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Bardhan A, Brown W, Albright S, Tsang M, Davidson LA, Deiters A. Direct Activation of Nucleobases with Small Molecules for the Conditional Control of Antisense Function. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2024; 63:e202318773. [PMID: 38411401 DOI: 10.1002/anie.202318773] [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: 12/06/2023] [Revised: 02/22/2024] [Accepted: 02/26/2024] [Indexed: 02/28/2024]
Abstract
Conditionally controlled antisense oligonucleotides provide precise interrogation of gene function at different developmental stages in animal models. Only one example of small molecule-induced activation of antisense function exist. This has been restricted to cyclic caged morpholinos that, based on sequence, can have significant background activity in the absence of the trigger. Here, we provide a new approach using azido-caged nucleobases that are site-specifically introduced into antisense morpholinos. The caging group design is a simple azidomethylene (Azm) group that, despite its very small size, efficiently blocks Watson-Crick base pairing in a programmable fashion. Furthermore, it undergoes facile decaging via Staudinger reduction when exposed to a small molecule phosphine, generating the native antisense oligonucleotide under conditions compatible with biological environments. We demonstrated small molecule-induced gene knockdown in mammalian cells, zebrafish embryos, and frog embryos. We validated the general applicability of this approach by targeting three different genes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anirban Bardhan
- Department of Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, United States
| | - Wes Brown
- Department of Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, United States
| | - Savannah Albright
- Department of Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, United States
| | - Michael Tsang
- Department of Cell Biology, Center for Integrative Organ Systems., University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, United States
| | - Lance A Davidson
- Department of Bioengineering, Department of Computational and Systems Biology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, United States
| | - Alexander Deiters
- Department of Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, United States
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Han G, Zhang Y, Zhong L, Wang B, Qiu S, Song J, Lin C, Zou F, Wu J, Yu H, Liang C, Wen K, Seow Y, Yin H. Generalizable anchor aptamer strategy for loading nucleic acid therapeutics on exosomes. EMBO Mol Med 2024; 16:1027-1045. [PMID: 38448545 PMCID: PMC11018858 DOI: 10.1038/s44321-024-00049-7] [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: 11/30/2023] [Revised: 02/15/2024] [Accepted: 02/19/2024] [Indexed: 03/08/2024] Open
Abstract
Clinical deployment of oligonucleotides requires delivery technologies that improve stability, target tissue accumulation and cellular internalization. Exosomes show potential as ideal delivery vehicles. However, an affordable generalizable system for efficient loading of oligonucleotides on exosomes remain lacking. Here, we identified an Exosomal Anchor DNA Aptamer (EAA) via SELEX against exosomes immobilized with our proprietary CP05 peptides. EAA shows high binding affinity to different exosomes and enables efficient loading of nucleic acid drugs on exosomes. Serum stability of thrombin inhibitor NU172 was prolonged by exosome-loading, resulting in increased blood flow after injury in vivo. Importantly, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy PMO can be readily loaded on exosomes via EAA (EXOEAA-PMO). EXOEAA-PMO elicited significantly greater muscle cell uptake, tissue accumulation and dystrophin expression than PMO in vitro and in vivo. Systemic administration of EXOEAA-PMO elicited therapeutic levels of dystrophin restoration and functional improvements in mdx mice. Altogether, our study demonstrates that EAA enables efficient loading of different nucleic acid drugs on exosomes, thus providing an easy and generalizable strategy for loading nucleic acid therapeutics on exosomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gang Han
- State Key Laboratory of Experimental Hematology & The Province and Ministry Co-sponsored Collaborative Innovation Center for Medical Epigenetics & International Joint Laboratory of Ocular Diseases (Ministry of Education), School of Medical Technology & School of Basic Medical Sciences, Tianjin Medical University, Qixiangtai Road, Heping District, 300070, Tianjin, China
| | - Yao Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Experimental Hematology & The Province and Ministry Co-sponsored Collaborative Innovation Center for Medical Epigenetics & International Joint Laboratory of Ocular Diseases (Ministry of Education), School of Medical Technology & School of Basic Medical Sciences, Tianjin Medical University, Qixiangtai Road, Heping District, 300070, Tianjin, China
| | - Li Zhong
- State Key Laboratory of Experimental Hematology & The Province and Ministry Co-sponsored Collaborative Innovation Center for Medical Epigenetics & International Joint Laboratory of Ocular Diseases (Ministry of Education), School of Medical Technology & School of Basic Medical Sciences, Tianjin Medical University, Qixiangtai Road, Heping District, 300070, Tianjin, China
| | - Biaobiao Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Experimental Hematology & The Province and Ministry Co-sponsored Collaborative Innovation Center for Medical Epigenetics & International Joint Laboratory of Ocular Diseases (Ministry of Education), School of Medical Technology & School of Basic Medical Sciences, Tianjin Medical University, Qixiangtai Road, Heping District, 300070, Tianjin, China
| | - Shuai Qiu
- State Key Laboratory of Experimental Hematology & The Province and Ministry Co-sponsored Collaborative Innovation Center for Medical Epigenetics & International Joint Laboratory of Ocular Diseases (Ministry of Education), School of Medical Technology & School of Basic Medical Sciences, Tianjin Medical University, Qixiangtai Road, Heping District, 300070, Tianjin, China
| | - Jun Song
- State Key Laboratory of Experimental Hematology & The Province and Ministry Co-sponsored Collaborative Innovation Center for Medical Epigenetics & International Joint Laboratory of Ocular Diseases (Ministry of Education), School of Medical Technology & School of Basic Medical Sciences, Tianjin Medical University, Qixiangtai Road, Heping District, 300070, Tianjin, China
| | - Caorui Lin
- State Key Laboratory of Experimental Hematology & The Province and Ministry Co-sponsored Collaborative Innovation Center for Medical Epigenetics & International Joint Laboratory of Ocular Diseases (Ministry of Education), School of Medical Technology & School of Basic Medical Sciences, Tianjin Medical University, Qixiangtai Road, Heping District, 300070, Tianjin, China
| | - Fangdi Zou
- Public Laboratory & Key Laboratory of Cancer Prevention and Therapy, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, National Clinical Research Center & Tianjin's Clinical Research Center for Cancer, 300060, Tianjin, China
| | - Jingqiao Wu
- State Key Laboratory of Experimental Hematology & The Province and Ministry Co-sponsored Collaborative Innovation Center for Medical Epigenetics & International Joint Laboratory of Ocular Diseases (Ministry of Education), School of Medical Technology & School of Basic Medical Sciences, Tianjin Medical University, Qixiangtai Road, Heping District, 300070, Tianjin, China
| | - Huanan Yu
- State Key Laboratory of Experimental Hematology & The Province and Ministry Co-sponsored Collaborative Innovation Center for Medical Epigenetics & International Joint Laboratory of Ocular Diseases (Ministry of Education), School of Medical Technology & School of Basic Medical Sciences, Tianjin Medical University, Qixiangtai Road, Heping District, 300070, Tianjin, China
| | - Chao Liang
- Department of Systems Biology, School of Life Sciences, Southern University of Science and Technology, 518055, Shenzhen, China
| | - Ke Wen
- Department of Pharmacology, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Inflammatory Biology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Tianjin Medical University, 300070, Tianjin, China
| | - Yiqi Seow
- Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), 60 Biopolis St, Genome, Singapore, 138672, Republic of Singapore
| | - HaiFang Yin
- State Key Laboratory of Experimental Hematology & The Province and Ministry Co-sponsored Collaborative Innovation Center for Medical Epigenetics & International Joint Laboratory of Ocular Diseases (Ministry of Education), School of Medical Technology & School of Basic Medical Sciences, Tianjin Medical University, Qixiangtai Road, Heping District, 300070, Tianjin, China.
