphological quantitative trait loci (cmQTLs). We identify novel associations between rare protein altering variants in WASF2, TSPAN15, and PRLR with several morphological traits related to cell shape, nucleic granularity, and mitochondrial distribution. Knockdown of these genes by CRISPRi confirms their role in cell morphology. Analysis of common variants yields one significant association and nominate over 300 variants with suggestive evidence (P < 10-6) of association with one or more morphology traits. We then use these data to make predictions about sample size requirements for increasing discovery in cellular genetic studies. We conclude that, similar to molecular phenotypes, morphological profiling can yield insight about the function of genes and variants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew Tegtmeyer
- Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Centre for Gene Therapy and Regenerative Medicine, King's College, London, UK
| | - Jatin Arora
- Center for Data Sciences, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Division of Rheumatology, Inflammation, and Immunity, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Division of Genetics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Program in Medical and Population Genetics, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Samira Asgari
- Center for Data Sciences, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Division of Rheumatology, Inflammation, and Immunity, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Division of Genetics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Program in Medical and Population Genetics, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Institute for Genomic Health, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Beth A Cimini
- Imaging Platform, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Ajay Nadig
- Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Program in Medical and Population Genetics, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Analytic and Translational Genetics Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Emily Peirent
- Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Dhara Liyanage
- Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Gregory P Way
- Imaging Platform, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Erin Weisbart
- Imaging Platform, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Aparna Nathan
- Center for Data Sciences, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Division of Rheumatology, Inflammation, and Immunity, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Division of Genetics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Program in Medical and Population Genetics, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Tiffany Amariuta
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
- Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute, University of California, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Department of Medicine, University of California, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Kevin Eggan
- Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Marzieh Haghighi
- Imaging Platform, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Steven A McCarroll
- Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Luke O'Connor
- Program in Medical and Population Genetics, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Anne E Carpenter
- Imaging Platform, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Shantanu Singh
- Imaging Platform, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA.
| | - Ralda Nehme
- Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA.
- Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
| | - Soumya Raychaudhuri
- Center for Data Sciences, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
- Division of Rheumatology, Inflammation, and Immunity, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
- Division of Genetics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
- Program in Medical and Population Genetics, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA.
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
- Centre for Genetics and Genomics Versus Arthritis, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.
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Akyol S, Ashrafi N, Yilmaz A, Turkoglu O, Graham SF. Metabolomics: An Emerging "Omics" Platform for Systems Biology and Its Implications for Huntington Disease Research. Metabolites 2023; 13:1203. [PMID: 38132886 PMCID: PMC10744751 DOI: 10.3390/metabo13121203] [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: 11/01/2023] [Revised: 11/29/2023] [Accepted: 12/02/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Huntington's disease (HD) is a progressive, fatal neurodegenerative disease characterized by motor, cognitive, and psychiatric symptoms. The precise mechanisms of HD progression are poorly understood; however, it is known that there is an expansion of the trinucleotide cytosine-adenine-guanine (CAG) repeat in the Huntingtin gene. Important new strategies are of paramount importance to identify early biomarkers with predictive value for intervening in disease progression at a stage when cellular dysfunction has not progressed irreversibly. Metabolomics is the study of global metabolite profiles in a system (cell, tissue, or organism) under certain conditions and is becoming an essential tool for the systemic characterization of metabolites to provide a snapshot of the functional and pathophysiological states of an organism and support disease diagnosis and biomarker discovery. This review briefly highlights the historical progress of metabolomic methodologies, followed by a more detailed review of the use of metabolomics in HD research to enable a greater understanding of the pathogenesis, its early prediction, and finally the main technical platforms in the field of metabolomics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sumeyya Akyol
- NX Prenatal Inc., 4350 Brownsboro Road, Louisville KY 40207, USA;
| | - Nadia Ashrafi
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Oakland University-William Beaumont School of Medicine, 318 Meadow Brook Road, Rochester, MI 48309, USA; (N.A.); (A.Y.); (O.T.)
| | - Ali Yilmaz
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Oakland University-William Beaumont School of Medicine, 318 Meadow Brook Road, Rochester, MI 48309, USA; (N.A.); (A.Y.); (O.T.)
