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Yin M, Li Y, Liu H. The first intron of EIJ1 confers a specific response to wounding and herbivore stresses. Plant Biol (Stuttg) 2024; 26:197-203. [PMID: 38198233 DOI: 10.1111/plb.13617] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2023] [Accepted: 12/09/2023] [Indexed: 01/12/2024]
Abstract
Plants are constantly exposed to different kinds of biotic stress, such as herbivore attack and wounding. To deal with these stresses, plants have evolved sophisticated defence mechanisms to protect themselves. Previously, we found that EIJ1 (EDS1-interacting J protein 1) plays a negative regulatory role in plant disease resistance in Arabidopsis thaliana. Follow-up studies revealed that EIJ1 specifically responds to wounding and herbivore stresses. The expression of EIJ1 was specifically induced by wounding or herbivore stress, as demonstrated by similar results in EIJ1 protein assay. Interestingly, GUS staining found that the promoter of EIJ1 is not involved in the induction of expression under wounding stress. Instead, we identified the first intron of EIJ1 as a key factor in response to wounding stress. Deleting the first intron of EIJ1 resulted in a loss of response to wounding stress in plants. Our results broaden the role of EIJ1 in plant resistance to biotic stress and provide new insights into plant responses to biotic stress.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Yin
- Institute of Fruit Tree Research, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences; Key Laboratory of South Subtropical Fruit Biology and Genetic Resource Utilization, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Tropical and Subtropical Fruit Tree Research, Guangzhou, China
| | - Y Li
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany and State Key Laboratory of Plant Diversity and Prominent Crops, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China
| | - H Liu
- Institute of Fruit Tree Research, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences; Key Laboratory of South Subtropical Fruit Biology and Genetic Resource Utilization, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Tropical and Subtropical Fruit Tree Research, Guangzhou, China
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2
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Zhu X, Chen A, Butler NM, Zeng Z, Xin H, Wang L, Lv Z, Eshel D, Douches DS, Jiang J. Molecular dissection of an intronic enhancer governing cold-induced expression of the vacuolar invertase gene in potato. Plant Cell 2024:koae050. [PMID: 38374801 DOI: 10.1093/plcell/koae050] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2023] [Revised: 01/12/2024] [Accepted: 01/16/2024] [Indexed: 02/21/2024]
Abstract
Potato (Solanum tuberosum) is the third most important food crop in the world. Potato tubers must be stored at cold temperatures to minimize sprouting and losses due to disease. However, cold temperatures strongly induce the expression of the potato vacuolar invertase gene (VInv) and cause reducing sugar accumulation. This process, referred to as "cold-induced sweetening", is a major postharvest problem for the potato industry. We discovered that the cold-induced expression of VInv is controlled by a 200-bp enhancer, VInvIn2En, located in its second intron. We identified several DNA motifs in VInvIn2En that bind transcription factors involved in the plant cold stress response. Mutation of these DNA motifs abolished VInvIn2En function as a transcriptional enhancer. We developed VInvIn2En deletion lines in both diploid and tetraploid potato using clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated nuclease 9 (Cas9)-mediated gene editing. VInv transcription in cold-stored tubers was significantly reduced in the deletion lines. Interestingly, the VInvIn2En sequence is highly conserved among distantly related Solanum species, including tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) and other non-tuber-bearing species. We conclude that the VInv gene as well as the VInvIn2En enhancer have adopted distinct roles in the cold stress response in tubers of tuber-bearing Solanum species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaobiao Zhu
- Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Horticultural Crop Quality Biology, School of Horticulture, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, Anhui Province, China
- Department of Horticulture, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA
| | - Airu Chen
- Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Horticultural Crop Quality Biology, School of Horticulture, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, Anhui Province, China
| | - Nathaniel M Butler
- Department of Horticulture, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA
- United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, Vegetable Crops Research Unit, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA
| | - Zixian Zeng
- Department of Horticulture, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA
- Department of Biological Science, College of Life Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu 610101, Sichuan Province, China
- Plant Functional Genomics and Bioinformatics Research Center, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu 610101, Sichuan Province, China
| | - Haoyang Xin
- Department of Plant Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA
| | - Lixia Wang
- Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Horticultural Crop Quality Biology, School of Horticulture, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, Anhui Province, China
| | - Zhaoyan Lv
- Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Horticultural Crop Quality Biology, School of Horticulture, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, Anhui Province, China
| | - Dani Eshel
- Department of Postharvest Science, The Volcani Institute, ARO, Rishon LeZion, Israel
| | - David S Douches
- Department of Plant, Soil, and Microbial Sciences, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA
- Michigan State University AgBioResearch, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA
| | - Jiming Jiang
- Department of Horticulture, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA
- Department of Plant Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA
- Michigan State University AgBioResearch, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA
- Department of Horticulture, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA
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3
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UCHIDA Y, UCHIDA H, SATO T, NISHIMOTO Y, TSUTSUMI K, OI T, TANIGUCHI M, INOUE K, SUZUKI Y. Cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene in Thalassiosira nordenskioeldii strains inhabiting in cold and warm sea waters. Proc Jpn Acad Ser B Phys Biol Sci 2024; 100:140-148. [PMID: 38346753 PMCID: PMC10978971 DOI: 10.2183/pjab.100.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2023] [Accepted: 11/28/2023] [Indexed: 02/15/2024]
Abstract
From the biota beneath the sea ice in Lake Saroma, which is adjacent to Sea of Okhotsk, a diatom culture of Saroma 16 was isolated. Strutted processes and a labiate process in Saroma 16 were characteristic of those in Thalassiosira nordenskioeldii. Similarity search analysis showed that the 826-bp rbcL-3P region sequence of this strain was 100% identical to multiple sequences registered as T. nordenskioeldii in a public database. The 4305-bp PCR-amplified mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene (COI)-5P region of Saroma 16 included a 1060-bp open reading frame (ORF), which was interrupted by 934-bp and 2311-bp introns that included frame-shifted ORFs encoding reverse-transcriptase (RTase)-like proteins. Previous reports showed that a strain of the same species, CNS00052, originating from the East China Sea included no introns in the COI, whereas North Atlantic Ocean strains of the same species, such as CCMP992, CCMP993, and CCMP997, included a 2.3-kb intron in the same position as Saroma 16.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yoshie UCHIDA
- Department of Food Business, School of Health and Human Life, Nagoya Bunri University, Inazawa, Aichi, Japan
| | - Hidenobu UCHIDA
- Department of Food Business, School of Health and Human Life, Nagoya Bunri University, Inazawa, Aichi, Japan
- Research Institute for Integrated Science, Kanagawa University, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan
| | - Takeshi SATO
- Research Institute for Integrated Science, Kanagawa University, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan
- Department of Science, Faculty of Science, Kanagawa University, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan
| | - Yuko NISHIMOTO
- Department of Science, Faculty of Science, Kanagawa University, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan
| | - Koichi TSUTSUMI
- Department of Food Business, School of Health and Human Life, Nagoya Bunri University, Inazawa, Aichi, Japan
| | - Takao OI
- Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
| | - Mitsutaka TANIGUCHI
- Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
| | - Kazuhito INOUE
- Research Institute for Integrated Science, Kanagawa University, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan
- Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Faculty of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Kanagawa University, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan
| | - Yoshihiro SUZUKI
- Research Institute for Integrated Science, Kanagawa University, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan
- Department of Science, Faculty of Science, Kanagawa University, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan
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Shchagina O, Gracheva E, Chukhrova A, Bliznets E, Bychkov I, Kutsev S, Polyakov A. Functional Characterization of Two Novel Intron 4 SERPING1 Gene Splice Site Pathogenic Variants in Families with Hereditary Angioedema. Biomedicines 2023; 12:72. [PMID: 38255179 PMCID: PMC10813231 DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines12010072] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2023] [Revised: 12/20/2023] [Accepted: 12/20/2023] [Indexed: 01/24/2024] Open
Abstract
Variants that affect splice sites comprise 14.3% of all pathogenic variants in the SERPING1 gene; more than half of them are located outside the canonical sites. To make a clinical decision concerning patients with such variants, it is essential to know the exact way in which the effect of the variant would be realized. The optimal approach to determine the consequences is considered to be mRNA analysis. In the current study, we present the results of functional analysis of two previously non-described variants in the SERPING1 gene (NM_000062.3) affecting intron 4: c.686-1G>A and c.685+4dup, which were detected in members of two Russian families with autosomal dominant inheritance of angioedema type 1. Analysis of the patients' mRNA (extracted from whole blood) showed that the SERPING1(NM_000062.3):c.685+4dup variant leads to the loss of the donor splice site and the activation of the cryptic site in exon 4: r.710_745del (p.Gly217_Pro228del), while the SERPING1(NM_000062.3):c.686-1G>A variant leads to the skipping of exon 5: r.746_949del (p.Asp229_Ser296del).
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Affiliation(s)
- Olga Shchagina
- Research Centre for Medical Genetics, 115522 Moscow, Russia (E.B.); (I.B.); (S.K.)
| | - Elena Gracheva
- Department of Health of Vologda Region, Budgetary Healthcare Institution, Vologda Region Regional Clinical Hospital, 160002 Vologda, Russia;
| | - Alyona Chukhrova
- Research Centre for Medical Genetics, 115522 Moscow, Russia (E.B.); (I.B.); (S.K.)
| | - Elena Bliznets
- Research Centre for Medical Genetics, 115522 Moscow, Russia (E.B.); (I.B.); (S.K.)
| | - Igor Bychkov
- Research Centre for Medical Genetics, 115522 Moscow, Russia (E.B.); (I.B.); (S.K.)
| | - Sergey Kutsev
- Research Centre for Medical Genetics, 115522 Moscow, Russia (E.B.); (I.B.); (S.K.)
| | - Aleksander Polyakov
- Research Centre for Medical Genetics, 115522 Moscow, Russia (E.B.); (I.B.); (S.K.)
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5
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Perchlik M, Sasse A, Mostafavi S, Fields S, Cuperus JT. Impact on splicing in Saccharomyces cerevisiae of random 50-base sequences inserted into an intron. RNA 2023; 30:52-67. [PMID: 37879864 PMCID: PMC10726166 DOI: 10.1261/rna.079752.123] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2023] [Accepted: 10/18/2023] [Indexed: 10/27/2023]
Abstract
Intron splicing is a key regulatory step in gene expression in eukaryotes. Three sequence elements required for splicing-5' and 3' splice sites and a branchpoint-are especially well-characterized in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, but our understanding of additional intron features that impact splicing in this organism is incomplete, due largely to its small number of introns. To overcome this limitation, we constructed a library in S. cerevisiae of random 50-nt (N50) elements individually inserted into the intron of a reporter gene and quantified canonical splicing and the use of cryptic splice sites by sequencing analysis. More than 70% of approximately 140,000 N50 elements reduced splicing by at least 20%. N50 features, including higher GC content, presence of GU repeats, and stronger predicted secondary structure of its pre-mRNA, correlated with reduced splicing efficiency. A likely basis for the reduced splicing of such a large proportion of variants is the formation of RNA structures that pair N50 bases-such as the GU repeats-with other bases specifically within the reporter pre-mRNA analyzed. However, multiple models were unable to explain more than a small fraction of the variance in splicing efficiency across the library, suggesting that complex nonlinear interactions in RNA structures are not accurately captured by RNA structure prediction methods. Our results imply that the specific context of a pre-mRNA may determine the bases allowable in an intron to prevent secondary structures that reduce splicing. This large data set can serve as a resource for further exploration of splicing mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Molly Perchlik
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA
| | - Alexander Sasse
- Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA
| | - Sara Mostafavi
- Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA
| | - Stanley Fields
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA
- Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA
| | - Josh T Cuperus
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA
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6
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Wethekam LC, Moore JK. α-tubulin regulation by 5' introns in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Genetics 2023; 225:iyad163. [PMID: 37675603 PMCID: PMC10697811 DOI: 10.1093/genetics/iyad163] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2023] [Revised: 06/22/2023] [Accepted: 08/21/2023] [Indexed: 09/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Across eukaryotic genomes, multiple α- and β-tubulin genes require regulation to ensure sufficient production of tubulin heterodimers. Features within these gene families that regulate expression remain underexplored. Here, we investigate the role of the 5' intron in regulating α-tubulin expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We find that the intron in the α-tubulin, TUB1, promotes α-tubulin expression and cell fitness during microtubule stress. The role of the TUB1 intron depends on proximity to the TUB1 promoter and sequence features that are distinct from the intron in the alternative α-tubulin isotype, TUB3. These results lead us to perform a screen to identify genes that act with the TUB1 intron. We identified several genes involved in chromatin remodeling, α/β-tubulin heterodimer assembly, and the spindle assembly checkpoint. We propose a model where the TUB1 intron promotes expression from the chromosomal locus and that this may represent a conserved mechanism for tubulin regulation under conditions that require high levels of tubulin production.