- Department of Clinical Laboratory, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, 300052, Tianjin, China.
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Prescott MA, Moulton H, Pastey MK. An alternative strategy to increasing influenza virus replication for vaccine production in chicken embryo fibroblast (DF-1) cells by inhibiting interferon alpha and beta using peptide-conjugated phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomers. J Med Microbiol 2024; 73. [PMID: 38353513 DOI: 10.1099/jmm.0.001807] [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] [Indexed: 02/16/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction. Influenza is a global health issue causing substantial health and economic burdens on affected populations. Routine, annual vaccination for influenza virus is recommended for all persons older than 6 months of age. The propagation of the influenza virus for vaccine production is predominantly through embryonated chicken eggs.Hypothesis/Gap Statement. Many challenges face the propagation of the virus, including but not limited to low yields and lengthy production times. The development of a method to increase vaccine production in eggs or cell lines by suppressing cellular gene expression would be helpful to overcome some of the challenges facing influenza vaccine production.Aims. This study aimed to increase influenza virus titres by using a peptide-conjugated phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomer (PPMO), an antisense molecule, to suppress protein expression of the host genes interferon alpha (IFN-α) and interferon beta (IFN-β) in chicken embryo fibroblast (DF-1) cells.Methods. The toxicity of PPMOs was evaluated by cytotoxicity assays, and their specificity to inhibit IFN-α and IFN-β proteins was measured by ELISA. We evaluated the potential of anti-IFN-α and anti-IFN-β PPMOs to reduce the antiviral proteins in influenza virus-infected DF-1 cells and compared the virus titres to untreated controls, nonsense-PPMO and JAK/STAT inhibitors. The effects of complementation and reconstitution of IFN-α and IFN-β proteins in PPMO-treated-infected cells were evaluated, and the virus titres were compared between treatment groups.Results. Suppression of IFN-α by PPMO resulted in significantly reduced levels of IFN-α protein in treated wells, as measured by ELISA and was shown to not have any cytotoxicity to DF-1 cells at the effective concentrations tested. Treatment of the self-directing PPMOs increased the ability of the influenza virus to replicate in DF-1 cells. Over a 2-log10 increase in viral production was observed in anti-IFN-α and IFN-β PPMO-treated wells compared to those of untreated controls at the initial viral input of 0.1 multiplicity of infection. The data from complementation and reconstitution of IFN-α and IFN-β proteins in PPMO-treated-infected cells was about 82 and 97% compared to the combined PPMO-treated but uncomplemented group and untreated group, respectively. There was a 0.5-log10 increase in virus titre when treated with anti-IFN-α and IFN-β PPMO compared to virus titre when treated with JAK/STAT inhibitors.Conclusions. This study emphasizes the utility of PPMO in allowing cell cultures to produce increased levels of influenza for vaccine production or alternatively, as a screening tool to cheaply test targets prior to the development of permanent knockouts of host gene expression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Meagan A Prescott
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Oregon State University, Corvallis Oregon 97331, USA
- Department of Microbiology, College of Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis Oregon 97331, USA
| | - Hong Moulton
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Oregon State University, Corvallis Oregon 97331, USA
| | - Manoj K Pastey
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Oregon State University, Corvallis Oregon 97331, USA
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Hiyoshi T, Zhao F, Baba R, Hirakawa T, Kuboki R, Suzuki K, Tomimatsu Y, O'Donnell P, Han S, Zach N, Nakashima M. Electrical impedance myography detects dystrophin-related muscle changes in mdx mice. Skelet Muscle 2023; 13:19. [PMID: 37980539 PMCID: PMC10657153 DOI: 10.1186/s13395-023-00331-1] [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: 08/29/2023] [Accepted: 10/27/2023] [Indexed: 11/20/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The lack of functional dystrophin protein in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) causes chronic skeletal muscle inflammation and degeneration. Therefore, the restoration of functional dystrophin levels is a fundamental approach for DMD therapy. Electrical impedance myography (EIM) is an emerging tool that provides noninvasive monitoring of muscle conditions and has been suggested as a treatment response biomarker in diverse indications. Although magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of skeletal muscles has become a standard measurement in clinical trials for DMD, EIM offers distinct advantages, such as portability, user-friendliness, and reduced cost, allowing for remote monitoring of disease progression or response to therapy. To investigate the potential of EIM as a biomarker for DMD, we compared longitudinal EIM data with MRI/histopathological data from an X-linked muscular dystrophy (mdx) mouse model of DMD. In addition, we investigated whether EIM could detect dystrophin-related changes in muscles using antisense-mediated exon skipping in mdx mice. METHODS The MRI data for muscle T2, the magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) data for fat fraction, and three EIM parameters with histopathology were longitudinally obtained from the hindlimb muscles of wild-type (WT) and mdx mice. In the EIM study, a cell-penetrating peptide (Pip9b2) conjugated antisense phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomer (PPMO), designed to induce exon-skipping and restore functional dystrophin production, was administered intravenously to mdx mice. RESULTS MRI imaging in mdx mice showed higher T2 intensity at 6 weeks of age in hindlimb muscles compared to WT mice, which decreased at ≥ 9 weeks of age. In contrast, EIM reactance began to decline at 12 weeks of age, with peak reduction at 18 weeks of age in mdx mice. This decline was associated with myofiber atrophy and connective tissue infiltration in the skeletal muscles. Repeated dosing of PPMO (10 mg/kg, 4 times every 2 weeks) in mdx mice led to an increase in muscular dystrophin protein and reversed the decrease in EIM reactance. CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest that muscle T2 MRI is sensitive to the early inflammatory response associated with dystrophin deficiency, whereas EIM provides a valuable biomarker for the noninvasive monitoring of subsequent changes in skeletal muscle composition. Furthermore, EIM reactance has the potential to monitor dystrophin-deficient muscle abnormalities and their recovery in response to antisense-mediated exon skipping.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tetsuaki Hiyoshi
