Re-annotation of presumed noncoding disease/trait-associated genetic variants by integrative analyses

miR-29c-3p promotes alcohol dehydrogenase gene cluster expression by activating an ADH6 enhancer

Alcohol dehydrogenases (ADHs) play vital roles in alcohol metabolism and alcohol toxicity, yet little is known about microRNA-mediated regulation of the ADH gene cluster. Here, we showed that miR-29c activated ADH gene cluster transcription by targeting an enhancer element within the ADH6 gene. miR-29c is differentially expressed in alcoholic liver disease. Following biochemical and molecular evidence demonstrated that miR-29c increased ADH6 mRNA and protein levels without affecting the stability of the ADH6 transcript. Further evidence showed that exogenous miR-29c translocated into the nucleus and then unconventionally bound an enhancer element within the ADH6 gene. Luciferase reporter assay and chromatin immunoprecipitation data indicated that miR-29c activated the enhancer and increased the enrichment of RNA polymerase II at the promoter regions of ADH1A, ADH1B, ADH1C, ADH4, and ADH6. Finally, exogenous miR-29c transfection promoted the expression of ADH1A, ADH1B, ADH1C, and ADH4 pre-mRNA and mRNA transcripts from the ADH gene cluster. In conclusion, our data suggest that miR-29c might be a novel epigenetic regulator involved in ADH gene cluster activation.

A novel epigenetic mechanism unravels hsa-miR-148a-3p-mediated CYP2B6 downregulation in alcoholic hepatitis disease

Cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes play critical roles in drug transformation, and the total CYPs are markedly decreased in alcoholic hepatitis (AH), a fatal alcoholic liver disease. miRNAs are endogenous small noncoding RNAs that regulate many essential biological processes. Knowledge concerning miRNA regulation of CYPs in AH disease is limited. Here we presented the changes of key CYPs in liver samples of AH patients retrieved from GEO database, performed in silico prediction of miRNAs potentially targeting the dysregulated CYP transcripts, and deciphered a novel mechanism underlying miRNA mediated CYPs expression in liver cells. Nine miRNAs were predicted to regulate CYP1A2, CYP2A6, CYP2B6, CYP2C8, CYP2C19, CYP2J2, and CYP3A4, among which hsa-miR-148a-3p was selected as a case study. Biochemical and molecular evidences demonstrated that miR-148a promoted CYP2B6 expression by increasing mRNA stability via directly binding to the 3'UTR sequence, and that this positive posttranscriptional regulation was AGO1/2-dependent. Further, luciferase reporter gene assay and RNA secondary structure analysis illustrated that the seedless target site, not the seed target site, controlled miR-148a-mediated CYP2B6 upregulation. Moreover, we identified HNF4A as a liver-specific transcription factor of MIR-148A through EMSA and chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments. In conclusion, ethanol downregulated miR-148a in hepatocytes through HNF4A regulation, which eventually decreased CYP2B6 expression. Our finding will benefit the understanding of dysregulated drug metabolism in AH patients and highlight an unconventional mechanism for epigenetic regulation of CYP gene expression.

Advances in bulk and single-cell multi-omics approaches for systems biology and precision medicine

Multi-omics allows the systematic understanding of the information flow across different omics layers, while single omics can mainly reflect one aspect of the biological system. The advancement of bulk and single-cell sequencing technologies and related computational methods for multi-omics largely facilitated the development of system biology and precision medicine. Single-cell approaches have the advantage of dissecting cellular dynamics and heterogeneity, whereas traditional bulk technologies are limited to individual/population-level investigation. In this review, we first summarize the technologies for producing bulk and single-cell multi-omics data. Then, we survey the computational approaches for integrative analysis of bulk and single-cell multimodal data, respectively. Moreover, the databases and data storage for multi-omics, as well as the tools for visualizing multimodal data are summarized. We also outline the integration between bulk and single-cell data, and discuss the applications of multi-omics in precision medicine. Finally, we present the challenges and perspectives for multi-omics development.

Comprehensive functional annotation of susceptibility variants associated with asthma

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified hundreds of primarily non-coding disease-susceptibility variants that further need functional interpretation to prioritize and discriminate the disease-relevant variants. We present a comprehensive genome-wide non-coding variant prioritization scheme followed by validation using Pyrosequencing and TaqMan assays in asthma. We implemented a composite Functional Annotation Score (cFAS) to investigate over 32,000 variants consisting of 1525 GWAS-lead asthma-susceptibility variants and their LD proxies (r² ≥ 0.80). Functional annotation pipeline in cFAS revealed 274 variants with significant score at 1% false discovery rate. This study implicates a novel locus 4p16 (SLC26A1) with eQTL variant (rs11936407) and known loci in 17q12-21 and 5q22 which encode ORM1-like protein 3 (ORMDL3, rs406527, and rs12936231) and thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP, rs3806932 and rs10073816) epithelial gene, respectively. Follow-up validation analysis through pyrosequencing of CpG sites in and nearby rs4065275 and rs11936407 showed genotype-dependent hypomethylation on asthma cases compared with healthy controls. Prioritized variants are enriched for asthma-specific histone modification associated with active chromatin (H3K4me1 and H3K27ac) in T cells, B cells, lung, and immune-related interferon gamma signaling pathways. Our findings, together with those from prior studies, suggest that SNPs can affect asthma by regulating enhancer activity, and our comprehensive bioinformatics and functional analysis could lead to biological insights into asthma pathogenesis.Graphic abstract.