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Affiliation(s)
- Linnea C Wethekam
- Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO 80045, USA
| | - Jeffrey K Moore
- Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO 80045, USA
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7
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Gao P, Zhong Y, Sun C. Transcriptomic and genomic identification of spliceosomal genes from Euglena gracilis. Acta Biochim Biophys Sin (Shanghai) 2023; 55:1740-1748. [PMID: 37705346 PMCID: PMC10679874 DOI: 10.3724/abbs.2023143] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2023] [Accepted: 04/28/2023] [Indexed: 09/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Diverse splicing types in nuclear and chloroplast genes of protist Euglena gracilis have been recognized for decades. However, the splicing machinery responsible for processing nuclear precursor messenger RNA introns, including trans-splicing of the 5' terminal outron and spliced leader (SL) RNA, remains elusive. Here, we identify 166 spliceosomal protein genes and two snRNA genes from E. gracilis by performing bioinformatics analysis from a combination of next-generation and full-length transcriptomic RNA sequencing (RNAseq) data as well as draft genomic data. With the spliceosomal proteins we identified in hand, the insensitivity of E. gracilis to some splicing modulators is revealed at the sequence level. The prevalence of SL RNA-mediated trans-splicing is estimated to be more than 70% from our full-length RNAseq data. Finally, the splicing proteomes between E. gracilis and its three evolutionary cousins within the same Excavata group are compared. In conclusion, our study characterizes the spliceosomal components in E. gracilis and provides the molecular basis for further exploration of underlying splicing mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pingwei Gao
- />Scientific Research CenterChengdu Medical CollegeChengdu610500China
| | - Yujie Zhong
- />Scientific Research CenterChengdu Medical CollegeChengdu610500China
| | - Chengfu Sun
- />Scientific Research CenterChengdu Medical CollegeChengdu610500China
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8
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Le AV, Větrovský T, Barucic D, Saraiva JP, Dobbler PT, Kohout P, Pospíšek M, da Rocha UN, Kléma J, Baldrian P. Improved recovery and annotation of genes in metagenomes through the prediction of fungal introns. Mol Ecol Resour 2023; 23:1800-1811. [PMID: 37561110 DOI: 10.1111/1755-0998.13852] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2022] [Revised: 06/27/2023] [Accepted: 07/31/2023] [Indexed: 08/11/2023]
Abstract
Metagenomics provides a tool to assess the functional potential of environmental and host-associated microbiomes based on the analysis of environmental DNA: assembly, gene prediction and annotation. While gene prediction is straightforward for most bacterial and archaeal taxa, it has limited applicability in the majority of eukaryotic organisms, including fungi that contain introns in gene coding sequences. As a consequence, eukaryotic genes are underrepresented in metagenomics datasets and our understanding of the contribution of fungi and other eukaryotes to microbiome functioning is limited. Here, we developed a machine intelligence-based algorithm that predicts fungal introns in environmental DNA with reasonable precision and used it to improve the annotation of environmental metagenomes. Intron removal increased the number of predicted genes by up to 9.1% and improved the annotation of several others. The proportion of newly predicted genes increased with the share of eukaryotic genes in the metagenome and-within fungal taxa-increased with the number of introns per gene. Our approach provides a tool named SVMmycointron for improved metagenome annotation, especially of microbiomes with a high proportion of eukaryotes. The scripts described in the paper are made publicly available and can be readily utilized by microbiome researchers analysing metagenomics data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anh Vu Le
- Department of Computer Science, Czech Technical University in Prague, Praha, Czech Republic
| | - Tomáš Větrovský
- Laboratory of Environmental Microbiology, Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Praha, Czech Republic
| | - Denis Barucic
- Department of Computer Science, Czech Technical University in Prague, Praha, Czech Republic
| | - Joao Pedro Saraiva
- Department of Environmental Microbiology, UFZ-Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Priscila Thiago Dobbler
- Laboratory of Environmental Microbiology, Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Praha, Czech Republic
| | - Petr Kohout
- Laboratory of Environmental Microbiology, Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Praha, Czech Republic
| | - Martin Pospíšek
- Department of Genetics and Microbiology, Charles University, Praha, Czech Republic
| | - Ulisses Nunes da Rocha
- Department of Environmental Microbiology, UFZ-Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Jiří Kléma
- Department of Computer Science, Czech Technical University in Prague, Praha, Czech Republic
| | - Petr Baldrian
- Laboratory of Environmental Microbiology, Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Praha, Czech Republic
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9
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Tantrawatpan C, Maleewong W, Thanchomnang T, Pilap W, Agatsuma T, Andrews RH, Sithithaworn P, Saijuntha W. Intron Regions as Genetic Markers for Population Genetic Investigations of Opisthorchis viverrini sensu lato and Clonorchis sinensis. Animals (Basel) 2023; 13:3200. [PMID: 37893924 PMCID: PMC10603628 DOI: 10.3390/ani13203200] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2023] [Revised: 09/27/2023] [Accepted: 10/10/2023] [Indexed: 10/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Opisthorchiasis and clonorchiasis are prevalent in Southeast and Far-East Asia, which are caused by the group 1 carcinogenic liver flukes Opisthorchis viverrini sensu lato and Clonorchis sinensis infection. There have been comprehensive investigations of systematics and genetic variation of these liver flukes. Previous studies have shown that O. viverrini is a species complex, called "O. viverrini sensu lato". More comprehensive investigations of molecular systematics and population genetics of each of the species that make up the species complex are required. Thus, other polymorphic genetic markers need to be developed. Therefore, this study aimed to characterize the intron regions of taurocyamine kinase gene (TK) to examine the genetic variation and population genetics of O. viverrini and C. sinensis collected from different geographical isolates and from a range of animal hosts. We screened seven intron regions embedded in TK. Of these, we selected an intron 5 of domain 1 (TkD1Int5) region to investigate the genetic variation and population genetics of theses liver flukes. The high nucleotide and haplotype diversity of TkD1Int5 was detected in O. viverrine. Heterozygosity with several insertion/deletion (indel) regions were detected in TkD1Int5 of the O. viverrine samples, whereas only an indel nucleotide was detected in one C. sinensis sample. Several O. viverrine samples contained three different haplotypes within a particular heterozygous sample. There were no genetic differences between C. sinensis isolated from various animal host. Heterozygous patterns specifically detected in humans was observed in C. sinensis. Thus, TkD1Int5 is a high polymorphic genetic marker, which could be an alternative marker for further population genetic investigations of these carcinogenic liver flukes and other related species from a wide geographical distribution and variety of animal hosts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chairat Tantrawatpan
- Division of Cell Biology, Department of Preclinical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, and Center of Excellence in Stem Cell Research, Thammasat University, Rangsit Campus, Khlong Nueng 12120, Thailand;
| | - Wanchai Maleewong
- Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand; (W.M.); (P.S.)
- Mekong Health Science Research Institute, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand
| | | | - Warayutt Pilap
- Walai Rukhavej Botanical Research Institute, Mahasarakham University, Kham Riang 44150, Thailand;
- Center of Excellence in Biodiversity Research, Mahasarakham University, Kham Riang 44150, Thailand
| | - Takeshi Agatsuma
- Department of Environmental Medicine, Kochi Medical School, Kochi University, Oko, Nankoku 783-8505, Kochi, Japan;
| | - Ross H. Andrews
- Department of Surgery & Cancer, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, UK;
- Cholangiocarcinoma Research Institute, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand
| | - Paiboon Sithithaworn
- Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand; (W.M.); (P.S.)
- Cholangiocarcinoma Research Institute, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand
| | - Weerachai Saijuntha
- Faculty of Medicine, Mahasarakham University, Kham Riang 44000, Thailand;
- Center of Excellence in Biodiversity Research, Mahasarakham University, Kham Riang 44150, Thailand
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10
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Cherney RE, Eberhard QE, Giri G, Mills CA, Porrello A, Zhang Z, White D, Trotman JB, Herring LE, Dominguez D, Calabrese JM. SAFB associates with nascent RNAs and can promote gene expression in mouse embryonic stem cells. RNA 2023; 29:1535-1556. [PMID: 37468167 PMCID: PMC10578485 DOI: 10.1261/rna.079569.122] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2022] [Accepted: 06/23/2023] [Indexed: 07/21/2023]
Abstract
Scaffold attachment factor B (SAFB) is a conserved RNA-binding protein that is essential for early mammalian development. However, the functions of SAFB in mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs) have not been characterized. Using RNA immunoprecipitation followed by RNA-seq (RIP-seq), we examined the RNAs associated with SAFB in wild-type and SAFB/SAFB2 double-knockout ESCs. SAFB predominantly associated with introns of protein-coding genes through purine-rich motifs. The transcript most enriched in SAFB association was the lncRNA Malat1, which also contains a purine-rich region in its 5' end. Knockout of SAFB/SAFB2 led to differential expression of approximately 1000 genes associated with multiple biological processes, including apoptosis, cell division, and cell migration. Knockout of SAFB/SAFB2 also led to splicing changes in a set of genes that were largely distinct from those that exhibited changes in expression level. The spliced and nascent transcripts of many genes whose expression levels were positively regulated by SAFB also associated with high levels of SAFB, implying that SAFB binding promotes their expression. Reintroduction of SAFB into double-knockout cells restored gene expression toward wild-type levels, an effect again observable at the level of spliced and nascent transcripts. Proteomics analysis revealed a significant enrichment of nuclear speckle-associated and RS domain-containing proteins among SAFB interactors. Neither Xist nor Polycomb functions were dramatically altered in SAFB/2 knockout ESCs. Our findings suggest that among other potential functions in ESCs, SAFB promotes the expression of certain genes through its ability to bind nascent RNA.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachel E Cherney
- Department of Pharmacology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
- RNA Discovery Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
- Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
- Curriculum in Genetics and Molecular Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
| | - Quinn E Eberhard
- Department of Pharmacology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
- RNA Discovery Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
- Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
- Curriculum in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
| | - Gilbert Giri
- Department of Pharmacology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
- RNA Discovery Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
- Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
- Curriculum in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
| | - Christine A Mills
- Department of Pharmacology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
- Proteomics Core Facility, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
| | - Alessandro Porrello
- RNA Discovery Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
- Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
| | - Zhiyue Zhang
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
- Department of Computer Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
| | - David White
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
- Department of Computer Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
| | - Jackson B Trotman
- Department of Pharmacology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
- RNA Discovery Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
- Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
| | - Laura E Herring
- Department of Pharmacology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
- Proteomics Core Facility, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
| | - Daniel Dominguez
- Department of Pharmacology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
- RNA Discovery Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
- Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
| | - J Mauro Calabrese
- Department of Pharmacology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
- RNA Discovery Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
- Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
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11
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Dericquebourg A, Fretigny M, Leuci A, Zawadzki C, Huguenin Y, Castet SM, Dargaud Y, Vinciguerra C, Jourdy Y. Whole F8 gene sequencing combined with splicing functional analyses led to a substantial increase of the molecular diagnosis yield for non-severe haemophilia A. Haemophilia 2023; 29:1320-1333. [PMID: 37410802 DOI: 10.1111/hae.14824] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2023] [Revised: 06/02/2023] [Accepted: 06/24/2023] [Indexed: 07/08/2023]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Conventional genetic investigation fails to identify the F8 causal variant in 2.5%-10% of haemophilia A (HA) patients with non-severe phenotypes. In these cases, F8 deep intronic variants could be causal. AIM To identify pathogenic F8 deep intronic variants in genetically unresolved families with non-severe HA analysed in the haematology laboratory of the Hospices Civils de Lyon. METHODS The whole F8 was analysed by next generation sequencing. The pathogenic impact of candidate variants identified was assessed using both in silico analysis (MaxEntScan and spliceAI) and functional analysis (RNA or minigene assay). RESULTS Sequencing was performed in 49/55 families included for which a DNA sample from a male propositus was available. In total, 33 candidate variants from 43 propositi were identified. These variants corresponded to 31 single nucleotide substitutions, one 173-bp deletion, and an 869-bp tandem triplication. No candidate variant was found in six propositi. The most frequent variants found were the association of [c.2113+1154G>C and c.5374-304C>T], identified in five propositi, and the c.2114-6529C>G identified in nine propositi. Four variants had been previously described as HA-causing. Splicing functional assay found a deleterious impact for 11 substitutions (c.671-94G>A, c.788-312A>G, c.2113+1154G>C, c.2114-6529C>G, c.5999-820A>T, c.5999-786C>A, c.5999-669G>T, c.5999-669G>A, c.5999-669G>C, c.6900+4104A>C, and c.6901-2992A>G). The HA-causing variant was identified in 33/49 (67%) cases. In total, F8 deep intronic variants caused 8.8% of the non-severe HA among the 1643 families analysed in our laboratory. CONCLUSION The results emphasise the value of whole F8 gene sequencing combined with splicing functional analyses to improve the diagnosis yield for non-severe HA.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amy Dericquebourg
- Hospices Civils de Lyon, Groupe Hospitalier Est, Service d'hématologie biologique, Bron, France
- Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, UR4609 Hémostase et thrombose, Lyon, France
| | - Mathilde Fretigny
- Hospices Civils de Lyon, Groupe Hospitalier Est, Service d'hématologie biologique, Bron, France
| | - Alexandre Leuci
- Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, UR4609 Hémostase et thrombose, Lyon, France
| | - Christophe Zawadzki
- Pôle de Biologie Pathologie Génétique, Institut d'Hématologie - Transfusion, CHU Lille, Lille, France
| | - Yoann Huguenin
- Centre de Ressources et de Compétence des Maladies Hémorragiques Constitutionnelles, Hôpital Pellegrin, CHU de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
| | - Sabine-Marie Castet
- Centre de Ressources et de Compétence des Maladies Hémorragiques Constitutionnelles, Hôpital Pellegrin, CHU de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
| | - Yesim Dargaud
- Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, UR4609 Hémostase et thrombose, Lyon, France
- Unité d'Hémostase Clinique, Centre National de Reference de l'Hémophilie, Hôpital Cardiologique Louis Pradel, Université Lyon, Lyon, France
| | - Christine Vinciguerra
- Hospices Civils de Lyon, Groupe Hospitalier Est, Service d'hématologie biologique, Bron, France
- Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, UR4609 Hémostase et thrombose, Lyon, France
| | - Yohann Jourdy
- Hospices Civils de Lyon, Groupe Hospitalier Est, Service d'hématologie biologique, Bron, France
- Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, UR4609 Hémostase et thrombose, Lyon, France
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12
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Tan I, Xu S, Huo J, Huang Y, Lim HH, Lam KP. Identification of a novel mitochondria-localized LKB1 variant required for the regulation of the oxidative stress response. J Biol Chem 2023; 299:104906. [PMID: 37302555 PMCID: PMC10404683 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbc.2023.104906] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2023] [Revised: 05/31/2023] [Accepted: 06/01/2023] [Indexed: 06/13/2023] Open
Abstract
The tumor suppressor Liver Kinase B1 (LKB1) is a multifunctional serine/threonine protein kinase that regulates cell metabolism, polarity, and growth and is associated with Peutz-Jeghers Syndrome and cancer predisposition. The LKB1 gene comprises 10 exons and 9 introns. Three spliced LKB1 variants have been documented, and they reside mainly in the cytoplasm, although two possess a nuclear-localization sequence (NLS) and are able to shuttle into the nucleus. Here, we report the identification of a fourth and novel LKB1 isoform that is, interestingly, targeted to the mitochondria. We show that this mitochondria-localized LKB1 (mLKB1) is generated from alternative splicing in the 5' region of the transcript and translated from an alternative initiation codon encoded by a previously unknown exon 1b (131 bp) hidden within the long intron 1 of LKB1 gene. We found by replacing the N-terminal NLS of the canonical LKB1 isoform, the N-terminus of the alternatively spliced mLKB1 variant encodes a mitochondrial transit peptide that allows it to localize to the mitochondria. We further demonstrate that mLKB1 colocalizes histologically with mitochondria-resident ATP Synthase and NAD-dependent deacetylase sirtuin-3, mitochondrial (SIRT3) and that its expression is rapidly and transiently upregulated by oxidative stress. We conclude that this novel LKB1 isoform, mLKB1, plays a critical role in regulating mitochondrial metabolic activity and oxidative stress response.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ivan Tan
- Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A∗STAR), Singapore, Singapore
| | - Shengli Xu
- Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A∗STAR), Singapore, Singapore; Department of Physiology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Jianxin Huo
- Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A∗STAR), Singapore, Singapore
| | - Yuhan Huang
- Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A∗STAR), Singapore, Singapore
| | - Hong-Hwa Lim
- Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A∗STAR), Singapore, Singapore; Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Kong-Peng Lam
- Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A∗STAR), Singapore, Singapore; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore; School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore.