- Neuroscience Translational Medicine, Neuroscience Drug Discovery Unit, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, 26-1, Muraoka-Higashi 2-Chome, Fujisawa, Kanagawa, 251-8555, Japan
| | - Fuqiang Zhao
- Center of Excellence for Imaging, Preclinical and Translational Sciences, Takeda Development Center Americas, Inc., 95 Hayden Avenue, Lexington, MA, 02141, USA
| | - Rina Baba
- Muscular Disease and Neuropathy Unit, Neuroscience Drug Discovery Unit, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, 26-1, Muraoka-Higashi 2-Chome, Fujisawa, Kanagawa, 251-8555, Japan
| | - Takeshi Hirakawa
- Muscular Disease and Neuropathy Unit, Neuroscience Drug Discovery Unit, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, 26-1, Muraoka-Higashi 2-Chome, Fujisawa, Kanagawa, 251-8555, Japan
| | - Ryosuke Kuboki
- Muscular Disease and Neuropathy Unit, Neuroscience Drug Discovery Unit, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, 26-1, Muraoka-Higashi 2-Chome, Fujisawa, Kanagawa, 251-8555, Japan
| | - Kazunori Suzuki
- Muscular Disease and Neuropathy Unit, Neuroscience Drug Discovery Unit, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, 26-1, Muraoka-Higashi 2-Chome, Fujisawa, Kanagawa, 251-8555, Japan
| | - Yoshiro Tomimatsu
- Neuroscience Translational Medicine, Neuroscience Drug Discovery Unit, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, 26-1, Muraoka-Higashi 2-Chome, Fujisawa, Kanagawa, 251-8555, Japan
| | - Patricio O'Donnell
- Neuroscience Translational Medicine, Neuroscience Drug Discovery Unit, Takeda Development Center Americas, Inc., 95 Hayden Avenue, Lexington, MA, 02141, USA
| | - Steve Han
- Neuroscience Therapeutic Area Unit, Takeda Development Center Americas, Inc., 95 Hayden Avenue, Lexington, MA, 02141, USA
| | - Neta Zach
- Neuroscience Translational Medicine, Neuroscience Drug Discovery Unit, Takeda Development Center Americas, Inc., 95 Hayden Avenue, Lexington, MA, 02141, USA
| | - Masato Nakashima
- Neuroscience Translational Medicine, Neuroscience Drug Discovery Unit, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, 26-1, Muraoka-Higashi 2-Chome, Fujisawa, Kanagawa, 251-8555, Japan.
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Zakaria ZZ, Eisa-Beygi S, Benslimane FM, Ramchandran R, Yalcin HC. Design and Microinjection of Morpholino Antisense Oligonucleotides and mRNA into Zebrafish Embryos to Elucidate Specific Gene Function in Heart Development. J Vis Exp 2022:10.3791/63324. [PMID: 36036621 PMCID: PMC10388372 DOI: 10.3791/63324] [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] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/02/2023] Open
Abstract
The morpholino oligomer-based knockdown system has been used to identify the function of various gene products through loss or reduced expression. Morpholinos (MOs) have the advantage in biological stability over DNA oligos because they are not susceptible to enzymatic degradation. For optimal effectiveness, MOs are injected into 1-4 cell stage embryos. The temporal efficacy of knockdown is variable, but MOs are believed to lose their effects due to dilution eventually. Morpholino dilution and injection amount should be closely controlled to minimize the occurrence of off-target effects while maintaining on-target efficacy. Additional complementary tools, such as CRISPR/Cas9 should be performed against the target gene of interest to generate mutant lines and to confirm the morphant phenotype with these lines. This article will demonstrate how to design, prepare, and microinject a translation-blocking morpholino against hand2 into the yolk of 1-4 cell stage zebrafish embryos to knockdown hand2 function and rescue these "morphants" by co-injection of mRNA encoding the corresponding cDNA. Subsequently, the efficacy of the morpholino microinjections is assessed by first verifying the presence of morpholino in the yolk (co-injected with phenol red) and then by phenotypic analysis. Moreover, cardiac functional analysis to test for knockdown efficacy will be discussed. Finally, assessing the effect of morpholino-induced blockage of gene translation via western blotting will be explained.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zain Zaki Zakaria
- Biomedical Research Center, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar; Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, College of Arts and Science, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
| | - Shahram Eisa-Beygi
- Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy, Medical College of Wisconsin
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Palacio-Castañeda V, Brock R, Verdurmen WPR. Generation of Protein-Phosphorodiamidate Morpholino Oligomer Conjugates for Efficient Cellular Delivery via Anthrax Protective Antigen. Methods Mol Biol 2022; 2434:129-141. [PMID: 35213014 PMCID: PMC9703282 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-2010-6_8] [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] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomers (PMOs) offer great promise as therapeutic agents for translation blocking or splice modulation due to their high stability and affinity for target sequences. However, in spite of their neutral charge as compared to natural oligonucleotides or phosphorothioate analogs, they still show little permeability for cellular membranes, highlighting the need for effective cytosolic delivery strategies. In addition, the implementation of strategies for efficient cellular targeting is highly desirable to minimize side effects and maximize the drug dose at its site of action. Anthrax toxin is a three-protein toxin of which the pore-forming protein anthrax protective antigen (PA) can be redirected to a receptor of choice and lethal factor (LF), one of the two substrate proteins, can be coupled to various cargoes for efficient cytosolic cargo delivery. In this protocol, we describe the steps to produce the proteins and protein conjugates required for cytosolic delivery of PMOs through the cation-selective pore generated by anthrax protective antigen. The method relies on the introduction of a unique cysteine at the C-terminal end of a truncated LF (aa 1-254), high-yield expression of the (truncated) toxin proteins in E. coli, functionalization of a PMO with a maleimide group and coupling of the maleimide-functionalized PMO to the unique cysteine on LF by maleimide-thiol conjugation chemistry. Through co-administration of PA with LF-PMO conjugates, an efficient cytosolic delivery of PMOs can be obtained.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valentina Palacio-Castañeda
- Department of Biochemistry, Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences (RIMLS), Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Roland Brock
- Department of Biochemistry, Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences (RIMLS), Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Wouter P R Verdurmen
- Department of Biochemistry, Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences (RIMLS), Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