An integrated transcriptional analysis of the developing human retina

The scarcity of embryonic/foetal material as a resource for direct study means that there is still limited understanding of human retina development. Here, we present an integrated transcriptome analysis combined with immunohistochemistry in human eye and retinal samples from 4 to 19 post-conception weeks. This analysis reveals three developmental windows with specific gene expression patterns that informed the sequential emergence of retinal cell types and enabled identification of stage-specific cellular and biological processes, and transcriptional regulators. Each stage is characterised by a specific set of alternatively spliced transcripts that code for proteins involved in the formation of the photoreceptor connecting cilium, pre-mRNA splicing and epigenetic modifiers. Importantly, our data show that the transition from foetal to adult retina is characterised by a large increase in the percentage of mutually exclusive exons that code for proteins involved in photoreceptor maintenance. The circular RNA population is also defined and shown to increase during retinal development. Collectively, these data increase our understanding of human retinal development and the pre-mRNA splicing process, and help to identify new candidate disease genes.

Expression profiling and functional annotation of noncoding genes across 11 distinct organs in rat development

Accumulating evidence suggests that noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) have important regulatory functions. However, lacking of functional annotations for ncRNAs hampered us from carrying out the subsequent functional or predictive research. Here we dissected the expression profiles of 3,458 rat noncoding genes using rat bodymap RNA-sequencing data consisting of 11 solid organs over four developmental stages (juvenile, adolescent, adult and aged) from both sexes, and conducted a comprehensive analysis of differentially expressed noncoding genes (DEnGs) between various conditions. We then constructed a co-expression network between protein-coding and noncoding genes to infer biological functions of noncoding genes. Modules of interest were linked to online databases including DAVID for functional annotation and pathway analysis. Our results indicated that noncoding genes are functionally enriched through pathways similar to those of protein-coding genes. Terms about development of the immune system were enriched with genes from age-related modules, whereas terms about sexual reproduction were enriched with genes in sex-related modules. We also built connection networks on some significant modules to visualize the interactions and regulatory relationship between protein-coding and noncoding genes. Our study could improve our understanding and facilitate a deeper investigation on organ/age/sex-related regulatory events of noncoding genes, which may lead to a superior preclinical model for drug development and translational medicine.

Mining the Unknown: Assigning Function to Noncoding Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms

One of the formative goals of genetics research is to understand how genetic variation leads to phenotypic differences and human disease. Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) bring us closer to this goal by linking variation with disease faster than ever before. Despite this, GWASs alone are unable to pinpoint disease-causing single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Noncoding SNPs, which represent the majority of GWAS SNPs, present a particular challenge. To address this challenge, an array of computational tools designed to prioritize and predict the function of noncoding GWAS SNPs have been developed. However, fewer than 40% of GWAS publications from 2015 utilized these tools. We discuss several leading methods for annotating noncoding variants and how they can be integrated into research pipelines in hopes that they will be broadly applied in future GWAS analyses.

Genome-wide DNA methylation profiling with MeDIP-seq using archived dried blood spots

BACKGROUND

In utero and early-life experienced environmental exposures are suggested to play an important role in many multifactorial diseases potentially mediated through lasting effects on the epigenome. As the epigenome in addition remains modifiable throughout life, identifying specific disease-relevant biomarkers may prove challenging. This has led to an increased interest in epigenome-wide association studies using dried blood spots (DBS) routinely collected in perinatal screening programs. Such programs are in place in numerous countries around the world producing large and unique biobanks. However, availability of this biological material is highly limited as each DBS is made only from a few droplets of blood and storage conditions may be suboptimal for epigenetic studies. Furthermore, as relevant markers may reside outside gene bodies, epigenome-wide interrogation is needed.

RESULTS

Here we demonstrate, as a proof of principle, that genome-wide interrogation of the methylome based on methylated DNA immunoprecipitation coupled with next-generation sequencing (MeDIP-seq) is feasible using a single 3.2 mm DBS punch (60 ng DNA) from filter cards archived for up to 16 years. The enrichment profile, sequence quality and distribution of reads across genetic regions were comparable between samples archived 16 years, 4 years and a freshly prepared control sample.

CONCLUSIONS

In summary, we show that high-quality MeDIP-seq data is achievable from neonatal screening filter cards stored at room temperature, thereby providing information on annotated as well as on non-RefSeq genes and repetitive elements. Moreover, the quantity of DNA from one DBS punch proved sufficient allowing for multiple epigenome studies using one single DBS.