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13
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Yuan X, Hou M, Wang Y, Zhang S, Li L, Mi Y, Du H, Yu S, Nan Y. Mitofusin-2 gene polymorphisms and metabolic dysfunction associated fatty liver disease: a case-control study in a Chinese population. J Int Med Res 2023; 51:3000605231187953. [PMID: 37522325 PMCID: PMC10392247 DOI: 10.1177/03000605231187953] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/01/2023] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Mitofusion-2 (Mfn2) may have a role in mitochondrial oxidative stress and insulin resistance that can promote the development of metabolic dysfunction associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD). This retrospective and case control study aimed to explore the relationships between common Mfn2 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and MAFLD in a northern Han Chinese population. METHODS Six Mfn2 SNPs (rs2336384, rs873458, rs873457, rs4846085, rs2878677, and rs2236057) were genotyped using the ligase detection reaction in 466 MAFLD patients and 423 healthy controls. Genotype and allele frequencies were calculated, along with haplotype analysis and pairwise linkage disequilibrium. RESULTS The genotype distribution of rs2336384, rs2878677, and rs2236057 among the MAFLD patients showed a significantly different pattern from that of healthy controls. The data showed that an increased risk of MAFLD was significantly correlated with patients carrying the GG genotype of rs2336384, CC genotype of rs873457, TT genotype of rs4846085, TT genotype of rs2878677, and the AA genotype of rs2236057. Moreover, The GGCTTA haplotype was found to be adversely linked with MAFLD by haplotype analysis. CONCLUSION The current findings suggest a strong link between certain Mfn2 gene polymorphisms and MAFLD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiwei Yuan
- Department of Traditional and Western Medical Hepatology & Hebei Key Laboratory of Mechanism of Liver Fibrosis in Chronic Liver Disease, Third Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China
| | - Mengmeng Hou
- Department of Traditional and Western Medical Hepatology & Hebei Key Laboratory of Mechanism of Liver Fibrosis in Chronic Liver Disease, Third Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China
| | - Yiqi Wang
- Department of Traditional and Western Medical Hepatology & Hebei Key Laboratory of Mechanism of Liver Fibrosis in Chronic Liver Disease, Third Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China
| | - Siyu Zhang
- Department of Traditional and Western Medical Hepatology & Hebei Key Laboratory of Mechanism of Liver Fibrosis in Chronic Liver Disease, Third Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China
| | - Lu Li
- Department of Traditional and Western Medical Hepatology & Hebei Key Laboratory of Mechanism of Liver Fibrosis in Chronic Liver Disease, Third Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China
| | - Yingjun Mi
- School of Public Health, Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China
| | - Huijuan Du
- Department of Traditional and Western Medical Hepatology & Hebei Key Laboratory of Mechanism of Liver Fibrosis in Chronic Liver Disease, Third Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China
| | - Songhao Yu
- Department of Traditional and Western Medical Hepatology & Hebei Key Laboratory of Mechanism of Liver Fibrosis in Chronic Liver Disease, Third Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China
| | - Yuemin Nan
- Department of Traditional and Western Medical Hepatology & Hebei Key Laboratory of Mechanism of Liver Fibrosis in Chronic Liver Disease, Third Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China
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14
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Abstract
The emergence of introns was a significant evolutionary leap that is a major distinguishing feature between prokaryotic and eukaryotic genomes. While historically introns were regarded merely as the sequences that are removed to produce spliced transcripts encoding functional products, increasingly data suggests that introns play important roles in the regulation of gene expression. Here, we use an intron-centric lens to review the role of introns in eukaryotic gene expression. First, we focus on intron architecture and how it may influence mechanisms of splicing. Second, we focus on the implications of spliceosomal snRNAs and their variants on intron splicing. Finally, we discuss how the presence of introns and the need to splice them influences transcription regulation. Despite the abundance of introns in the eukaryotic genome and their emerging role regulating gene expression, a lot remains unexplored. Therefore, here we refer to introns as the "dark matter" of the eukaryotic genome and discuss some of the outstanding questions in the field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kaitlin N. Girardini
- Physiology and Neurobiology Department, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, United States
| | - Anouk M. Olthof
- Physiology and Neurobiology Department, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, United States
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Rahul N. Kanadia
- Physiology and Neurobiology Department, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, United States
- Institute for Systems Genomics, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, United States
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15
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Son S, Kim B, Yang J, Kim VN. Role of the proline-rich disordered domain of DROSHA in intronic microRNA processing. Genes Dev 2023; 37:383-397. [PMID: 37236670 PMCID: PMC10270192 DOI: 10.1101/gad.350275.122] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2022] [Accepted: 04/24/2023] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
DROSHA serves as a gatekeeper of the microRNA (miRNA) pathway by processing primary transcripts (pri-miRNAs). While the functions of structured domains of DROSHA have been well documented, the contribution of N-terminal proline-rich disordered domain (PRD) remains elusive. Here we show that the PRD promotes the processing of miRNA hairpins located within introns. We identified a DROSHA isoform (p140) lacking the PRD, which is produced by proteolytic cleavage. Small RNA sequencing revealed that p140 is significantly impaired in the maturation of intronic miRNAs. Consistently, our minigene constructs demonstrated that PRD enhances the processing of intronic hairpins, but not those in exons. Splice site mutations did not affect the PRD's enhancing effect on intronic constructs, suggesting that the PRD acts independently of splicing reaction by interacting with sequences residing within introns. The N-terminal regions from zebrafish and Xenopus DROSHA can replace the human counterpart, indicating functional conservation despite poor sequence alignment. Moreover, we found that rapidly evolving intronic miRNAs are generally more dependent on PRD than conserved ones, suggesting a role of PRD in miRNA evolution. Our study reveals a new layer of miRNA regulation mediated by a low-complexity disordered domain that senses the genomic contexts of miRNA loci.
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Affiliation(s)
- Soomin Son
- Center for RNA Research, Institute for Basic Science, Seoul 08826, Korea
- School of Biological Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Korea
| | - Baekgyu Kim
- Center for RNA Research, Institute for Basic Science, Seoul 08826, Korea
- School of Biological Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Korea
| | - Jihye Yang
- Center for RNA Research, Institute for Basic Science, Seoul 08826, Korea
- School of Biological Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Korea
| | - V Narry Kim
- Center for RNA Research, Institute for Basic Science, Seoul 08826, Korea;
- School of Biological Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Korea
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16
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Monné M, Cianciulli A, Panaro MA, Calvello R, De Grassi A, Palmieri L, Mitolo V, Palmieri F. New Insights into the Evolution and Gene Structure of the Mitochondrial Carrier Family Unveiled by Analyzing the Frequent and Conserved Intron Positions. Mol Biol Evol 2023; 40:7077214. [PMID: 36916992 PMCID: PMC10027655 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msad051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2023] [Revised: 02/13/2023] [Accepted: 02/27/2023] [Indexed: 03/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Mitochondrial carriers (MCs) belong to a eukaryotic protein family of transporters that in higher organisms is called the solute carrier family 25 (SLC25). All MCs have characteristic triplicated sequence repeats forming a 3-fold symmetrical structure of a six-transmembrane α-helix bundle with a centrally located substrate-binding site. Biochemical characterization has shown that MCs altogether transport a wide variety of substrates but can be divided into subfamilies, each transporting a few specific substrates. We have investigated the intron positions in the human MC genes and their orthologs of highly diversified organisms. The results demonstrate that several intron positions are present in numerous MC sequences at the same specific points, of which some are 3-fold symmetry related. Many of these frequent intron positions are also conserved in subfamilies or in groups of subfamilies transporting similar substrates. The analyses of the frequent and conserved intron positions in MCs suggest phylogenetic relationships not only between close but also distant homologs as well as a possible involvement of the intron positions in the evolution of the substrate specificity diversification of the MC family members.
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Affiliation(s)
- Magnus Monné
- Department of Biosciences, Biotechnologies and Environment, University of Bari, Bari, Italy
- Department of Sciences, University of Basilicata, Potenza, Italy
| | - Antonia Cianciulli
- Department of Biosciences, Biotechnologies and Environment, University of Bari, Bari, Italy
| | - Maria A Panaro
- Department of Biosciences, Biotechnologies and Environment, University of Bari, Bari, Italy
| | - Rosa Calvello
- Department of Biosciences, Biotechnologies and Environment, University of Bari, Bari, Italy
| | - Anna De Grassi
- Department of Biosciences, Biotechnologies and Environment, University of Bari, Bari, Italy
| | - Luigi Palmieri
- Department of Biosciences, Biotechnologies and Environment, University of Bari, Bari, Italy
- CNR Institute of Biomembranes, Bioenergetics and Molecular Biotechnologies (IBIOM), Bari, Italy
| | - Vincenzo Mitolo
- Department of Biosciences, Biotechnologies and Environment, University of Bari, Bari, Italy
| | - Ferdinando Palmieri
- Department of Biosciences, Biotechnologies and Environment, University of Bari, Bari, Italy
- CNR Institute of Biomembranes, Bioenergetics and Molecular Biotechnologies (IBIOM), Bari, Italy
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17
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Schindele P, Merker L, Schreiber T, Prange A, Tissier A, Puchta H. Enhancing gene editing and gene targeting efficiencies in Arabidopsis thaliana by using an intron-containing version of ttLbCas12a. Plant Biotechnol J 2023; 21:457-459. [PMID: 36382936 PMCID: PMC9946132 DOI: 10.1111/pbi.13964] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2022] [Revised: 11/04/2022] [Accepted: 11/11/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Patrick Schindele
- Botanical InstituteKarlsruhe Institute of TechnologyKarlsruheGermany
| | - Laura Merker
- Botanical InstituteKarlsruhe Institute of TechnologyKarlsruheGermany
| | - Tom Schreiber
- Department of Cell and Metabolic BiologyLeibniz Institute of Plant BiochemistryHalle (Saale)Germany
| | - Anja Prange
- Department of Cell and Metabolic BiologyLeibniz Institute of Plant BiochemistryHalle (Saale)Germany
| | - Alain Tissier
- Department of Cell and Metabolic BiologyLeibniz Institute of Plant BiochemistryHalle (Saale)Germany
| | - Holger Puchta
- Botanical InstituteKarlsruhe Institute of TechnologyKarlsruheGermany
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18
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Wong DK, Grisdale CJ, Slat VA, Rader SD, Fast NM. The evolution of pre-mRNA splicing and its machinery revealed by reduced extremophilic red algae. J Eukaryot Microbiol 2023; 70:e12927. [PMID: 35662328 DOI: 10.1111/jeu.12927] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
The Cyanidiales are a group of mostly thermophilic and acidophilic red algae that thrive near volcanic vents. Despite their phylogenetic relationship, the reduced genomes of Cyanidioschyzon merolae and Galdieria sulphuraria are strikingly different with respect to pre-mRNA splicing, a ubiquitous eukaryotic feature. Introns are rare and spliceosomal machinery is extremely reduced in C. merolae, in contrast to G. sulphuraria. Previous studies also revealed divergent spliceosomes in the mesophilic red alga Porphyridium purpureum and the red algal derived plastid of Guillardia theta (Cryptophyta), along with unusually high levels of unspliced transcripts. To further examine the evolution of splicing in red algae, we compared C. merolae and G. sulphuraria, investigating splicing levels, intron position, intron sequence features, and the composition of the spliceosome. In addition to identifying 11 additional introns in C. merolae, our transcriptomic analysis also revealed typical eukaryotic splicing in G. sulphuraria, whereas most transcripts in C. merolae remain unspliced. The distribution of intron positions within their host genes was examined to provide insight into patterns of intron loss in red algae. We observed increasing variability of 5' splice sites and branch donor regions with increasing intron richness. We also found these relationships to be connected to reductions in and losses of corresponding parts of the spliceosome. Our findings highlight patterns of intron and spliceosome evolution in related red algae under the pressures of genome reduction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Donald K Wong
- Biodiversity Research Centre and Department of Botany, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Cameron J Grisdale
- Biodiversity Research Centre and Department of Botany, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.,Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Viktor A Slat
- Department of Chemistry, University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, BC, Canada
| | - Stephen D Rader
- Department of Chemistry, University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, BC, Canada
| | - Naomi M Fast
- Biodiversity Research Centre and Department of Botany, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
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19
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Bo S, Sun Q, Ning P, Yuan N, Weng Y, Liang Y, Wang H, Lu Z, Li Z, Zhao X. A novel approach to analyze the association characteristics between post-spliced introns and their corresponding mRNA. Front Genet 2023; 14:1151172. [PMID: 36923795 PMCID: PMC10008863 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2023.1151172] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2023] [Accepted: 02/15/2023] [Indexed: 03/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Studies have shown that post-spliced introns promote cell survival when nutrients are scarce, and intron loss/gain can influence many stages of mRNA metabolism. However, few approaches are currently available to study the correlation between intron sequences and their corresponding mature mRNA sequences. Here, based on the results of the improved Smith-Waterman local alignment-based algorithm method (SW method) and binding free energy weighted local alignment algorithm method (BFE method), the optimal matched segments between introns and their corresponding mature mRNAs in Caenorhabditis elegans (C.elegans) and their relative matching frequency (RF) distributions were obtained. The results showed that although the distributions of relative matching frequencies on mRNAs obtained by the BFE method were similar to the SW method, the interaction intensity in 5'and 3'untranslated regions (UTRs) regions was weaker than the SW method. The RF distributions in the exon-exon junction regions were comparable, the effects of long and short introns on mRNA and on the five functional sites with BFE method were similar to the SW method. However, the interaction intensity in 5'and 3'UTR regions with BFE method was weaker than with SW method. Although the matching rate and length distribution shape of the optimal matched fragment were consistent with the SW method, an increase in length was observed. The matching rates and the length of the optimal matched fragments were mainly in the range of 60%-80% and 20-30bp, respectively. Although we found that there were still matching preferences in the 5'and 3'UTR regions of the mRNAs with BFE, the matching intensities were significantly lower than the matching intensities between introns and their corresponding mRNAs with SW method. Overall, our findings suggest that the interaction between introns and mRNAs results from synergism among different types of sequences during the evolutionary process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Suling Bo
- College of Computer Information, Inner Mongolia Medical University, Hohhot, China
| | - Qiuying Sun
- Department of Oncology, Inner Mongolia Cancer Hospital and The Affiliated People's Hospital of Inner Mongolia Medical University, Hohhot, China
| | - Pengfei Ning
- College of Computer Information, Inner Mongolia Medical University, Hohhot, China
| | - Ningping Yuan
- College of Computer Information, Inner Mongolia Medical University, Hohhot, China
| | - Yujie Weng
- College of Computer Information, Inner Mongolia Medical University, Hohhot, China
| | - Ying Liang
- College of Computer Information, Inner Mongolia Medical University, Hohhot, China
| | - Huitao Wang
- College of Computer Information, Inner Mongolia Medical University, Hohhot, China
| | - Zhanyuan Lu
- Inner Mongolia Academy of Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Sciences, Hohhot, China.,School of Life Science, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, China.,Key Laboratory of Black Soil Protection And Utilization (Hohhot), Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Hohhot, China.,6 Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Degradation Farmland Ecological Restoration and Pollution Control, Hohhot, China
| | - Zhongxian Li
- College of Computer Information, Inner Mongolia Medical University, Hohhot, China
| | - Xiaoqing Zhao
- Inner Mongolia Academy of Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Sciences, Hohhot, China.,School of Life Science, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, China.,Key Laboratory of Black Soil Protection And Utilization (Hohhot), Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Hohhot, China.,6 Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Degradation Farmland Ecological Restoration and Pollution Control, Hohhot, China
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20
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Kelsall E, Harris C, Sen T, Hatton D, Dunn S, Gibson S. Interplay of heavy chain introns influences efficient transcript splicing and affects product quality of recombinant biotherapeutic antibodies from CHO cells. MAbs 2023; 15:2242548. [PMID: 37555672 PMCID: PMC10413919 DOI: 10.1080/19420862.2023.2242548] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2023] [Revised: 07/12/2023] [Accepted: 07/26/2023] [Indexed: 08/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Introns are included in genes encoding therapeutic proteins for their well-documented function of boosting expression. However, mis-splicing of introns in recombinant immunoglobulin (IgG) heavy chain (HC) transcripts can produce amino acid sequence product variants. These variants can affect product quality; therefore, purification process optimization may be needed to remove them, or if they cannot be removed, then in-depth characterization must be carried out to understand their effects on biological activity. In this study, HC transgene engineering approaches were investigated and were successful in significantly reducing the previously identified IgG HC splice variants to <0.5%. Subsequently, a comprehensive evaluation was conducted to understand the influence of the different introns in the HC genes on the expression of recombinant biotherapeutic antibodies. The data revealed an unexpected cooperation between specific introns for efficient splicing, where intron retention led to significant reductions in IgG expression of up to 75% for some intron combinations. Furthermore, it was shown that HC introns could be fully removed without significantly affecting productivity. This work paves the way for future biotherapeutic antibody transgene design with regard to inclusion of HC introns. By removing unnecessary introns, transgene mRNA transcript will no longer be mis-spliced, thereby eliminating HC splice variants and improving antibody product quality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emma Kelsall
- Cell Culture and Fermentation Sciences, Biopharmaceutical Development, R&D, AstraZeneca, Cambridge, UK
| | - Claire Harris
- Cell Culture and Fermentation Sciences, Biopharmaceutical Development, R&D, AstraZeneca, Cambridge, UK
| | - Titash Sen
- Cell Culture and Fermentation Sciences, Biopharmaceutical Development, R&D, AstraZeneca, Cambridge, UK
| | - Diane Hatton
- Cell Culture and Fermentation Sciences, Biopharmaceutical Development, R&D, AstraZeneca, Cambridge, UK
| | - Sarah Dunn
- Cell Culture and Fermentation Sciences, Biopharmaceutical Development, R&D, AstraZeneca, Cambridge, UK
| | - Suzanne Gibson
- Cell Culture and Fermentation Sciences, Biopharmaceutical Development, R&D, AstraZeneca, Cambridge, UK
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Dericquebourg A, Fretigny M, Chatron N, Tardy B, Zawadzki C, Chambost H, Vinciguerra C, Jourdy Y. Whole F9 gene sequencing identified deep intronic variations in genetically unresolved hemophilia B patients. J Thromb Haemost 2022; 21:828-837. [PMID: 36696202 DOI: 10.1016/j.jtha.2022.12.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2022] [Revised: 09/20/2022] [Accepted: 12/02/2022] [Indexed: 01/26/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The disease-causative variant remains unidentified in approximately 0.5% to 2% of hemophilia B patients using conventional genetic investigations, and F9 deep intronic variations could be responsible for these phenotypes. OBJECTIVES This study aimed to characterize deep intronic variants in hemophilia B patients for whom genetic investigations failed. METHODS We performed whole F9 sequencing in 17 genetically unsolved hemophilia B patients. The pathogenic impact of the candidate variants identified was studied using both in silico analysis (MaxEntScan and spliceAI) and minigene assay. RESULTS In total, 9 candidate variants were identified in 15 patients; 7 were deep intronic substitutions and 2 corresponded to insertions of mobile elements. The most frequent variants found were c.278-1806A>C and the association of c.278-1244A>G and c.392-864T>G, identified in 4 and 6 unrelated individuals, respectively. In silico analysis predicted splicing impact for 4 substitutions (c.278-1806A>C, c.392-864T>G, c.724-2385G>T, c.723+4297T>A). Minigene assay showed a deleterious splicing impact for these 4 substitutions and also for the c.278-1786_278-1785insLINE. In the end, 5 variants were classified as likely pathogenic using the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics guidelines, and 4 as of unknown significance. Thus, the hemophilia B-causing variant was identified in 13/17 (76%) families. CONCLUSION We elucidated the causing defect in three-quarters of the families included in this study, and we reported new F9 deep intronic variants that can cause hemophilia B.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amy Dericquebourg
- Hospices Civils de Lyon, Groupe Hospitalier Est, Service d'hématologie biologique, Bron, France; Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, UR4609 Hémostase et thrombose, Lyon, France
| | - Mathilde Fretigny
- Hospices Civils de Lyon, Groupe Hospitalier Est, Service d'hématologie biologique, Bron, France
| | - Nicolas Chatron
- Hospices Civils de Lyon, Groupe Hospitalier Est, Service de génétique, Bron, France; Univ Lyon, Univ Lyon 1, CNRS, INSERM, Physiopathologie et Génétique du Neurone et du Muscle, UMR5261, U1315, Institut NeuroMyoGène, Lyon, France
| | - Brigitte Tardy
- Hémostase clinique-CRC hémophilie, Saint Etienne, France
| | - Christophe Zawadzki
- Pôle de Biologie Pathologie Génétique, Institut d'Hématologie -Transfusion, CHU Lille, Lille, France
| | - Hervé Chambost
- Department of Pediatric Hematology, Immunology, and Oncology, APHM, La Timone Children's Hospital, Marseille, France; INSERM, INRAe, C2VN, Aix Marseille Univ, Marseille, France
| | - Christine Vinciguerra
- Hospices Civils de Lyon, Groupe Hospitalier Est, Service d'hématologie biologique, Bron, France; Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, UR4609 Hémostase et thrombose, Lyon, France
| | - Yohann Jourdy
- Hospices Civils de Lyon, Groupe Hospitalier Est, Service d'hématologie biologique, Bron, France; Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, UR4609 Hémostase et thrombose, Lyon, France.