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Ahn JC, Hwang SJ, Lee HJ, Kim KW. Claudin-5a knockdown attenuates blood-neural barrier in zebrafish. Comp Biochem Physiol C Toxicol Pharmacol 2021; 250:109176. [PMID: 34500089 DOI: 10.1016/j.cbpc.2021.109176] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2021] [Revised: 08/12/2021] [Accepted: 08/25/2021] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Mammalian claudin-5 (cldn5), a zebrafish cldn5a homolog, is essential to blood-brain barrier (BBB) integrity. Previously, the existence of an endothelial tight junction-based BBB with cldn5a expression in the cerebral microvessels was reported in zebrafish. However, the role of cldn5a in the cerebral microvessels of developing zebrafish has not been elucidated. Here, we further investigated the functional integrity of cldn5a in developing zebrafish by injecting cldn5a morpholinos. At 7 days post-fertilization, cldn5a immunoreactivity was detected on the brain surface, ventricular ependyma, and cerebral mircovessels but disappeared following cldna5a knockdown. Cldn5a morphants showed size-selective leakage of tracers through the BBB and downregulated expression of glucose transporter 1 (glut1) in the cerebral microvessels. In addition, leakiness in the blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier was observed, implying the overall abnormal development of blood-neural barriers. The results of our study suggest that cldn5a is required for building and maintaining the blood-neural barrier during zebrafish development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jong-Chan Ahn
- College of Pharmacy and Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, South Korea
| | - Su Jung Hwang
- School of Pharmacy, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Gyeonggi-do 16419, South Korea
| | - Hyo-Jong Lee
- School of Pharmacy, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Gyeonggi-do 16419, South Korea.
| | - Kyu-Won Kim
- College of Pharmacy and Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, South Korea.
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Kray KM, McGovern VL, Chugh D, Arnold WD, Burghes AHM. Dual SMN inducing therapies can rescue survival and motor unit function in symptomatic ∆7SMA mice. Neurobiol Dis 2021; 159:105488. [PMID: 34425216 PMCID: PMC8502210 DOI: 10.1016/j.nbd.2021.105488] [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] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2021] [Revised: 08/06/2021] [Accepted: 08/16/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is an autosomal recessive disease characterized by survival motor neuron (SMN) protein deficiency which results in motor neuron loss and muscle atrophy. SMA is caused by a mutation or deletion of the survival motor neuron 1 (SMN1) gene and retention of the nearly identical SMN2 gene. SMN2 contains a C to T change in exon 7 that results in exon 7 exclusion from 90% of transcripts. SMN protein lacking exon 7 is unstable and rapidly degraded. The remaining full-length transcripts from SMN2 are insufficient for normal motor neuron function leading to the development of SMA. Three different therapeutic approaches that increase full-length SMN (FL-SMN) protein production are approved for treatment of SMA patients. Studies in both animal models and humans have demonstrated increasing SMN levels prior to onset of symptoms provides the greatest therapeutic benefit. Treatment of SMA, after some motor neuron loss has occurred, is also effective but to a lesser degree. The SMN∆7 mouse model is a well characterized model of severe or type 1 SMA, dying at 14 days of age. Here we treated three groups of ∆7SMA mice starting before, roughly during, and after symptom onset to determine if combining two mechanistically distinct SMN inducing therapies could improve the therapeutic outcome both before and after motor neuron loss. We found, compared with individual therapies, that morpholino antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) directed against ISS-N1 combined with the small molecule compound RG7800 significantly increased FL-SMN transcript and protein production resulting in improved survival and weight of ∆7SMA mice. Moreover, when give late symptomatically, motor unit function was completely rescued with no loss in function at 100 days of age in the dual treatment group. We have therefore shown that this dual therapeutic approach successfully increases SMN protein and rescues motor function in symptomatic ∆7SMA mice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kaitlyn M Kray
- Department of Biological Chemistry and Pharmacology, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, 1060 Carmack Road, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
| | - Vicki L McGovern
- Department of Biological Chemistry and Pharmacology, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, 1060 Carmack Road, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
| | - Deepti Chugh
- Department of Neurology, Neuromuscular Division, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, 395 W. 12(th) Ave, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
| | - W David Arnold
- Department of Neurology, Neuromuscular Division, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, 395 W. 12(th) Ave, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
| | - Arthur H M Burghes
- Department of Biological Chemistry and Pharmacology, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, 1060 Carmack Road, Columbus, OH 43210, USA; Department of Neurology, Neuromuscular Division, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, 395 W. 12(th) Ave, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
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9
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Biswas K, Couillard M, Cavallone L, Burkett S, Stauffer S, Martin BK, Southon E, Reid S, Plona TM, Baugher RN, Mellott SD, Pike KM, Albaugh ME, Maedler-Kron C, Hamel N, Tessarollo L, Marcus V, Foulkes WD, Sharan SK. A novel mouse model of PMS2 founder mutation that causes mismatch repair defect due to aberrant splicing. Cell Death Dis 2021; 12:838. [PMID: 34489406 PMCID: PMC8421400 DOI: 10.1038/s41419-021-04130-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [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] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2021] [Revised: 08/10/2021] [Accepted: 08/18/2021] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer, now known as Lynch syndrome (LS) is one of the most common cancer predisposition syndromes and is caused by germline pathogenic variants (GPVs) in DNA mismatch repair (MMR) genes. A common founder GPV in PMS2 in the Canadian Inuit population, NM_000535.5: c.2002A>G, leads to a benign missense (p.I668V) but also acts as a de novo splice site that creates a 5 bp deletion resulting in a truncated protein (p.I668*). Individuals homozygous for this GPV are predisposed to atypical constitutional MMR deficiency with a delayed onset of first primary malignancy. We have generated mice with an equivalent germline mutation (Pms2c.1993A>G) and demonstrate that it results in a splicing defect similar to those observed in humans. Homozygous mutant mice are viable like the Pms2 null mice. However, unlike the Pms2 null mice, these mutant mice are fertile, like humans homozygous for this variant. Furthermore, these mice exhibit a significant increase in microsatellite instability and intestinal adenomas on an Apc mutant background. Rectification of the splicing defect in human and murine fibroblasts using antisense morpholinos suggests that this novel mouse model can be valuable in evaluating the efficacy aimed at targeting the splicing defect in PMS2 that is highly prevalent among the Canadian Inuits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kajal Biswas