An atlas of gene expression and gene co-regulation in the human retina

The human retina is a specialized tissue involved in light stimulus transduction. Despite its unique biology, an accurate reference transcriptome is still missing. Here, we performed gene expression analysis (RNA-seq) of 50 retinal samples from non-visually impaired post-mortem donors. We identified novel transcripts with high confidence (Observed Transcriptome (ObsT)) and quantified the expression level of known transcripts (Reference Transcriptome (RefT)). The ObsT included 77 623 transcripts (23 960 genes) covering 137 Mb (35 Mb new transcribed genome). Most of the transcripts (92%) were multi-exonic: 81% with known isoforms, 16% with new isoforms and 3% belonging to new genes. The RefT included 13 792 genes across 94 521 known transcripts. Mitochondrial genes were among the most highly expressed, accounting for about 10% of the reads. Of all the protein-coding genes in Gencode, 65% are expressed in the retina. We exploited inter-individual variability in gene expression to infer a gene co-expression network and to identify genes specifically expressed in photoreceptor cells. We experimentally validated the photoreceptors localization of three genes in human retina that had not been previously reported. RNA-seq data and the gene co-expression network are available online (http://retina.tigem.it).

Identification of Tissue-Specific Protein-Coding and Noncoding Transcripts across 14 Human Tissues Using RNA-seq

Many diseases and adverse drug reactions exhibit tissue specificity. To better understand the tissue-specific expression characteristics of transcripts in different human tissues, we deeply sequenced RNA samples from 14 different human tissues. After filtering many lowly expressed transcripts, 24,729 protein-coding transcripts and 1,653 noncoding transcripts were identified. By analyzing highly expressed tissue-specific protein-coding transcripts (TSCTs) and noncoding transcripts (TSNTs), we found that testis expressed the highest numbers of TSCTs and TSNTs. Brain, monocytes, ovary, and heart expressed more TSCTs than the rest tissues, whereas brain, placenta, heart, and monocytes expressed more TSNTs than other tissues. Co-expression network constructed based on the TSCTs and TSNTs showed that each hub TSNT was co-expressed with several TSCTs, allowing functional annotation of TSNTs. Important biological processes and KEGG pathways highly related to the specific functions or diseases of each tissue were enriched with the corresponding TSCTs. These TSCTs and TSNTs may participate in the tissue-specific physiological or pathological processes. Our study provided a unique data set and systematic analysis of expression characteristics and functions of both TSCTs and TSNTs based on 14 distinct human tissues, and could facilitate future investigation of the mechanisms behind tissue-specific diseases and adverse drug reactions.

Characterizing and annotating the genome using RNA-seq data

Bioinformatics methods for various RNA-seq data analyses are in fast evolution with the improvement of sequencing technologies. However, many challenges still exist in how to efficiently process the RNA-seq data to obtain accurate and comprehensive results. Here we reviewed the strategies for improving diverse transcriptomic studies and the annotation of genetic variants based on RNA-seq data. Mapping RNA-seq reads to the genome and transcriptome represent two distinct methods for quantifying the expression of genes/transcripts. Besides the known genes annotated in current databases, many novel genes/transcripts (especially those long noncoding RNAs) still can be identified on the reference genome using RNA-seq. Moreover, owing to the incompleteness of current reference genomes, some novel genes are missing from them. Genome- guided and de novo transcriptome reconstruction are two effective and complementary strategies for identifying those novel genes/transcripts on or beyond the reference genome. In addition, integrating the genes of distinct databases to conduct transcriptomics and genetics studies can improve the results of corresponding analyses.

Challenges, Solutions, and Quality Metrics of Personal Genome Assembly in Advancing Precision Medicine

Even though each of us shares more than 99% of the DNA sequences in our genome, there are millions of sequence codes or structure in small regions that differ between individuals, giving us different characteristics of appearance or responsiveness to medical treatments. Currently, genetic variants in diseased tissues, such as tumors, are uncovered by exploring the differences between the reference genome and the sequences detected in the diseased tissue. However, the public reference genome was derived with the DNA from multiple individuals. As a result of this, the reference genome is incomplete and may misrepresent the sequence variants of the general population. The more reliable solution is to compare sequences of diseased tissue with its own genome sequence derived from tissue in a normal state. As the price to sequence the human genome has dropped dramatically to around $1000, it shows a promising future of documenting the personal genome for every individual. However, de novo assembly of individual genomes at an affordable cost is still challenging. Thus, till now, only a few human genomes have been fully assembled. In this review, we introduce the history of human genome sequencing and the evolution of sequencing platforms, from Sanger sequencing to emerging "third generation sequencing" technologies. We present the currently available de novo assembly and post-assembly software packages for human genome assembly and their requirements for computational infrastructures. We recommend that a combined hybrid assembly with long and short reads would be a promising way to generate good quality human genome assemblies and specify parameters for the quality assessment of assembly outcomes. We provide a perspective view of the benefit of using personal genomes as references and suggestions for obtaining a quality personal genome. Finally, we discuss the usage of the personal genome in aiding vaccine design and development, monitoring host immune-response, tailoring drug therapy and detecting tumors. We believe the precision medicine would largely benefit from bioinformatics solutions, particularly for personal genome assembly.