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22
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Fukuchi S, Noguchi T, Anbo H, Homma K. Exon Elongation Added Intrinsically Disordered Regions to the Encoded Proteins and Facilitated the Emergence of the Last Eukaryotic Common Ancestor. Mol Biol Evol 2022; 40:6931801. [PMID: 36529689 PMCID: PMC9825244 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msac272] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2022] [Revised: 11/06/2022] [Accepted: 12/13/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Most prokaryotic proteins consist of a single structural domain (SD) with little intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) that by themselves do not adopt stable structures, whereas the typical eukaryotic protein comprises multiple SDs and IDRs. How eukaryotic proteins evolved to differ from prokaryotic proteins has not been fully elucidated. Here, we found that the longer the internal exons are, the more frequently they encode IDRs in eight eukaryotes including vertebrates, invertebrates, a fungus, and plants. Based on this observation, we propose the "small bang" model from the proteomic viewpoint: the protoeukaryotic genes had no introns and mostly encoded one SD each, but a majority of them were subsequently divided into multiple exons (step 1). Many exons unconstrained by SDs elongated to encode IDRs (step 2). The elongated exons encoding IDRs frequently facilitated the acquisition of multiple SDs to make the last common ancestor of eukaryotes (step 3). One prediction of the model is that long internal exons are mostly unconstrained exons. Analytical results of the eight eukaryotes are consistent with this prediction. In support of the model, we identified cases of internal exons that elongated after the rat-mouse divergence and discovered that the expanded sections are mostly in unconstrained exons and preferentially encode IDRs. The model also predicts that SDs followed by long internal exons tend to have other SDs downstream. This prediction was also verified in all the eukaryotic species analyzed. Our model accounts for the dichotomy between prokaryotic and eukaryotic proteins and proposes a selective advantage conferred by IDRs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Satoshi Fukuchi
- Program for Information Systems, Division of Informatics, Bioengineering and Bioscience, Maebashi Institute of Technology, Maebashi-shi, Japan
| | - Tamotsu Noguchi
- Pharmaceutical Education Research Center, Meiji Pharmaceutical University, Kiyose, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Hiroto Anbo
- Program for Information Systems, Division of Informatics, Bioengineering and Bioscience, Maebashi Institute of Technology, Maebashi-shi, Japan
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23
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Zhang Z, Blumenfeld J, Ramnauth A, Barash I, Zhou P, Levine D, Parker T, Rennert H. A common intronic single nucleotide variant modifies PKD1 expression level. Clin Genet 2022; 102:483-493. [PMID: 36029107 PMCID: PMC10947153 DOI: 10.1111/cge.14214] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2022] [Revised: 08/20/2022] [Accepted: 08/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD), caused by mutations in PKD1 and PKD2 (PKD1/2), has unexplained phenotypic variability likely affected by environmental and other genetic factors. Approximately 10% of individuals with ADPKD phenotype have no causal mutation detected, possibly due to unrecognized risk variants of PKD1/2. This study was designed to identify risk variants of PKD genes through population genetic analyses. We used Wright's F-statistics (Fst) to evaluate common single nucleotide variants (SNVs) potentially favored by positive natural selection in PKD1 from 1000 Genomes Project (1KG) and genotyped 388 subjects from the Rogosin Institute ADPKD Data Repository. The variants with >90th percentile Fst scores underwent further investigation by in silico analysis and molecular genetics analyses. We identified a deep intronic SNV, rs3874648G> A, located in a conserved binding site of the splicing regulator Tra2-β in PKD1 intron 30. Reverse-transcription PCR (RT-PCR) of peripheral blood leukocytes (PBL) from an ADPKD patient homozygous for rs3874648-A identified an atypical PKD1 splice form. Functional analyses demonstrated that rs3874648-A allele increased Tra2-β binding affinity and activated a cryptic acceptor splice-site, causing a frameshift that introduced a premature stop codon in mRNA, thereby decreasing PKD1 full-length transcript level. PKD1 transcript levels were lower in PBL from rs3874648-G/A carriers than in rs3874648-G/G homozygotes in a small cohort of normal individuals and patients with PKD2 inactivating mutations. Our findings indicate that rs3874648G > A is a PKD1 expression modifier attenuating PKD1 expression through Tra2-β, while the derived G allele advantageously maintains PKD1 expression and is predominant in all subpopulations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhengmao Zhang
- Departments of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY
| | - Jon Blumenfeld
- Department of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY
- The Rogosin Institute, New York, NY
| | - Andrew Ramnauth
- Departments of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY
| | - Irina Barash
- Department of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY
- The Rogosin Institute, New York, NY
| | - Pengbo Zhou
- Departments of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY
| | - Daniel Levine
- Department of Biochemistry, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY
- The Rogosin Institute, New York, NY
| | - Thomas Parker
- Department of Biochemistry, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY
- The Rogosin Institute, New York, NY
| | - Hanna Rennert
- Departments of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY
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24
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Loewenthal G, Wygoda E, Nagar N, Glick L, Mayrose I, Pupko T. The evolutionary dynamics that retain long neutral genomic sequences in face of indel deletion bias: a model and its application to human introns. Open Biol 2022; 12:220223. [PMID: 36514983 PMCID: PMC9748784 DOI: 10.1098/rsob.220223] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Insertions and deletions (indels) of short DNA segments are common evolutionary events. Numerous studies showed that deletions occur more often than insertions in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. It raises the question why neutral sequences are not eradicated from the genome. We suggest that this is due to a phenomenon we term border-induced selection. Accordingly, a neutral sequence is bordered between conserved regions. Deletions occurring near the borders occasionally protrude to the conserved region and are thereby subject to strong purifying selection. Thus, for short neutral sequences, an insertion bias is expected. Here, we develop a set of increasingly complex models of indel dynamics that incorporate border-induced selection. Furthermore, we show that short conserved sequences within the neutrally evolving sequence help explain: (i) the presence of very long sequences; (ii) the high variance of sequence lengths; and (iii) the possible emergence of multimodality in sequence length distributions. Finally, we fitted our models to the human intron length distribution, as introns are thought to be mostly neutral and bordered by conserved exons. We show that when accounting for the occurrence of short conserved sequences within introns, we reproduce the main features, including the presence of long introns and the multimodality of intron distribution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gil Loewenthal
- The Shmunis School of Biomedicine and Cancer Research, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
| | - Elya Wygoda
- The Shmunis School of Biomedicine and Cancer Research, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
| | - Natan Nagar
- The Shmunis School of Biomedicine and Cancer Research, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
| | - Lior Glick
- School of Plant Sciences and Food Security, George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
| | - Itay Mayrose
- School of Plant Sciences and Food Security, George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
| | - Tal Pupko
- The Shmunis School of Biomedicine and Cancer Research, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
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25
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Gozashti L, Roy SW, Thornlow B, Kramer A, Ares M, Corbett-Detig R. Transposable elements drive intron gain in diverse eukaryotes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022; 119:e2209766119. [PMID: 36417430 PMCID: PMC9860276 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2209766119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2022] [Accepted: 10/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
There is massive variation in intron numbers across eukaryotic genomes, yet the major drivers of intron content during evolution remain elusive. Rapid intron loss and gain in some lineages contrast with long-term evolutionary stasis in others. Episodic intron gain could be explained by recently discovered specialized transposons called Introners, but so far Introners are only known from a handful of species. Here, we performed a systematic search across 3,325 eukaryotic genomes and identified 27,563 Introner-derived introns in 175 genomes (5.2%). Species with Introners span remarkable phylogenetic diversity, from animals to basal protists, representing lineages whose last common ancestor dates to over 1.7 billion years ago. Aquatic organisms were 6.5 times more likely to contain Introners than terrestrial organisms. Introners exhibit mechanistic diversity but most are consistent with DNA transposition, indicating that Introners have evolved convergently hundreds of times from nonautonomous transposable elements. Transposable elements and aquatic taxa are associated with high rates of horizontal gene transfer, suggesting that this combination of factors may explain the punctuated and biased diversity of species containing Introners. More generally, our data suggest that Introners may explain the episodic nature of intron gain across the eukaryotic tree of life. These results illuminate the major source of ongoing intron creation in eukaryotic genomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Landen Gozashti
- Department of Biomolecular Engineering, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA95064
- Genomics Institute, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA95064
| | - Scott W. Roy
- Department of Biology, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA94117
| | - Bryan Thornlow
- Department of Biomolecular Engineering, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA95064
- Genomics Institute, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA95064
| | - Alexander Kramer
- Department of Biomolecular Engineering, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA95064
- Genomics Institute, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA95064
| | - Manuel Ares
- Department of Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA95064
| | - Russell Corbett-Detig
- Department of Biomolecular Engineering, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA95064
- Genomics Institute, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA95064
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26
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Lubośny M, Śmietanka B, Lasota R, Burzyński A. Confirmation of the first intronic sequence in the bivalvian mitochondrial genome of Macoma balthica (Linnaeus, 1758). Biol Lett 2022; 18:20220275. [PMID: 36196553 PMCID: PMC9532982 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2022.0275] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
In 2020, the first male-type mitochondrial genome from the clam Macoma balthica was published. Apart from the unusual doubly uniparental inheritance of mtDNA, scientists observed a unique (over 4k bp long) extension in the middle of the cox2 gene. We have attempted to replicate these data by NGS DNA sequencing and explore further the expression of the long cox2 gene. In our study, we report an even longer cox2 gene (over 5.5 kbp) with no stop codon separating conserved cox2 domains, as well as, based on the rtPCR, a lower relative gene expression pattern of the middle part of the gene (5' = 1; mid = 0.46; 3' = 0.89). Lastly, we sequenced the cox2 gene transcript proving the excision of the intronic sequence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marek Lubośny
- Department of Genetics and Marine Biotechnology, Institute of Oceanology Polish Academy of Sciences, Sopot 81-712, Poland
| | - Beata Śmietanka
- Department of Genetics and Marine Biotechnology, Institute of Oceanology Polish Academy of Sciences, Sopot 81-712, Poland
| | - Rafał Lasota
- Faculty of Oceanography and Geography, Division of Marine Ecosystems Functioning, University of Gdańsk, Gdynia 81-378, Poland
| | - Artur Burzyński
- Department of Genetics and Marine Biotechnology, Institute of Oceanology Polish Academy of Sciences, Sopot 81-712, Poland
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27
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Cerbin S, Ou S, Li Y, Sun Y, Jiang N. Distinct composition and amplification dynamics of transposable elements in sacred lotus (Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn.). Plant J 2022; 112:172-192. [PMID: 35959634 PMCID: PMC9804982 DOI: 10.1111/tpj.15938] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2022] [Revised: 07/19/2022] [Accepted: 08/08/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Sacred lotus (Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn.) is a basal eudicot plant with a unique lifestyle, physiological features, and evolutionary characteristics. Here we report the unique profile of transposable elements (TEs) in the genome, using a manually curated repeat library. TEs account for 59% of the genome, and hAT (Ac/Ds) elements alone represent 8%, more than in any other known plant genome. About 18% of the lotus genome is comprised of Copia LTR retrotransposons, and over 25% of them are associated with non-canonical termini (non-TGCA). Such high abundance of non-canonical LTR retrotransposons has not been reported for any other organism. TEs are very abundant in genic regions, with retrotransposons enriched in introns and DNA transposons primarily in flanking regions of genes. The recent insertion of TEs in introns has led to significant intron size expansion, with a total of 200 Mb in the 28 455 genes. This is accompanied by declining TE activity in intergenic regions, suggesting distinct control efficacy of TE amplification in different genomic compartments. Despite the prevalence of TEs in genic regions, some genes are associated with fewer TEs, such as those involved in fruit ripening and stress responses. Other genes are enriched with TEs, and genes in epigenetic pathways are the most associated with TEs in introns, indicating a dynamic interaction between TEs and the host surveillance machinery. The dramatic differential abundance of TEs with genes involved in different biological processes as well as the variation of target preference of different TEs suggests the composition and activity of TEs influence the path of evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefan Cerbin
- Department of HorticultureMichigan State University1066 Bogue StreetEast LansingMI48824USA
- Present address:
Department of Ecology & Evolutionary BiologyUniversity of Kansas1200 Sunnyside AvenueLawrenceKS66045USA
| | - Shujun Ou
- Department of HorticultureMichigan State University1066 Bogue StreetEast LansingMI48824USA
- Present address:
Department of Computer ScienceJohns Hopkins UniversityBaltimoreMD21218USA
| | - Yang Li
- Department of Electrical EngineeringCity University of Hong KongKowloonHong Kong SARChina
| | - Yanni Sun
- Department of Electrical EngineeringCity University of Hong KongKowloonHong Kong SARChina
| | - Ning Jiang
- Department of HorticultureMichigan State University1066 Bogue StreetEast LansingMI48824USA
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28
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Li Q, Zhang T, Li L, Bao Z, Tu W, Xiang P, Wu Q, Li P, Cao M, Huang W. Comparative Mitogenomic Analysis Reveals Intraspecific, Interspecific Variations and Genetic Diversity of Medical Fungus Ganoderma. J Fungi (Basel) 2022; 8:jof8080781. [PMID: 35893149 PMCID: PMC9394262 DOI: 10.3390/jof8080781] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2022] [Revised: 07/21/2022] [Accepted: 07/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Ganoderma species are widely distributed in the world with high diversity. Some species are considered to be pathogenic fungi while others are used as traditional medicine in Asia. In this study, we sequenced and assembled four Ganoderma complete mitogenomes, including G. subamboinense s118, G. lucidum s37, G. lingzhi s62, and G. lingzhi s74. The sizes of the four mitogenomes ranged from 50,603 to 73,416 bp. All Ganoderma specimens had a full set of core protein-coding genes (PCGs), and the rps3 gene of Ganoderma species was detected to be under positive or relaxed selection. We found that the non-conserved PCGs, which encode RNA polymerases, DNA polymerases, homing endonucleases, and unknown functional proteins, are dynamic within and between Ganoderma species. Introns were thought to be the main contributing factor in Ganoderma mitogenome size variation (p < 0.01). Frequent intron loss/gain events were detected within and between Ganoderma species. The mitogenome of G. lucidum s26 gained intron P637 in the cox3 gene compared with the other two G. lucidum mitogenomes. In addition, some rare introns in Ganoderma were detected in distinct Basidiomycetes, indicating potential gene transfer events. Comparative mitogenomic analysis revealed that gene arrangements also varied within and between Ganoderma mitogenomes. Using maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference methods with a combined mitochondrial gene dataset, phylogenetic analyses generated identical, well-supported tree topologies for 71 Agaricomycetes species. This study reveals intraspecific and interspecific variations of the Ganoderma mitogenomes, which promotes the understanding of the origin, evolution, and genetic diversity of Ganoderma species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qiang Li
- Key Laboratory of Coarse Cereal Processing, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Sichuan Engineering & Technology Research Center of Coarse Cereal Industrialization, School of Food and Biological Engineering, Chengdu University, Chengdu 610106, China; (Q.L.); (T.Z.); (L.L.); (Z.B.); (W.T.); (P.X.); (Q.W.)