- Mouse Cancer Genetics Program, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Frederick, MD, USA
| | - Martin Couillard
- The Lady Davis Institute of the Jewish General Hospital, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Luca Cavallone
- The Lady Davis Institute of the Jewish General Hospital, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Sandra Burkett
- Mouse Cancer Genetics Program, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Frederick, MD, USA
| | - Stacey Stauffer
- Mouse Cancer Genetics Program, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Frederick, MD, USA
| | - Betty K Martin
- Mouse Cancer Genetics Program, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Frederick, MD, USA
- Leidos Biomedical Research, Inc. Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Frederick, MD, 21702, USA
| | - Eileen Southon
- Mouse Cancer Genetics Program, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Frederick, MD, USA
- Leidos Biomedical Research, Inc. Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Frederick, MD, 21702, USA
| | - Susan Reid
- Mouse Cancer Genetics Program, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Frederick, MD, USA
| | - Teri M Plona
- CLIA Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory, Leidos Biomedical Research, Inc. Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Frederick, MD, USA
| | - Ryan N Baugher
- CLIA Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory, Leidos Biomedical Research, Inc. Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Frederick, MD, USA
| | - Stephanie D Mellott
- CLIA Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory, Leidos Biomedical Research, Inc. Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Frederick, MD, USA
| | - Kristen M Pike
- CLIA Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory, Leidos Biomedical Research, Inc. Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Frederick, MD, USA
| | - Mary E Albaugh
- Mouse Cancer Genetics Program, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Frederick, MD, USA
- Leidos Biomedical Research, Inc. Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Frederick, MD, 21702, USA
| | | | - Nancy Hamel
- Department of Oncology, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
- Department of Human Genetics, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Lino Tessarollo
- Mouse Cancer Genetics Program, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Frederick, MD, USA
| | - Victoria Marcus
- Department of Pathology, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - William D Foulkes
- The Lady Davis Institute of the Jewish General Hospital, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
- Department of Oncology, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
- Department of Human Genetics, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
- Department of Medical Genetics, Jewish General Hospital, McGill University, Montreal, QC, H3T 1E2, Canada
- Department of Medical Genetics and Cancer Research Program, Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, McGill University, Montreal, QC, H4A 3JI, Canada
| | - Shyam K Sharan
- Mouse Cancer Genetics Program, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Frederick, MD, USA.
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10
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Gambles MT, Li J, Wang J, Sborov D, Yang J, Kopeček J. Crosslinking of CD38 Receptors Triggers Apoptosis of Malignant B Cells. Molecules 2021; 26:molecules26154658. [PMID: 34361811 PMCID: PMC8348492 DOI: 10.3390/molecules26154658] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2021] [Revised: 07/25/2021] [Accepted: 07/28/2021] [Indexed: 01/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Recently, we designed an inventive paradigm in nanomedicine—drug-free macromolecular therapeutics (DFMT). The ability of DFMT to induce apoptosis is based on biorecognition at cell surface, and crosslinking of receptors without the participation of low molecular weight drugs. The system is composed of two nanoconjugates: a bispecific engager, antibody or Fab’ fragment—morpholino oligonucleotide (MORF1) conjugate; the second nanoconjugate is a multivalent effector, human serum albumin (HSA) decorated with multiple copies of complementary MORF2. Here, we intend to demonstrate that DFMT is a platform that will be effective on other receptors than previously validated CD20. We appraised the impact of daratumumab (DARA)- and isatuximab (ISA)-based DFMT to crosslink CD38 receptors on CD38+ lymphoma (Raji, Daudi) and multiple myeloma cells (RPMI 8226, ANBL-6). The biological properties of DFMTs were determined by flow cytometry, confocal fluorescence microscopy, reactive oxygen species determination, lysosomal enlargement, homotypic cell adhesion, and the hybridization of nanoconjugates. The data revealed that the level of apoptosis induction correlated with CD38 expression, the nanoconjugates meet at the cell surface, mitochondrial signaling pathway is strongly involved, insertion of a flexible spacer in the structure of the macromolecular effector enhances apoptosis, and simultaneous crosslinking of CD38 and CD20 receptors increases apoptosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- M. Tommy Gambles
- Center for Controlled Chemical Delivery, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA; (M.T.G.); (J.L.); (J.W.)
- Department of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
| | - Jiahui Li
- Center for Controlled Chemical Delivery, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA; (M.T.G.); (J.L.); (J.W.)
- Department of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
| | - Jiawei Wang
- Center for Controlled Chemical Delivery, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA; (M.T.G.); (J.L.); (J.W.)
- Department of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
| | - Douglas Sborov
- Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA;
| | - Jiyuan Yang
- Center for Controlled Chemical Delivery, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA; (M.T.G.); (J.L.); (J.W.)
- Department of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
- Correspondence: (J.Y.); (J.K.)
| | - Jindřich Kopeček
- Center for Controlled Chemical Delivery, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA; (M.T.G.); (J.L.); (J.W.)
- Department of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
- Correspondence: (J.Y.); (J.K.)
