Loss of calpain3b in Zebrafish, a Model of Limb-Girdle Muscular Dystrophy, Increases Susceptibility to Muscle Defects Due to Elevated Muscle Activity

Limb-Girdle Muscular Dystrophy Type R1 (LGMDR1; formerly LGMD2A), characterized by progressive hip and shoulder muscle weakness, is caused by mutations in CAPN3. In zebrafish, capn3b mediates Def-dependent degradation of p53 in the liver and intestines. We show that capn3b is expressed in the muscle. To model LGMDR1 in zebrafish, we generated three deletion mutants in capn3b and a positive-control dmd mutant (Duchenne muscular dystrophy). Two partial deletion mutants showed transcript-level reduction, whereas the RNA-less mutant lacked capn3b mRNA. All capn3b homozygous mutants were developmentally-normal adult-viable animals. Mutants in dmd were homozygous-lethal. Bathing wild-type and capn3b mutants in 0.8% methylcellulose (MC) for 3 days beginning 2 days post-fertilization resulted in significantly pronounced (20-30%) birefringence-detectable muscle abnormalities in capn3b mutant embryos. Evans Blue staining for sarcolemma integrity loss was strongly positive in dmd homozygotes, negative in wild-type embryos, and negative in MC-treated capn3b mutants, suggesting membrane instability is not a primary muscle pathology determinant. Increased birefringence-detected muscle abnormalities in capn3b mutants compared to wild-type animals were observed following induced hypertonia by exposure to cholinesterase inhibitor, azinphos-methyl, reinforcing the MC results. These mutant fish represent a novel tractable model for studying the mechanisms underlying muscle repair and remodeling, and as a preclinical tool for whole-animal therapeutics and behavioral screening in LGMDR1.

Human JAK1 gain of function causes dysregulated myelopoeisis and severe allergic inflammation

Primary atopic disorders are a group of inborn errors of immunity that skew the immune system toward severe allergic disease. Defining the biology underlying these extreme monogenic phenotypes reveals shared mechanisms underlying common polygenic allergic disease and identifies potential drug targets. Germline gain-of-function (GOF) variants in JAK1 are a cause of severe atopy and eosinophilia. Modeling the JAK1GOF (p.A634D) variant in both zebrafish and human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) revealed enhanced myelopoiesis. RNA-Seq of JAK1GOF human whole blood, iPSCs, and transgenic zebrafish revealed a shared core set of dysregulated genes involved in IL-4, IL-13, and IFN signaling. Immunophenotypic and transcriptomic analysis of patients carrying a JAK1GOF variant revealed marked Th cell skewing. Moreover, long-term ruxolitinib treatment of 2 children carrying the JAK1GOF (p.A634D) variant remarkably improved their growth, eosinophilia, and clinical features of allergic inflammation. This work highlights the role of JAK1 signaling in atopic immune dysregulation and the clinical impact of JAK1/2 inhibition in treating eosinophilic and allergic disease.

Genome Editing in Zebrafish Using High-Fidelity Cas9 Nucleases: Choosing the Right Nuclease for the Task

Shortly after the development of the CRISPR/Cas9 system, it was recognized that it is prone to induce off-target mutations at significant frequencies. Therefore, there is a strong motivation to develop Cas9 enzymes with reduced off-target activity. Multiple rational design or selection approaches have been applied to develop several Cas9 versions with reduced off-target activities (high fidelity). To make these high-fidelity Cas9s available for model systems other than human cells and bacterial strains, as, for example, in zebrafish, new specialized expression vectors need to be developed. In this chapter, we focused on the HypaCas9 and HiFi Cas9 high-fidelity enzymes and incorporated the mutations of these Cas9 versions into a codon-optimized zebrafish Cas9 vector. This optimized vector was further improved by introducing an artificial polyadenine insert (A71) since polyadenylation is known to enhance mRNA translational efficiency. The Hypa-nCas9n and HiFi-nCas9n vectors were produced by single-site mutagenesis from pT3TS-nCas9n-A71 vector. We then tested the polyadenylated mRNAs for nCas9n, Hypa-nCas9n, HiFi-nCas9n, and HiFi-Cas9 protein for editing efficiency in five genome editing strategies and found that these high-fidelity Cas9 versions had different performances ranging from activity at 2-4 sites, where the wild-type nCas9n is active, indicating that these Cas9 versions have different sgRNA preferences. In summary, the developed new high-fidelity Cas9 vectors will enable researchers to perform much more accurate genome editing.