| | - Ting Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Coarse Cereal Processing, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Sichuan Engineering & Technology Research Center of Coarse Cereal Industrialization, School of Food and Biological Engineering, Chengdu University, Chengdu 610106, China; (Q.L.); (T.Z.); (L.L.); (Z.B.); (W.T.); (P.X.); (Q.W.)
| | - Lijiao Li
- Key Laboratory of Coarse Cereal Processing, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Sichuan Engineering & Technology Research Center of Coarse Cereal Industrialization, School of Food and Biological Engineering, Chengdu University, Chengdu 610106, China; (Q.L.); (T.Z.); (L.L.); (Z.B.); (W.T.); (P.X.); (Q.W.)
| | - Zhijie Bao
- Key Laboratory of Coarse Cereal Processing, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Sichuan Engineering & Technology Research Center of Coarse Cereal Industrialization, School of Food and Biological Engineering, Chengdu University, Chengdu 610106, China; (Q.L.); (T.Z.); (L.L.); (Z.B.); (W.T.); (P.X.); (Q.W.)
| | - Wenying Tu
- Key Laboratory of Coarse Cereal Processing, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Sichuan Engineering & Technology Research Center of Coarse Cereal Industrialization, School of Food and Biological Engineering, Chengdu University, Chengdu 610106, China; (Q.L.); (T.Z.); (L.L.); (Z.B.); (W.T.); (P.X.); (Q.W.)
| | - Peng Xiang
- Key Laboratory of Coarse Cereal Processing, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Sichuan Engineering & Technology Research Center of Coarse Cereal Industrialization, School of Food and Biological Engineering, Chengdu University, Chengdu 610106, China; (Q.L.); (T.Z.); (L.L.); (Z.B.); (W.T.); (P.X.); (Q.W.)
| | - Qian Wu
- Key Laboratory of Coarse Cereal Processing, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Sichuan Engineering & Technology Research Center of Coarse Cereal Industrialization, School of Food and Biological Engineering, Chengdu University, Chengdu 610106, China; (Q.L.); (T.Z.); (L.L.); (Z.B.); (W.T.); (P.X.); (Q.W.)
| | - Ping Li
- Biotechnology and Nuclear Technology Research Institute, Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 106 # Shizishan Rd., Chengdu 610061, China;
| | - Mei Cao
- Core Laboratory, Sichuan Provincial People’s Hospital, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 610072, China
- Chinese Academy of Sciences Sichuan Translational Medicine Research Hospital, Chengdu 610072, China
- Correspondence: (M.C.); (W.H.); Tel.: +86-028-84592187 (W.H.)
| | - Wenli Huang
- Biotechnology and Nuclear Technology Research Institute, Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 106 # Shizishan Rd., Chengdu 610061, China;
- Correspondence: (M.C.); (W.H.); Tel.: +86-028-84592187 (W.H.)
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Robison T, Nelson JM, Hauser DA, Lewis LA, Li FW. Dynamic plastid and mitochondrial genomes in Chaetopeltidales (Chlorophyceae) and characterization of a new chlorophyte taxon. Am J Bot 2022; 109:939-951. [PMID: 35678538 DOI: 10.1002/ajb2.16015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2021] [Revised: 03/31/2022] [Accepted: 04/01/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
PREMISE Chaetopeltidales is a poorly characterized order in the Chlorophyceae, with only two plastid and no mitochondrial genomes published. Here we describe a new taxon in Chaetopeltidales, Gormaniella terricola gen. et sp. nov. and characterize both of its organellar genomes. METHODS Gormaniella terricola was inadvertently isolated from a surface-sterilized hornwort thallus. Light microscopy was used to characterize its vegetative morphology. Organellar genomes were assembled, annotated, and analyzed using a variety of software packages. RESULTS The mitochondrial genome (66,927 bp) represents the first complete mitochondrial genome published for Chaetopeltidales. The chloroplast genome, measuring 428,981 bp, is one of the largest plastid genomes published to date and shares this large size and an incredible number of short, dispersed repeats with the other sequenced chloroplast genomes in Chaetopeltidales. Despite these shared features, the chloroplast genomes of Chaetopeltidales appear to be highly rearranged when compared to one another, with numerous inversions, translocations, and duplications, suggesting a particularly dynamic chloroplast genome. Both the chloroplast and mitochondrial genomes of G. terricola contain a number of mobile group I and group II introns, which appear to have invaded separately. Three of the introns within the mitochondrial genome encode homing endonucleases that are phylogenetically nested within those found in fungi, rather than algae, suggesting a possible case of horizontal gene transfer. CONCLUSIONS These results help to shed light on a poorly understood group of algae and their unusual organellar genomes, raising additional questions about the unique patterns of genome evolution within Chaetopeltidales.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tanner Robison
- Plant Biology Section, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
- Boyce Thompson Institute, Ithaca, NY, USA
| | | | | | - Louise A Lewis
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA
| | - Fay-Wei Li
- Plant Biology Section, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
- Boyce Thompson Institute, Ithaca, NY, USA
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Chhipi-Shrestha JK, Schneider-Poetsch T, Suzuki T, Mito M, Khan K, Dohmae N, Iwasaki S, Yoshida M. Splicing modulators elicit global translational repression by condensate-prone proteins translated from introns. Cell Chem Biol 2022; 29:259-275.e10. [PMID: 34520743 PMCID: PMC8857039 DOI: 10.1016/j.chembiol.2021.07.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2021] [Revised: 06/10/2021] [Accepted: 07/21/2021] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Chemical splicing modulators that bind to the spliceosome have provided an attractive avenue for cancer treatment. Splicing modulators induce accumulation and subsequent translation of a subset of intron-retained mRNAs. However, the biological effect of proteins containing translated intron sequences remains unclear. Here, we identify a number of truncated proteins generated upon treatment with the splicing modulator spliceostatin A (SSA) via genome-wide ribosome profiling and bio-orthogonal noncanonical amino acid tagging (BONCAT) mass spectrometry. A subset of these truncated proteins has intrinsically disordered regions, forms insoluble cellular condensates, and triggers the proteotoxic stress response through c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) phosphorylation, thereby inhibiting the mTORC1 pathway. In turn, this reduces global translation. These findings indicate that creating an overburden of condensate-prone proteins derived from introns represses translation and prevents further production of harmful truncated proteins. This mechanism appears to contribute to the antiproliferative and proapoptotic activity of splicing modulators.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jagat K. Chhipi-Shrestha
- Chemical Genomics Research Group, RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan,Department of Biotechnology, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8657, Japan
| | - Tilman Schneider-Poetsch
- Chemical Genomics Research Group, RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan
| | - Takehiro Suzuki
- Biomolecular Characterization Unit, Technology Platform Division, RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan
| | - Mari Mito
- RNA Systems Biochemistry Laboratory, RIKEN Cluster for Pioneering Research, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan
| | - Khalid Khan
- Chemical Genomics Research Group, RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan
| | - Naoshi Dohmae
- Biomolecular Characterization Unit, Technology Platform Division, RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan
| | - Shintaro Iwasaki
- RNA Systems Biochemistry Laboratory, RIKEN Cluster for Pioneering Research, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan; Department of Computational Biology and Medical Sciences, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8561, Japan; AMED-CREST, Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan.
| | - Minoru Yoshida
- Chemical Genomics Research Group, RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan; Department of Biotechnology, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8657, Japan; Collaborative Research Institute for Innovative Microbiology, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8657, Japan.
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Zhang J, Zeng Y, Wang Y, Fan J, Chen H, Yang D, Shi X, Xu H, Fu Z, Sheng F, Xuan J, Pan X, Zhang Z, Ai L, Zhang Y, Pan J, Zhao J, Wang M. RHD Genotypes in a Chinese Cohort of Pregnant Women. Front Genet 2022; 12:752485. [PMID: 34970297 PMCID: PMC8712876 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2021.752485] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2021] [Accepted: 11/18/2021] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
RHD variants in D¯ Chinese pregnant women arose difficulties in management during pregnancy. Therefore, this study aims to precisely manage D¯ pregnant women by evaluating the spectrum of RHD mutations in D¯ pregnant women and getting insight into the possible rare alleles of RHD. A total of 76 D¯ pregnant women were analyzed by performing polymerase chain reactions with sequence-specific primers (PCR-SSP), the 10 RHD exons Sanger sequencing, RHD zygosity detection, and mRNA sequencing (mRNA-seq). About 40% of alleles are variations of RHD, including RHD 1227A homozygous, RHD-CE(2-9)-D, et al. Therefore, we developed a molecular diagnostic strategy for Chinese women, and most D¯ pregnant women can be diagnosed with this simple decision tree. After RHD genotyping for D¯ pregnancy women, we eliminated at least 15% unnecessary ante- and postpartum injections of Rh immunoglobulin (RhIG). As the first pedigree study and the first functional analysis under physiological conditions, mRNA-seq revealed that c.336-1G>A mutation mainly led to the inclusion of the intron 2, which indirectly explained the D¯ phenotype in this family. We also developed a robust protocol for determining fetal RhD status from maternal plasma. All 31 fetuses were predicted as RhD positive and confirmed the RhD status after birth.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jianjun Zhang
- Department of Blood Transfusion, Shaoxing Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Shaoxing, China
| | - Yan Zeng
- Genetics Department, Shaoxing Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Shaoxing, China
| | - Yuefeng Wang
- Department of Blood Transfusion, Shaoxing Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Shaoxing, China
| | - Jiaming Fan
- Genetics Department, Shaoxing Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Shaoxing, China
| | - Haijiang Chen
- Department of Blood Transfusion, Shaoxing Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Shaoxing, China
| | - Dan Yang
- Department of Blood Transfusion, Shaoxing Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Shaoxing, China
| | - Xiaoliang Shi
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Shaoxing Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Shaoxing, China
| | - Hualin Xu
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Shaoxing Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Shaoxing, China
| | - Zimu Fu
- Department of Gynecological Protection, Shaoxing Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Shaoxing, China
| | - Fang Sheng
- Department of Gynecological Protection, Shaoxing Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Shaoxing, China
| | - Jie Xuan
- Department of Gynecological Protection, Shaoxing Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Shaoxing, China
| | - Xiaoxi Pan
- Tianjin Super Biotechnology Developing Co., Ltd., Tianjin, China
| | - Zhiming Zhang
- Tianjin Super Biotechnology Developing Co., Ltd., Tianjin, China
| | - Liping Ai
- Tianjin Super Biotechnology Developing Co., Ltd., Tianjin, China
| | - Yue Zhang
- Tianjin Super Biotechnology Developing Co., Ltd., Tianjin, China
| | - Jingjing Pan
- Zhejiang Biosan Biotechnology Co., Ltd., Hangzhou, China
| | - Jing Zhao
- BGI Genomics, BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China
| | - Mingming Wang
- Zhejiang Biosan Biotechnology Co., Ltd., Hangzhou, China
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Wang X, Wang J, Li S, Lu C, Sui N. An overview of RNA splicing and functioning of splicing factors in land plant chloroplasts. RNA Biol 2022; 19:897-907. [PMID: 35811474 PMCID: PMC9275481 DOI: 10.1080/15476286.2022.2096801] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
RNA splicing refers to a process by which introns of a pre-mRNA are excised and the exons at both ends are joined together. Chloroplast introns are inherently self-splicing ribozymes, but over time, they have lost self-splicing ability due to the degeneration of intronic elements. Thus, the splicing of chloroplast introns relies heavily on nuclear-encoded splicing factors, which belong to diverse protein families. Different splicing factors and their shared intron targets are supposed to form ribonucleoprotein particles (RNPs) to facilitate intron splicing. As characterized in a previous review, around 14 chloroplast intron splicing factors were identified until 2010. However, only a few genetic and biochemical evidence has shown that these splicing factors are required for the splicing of one or several introns. The roles of splicing factors are generally believed to facilitate intron folding; however, the precise role of each protein in RNA splicing remains ambiguous. This may be because the precise binding site of most of these splicing factors remains unexplored. In the last decade, several new splicing factors have been identified. Also, several splicing factors were found to bind to specific sequences within introns, which enhanced the understanding of splicing factors. Here, we summarize recent progress on the splicing factors in land plant chloroplasts and discuss their possible roles in chloroplast RNA splicing based on previous studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xuemei Wang
- Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Stress, College of Life Sciences, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, Western Shandong, China
| | - Jingyi Wang
- Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Stress, College of Life Sciences, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, Western Shandong, China
| | - Simin Li
- Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Stress, College of Life Sciences, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, Western Shandong, China
| | - Congming Lu
- State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, College of Life Sciences, Shandong Agricultural University, Taian, Western Shandong, China
| | - Na Sui
- Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Stress, College of Life Sciences, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, Western Shandong, China
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Xie Z, Sun C, Liu C, Chu X, Gang Q, Yu M, Zheng Y, Meng L, Li F, Xia D, Wang L, Li Y, Deng J, Lv H, Wang Z, Zhang W, Yuan Y. First Identification of Rare Exonic and Deep Intronic Splice-Altering Variants in Patients With Beta-Sarcoglycanopathy. Front Pediatr 2022; 10:900280. [PMID: 35813381 PMCID: PMC9257024 DOI: 10.3389/fped.2022.900280] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2022] [Accepted: 05/30/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The precise genetic diagnosis of a sarcoglycanopathy or dystrophinopathy is sometimes extremely challenging, as pathogenic non-coding variants and/or complex structural variants do exist in DMD or sarcoglycan genes. This study aimed to determine the genetic diagnosis of three patients from two unrelated families with a suspected sarcoglycanopathy or dystrophinopathy based on their clinical, radiological, and pathological features, for whom routine genomic detection approaches failed to yield a definite genetic diagnosis. METHODS Muscle-derived reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis and/or TA cloning of DMD, SGCA, SGCB, SGCD, and SGCG mRNA were performed to identify aberrant transcripts. Genomic Sanger sequencing around the aberrant transcripts was performed to detect possible splice-altering variants. Bioinformatic and segregation studies of the detected genomic variants were performed in both families. RESULTS In patients F1-II1 and F1-II2, we identified two novel pathogenic compound heterozygous variants in SGCB. One is a deep intronic splice-altering variant (DISV), c.243 + 1558C > T in intron 2 causing the activation of an 87-base pair (bp) pseudoexon, and the other one is a non-canonical splicing site variant, c.243 + 6T > A leading to the partial intron inclusion of 10-bp sequence. A novel DISV, c.243 + 1576C > G causing a 106-bp pseudoexon activation, and a nonsense variant in SGCB were identified in compound heterozygous state in patient F2-II1. Unexpectedly, the predicted nonsense variant, c.334C > T in exon 3, created a new donor splice site in exon 3 that was stronger than the natural one, resulting in a 97-bp deletion of exon 3 (r.333_429del). CONCLUSION This is the first identification of rare exonic and DISVs in the SGCB gene.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhiying Xie
- Department of Neurology, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, China
| | - Chengyue Sun
- Department of Neurology, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China
| | - Chang Liu
- Department of Neurology, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, China
| | - Xujun Chu
- Department of Neurology, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, China
| | - Qiang Gang
- Department of Neurology, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, China
| | - Meng Yu