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11
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Li C, Callahan AJ, Simon MD, Totaro KA, Mijalis AJ, Phadke KS, Zhang G, Hartrampf N, Schissel CK, Zhou M, Zong H, Hanson GJ, Loas A, Pohl NLB, Verhoeven DE, Pentelute BL. Fully automated fast-flow synthesis of antisense phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomers. Nat Commun 2021; 12:4396. [PMID: 34285203 PMCID: PMC8292409 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-24598-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [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] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2021] [Accepted: 06/11/2021] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Rapid development of antisense therapies can enable on-demand responses to new viral pathogens and make personalized medicine for genetic diseases practical. Antisense phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomers (PMOs) are promising candidates to fill such a role, but their challenging synthesis limits their widespread application. To rapidly prototype potential PMO drug candidates, we report a fully automated flow-based oligonucleotide synthesizer. Our optimized synthesis platform reduces coupling times by up to 22-fold compared to previously reported methods. We demonstrate the power of our automated technology with the synthesis of milligram quantities of three candidate therapeutic PMO sequences for an unserved class of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). To further test our platform, we synthesize a PMO that targets the genomic mRNA of SARS-CoV-2 and demonstrate its antiviral effects. This platform could find broad application not only in designing new SARS-CoV-2 and DMD antisense therapeutics, but also for rapid development of PMO candidates to treat new and emerging diseases.
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MESH Headings
- Animals
- COVID-19/virology
- Chemistry Techniques, Synthetic/instrumentation
- Chemistry, Pharmaceutical/instrumentation
- Chlorocebus aethiops
- Communicable Diseases, Emerging/drug therapy
- Communicable Diseases, Emerging/microbiology
- Disease Models, Animal
- High-Throughput Screening Assays/instrumentation
- High-Throughput Screening Assays/methods
- Humans
- Morpholinos/chemical synthesis
- Morpholinos/pharmacology
- Morpholinos/therapeutic use
- Muscular Dystrophy, Duchenne/drug therapy
- Muscular Dystrophy, Duchenne/genetics
- Oligonucleotides, Antisense/chemical synthesis
- Oligonucleotides, Antisense/pharmacology
- Oligonucleotides, Antisense/therapeutic use
- Precision Medicine/methods
- RNA, Messenger/antagonists & inhibitors
- RNA, Viral/antagonists & inhibitors
- SARS-CoV-2/genetics
- Time Factors
- Vero Cells
- COVID-19 Drug Treatment
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Affiliation(s)
- Chengxi Li
- Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Alex J Callahan
- Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Mark D Simon
- Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Kyle A Totaro
- Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Alexander J Mijalis
- Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Kruttika-Suhas Phadke
- Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Preventive Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA
| | - Genwei Zhang
- Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Nina Hartrampf
- Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
- University of Zurich, Department of Chemistry, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Carly K Schissel
- Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Ming Zhou
- Sarepta Therapeutics, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Hong Zong
- Sarepta Therapeutics, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | | | - Andrei Loas
- Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Nicola L B Pohl
- Department of Chemistry, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA
| | - David E Verhoeven
- Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Preventive Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA
| | - Bradley L Pentelute
- Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
- The Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
- Center for Environmental Health Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA.
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12
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Kesner P, Schohl A, Warren EC, Ma F, Ruthazer ES. Postsynaptic and Presynaptic NMDARs Have Distinct Roles in Visual Circuit Development. Cell Rep 2021; 32:107955. [PMID: 32726620 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2020.107955] [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] [Grants] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2020] [Revised: 05/26/2020] [Accepted: 07/01/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
To study contributions of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDARs) in presynaptic and postsynaptic neurons of the developing visual system, we microinject antisense Morpholino oligonucleotide (MO) against GluN1 into one cell of two-cell-stage Xenopus laevis embryos. The resulting bilateral segregation of MO induces postsynaptic NMDAR (postNMDAR) knockdown in tectal neurons on one side and presynaptic NMDAR (preNMDAR) knockdown in ganglion cells projecting to the other side. PostNMDAR knockdown reduces evoked NMDAR- and α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid receptor (AMPAR)-mediated retinotectal currents. Although the frequency of spontaneous synaptic events is increased, the probability of evoked release is reduced. PreNMDAR knockdown results in larger evoked and unitary synaptic responses. Structurally, postNMDAR and preNMDAR knockdown produce complementary effects. Axonal arbor complexity is reduced by preNMDAR-MO and increased by postNMDAR-MO, whereas tectal dendritic arbors exhibit the inverse. The current study illustrates distinct roles for pre- and postNMDARs in circuit development and reveals extensive transsynaptic regulation of form and function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philip Kesner
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital, McGill University, Montreal QC H3A 2B4, Canada
| | - Anne Schohl
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital, McGill University, Montreal QC H3A 2B4, Canada
| | - Elodie C Warren
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital, McGill University, Montreal QC H3A 2B4, Canada
| | - Fan Ma
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital, McGill University, Montreal QC H3A 2B4, Canada
| | - Edward S Ruthazer
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital, McGill University, Montreal QC H3A 2B4, Canada.
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13
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Tone Y, Mamchaoui K, Tsoumpra MK, Hashimoto Y, Terada R, Maruyama R, Gait MJ, Arzumanov AA, McClorey G, Imamura M, Takeda S, Yokota T, Wood MJ, Mouly V, Aoki Y. Immortalized Canine Dystrophic Myoblast Cell Lines for Development of Peptide-Conjugated Splice-Switching Oligonucleotides. Nucleic Acid Ther 2021; 31:172-181. [PMID: 33567244 PMCID: PMC7997716 DOI: 10.1089/nat.2020.0907] [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] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2020] [Accepted: 12/24/2020] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a severe muscle-wasting disease caused by frameshift or nonsense mutations in the DMD gene, resulting in the loss of dystrophin from muscle membranes. Exon skipping using splice-switching oligonucleotides (SSOs) restores the reading frame of DMD pre-mRNA by generating internally truncated but functional dystrophin protein. To potentiate effective tissue-specific targeting by functional SSOs, it is essential to perform accelerated and reliable in vitro screening-based assessment of novel oligonucleotides and drug delivery technologies, such as cell-penetrating peptides, before their in vivo pharmacokinetic and toxicity evaluation. We have established novel canine immortalized myoblast lines by transducing murine cyclin-dependent kinase-4 and human telomerase reverse transcriptase genes into myoblasts isolated from beagle-based wild-type or canine X-linked muscular dystrophy in Japan (CXMDJ) dogs. These myoblast lines exhibited improved myogenic differentiation and increased proliferation rates compared with passage-15 primary parental myoblasts, and their potential to differentiate into myotubes was maintained in later passages. Using these dystrophin-deficient immortalized myoblast lines, we demonstrate that a novel cell-penetrating peptide (Pip8b2)-conjugated SSO markedly improved multiexon skipping activity compared with the respective naked phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomers. In vitro screening using immortalized canine cell lines will provide a basis for further pharmacological studies on drug delivery tools.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuichiro Tone
