AutomiG, a biosensor to detect alterations in miRNA biogenesis and in small RNA silencing guided by perfect target complementarity

Defects in miRNA biogenesis or activity are associated to development abnormalities and diseases. In Drosophila, miRNAs are predominantly loaded in Argonaute-1, which they guide for silencing of target RNAs. The miRNA pathway overlaps the RNAi pathway in this organism, as miRNAs may also associate with Argonaute-2, the mediator of RNAi. We set up a gene construct in which a single inducible promoter directs the expression of the GFP protein as well as two miRNAs perfectly matching the GFP sequences. We show that self-silencing of the resulting automiG gene requires Drosha, Pasha, Dicer-1, Dicer-2 and Argonaute-2 loaded with the anti-GFP miRNAs. In contrast, self-silencing of the automiG gene does not involve Argonaute-1. Thus, automiG reports in vivo for both miRNA biogenesis and Ago-2 mediated silencing, providing a powerful biosensor to identify situations where miRNA or siRNA pathways are impaired. As a proof of concept, we used automiG as a biosensor to screen a chemical library and identified 29 molecules that strongly inhibit miRNA silencing, out of which 5 also inhibit RNAi triggered by long double-stranded RNA. Finally, the automiG sensor is also self-silenced by the anti-GFP miRNAs in HeLa cells and might be easily used to identify factors involved in miRNA biogenesis and silencing guided by perfect target complementarity in mammals.

HIV-1 Vpu sequesters beta-transducin repeat-containing protein (betaTrCP) in the cytoplasm and provokes the accumulation of beta-catenin and other SCFbetaTrCP substrates

The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 Vpu protein acts as an adaptor for the proteasomal degradation of CD4 by recruiting CD4 and beta-transducin repeat-containing protein (betaTrCP), the receptor component of the multisubunit SCF-betaTrCP E3 ubiquitin ligase complex. We showed that the expression of a Vpu-green fluorescent fusion protein prevented the proteosomal degradation of betaTrCP substrates such as beta-catenin, IkappaBalpha, and ATF4, which are normally directly targeted to the proteasome for degradation. Beta-catenin was translocated into the nucleus, whereas the tumor necrosis factor-induced nuclear translocation of NFkappaB was impaired. Beta-catenin was also up-regulated in cells producing Vpu+ human immunodeficiency virus type 1 but not in cells producing Vpu-deficient viruses. The overexpression of ATF4 also provoked accumulation of beta-catenin, but to a lower level than that resulting from the expression of Vpu. Finally, the expression of Vpu induces the exclusion of betaTrCP from the nucleus. These data suggest that Vpu is a strong competitive inhibitor of betaTrCP that impairs the degradation of SCFbetaTrCP substrates as long as Vpu has an intact phosphorylation motif and can bind to betaTrCP.

Molecular genetic studies of chromosome 11 and chromosome 22q DNA sequences in pediatric medulloblastomas

Medulloblastomas are primitive neuroectodermal tumors (PNETs) of the cerebellum with poorly understood pathogenesis. Previous molecular studies suggested a role for loci on chromosome 11 in the development of medulloblastomas-PNETs. In order to identify the frequency of loss and eventually the extent of allelic loss on chromosome 11, we have examined 23 pediatric medulloblastomas for loss of heterozygosity (LOH) with 16 polymorphic microsatellites. Our data reveal that LOH on 11p or 11q occurs rarely (13%) suggesting the unlikely involvement of chromosome 11 in most cases of medulloblastomas. The same frequency of LOH in medulloblastomas was detected using 8 microsatellites on 22q. Alterations of microsatellite length were found in only 4/594 PCR analyses using 28 markers located on chromosomes 2, 9, 11, 18, and 22, demonstrating that genomic instability is uncommon in medulloblastomas.

Molecular sublocalization and characterization of the 11;22 translocation breakpoint in a malignant rhabdoid tumor

Malignant rhabdoid tumors are extremely aggressive soft-tissue sarcomas that tend to be widely metastatic at diagnosis. These tumors were first described as variants of the kidney neoplasm Wilms' tumor, although tumors of similar clinicopathologic features have been cited in a variety of extrarenal sites. Here, we have characterized the chromosomal translocation t(11;22)(p15.5;q11.23) from a retroperitoneal rhabdoid tumor. Somatic cell hybrids with segregated copies of the derivative 11 and derivative 22 chromosomes allowed sublocalization of the chromosome 11 breakpoint to a 1- to 2-Mb region between the proximal marker D11S12 and the distal locus tyrosine hydroxylase (TH). Translocation-associated aberrant fragments were identified by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, with the smallest resulting from BssHII digestion as detected with a probe for TH. These data indicate that the locus or loci disrupted by this genetic abnormality might lie less than 60 kb proximal to this marker and place it in the chromosomal vicinity of genes involved in the etiologies of rhabdomyosarcoma, Wilms' tumor, and the congenital overgrowth disorder, Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome. Analysis of two other tumor-associated loci, EWS1 and NF2, that have been mapped to the general region of 22q11.2 indicated that they were not involved in this translocation breakpoint. Isolation of the genes present at this translocation junction on both chromosomes 11 and 22 may yield important clinicopathologic and genetic markers for this enigmatic tumor as well as other pediatric diseases.