- Department of Neurology, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, China
| | - Yiming Zheng
- Department of Neurology, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, China
| | - Lingchao Meng
- Department of Neurology, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, China
| | - Fan Li
- Department of Neurology, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, China
| | - Dongliang Xia
- Science and Technology, Running Gene Inc., Beijing, China
| | - Li Wang
- Science and Technology, Running Gene Inc., Beijing, China
| | - Ying Li
- Beijing Anzhen Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Jianwen Deng
- Department of Neurology, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, China
| | - He Lv
- Department of Neurology, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, China
| | - Zhaoxia Wang
- Department of Neurology, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, China
| | - Wei Zhang
- Department of Neurology, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, China
| | - Yun Yuan
- Department of Neurology, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, China
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Fonseca PLC, De-Paula RB, Araújo DS, Tomé LMR, Mendes-Pereira T, Rodrigues WFC, Del-Bem LE, Aguiar ERGR, Góes-Neto A. Global Characterization of Fungal Mitogenomes: New Insights on Genomic Diversity and Dynamism of Coding Genes and Accessory Elements. Front Microbiol 2021; 12:787283. [PMID: 34925295 PMCID: PMC8672057 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.787283] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2021] [Accepted: 11/11/2021] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Fungi comprise a great diversity of species with distinct ecological functions and lifestyles. Similar to other eukaryotes, fungi rely on interactions with prokaryotes and one of the most important symbiotic events was the acquisition of mitochondria. Mitochondria are organelles found in eukaryotic cells whose main function is to generate energy through aerobic respiration. Mitogenomes (mtDNAs) are double-stranded circular or linear DNA from mitochondria that may contain core genes and accessory elements that can be replicated, transcribed, and independently translated from the nuclear genome. Despite their importance, investigative studies on the diversity of fungal mitogenomes are scarce. Herein, we have evaluated 788 curated fungal mitogenomes available at NCBI database to assess discrepancies and similarities among them and to better understand the mechanisms involved in fungal mtDNAs variability. From a total of 12 fungal phyla, four do not have any representative with available mitogenomes, which highlights the underrepresentation of some groups in the current available data. We selected representative and non-redundant mitogenomes based on the threshold of 90% similarity, eliminating 81 mtDNAs. Comparative analyses revealed considerable size variability of mtDNAs with a difference of up to 260 kb in length. Furthermore, variation in mitogenome length and genomic composition are generally related to the number and length of accessory elements (introns, HEGs, and uORFs). We identified an overall average of 8.0 (0–39) introns, 8.0 (0–100) HEGs, and 8.2 (0–102) uORFs per genome, with high variation among phyla. Even though the length of the core protein-coding genes is considerably conserved, approximately 36.3% of the mitogenomes evaluated have at least one of the 14 core coding genes absent. Also, our results revealed that there is not even a single gene shared among all mitogenomes. Other unusual genes in mitogenomes were also detected in many mitogenomes, such as dpo and rpo, and displayed diverse evolutionary histories. Altogether, the results presented in this study suggest that fungal mitogenomes are diverse, contain accessory elements and are absent of a conserved gene that can be used for the taxonomic classification of the Kingdom Fungi.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paula L C Fonseca
- Department of Genetics, Ecology and Evolution, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.,Department of Biological Science (DCB), Center of Biotechnology and Genetics (CBG), Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz (UESC), Ilhéus, Brazil
| | - Ruth B De-Paula
- Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Daniel S Araújo
- Program in Bioinformatics, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Luiz Marcelo Ribeiro Tomé
- Molecular and Computational Biology of Fungi Laboratory, Department of Microbiology, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
| | - Thairine Mendes-Pereira
- Molecular and Computational Biology of Fungi Laboratory, Department of Microbiology, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
| | | | - Luiz-Eduardo Del-Bem
- Program of Bioinformatics, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.,Department of Botany, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
| | - Eric R G R Aguiar
- Department of Biological Science (DCB), Center of Biotechnology and Genetics (CBG), Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz (UESC), Ilhéus, Brazil
| | - Aristóteles Góes-Neto
- Molecular and Computational Biology of Fungi Laboratory, Department of Microbiology, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.,Program of Bioinformatics, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
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35
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Adiguzel Y. Information-theoretic approach in allometric scaling relations of DNA and proteins. Chem Biol Drug Des 2021; 99:331-343. [PMID: 34855304 DOI: 10.1111/cbdd.13988] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2021] [Revised: 10/06/2021] [Accepted: 11/14/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Allometric scaling relations can be observed in between molecular parameters. Hence, we looked for presence of such relation among sizes (i.e., lengths) of proteins and genes. Protein lengths exist in the literature as the number of amino acids. They can also be derived from the mRNA lengths. Here, we looked for allometric scaling relation by using such data and simultaneously, the data was compared with the sizes of genes and proteins that were obtained from our modified information-theoretic approach. Results implied presence of scaling relation in the calculated results. This was expected due to the implemented modification in the information-theoretic calculation. Relation in the literature-based data was lacking high goodness of fit value. It could be due to physical factors and selective pressures, which ended up in deviations of the literature-sourced values from those in the model. Genome size is correlated with cell size. Intracellular volume, which is related to the DNA size, would require certain number of proteins, the sizes of which can therefore be correlated with the protein sizes. Cell sizes, genome sizes, and average protein and gene sizes, along with the number of proteins, namely the expression levels of the genes, are the physical factors, and the molecular factors influence those physical factors. The selective pressures on those can act through the connection between those physical factors and limit the dynamic ranges. Biological measures could be prone to such forces and are likely to deviate from expected models, regardless of the validity of assumptions, unless those are also implemented in the models. Yet, present discrepancies could be pointing at the need for model improvement, data imperfection, invalid assumptions, etc. Still, current work highlights possible use of information-theoretic approach in allometric scaling relations' studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yekbun Adiguzel
- Department of Medical Biology, School of Medicine, Atilim University, Ankara, Turkey
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36
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Hirschfeldova K, Cerny J, Bozikova P, Kuchtiak V, Rausch T, Benes V, Spaniel F, Gregus D, Horacek J, Vyklicky L, Balik A. Evidence for the Association between the Intronic Haplotypes of Ionotropic Glutamate Receptors and First-Episode Schizophrenia. J Pers Med 2021; 11:1250. [PMID: 34945722 PMCID: PMC8708351 DOI: 10.3390/jpm11121250] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2021] [Revised: 11/14/2021] [Accepted: 11/16/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
The heritable component of schizophrenia (SCH) as a polygenic trait is represented by numerous variants from a heterogeneous group of genes each contributing a relatively small effect. Various SNPs have already been found and analyzed in genes encoding the NMDAR subunits. However, less is known about genetic variations of genes encoding the AMPA and kainate receptor subunits. We analyzed sixteen iGluR genes in full length to determine the sequence variability of iGluR genes. Our aim was to describe the rate of genetic variability, its distribution, and the co-occurrence of variants and to identify new candidate risk variants or haplotypes. The cumulative effect of genetic risk was then estimated using a simple scoring model. GRIN2A-B, GRIN3A-B, and GRIK4 genes showed significantly increased genetic variation in SCH patients. The fixation index statistic revealed eight intronic haplotypes and an additional four intronic SNPs within the sequences of iGluR genes associated with SCH (p < 0.05). The haplotypes were used in the proposed simple scoring model and moreover as a test for genetic predisposition to schizophrenia. The positive likelihood ratio for the scoring model test reached 7.11. We also observed 41 protein-altering variants (38 missense variants, four frameshifts, and one nonsense variant) that were not significantly associated with SCH. Our data suggest that some intronic regulatory regions of iGluR genes and their common variability are among the components from which the genetic predisposition to SCH is composed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katerina Hirschfeldova
- Institute of Biology and Medical Genetics, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, 12800 Prague, Czech Republic;
- Institute of Physiology, Czech Academy of Sciences, 14220 Prague, Czech Republic; (J.C.); (V.K.); (L.V.)
| | - Jiri Cerny
- Institute of Physiology, Czech Academy of Sciences, 14220 Prague, Czech Republic; (J.C.); (V.K.); (L.V.)
- Institute of Biotechnology, Czech Academy of Sciences, BIOCEV, 25250 Vestec, Czech Republic;
| | - Paulina Bozikova
- Institute of Biotechnology, Czech Academy of Sciences, BIOCEV, 25250 Vestec, Czech Republic;
| | - Viktor Kuchtiak
- Institute of Physiology, Czech Academy of Sciences, 14220 Prague, Czech Republic; (J.C.); (V.K.); (L.V.)
- Faculty of Science, Charles University, 12800 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Tobias Rausch
- Genomics Core Facility, EMBL, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany; (T.R.); (V.B.)
| | - Vladimir Benes
- Genomics Core Facility, EMBL, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany; (T.R.); (V.B.)
| | - Filip Spaniel
- The National Institute of Mental Health, 25067 Klecany, Czech Republic; (F.S.); (D.G.); (J.H.)
| | - David Gregus
- The National Institute of Mental Health, 25067 Klecany, Czech Republic; (F.S.); (D.G.); (J.H.)
| | - Jiri Horacek
- The National Institute of Mental Health, 25067 Klecany, Czech Republic; (F.S.); (D.G.); (J.H.)
| | - Ladislav Vyklicky
- Institute of Physiology, Czech Academy of Sciences, 14220 Prague, Czech Republic; (J.C.); (V.K.); (L.V.)
| | - Ales Balik
- Institute of Physiology, Czech Academy of Sciences, 14220 Prague, Czech Republic; (J.C.); (V.K.); (L.V.)
- Institute of Physiology, Czech Academy of Sciences, BIOCEV, 25250 Vestec, Czech Republic
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Abstract
The exon shuffling theory posits that intronic recombination creates new domain combinations, facilitating the evolution of novel protein function. This theory predicts that introns will be preferentially situated near domain boundaries. Many studies have sought evidence for exon shuffling by testing the correspondence between introns and domain boundaries against chance intron positioning. Here, we present an empirical investigation of how the choice of null model influences significance. Although genome-wide studies have used a uniform null model, exclusively, more realistic null models have been proposed for single gene studies. We extended these models for genome-wide analyses and applied them to 21 metazoan and fungal genomes. Our results show that compared with the other two models, the uniform model does not recapitulate genuine exon lengths, dramatically underestimates the probability of chance agreement, and overestimates the significance of intron-domain correspondence by as much as 100 orders of magnitude. Model choice had much greater impact on the assessment of exon shuffling in fungal genomes than in metazoa, leading to different evolutionary conclusions in seven of the 16 fungal genomes tested. Genome-wide studies that use this overly permissive null model may exaggerate the importance of exon shuffling as a general mechanism of multidomain evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoyue Cui
- Department of Computational Biology, Carnegie Mellon University, 4400 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
| | - Maureen Stolzer
- Department of Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University, 4400 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
| | - Dannie Durand
- Departments of Biological Sciences and Computational Biology, Carnegie Mellon University, 4400 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
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38
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Nie Y, Zhao H, Wang Z, Zhou Z, Liu X, Huang B. The Gene Rearrangement, Loss, Transfer, and Deep Intronic Variation in Mitochondrial Genomes of Conidiobolus. Front Microbiol 2021; 12:765733. [PMID: 34858376 PMCID: PMC8632527 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.765733] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2021] [Accepted: 10/01/2021] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The genus Conidiobolus s.s. was newly delimited from Conidiobolus s.l. In order to gain insight into its mitochondrial genetic background, this study sequenced six mitochondrial genomes of the genus Conidiobolus s.s. These mitogenomes were all composed of circular DNA molecules, ranging from 29,253 to 48,417 bp in size and from 26.61 to 27.90% in GC content. The order and direction for 14 core protein-coding genes (PCGs) were identical, except for the atp8 gene lost in Conidiobolus chlamydosporus, Conidiobolus polyspermus, and Conidiobolus polytocus, and rearranged in the other Conidiobolus s.s. species. Besides, the atp8 gene split the cox1 gene in Conidiobolus taihushanensis. Phylogenomic analysis based on the 14 core PCGs confirmed that all Conidiobolus s.s. species formed a monophyly in the Entomophthoromycotina lineage. The number and length of introns were the main factors contributing to mitogenomic size, and deep variations and potential transfer were detected in introns. In addition, gene transfer occurred between the mitochondrial and nuclear genomes. This study promoted the understanding of the evolution and phylogeny of the Conidiobolus s.s. genus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yong Nie
- Anhui Provincial Key Laboratory for Microbial Pest Control, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei, China
- School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Anhui University of Technology, Ma’anshan, China
| | - Heng Zhao
- School of Ecology and Nature Conservation, Institute of Microbiology, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China
- College of Life Sciences, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, China
| | - Zimin Wang
- School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Anhui University of Technology, Ma’anshan, China
| | - Zhengyu Zhou
- School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Anhui University of Technology, Ma’anshan, China
| | - Xiaoyong Liu
- College of Life Sciences, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, China
- State Key Laboratory of Mycology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Bo Huang
- Anhui Provincial Key Laboratory for Microbial Pest Control, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei, China
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39
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To JPC, Davis IW, Marengo MS, Shariff A, Baublite C, Decker K, Galvão RM, Gao Z, Haragutchi O, Jung JW, Li H, O'Brien B, Sant A, Elich TD. Expression Elements Derived From Plant Sequences Provide Effective Gene Expression Regulation and New Opportunities for Plant Biotechnology Traits. Front Plant Sci 2021; 12:712179. [PMID: 34745155 PMCID: PMC8569612 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2021.712179] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2021] [Accepted: 09/15/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Plant biotechnology traits provide a means to increase crop yields, manage weeds and pests, and sustainably contribute to addressing the needs of a growing population. One of the key challenges in developing new traits for plant biotechnology is the availability of expression elements for efficacious and predictable transgene regulation. Recent advances in genomics, transcriptomics, and computational tools have enabled the generation of new expression elements in a variety of model organisms. In this study, new expression element sequences were computationally generated for use in crops, starting from native Arabidopsis and maize sequences. These elements include promoters, 5' untranslated regions (5' UTRs), introns, and 3' UTRs. The expression elements were demonstrated to drive effective transgene expression in stably transformed soybean plants across multiple tissues types and developmental stages. The expressed transcripts were characterized to demonstrate the molecular function of these expression elements. The data show that the promoters precisely initiate transcripts, the introns are effectively spliced, and the 3' UTRs enable predictable processing of transcript 3' ends. Overall, our results indicate that these new expression elements can recapitulate key functional properties of natural sequences and provide opportunities for optimizing the expression of genes in future plant biotechnology traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer P. C. To