- Department of Molecular Therapy, National Institute of Neuroscience, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Kodaira, Japan
- Discovery Research Laboratories in Tsukuba, Nippon Shinyaku Co., Ltd., Tsukuba, Japan
| | - Kamel Mamchaoui
- Center of Research in Myology, Sorbonne University, INSERM, Institute of Myology, Paris, France
| | - Maria K. Tsoumpra
- Department of Molecular Therapy, National Institute of Neuroscience, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Kodaira, Japan
| | - Yasumasa Hashimoto
- Department of Molecular Therapy, National Institute of Neuroscience, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Kodaira, Japan
| | - Reiko Terada
- Department of Molecular Therapy, National Institute of Neuroscience, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Kodaira, Japan
| | - Rika Maruyama
- Department of Medical Genetics, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
| | - Michael J. Gait
- Medical Research Council, Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, United Kingdom
- Department of Paediatrics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Andrey A. Arzumanov
- Medical Research Council, Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, United Kingdom
- Department of Paediatrics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Graham McClorey
- Department of Paediatrics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Michihiro Imamura
- Department of Molecular Therapy, National Institute of Neuroscience, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Kodaira, Japan
| | - Shin'ichi Takeda
- Department of Molecular Therapy, National Institute of Neuroscience, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Kodaira, Japan
| | - Toshifumi Yokota
- Department of Medical Genetics, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
| | - Matthew J.A. Wood
- Department of Paediatrics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
- Oxford Harrington Rare Disease Centre, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Vincent Mouly
- Center of Research in Myology, Sorbonne University, INSERM, Institute of Myology, Paris, France
| | - Yoshitsugu Aoki
- Department of Molecular Therapy, National Institute of Neuroscience, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Kodaira, Japan
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14
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Lidberg KA, Annalora AJ, Jozic M, Elson DJ, Wang L, Bammler TK, Ramm S, Monteiro MB, Himmelfarb J, Marcus CB, Iversen PL, Kelly EJ. Antisense oligonucleotide development for the selective modulation of CYP3A5 in renal disease. Sci Rep 2021; 11:4722. [PMID: 33633318 PMCID: PMC7907328 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-84194-w] [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] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2020] [Accepted: 02/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
CYP3A5 is the primary CYP3A subfamily enzyme expressed in the human kidney and its aberrant expression may contribute to a broad spectrum of renal disorders. Pharmacogenetic studies have reported inconsistent linkages between CYP3A5 expression and hypertension, however, most investigators have considered CYP3A5*1 as active and CYP3A5*3 as an inactive allele. Observations of gender specific differences in CYP3A5*3/*3 protein expression suggest additional complexity in gene regulation that may underpin an environmentally responsive role for CYP3A5 in renal function. Reconciliation of the molecular mechanism driving conditional restoration of functional CYP3A5*3 expression from alternatively spliced transcripts, and validation of a morpholino-based approach for selectively suppressing renal CYP3A5 expression, is the focus of this work. Morpholinos targeting a cryptic splice acceptor created by the CYP3A5*3 mutation in intron 3 rescued functional CYP3A5 expression in vitro, and salt-sensitive cellular mechanisms regulating splicing and conditional expression of CYP3A5*3 transcripts are reported. The potential for a G-quadruplex (G4) in intron 3 to mediate restored splicing to exon 4 in CYP3A5*3 transcripts was also investigated. Finally, a proximal tubule microphysiological system (PT-MPS) was used to evaluate the safety profile of morpholinos in proximal tubule epithelial cells, highlighting their potential as a therapeutic platform for the treatment of renal disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kevin A Lidberg
- Department of Pharmaceutics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Andrew J Annalora
- Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA.
| | - Marija Jozic
- Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
| | - Daniel J Elson
- Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
| | - Lu Wang
- Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Theo K Bammler
- Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Susanne Ramm
- Victorian Centre for Functional Genomics, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Maria Beatriz Monteiro
- Depto Clinica Medica, Faculdade de Medicina FMUSP, Universidade de Sao Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | | | - Craig B Marcus
- Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
| | - Patrick L Iversen
- Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
| | - Edward J Kelly
- Department of Pharmaceutics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
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15
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Abstract
Development of the brain ventricular system of vertebrates and the molecular mechanisms involved are not fully understood. The developmental genes expressed in the elements of the brain ventricular system such as the ependyma and circumventricular organs act as molecular determinants of cell adhesion critical for the formation of brain ventricular system. They control brain development and function, including the flow of cerebrospinal fluid. Here, we describe the novel distantly related member of the zebrafish L1-CAM family of genes-camel. Whereas its maternal transcripts distributed uniformly, the zygotic transcripts demonstrate clearly defined expression patterns, in particular in the axial structures: floor plate, hypochord, and roof plate. camel expresses in several other cell lineages with access to the brain ventricular system, including the midbrain roof plate, subcommissural organ, organum vasculosum lamina terminalis, median eminence, paraventricular organ, flexural organ, and inter-rhombomeric boundaries. This expression pattern suggests a role of Camel in neural development. Several isoforms of Camel generated by differential splicing of exons encoding the sixth fibronectin type III domain enhance cell adhesion differentially. The antisense oligomer morpholino-mediated loss-of-function of Camel affects cell adhesion and causes hydrocephalus and scoliosis manifested via the tail curled down phenotype. The subcommissural organ's derivative-the Reissner fiber-participates in the flow of cerebrospinal fluid. The Reissner fiber fails to form upon morpholino-mediated Camel loss-of-function. The Camel mRNA-mediated gain-of-function causes the Reissner fiber misdirection. This study revealed a link between Chl1a/Camel and Reissner fiber formation, and this supports the idea that CHL1 is one of the scoliosis factors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shulan Yang
- Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore, Singapore
- Translational Medicine Centre, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Alexander Emelyanov
- Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore, Singapore
- Institute for Research on Cancer and Aging, Nice, France
| | - May-Su You
- Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore, Singapore
- National Health Research Institutes, Zhunan, Taiwan
| | - Melvin Sin
- Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Vladimir Korzh
- Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore, Singapore.
- International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Warsaw, Poland.