- Metabolomics Division, Beaumont Research Institute, 3811 W. 13 Mile Road, Royal Oak, MI 48073, USA
| | - Onur Turkoglu
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Oakland University-William Beaumont School of Medicine, 318 Meadow Brook Road, Rochester, MI 48309, USA; (N.A.); (A.Y.); (O.T.)
| | - Stewart F. Graham
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Oakland University-William Beaumont School of Medicine, 318 Meadow Brook Road, Rochester, MI 48309, USA; (N.A.); (A.Y.); (O.T.)
- Metabolomics Division, Beaumont Research Institute, 3811 W. 13 Mile Road, Royal Oak, MI 48073, USA
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Gantley L, Stringer BW, Conn VM, Ootsuka Y, Holds D, Slee M, Aliakbari K, Kirk K, Ormsby RJ, Webb ST, Hanson A, Lin H, Selth LA, Conn SJ. Functional Characterisation of the Circular RNA, circHTT(2-6), in Huntington's Disease. Cells 2023; 12:cells12091337. [PMID: 37174737 PMCID: PMC10177161 DOI: 10.3390/cells12091337] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2023] [Revised: 05/04/2023] [Accepted: 05/05/2023] [Indexed: 05/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Trinucleotide repeat disorders comprise ~20 severe, inherited, human neuromuscular and neurodegenerative disorders, which result from an abnormal expansion of repetitive sequences in the DNA. The most common of these, Huntington's disease (HD), results from expansion of the CAG repeat region in exon 1 of the HTT gene via an unknown mechanism. Since non-coding RNAs have been implicated in the initiation and progression of many diseases, herein we focused on a circular RNA (circRNA) molecule arising from non-canonical splicing (backsplicing) of HTT pre-mRNA. The most abundant circRNA from HTT, circHTT(2-6), was found to be more highly expressed in the frontal cortex of HD patients, compared with healthy controls, and positively correlated with CAG repeat tract length. Furthermore, the mouse orthologue (mmu_circHTT(2-6)) was found to be enriched within the brain and specifically the striatum, a region enriched for medium spiny neurons that are preferentially lost in HD. Transgenic overexpression of circHTT(2-6) in two human cell lines-SH-SY5Y and HEK293-reduced cell proliferation and nuclear size without affecting cell cycle progression or cellular size, or altering the CAG repeat region length within HTT. CircHTT(2-6) overexpression did not alter total HTT protein levels, but reduced its nuclear localisation. As these phenotypic and genotypic changes resemble those observed in HD patients, our results suggest that circHTT(2-6) may play a functional role in the pathophysiology of this disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Gantley
- Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute (FHMRI), College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA 5042, Australia
| | - Brett W Stringer
- Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute (FHMRI), College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA 5042, Australia
- Lifelong Health, South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia
| | - Vanessa M Conn
- Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute (FHMRI), College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA 5042, Australia
| | - Youichirou Ootsuka
- Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute (FHMRI), College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA 5042, Australia
- Centre for Neuroscience, Human Physiology, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA 5042, Australia
| | - Duncan Holds
- Department of Genetics and Molecular Pathology, SA Pathology, Flinders Medical Centre, Bedford Park, SA 5042, Australia
| | - Mark Slee
- Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute (FHMRI), College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA 5042, Australia
| | - Kamelya Aliakbari
- Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute (FHMRI), College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA 5042, Australia
| | - Kirsty Kirk
- Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute (FHMRI), College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA 5042, Australia
| | - Rebecca J Ormsby
- Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute (FHMRI), College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA 5042, Australia
| | - Stuart T Webb
- Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute (FHMRI), College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA 5042, Australia
| | - Adrienne Hanson
- Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute (FHMRI), College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA 5042, Australia
| | - He Lin
- Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute (FHMRI), College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA 5042, Australia
| | - Luke A Selth
- Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute (FHMRI), College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA 5042, Australia
- Freemasons Centre for Male Health and Wellbeing, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA 5042, Australia
- Adelaide Medical School, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia
| | - Simon J Conn
- Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute (FHMRI), College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA 5042, Australia
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