- Bayer Crop Science, Chesterfield, MO, United States
- GrassRoots Biotechnology, Durham, NC, United States
- Monsanto Company, Research Triangle Park, Durham, NC, United States
| | - Ian W. Davis
- Bayer Crop Science, Chesterfield, MO, United States
- GrassRoots Biotechnology, Durham, NC, United States
- Monsanto Company, Research Triangle Park, Durham, NC, United States
| | - Matthew S. Marengo
- Bayer Crop Science, Chesterfield, MO, United States
- GrassRoots Biotechnology, Durham, NC, United States
- Monsanto Company, Research Triangle Park, Durham, NC, United States
| | - Aabid Shariff
- GrassRoots Biotechnology, Durham, NC, United States
- Monsanto Company, Research Triangle Park, Durham, NC, United States
- Pairwise Plants, Durham, NC, United States
| | | | - Keith Decker
- Bayer Crop Science, Chesterfield, MO, United States
| | - Rafaelo M. Galvão
- Bayer Crop Science, Chesterfield, MO, United States
- GrassRoots Biotechnology, Durham, NC, United States
- Monsanto Company, Research Triangle Park, Durham, NC, United States
| | - Zhihuan Gao
- Bayer Crop Science, Chesterfield, MO, United States
- GrassRoots Biotechnology, Durham, NC, United States
- Monsanto Company, Research Triangle Park, Durham, NC, United States
| | - Olivia Haragutchi
- Bayer Crop Science, Chesterfield, MO, United States
- GrassRoots Biotechnology, Durham, NC, United States
- Monsanto Company, Research Triangle Park, Durham, NC, United States
| | - Jee W. Jung
- Bayer Crop Science, Chesterfield, MO, United States
- GrassRoots Biotechnology, Durham, NC, United States
- Monsanto Company, Research Triangle Park, Durham, NC, United States
- Duke University, Office for Translation and Commercialization, Durham, NC, United States
| | - Hong Li
- Bayer Crop Science, Chesterfield, MO, United States
| | - Brent O'Brien
- Bayer Crop Science, Chesterfield, MO, United States
- GrassRoots Biotechnology, Durham, NC, United States
- Monsanto Company, Research Triangle Park, Durham, NC, United States
| | - Anagha Sant
- Bayer Crop Science, Chesterfield, MO, United States
| | - Tedd D. Elich
- GrassRoots Biotechnology, Durham, NC, United States
- Monsanto Company, Research Triangle Park, Durham, NC, United States
- LifeEDIT Therapeutics, Durham, NC, United States
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Abstract
Alu RNA are implicated in the poor prognosis of several human disease states. These RNA are transcription products of primate specific transposable elements called Alu elements. These elements are extremely abundant, comprising over 10% of the human genome, and 100 to 1000 cytoplasmic copies of Alu RNA per cell. Alu RNA do not have a single universal functional role aside from selfish self-propagation. Despite this, Alu RNA have been found to operate in a diverse set of translational and transcriptional mechanisms. This review will focus on the current knowledge of Alu RNA involved in human disease states and known mechanisms of action. Examples of Alu RNA that are transcribed in a variety of contexts such as introns, mature mRNA, and non-coding transcripts will be discussed. Past and present challenges in studying Alu RNA, and the future directions of Alu RNA in basic and clinical research will also be examined.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Sean A McKenna
- Department of Chemistry, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada
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Sievers A, Sauer L, Hausmann M, Hildenbrand G. Eukaryotic Genomes Show Strong Evolutionary Conservation of k-mer Composition and Correlation Contributions between Introns and Intergenic Regions. Genes (Basel) 2021; 12:1571. [PMID: 34680967 DOI: 10.3390/genes12101571] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2021] [Revised: 09/24/2021] [Accepted: 09/29/2021] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Several strongly conserved DNA sequence patterns in and between introns and intergenic regions (IIRs) consisting of short tandem repeats (STRs) with repeat lengths <3 bp have already been described in the kingdom of Animalia. In this work, we expanded the search and analysis of conserved DNA sequence patterns to a wider range of eukaryotic genomes. Our aims were to confirm the conservation of these patterns, to support the hypothesis on their functional constraints and/or the identification of unknown patterns. We pairwise compared genomic DNA sequences of genes, exons, CDS, introns and intergenic regions of 34 Embryophyta (land plants), 30 Protista and 29 Fungi using established k-mer-based (alignment-free) comparison methods. Additionally, the results were compared with values derived for Animalia in former studies. We confirmed strong correlations between the sequence structures of IIRs spanning over the entire domain of Eukaryotes. We found that the high correlations within introns, intergenic regions and between the two are a result of conserved abundancies of STRs with repeat units ≤2 bp (e.g., (AT)n). For some sequence patterns and their inverse complementary sequences, we found a violation of equal distribution on complementary DNA strands in a subset of genomes. Looking at mismatches within the identified STR patterns, we found specific preferences for certain nucleotides stable over all four phylogenetic kingdoms. We conclude that all of these conserved patterns between IIRs indicate a shared function of these sequence structures related to STRs.
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42
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Bogard B, Francastel C, Hubé F. Systematic Identification and Functional Validation of New snoRNAs in Human Muscle Progenitors. Noncoding RNA 2021; 7:ncrna7030056. [PMID: 34564318 PMCID: PMC8482216 DOI: 10.3390/ncrna7030056] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2021] [Revised: 09/08/2021] [Accepted: 09/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Small non-coding RNAs (sncRNAs) represent an important class of regulatory RNAs involved in the regulation of transcription, RNA splicing or translation. Among these sncRNAs, small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) mostly originate from intron splicing in humans and are central to posttranscriptional regulation of gene expression. However, the characterization of the complete repertoire of sncRNAs in a given cellular context and the functional annotation of the human transcriptome are far from complete. Here, we report the large-scale identification of sncRNAs in the size range of 50 to 200 nucleotides without a priori on their biogenesis, structure and genomic origin in the context of normal human muscle cells. We provided a complete set of experimental validation of novel candidate snoRNAs by evaluating the prerequisites for their biogenesis and functionality, leading to their validation as genuine snoRNAs. Interestingly, we also found intergenic snoRNAs, which we showed are in fact integrated into candidate introns of unannotated transcripts or degraded by the Nonsense Mediated Decay pathway. Hence, intergenic snoRNAs represent a new type of landmark for the identification of new transcripts that have gone undetected because of low abundance or degradation after the release of the snoRNA.
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43
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Häberle J, Moore MB, Haskins N, Rüfenacht V, Rokicki D, Rubio-Gozalbo E, Tuchman M, Longo N, Yandell M, Andrews A, AhMew N, Caldovic L. Noncoding sequence variants define a novel regulatory element in the first intron of the N-acetylglutamate synthase gene. Hum Mutat 2021; 42:1624-1636. [PMID: 34510628 DOI: 10.1002/humu.24281] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2021] [Revised: 08/19/2021] [Accepted: 09/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
N-acetylglutamate synthase deficiency is an autosomal recessive urea cycle disorder caused either by decreased expression of the NAGS gene or defective NAGS enzyme resulting in decreased production of N-acetylglutamate (NAG), an allosteric activator of carbamylphosphate synthetase 1 (CPS1). NAGSD is the only urea cycle disorder that can be effectively treated with a single drug, N-carbamylglutamate (NCG), a stable NAG analog, which activates CPS1 to restore ureagenesis. We describe three patients with NAGSD due to four novel noncoding sequence variants in the NAGS regulatory regions. All three patients had hyperammonemia that resolved upon treatment with NCG. Sequence variants NM_153006.2:c.427-222G>A and NM_153006.2:c.427-218A>C reside in the 547 bp-long first intron of NAGS and define a novel NAGS regulatory element that binds retinoic X receptor α. Sequence variants NC_000017.10:g.42078967A>T (NM_153006.2:c.-3065A>T) and NC_000017.10:g.42078934C>T (NM_153006.2:c.-3098C>T) reside in the NAGS enhancer, within known HNF1 and predicted glucocorticoid receptor binding sites, respectively. Reporter gene assays in HepG2 and HuH-7 cells demonstrated that all four substitutions could result in reduced expression of NAGS. These findings show that analyzing noncoding regions of NAGS and other urea cycle genes can reveal molecular causes of disease and identify novel regulators of ureagenesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johannes Häberle
- Division of Metabolism and Children's Research Center, University Children's Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Marvin B Moore
- Department of Human Genetics, University of Utah Health Science Center, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
| | - Nantaporn Haskins
- Center for Genetic Medicine Research, Children's National Hospital, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
| | - Véronique Rüfenacht
- Division of Metabolism and Children's Research Center, University Children's Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Dariusz Rokicki
- Department of Pediatrics, Nutrition and Metabolic Diseases, The Children's Memorial Health Institute, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Estela Rubio-Gozalbo
- Department of Pediatrics and Clinical Genetics, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Mendel Tuchman
- Center for Genetic Medicine Research, Children's National Hospital, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
| | - Nicola Longo
- Division of Medical Genetics, Department of Pediatrics, University of Utah Health Science Center, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
| | - Mark Yandell
- Eccles Institute of Human Genetics, University of Utah Health Science Center, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.,8USTAR Center for Genetic Discovery, University of Utah Health Science Center, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
| | - Ashley Andrews
- Division of Medical Genetics, Pediatrics, University of Utah Health Science Center, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
| | - Nicholas AhMew
- Center for Genetic Medicine Research, Children's National Hospital, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
| | - Ljubica Caldovic
- Center for Genetic Medicine Research, Children's National Hospital, Washington, District of Columbia, USA.,Department of Genomics and Precision Medicine, School of Medical and Health Sciences, The George Washington University, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
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44
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Patel PN, Ito K, Willcox JAL, Haghighi A, Jang MY, Gorham JM, DePalma SR, Lam L, McDonough B, Johnson R, Lakdawala NK, Roberts A, Barton PJR, Cook SA, Fatkin D, Seidman CE, Seidman JG. Contribution of Noncanonical Splice Variants to TTN Truncating Variant Cardiomyopathy. Circ Genom Precis Med 2021; 14:e003389. [PMID: 34461741 DOI: 10.1161/circgen.121.003389] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Heterozygous TTN truncating variants cause 10% to 20% of idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). Although variants which disrupt canonical splice signals (ie, invariant dinucleotide of the splice donor site, invariant dinucleotide of the splice acceptor site) at exon-intron junctions are readily recognized as TTN truncating variants, the effects of other nearby sequence variations on splicing and their contribution to disease is uncertain. METHODS Rare variants of unknown significance located in the splice regions of highly expressed TTN exons from 203 DCM cases, 3329 normal subjects, and clinical variant databases were identified. The effects of these variants on splicing were assessed using an in vitro splice assay. RESULTS Splice-altering variants of unknown significance were enriched in DCM cases over controls and present in 2% of DCM patients (P=0.002). Application of this method to clinical variant databases demonstrated 20% of similar variants of unknown significance in TTN splice regions affect splicing. Noncanonical splice-altering variants were most frequently located at position +5 of the donor site (P=4.4×107) and position -3 of the acceptor site (P=0.002). SpliceAI, an emerging in silico prediction tool, had a high positive predictive value (86%-95%) but poor sensitivity (15%-50%) for the detection of splice-altering variants. Alternate exons spliced out of most TTN transcripts frequently lacked the consensus base at +5 donor and -3 acceptor positions. CONCLUSIONS Noncanonical splice-altering variants in TTN explain 1-2% of DCM and offer a 10-20% increase in the diagnostic power of TTN sequencing in this disease. These data suggest rules that may improve efforts to detect splice-altering variants in other genes and may explain the low percent splicing observed for many alternate TTN exons.
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Affiliation(s)
- Parth N Patel
- Department of Genetics (P.N.P., K.I., J.A.L.W., A.H., M.Y.J., J.M.G., S.R.D., L.L., B.M., C.E.S., J.G.S.), Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.,Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital (P.N.P., A.H., M.Y.J.), Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
| | - Kaoru Ito
- Department of Genetics (P.N.P., K.I., J.A.L.W., A.H., M.Y.J., J.M.G., S.R.D., L.L., B.M., C.E.S., J.G.S.), Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.,Laboratory for Cardiovascular Genomics and Informatics, RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences, Yokohama, Japan (K.I.)
| | - Jon A L Willcox
- Department of Genetics (P.N.P., K.I., J.A.L.W., A.H., M.Y.J., J.M.G., S.R.D., L.L., B.M., C.E.S., J.G.S.), Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
| | - Alireza Haghighi
- Department of Genetics (P.N.P., K.I., J.A.L.W., A.H., M.Y.J., J.M.G., S.R.D., L.L., B.M., C.E.S., J.G.S.), Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.,Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital (P.N.P., A.H., M.Y.J.), Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.,Laboratory for Molecular Medicine, Partners Healthcare Personalized Medicine, Cambridge, MA (A.H.)
| | - Min Young Jang
- Department of Genetics (P.N.P., K.I., J.A.L.W., A.H., M.Y.J., J.M.G., S.R.D., L.L., B.M., C.E.S., J.G.S.), Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.,Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital (P.N.P., A.H., M.Y.J.), Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
| | - Joshua M Gorham
- Department of Genetics (P.N.P., K.I., J.A.L.W., A.H., M.Y.J., J.M.G., S.R.D., L.L., B.M., C.E.S., J.G.S.), Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
| | - Steven R DePalma
- Department of Genetics (P.N.P., K.I., J.A.L.W., A.H., M.Y.J., J.M.G., S.R.D., L.L., B.M., C.E.S., J.G.S.), Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
| | - Lien Lam
- Department of Genetics (P.N.P., K.I., J.A.L.W., A.H., M.Y.J., J.M.G., S.R.D., L.L., B.M., C.E.S., J.G.S.), Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
| | - Barbara McDonough
- Department of Genetics (P.N.P., K.I., J.A.L.W., A.H., M.Y.J., J.M.G., S.R.D., L.L., B.M., C.E.S., J.G.S.), Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
| | - Renee Johnson
- Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, Darlinghurst (R.J., D.F.).,Faculty of Medicine, UNSW Sydney, Kensington, NSW, Australia (R.J., D.F.)
| | - Neal K Lakdawala
- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital (N.K.L., C.E.S.)
| | - Amy Roberts
- Department of Cardiology, Boston Children's Hospital, MA (A.R.)
| | - Paul J R Barton
- National Heart and Lung Institute (P.J.R.B., S.A.C.).,Cardiovascular Research Centre, Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospitals, London, United Kingdom (P.J.R.B.)
| | - Stuart A Cook
- National Heart and Lung Institute (P.J.R.B., S.A.C.).,MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences, Imperial College London (S.A.C.).,Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disorders Program, Duke-National University of Singapore Medical School (S.A.C.).,National Heart Research Institute Singapore, National Heart Centre Singapore (S.A.C.)
| | - Diane Fatkin
- Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, Darlinghurst (R.J., D.F.).,Faculty of Medicine, UNSW Sydney, Kensington, NSW, Australia (R.J., D.F.).,Cardiology Department, St Vincent's Hospital, Darlinghurst, NSW, Australia (D.F.)
| | - Christine E Seidman
- Department of Genetics (P.N.P., K.I., J.A.L.W., A.H., M.Y.J., J.M.G., S.R.D., L.L., B.M., C.E.S., J.G.S.), Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.,Howard Hughes Medical Institute (C.E.S.), Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.,Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital (N.K.L., C.E.S.)
| | - J G Seidman
- Department of Genetics (P.N.P., K.I., J.A.L.W., A.H., M.Y.J., J.M.G., S.R.D., L.L., B.M., C.E.S., J.G.S.), Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
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45
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Wu P, Yao T, Ren Y, Ye J, Qing Y, Li Q, Gui M. Evolutionary Insights Into Two Widespread Ectomycorrhizal Fungi ( Pisolithus) From Comparative Analysis of Mitochondrial Genomes. Front Microbiol 2021; 12:583129. [PMID: 34290675 PMCID: PMC8287656 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.583129] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2020] [Accepted: 06/16/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The genus Pisolithus is a group of global ectomycorrhizal fungi. The characterizations of Pisolithus mitochondrial genomes have still been unknown. In the present study, the complete mitogenomes of two Pisolithus species, Pisolithus microcarpus, and Pisolithus tinctorius, were assembled and compared with other Boletales mitogenomes. Both Pisolithus mitogenomes comprised circular DNA molecules with sizes of 43,990 and 44,054 bp, respectively. Comparative mitogenomic analysis showed that the rps3 gene differentiated greatly between Boletales species, and this gene may be subjected to strong pressure of positive selection between some Boletales species. Several plasmid-derived genes and genes with unknown functions were detected in the two Pisolithus mitogenomes, which needs further analysis. The two Pisolithus species show a high degree of collinearity, which may represent the gene arrangement of the ancestors of ectomycorrhizal Boletales species. Frequent intron loss/gain events were detected in Boletales and basidiomycetes, and intron P717 was only detected in P. tinctorius out of the eight Boletales mitogenomes tested. We reconstructed phylogeny of 79 basidiomycetes based on combined mitochondrial gene dataset, and obtained well-supported phylogenetic topologies. This study served as the first report on the mitogenomes of the family Pisolithaceae, which will promote the understanding of the evolution of Pisolithus species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peng Wu
- Yunnan Plateau Characteristic Agricultural Industry Research Institute, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming, China
| | - Tian Yao
- School of Food and Biological Engineering, Chengdu University, Chengdu, China
| | - Yuanhang Ren
- School of Food and Biological Engineering, Chengdu University, Chengdu, China
| | - Jinghua Ye
- College of Information Science and Engineering, Chengdu University, Chengdu, China
| | - Yuan Qing
- Panxi Featured Crops Research and Utilization Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Xichang University, Xichang, China
| | - Qiang Li
- School of Food and Biological Engineering, Chengdu University, Chengdu, China
| | - Mingying Gui
- Yunnan Plateau Characteristic Agricultural Industry Research Institute, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming, China
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46
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Dwyer K, Agarwal N, Gega A, Ansari A. Proximity to the Promoter and Terminator Regions Regulates the Transcription Enhancement Potential of an Intron. Front Mol Biosci 2021; 8:712639. [PMID: 34291091 PMCID: PMC8287100 DOI: 10.3389/fmolb.2021.712639] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2021] [Accepted: 06/25/2021] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
An evolutionarily conserved feature of introns is their ability to enhance expression of genes that harbor them. Introns have been shown to regulate gene expression at the transcription and post-transcription level. The general perception is that a promoter-proximal intron is most efficient in enhancing gene expression and the effect diminishes with the increase in distance from the promoter. Here we show that the intron regains its positive influence on gene expression when in proximity to the terminator. We inserted ACT1 intron into different positions within IMD4 and INO1 genes. Transcription Run-On (TRO) analysis revealed that the transcription of both IMD4 and INO1 was maximal in constructs with a promoter-proximal intron and decreased with the increase in distance of the intron from the promoter. However, activation was partially restored when the intron was placed close to the terminator. We previously demonstrated that the promoter-proximal intron stimulates transcription by affecting promoter directionality through gene looping-mediated recruitment of termination factors in the vicinity of the promoter region. Here we show that the terminator-proximal intron also enhances promoter directionality and results in compact gene architecture with the promoter and terminator regions in close physical proximity. Furthermore, we show that both the promoter and terminator-proximal introns facilitate assembly or stabilization of the preinitiation complex (PIC) on the promoter. On the basis of these findings, we propose that proximity to both the promoter and the terminator regions affects the transcription regulatory potential of an intron, and the terminator-proximal intron enhances transcription by affecting both the assembly of preinitiation complex and promoter directionality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katherine Dwyer
- Department of Biological Science, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, United States
| | - Neha Agarwal
- Department of Biological Science, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, United States
| | - Alisa Gega
- Department of Biological Science, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, United States
| | - Athar Ansari
- Department of Biological Science, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, United States
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47
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Xia T, Yang Y, Zheng H, Han X, Jin H, Xiong Z, Qian W, Xia L, Ji X, Li G, Wang D, Zhang K. Efficient expression and function of a receptor-like kinase in wheat powdery mildew defence require an intron-located MYB binding site. Plant Biotechnol J 2021; 19:897-909. [PMID: 33225586 PMCID: PMC8131041 DOI: 10.1111/pbi.13512] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2020] [Revised: 11/05/2020] [Accepted: 11/11/2020] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Abstract
The LRK10-like receptor kinases (LRK10L-RLKs) are ubiquitously present in higher plants, but knowledge of their expression and function is still limited. Here, we report expression and functional analysis of TtdLRK10L-1, a typical LRK10L-RLK in durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L. ssp. durum). The introns of TtdLRK10L-1 contained multiple kinds of predicted cis-elements. To investigate the potential effect of these cis-elements on TtdLRK10L-1 expression and function, two types of transgenic wheat lines were prepared, which expressed a GFP-tagged TtdLRK10L-1 protein (TtdLRK10L-1:GFP) from the cDNA or genomic DNA (gDNA) sequence of TtdLRK10L-1 under the native promoter. TtdLRK10L-1:GFP expression was up-regulated by the powdery mildew pathogen Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici (Bgt) in both types of transgenic plants, with the scale of the elevation being much stronger in the gDNA lines. Both types of transgenic plants exhibited enhanced resistance to Bgt infection relative to wild type control. Notably, the Bgt defence activated in the gDNA lines was significantly stronger than that in the cDNA lines. Further analysis revealed that a putative MYB transcription factor binding site (MYB-BS, CAGTTA) located in TtdLRK10L-1 intron I was critical for the efficient expression and function of TtdLRK10L-1 in Bgt defence. This MYB-BS could also increase the activity of a superpromoter widely used in ectopic gene expression studies in plants. Together, our results deepen the understanding of the expression and functional characteristics of LRK10L-RLKs. TtdLRK10L-1 is likely useful for further dissecting the molecular processes underlying wheat defence against Bgt and for developing Bgt resistant wheat crops.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tengfei Xia
- College of AgronomyState Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, and Center for Crop Genome EngineeringHenan Agricultural UniversityZhengzhouChina
- State Key Laboratory of Plant Cell and Chromosome EngineeringInstitute of Genetics and Developmental BiologyChinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
| | - Yanping Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Plant Cell and Chromosome EngineeringInstitute of Genetics and Developmental BiologyChinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
- University of Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
| | - Hongyuan Zheng
- College of AgronomyState Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, and Center for Crop Genome EngineeringHenan Agricultural UniversityZhengzhouChina
| | - Xinyun Han
- State Key Laboratory of Plant Cell and Chromosome EngineeringInstitute of Genetics and Developmental BiologyChinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
| | - Huaibing Jin
- College of AgronomyState Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, and Center for Crop Genome EngineeringHenan Agricultural UniversityZhengzhouChina
- State Key Laboratory of Plant Cell and Chromosome EngineeringInstitute of Genetics and Developmental BiologyChinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
| | - Zijun Xiong
- College of AgronomyState Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, and Center for Crop Genome EngineeringHenan Agricultural UniversityZhengzhouChina
| | - Weiqiang Qian
- State Key Laboratory of Protein and Plant Gene ResearchSchool of Life SciencesPeking UniversityBeijingChina
| | - Lanqi Xia
- Institute of Crop SciencesChinese Academy of Agricultural SciencesBeijingChina
| | - Xiang Ji
- College of AgronomyState Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, and Center for Crop Genome EngineeringHenan Agricultural UniversityZhengzhouChina
| | - Guangwei Li
- College of AgronomyState Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, and Center for Crop Genome EngineeringHenan Agricultural UniversityZhengzhouChina
| | - Daowen Wang
- College of AgronomyState Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, and Center for Crop Genome EngineeringHenan Agricultural UniversityZhengzhouChina
- State Key Laboratory of Plant Cell and Chromosome EngineeringInstitute of Genetics and Developmental BiologyChinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
- University of Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
| | - Kunpu Zhang
- College of AgronomyState Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, and Center for Crop Genome EngineeringHenan Agricultural UniversityZhengzhouChina
- State Key Laboratory of Plant Cell and Chromosome EngineeringInstitute of Genetics and Developmental BiologyChinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
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48
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Dwyer K, Agarwal N, Pile L, Ansari A. Gene Architecture Facilitates Intron-Mediated Enhancement of Transcription. Front Mol Biosci 2021; 8:669004. [PMID: 33968994 PMCID: PMC8097089 DOI: 10.3389/fmolb.2021.669004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2021] [Accepted: 03/31/2021] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Introns impact several vital aspects of eukaryotic organisms like proteomic plasticity, genomic stability, stress response and gene expression. A role for introns in the regulation of gene expression at the level of transcription has been known for more than thirty years. The molecular basis underlying the phenomenon, however, is still not entirely clear. An important clue came from studies performed in budding yeast that indicate that the presence of an intron within a gene results in formation of a multi-looped gene architecture. When looping is defective, these interactions are abolished, and there is no enhancement of transcription despite normal splicing. In this review, we highlight several potential mechanisms through which looping interactions may enhance transcription. The promoter-5′ splice site interaction can facilitate initiation of transcription, the terminator-3′ splice site interaction can enable efficient termination of transcription, while the promoter-terminator interaction can enhance promoter directionality and expedite reinitiation of transcription. Like yeast, mammalian genes also exhibit an intragenic interaction of the promoter with the gene body, especially exons. Such promoter-exon interactions may be responsible for splicing-dependent transcriptional regulation. Thus, the splicing-facilitated changes in gene architecture may play a critical role in regulation of transcription in yeast as well as in higher eukaryotes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katherine Dwyer
- Department of Biological Science, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, United States
| | - Neha Agarwal
- Department of Biological Science, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, United States
| | - Lori Pile
- Department of Biological Science, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, United States
| | - Athar Ansari
- Department of Biological Science, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, United States
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49
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Ehx G, Larouche JD, Durette C, Laverdure JP, Hesnard L, Vincent K, Hardy MP, Thériault C, Rulleau C, Lanoix J, Bonneil E, Feghaly A, Apavaloaei A, Noronha N, Laumont CM, Delisle JS, Vago L, Hébert J, Sauvageau G, Lemieux S, Thibault P, Perreault C. Atypical acute myeloid leukemia-specific transcripts generate shared and immunogenic MHC class-I-associated epitopes. Immunity 2021; 54:737-752.e10. [PMID: 33740418 DOI: 10.1016/j.immuni.2021.03.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2020] [Revised: 10/24/2020] [Accepted: 02/26/2021] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) has not benefited from innovative immunotherapies, mainly because of the lack of actionable immune targets. Using an original proteogenomic approach, we analyzed the major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC class I)-associated immunopeptidome of 19 primary AML samples and identified 58 tumor-specific antigens (TSAs). These TSAs bore no mutations and derived mainly (86%) from supposedly non-coding genomic regions. Two AML-specific aberrations were instrumental in the biogenesis of TSAs, intron retention, and epigenetic changes. Indeed, 48% of TSAs resulted from intron retention and translation, and their RNA expression correlated with mutations of epigenetic modifiers (e.g., DNMT3A). AML TSA-coding transcripts were highly shared among patients and were expressed in both blasts and leukemic stem cells. In AML patients, the predicted number of TSAs correlated with spontaneous expansion of cognate T cell receptor clonotypes, accumulation of activated cytotoxic T cells, immunoediting, and improved survival. These TSAs represent attractive targets for AML immunotherapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Grégory Ehx
- Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC), Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC H3C 3J7, Canada; Department of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC H3C 3J7, Canada
| | - Jean-David Larouche
- Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC), Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC H3C 3J7, Canada; Department of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC H3C 3J7, Canada
| | - Chantal Durette
- Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC), Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC H3C 3J7, Canada
| | - Jean-Philippe Laverdure
- Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC), Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC H3C 3J7, Canada
| | - Leslie Hesnard
- Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC), Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC H3C 3J7, Canada; Department of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC H3C 3J7, Canada
| | - Krystel Vincent
- Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC), Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC H3C 3J7, Canada; Department of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC H3C 3J7, Canada
| | - Marie-Pierre Hardy
- Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC), Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC H3C 3J7, Canada
| | - Catherine Thériault
- Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC), Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC H3C 3J7, Canada
| | - Caroline Rulleau
- Centre de recherche de l'Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Joël Lanoix
- Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC), Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC H3C 3J7, Canada
| | - Eric Bonneil
- Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC), Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC H3C 3J7, Canada
| | - Albert Feghaly
- Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC), Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC H3C 3J7, Canada
| | - Anca Apavaloaei
- Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC), Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC H3C 3J7, Canada; Department of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC H3C 3J7, Canada
| | - Nandita Noronha
- Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC), Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC H3C 3J7, Canada; Department of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC H3C 3J7, Canada
| | - Céline M Laumont
- Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC), Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC H3C 3J7, Canada; Department of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC H3C 3J7, Canada
| | - Jean-Sébastien Delisle
- Department of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC H3C 3J7, Canada; Centre de recherche de l'Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont, Montréal, QC, Canada; Division of Hematology, Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, Montreal, QC H1T 2M4, Canada
| | - Luca Vago
- Unit of Immunogenetics, Leukemia Genomics and Immunobiology, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy
| | - Josée Hébert
- Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC), Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC H3C 3J7, Canada; Department of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC H3C 3J7, Canada; Division of Hematology, Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, Montreal, QC H1T 2M4, Canada
| | - Guy Sauvageau
- Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC), Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC H3C 3J7, Canada; Department of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC H3C 3J7, Canada; Division of Hematology, Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, Montreal, QC H1T 2M4, Canada
| | - Sébastien Lemieux
- Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC), Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC H3C 3J7, Canada; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC H3C 3J7, Canada
| | - Pierre Thibault
- Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC), Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC H3C 3J7, Canada; Department of Chemistry, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC H3C 3J7, Canada.
| | - Claude Perreault
- Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC), Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC H3C 3J7, Canada; Department of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC H3C 3J7, Canada.
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50
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Lamichhaney S, Catullo R, Keogh JS, Clulow S, Edwards SV, Ezaz T. A bird-like genome from a frog: Mechanisms of genome size reduction in the ornate burrowing frog, Platyplectrum ornatum. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:e2011649118. [PMID: 33836564 PMCID: PMC7980411 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2011649118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
The diversity of genome sizes across the tree of life is of key interest in evolutionary biology. Various correlates of variation in genome size, such as accumulation of transposable elements (TEs) or rate of DNA gain and loss, are well known, but the underlying molecular mechanisms driving or constraining genome size are poorly understood. Here, we study one of the smallest genomes among frogs characterized thus far, that of the ornate burrowing frog (Platyplectrum ornatum) from Australia, and compare it to other published frog and vertebrate genomes to examine the forces driving reduction in genome size. At ∼1.06 gigabases (Gb), the P. ornatum genome is like that of birds, revealing four major mechanisms underlying TE dynamics: reduced abundance of all major classes of TEs; increased net deletion bias in TEs; drastic reduction in intron lengths; and expansion via gene duplication of the repertoire of TE-suppressing Piwi genes, accompanied by increased expression of Piwi-interacting RNA (piRNA)-based TE-silencing pathway genes in germline cells. Transcriptomes from multiple tissues in both sexes corroborate these results and provide insight into sex-differentiation pathways in Platyplectrum Genome skimming of two closely related frog species (Lechriodus fletcheri and Limnodynastes fletcheri) confirms a reduction in TEs as a major driver of genome reduction in Platyplectrum and supports a macroevolutionary scenario of small genome size in frogs driven by convergence in life history, especially rapid tadpole development and tadpole diet. The P. ornatum genome offers a model for future comparative studies on mechanisms of genome size reduction in amphibians and vertebrates generally.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sangeet Lamichhaney
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138
- Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138
| | - Renee Catullo
- Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Acton, ACT, Australia 2601
- Australian National Insect Collection and Future Science Platform Environomics, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Acton, ACT, Australia 2601
| | - J Scott Keogh
- Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Acton, ACT, Australia 2601
| | - Simon Clulow
- Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia 2109
| | - Scott V Edwards
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138;
- Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138
| | - Tariq Ezaz
- Institute for Applied Ecology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Canberra, Canberra, ACT, Australia 2617
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