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16
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Lanzarini F, Pereira FA, de Camargo J, Oliveira AM, Belaz KRA, Melendez-Perez JJ, Eberlin MN, Brum MCS, Mesquita FS, Sudano MJ. ELOVL5 Participates in Embryonic Lipid Determination of Cellular Membranes and Cytoplasmic Droplets. Int J Mol Sci 2021; 22:ijms22031311. [PMID: 33525659 PMCID: PMC7865478 DOI: 10.3390/ijms22031311] [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] [MESH Headings] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2020] [Revised: 11/26/2020] [Accepted: 12/16/2020] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Embryonic lipids are crucial for the formation of cellular membranes and dynamically participate in metabolic pathways. Cells can synthesize simple fatty acids, and the elongation of fatty acids facilitates the formation of complex lipids. The aim of this work was to investigate the involvement of the elongation of very long chain fatty acid enzyme 5 (ELOVL5) in embryonic development and lipid determination. Bovine embryos were produced in vitro using a standard protocol and randomly divided to receive one of three treatments at Day 4: morpholino (Mo) gene expression knockdown assay for ELOVL5 (ELOVL5-Mo), Mo antisense oligonucleotides for the thalassemic β-globulin human mRNA (technical control Mo), and placebo (biological control). The phenotypes of embryonic development, cell number, ELOVL5 protein abundance, lipid droplet deposits, and lipid fingerprint were investigated. No detrimental effects (p > 0.05) were observed on embryo development in terms of cleavage (59.4 ± 3.5%, 63.6 ± 4.1%, and 65.4 ± 2.2%), blastocyst production (31.3 ± 4.2%, 28.1 ± 4.9%, and 36.1 ± 2.1%), and blastocyst cell number (99.6 ± 7.7, 100.2 ± 6.2, 86.8 ± 5.6), respectively, for biological control, technical control Mo, and ELOVL5-Mo. ELOVL5 protein abundance and cytoplasmic lipid droplet deposition were increased (p < 0.05) in ELOVL5-Mo-derived blastocysts compared with the controls. However, seven lipid species, including phosphatidylcholines, phosphatidylethanolamines, and triacylglycerol, were downregulated in the ELOVL5-Mo-derived blastocysts compared with the biological control. Therefore, ELOVL5 is involved in the determination of embryonic lipid content and composition. Transient translational blockage of ELOVL5 reduced the expression of specific lipid species and promoted increased cytoplasmic lipid droplet deposition, but with no apparent deleterious effect on embryonic development and blastocyst cell number.
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Affiliation(s)
- Franciele Lanzarini
- Curso de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade Federal do Pampa, Unipampa, Uruguaiana 96460-000, RS, Brazil; (F.L.); (F.A.P.); (J.d.C.); (A.M.O.); (M.C.S.B.); (F.S.M.)
| | - Fernanda Alves Pereira
- Curso de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade Federal do Pampa, Unipampa, Uruguaiana 96460-000, RS, Brazil; (F.L.); (F.A.P.); (J.d.C.); (A.M.O.); (M.C.S.B.); (F.S.M.)
| | - Janine de Camargo
- Curso de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade Federal do Pampa, Unipampa, Uruguaiana 96460-000, RS, Brazil; (F.L.); (F.A.P.); (J.d.C.); (A.M.O.); (M.C.S.B.); (F.S.M.)
- Departamento de Genética e Evolução, Universidade Federal de São Carlos, UFSCar, São Carlos 13565-905, SP, Brazil
| | - Andressa Minozzo Oliveira
- Curso de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade Federal do Pampa, Unipampa, Uruguaiana 96460-000, RS, Brazil; (F.L.); (F.A.P.); (J.d.C.); (A.M.O.); (M.C.S.B.); (F.S.M.)
| | - Katia Roberta Anacleto Belaz
- Instituto de Química, Universidade Federal de Catalão, UFG/UFCAT, Catalão 75705-220, GO, Brazil;
- Instituto de Química, Universidade de Campinas, UNICAMP, Campinas 13083-970, SP, Brazil
| | | | - Marcos Nogueira Eberlin
- Núcleo de Pesquisa do Mackenzie em Ciência, Fé e Sociedade, Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie, São Paulo 01302-907, SP, Brazil;
| | - Mário Celso Sperotto Brum
- Curso de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade Federal do Pampa, Unipampa, Uruguaiana 96460-000, RS, Brazil; (F.L.); (F.A.P.); (J.d.C.); (A.M.O.); (M.C.S.B.); (F.S.M.)
| | - Fernando Silveira Mesquita
- Curso de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade Federal do Pampa, Unipampa, Uruguaiana 96460-000, RS, Brazil; (F.L.); (F.A.P.); (J.d.C.); (A.M.O.); (M.C.S.B.); (F.S.M.)
| | - Mateus José Sudano
- Curso de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade Federal do Pampa, Unipampa, Uruguaiana 96460-000, RS, Brazil; (F.L.); (F.A.P.); (J.d.C.); (A.M.O.); (M.C.S.B.); (F.S.M.)
- Departamento de Genética e Evolução, Universidade Federal de São Carlos, UFSCar, São Carlos 13565-905, SP, Brazil
- Centro de Ciências Naturais e Humana, Universidade Federal do ABC, Santo André 09210-580, SP, Brazil
- Correspondence:
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17
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Cunningham CM, Bellipanni G, Habas R, Balciunas D. Deletion of morpholino binding sites (DeMOBS) to assess specificity of morphant phenotypes. Sci Rep 2020; 10:15366. [PMID: 32958829 PMCID: PMC7506532 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-71708-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [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] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2020] [Accepted: 08/13/2020] [Indexed: 01/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Two complimentary approaches are widely used to study gene function in zebrafish: induction of genetic mutations, usually using targeted nucleases such as CRISPR/Cas9, and suppression of gene expression, typically using Morpholino oligomers. Neither method is perfect. Morpholinos (MOs) sometimes produce off-target or toxicity-related effects that can be mistaken for true phenotypes. Conversely, genetic mutants can be subject to compensation, or may fail to yield a null phenotype due to leakiness (e.g. use of cryptic splice sites or downstream AUGs). When discrepancy between mutant and morpholino-induced (morphant) phenotypes is observed, experimental validation of such phenotypes becomes very labor intensive. We have developed a simple genetic method to differentiate between genuine morphant phenotypes and those produced due to off-target effects. We speculated that indels within 5' untranslated regions would be unlikely to have a significant negative effect on gene expression. Mutations induced within a MO target site would result in a Morpholino-refractive allele thus suppressing true MO phenotypes whilst non-specific phenotypes would remain. We tested this hypothesis on one gene with an exclusively zygotic function, tbx5a, and one gene with strong maternal effect, ctnnb2. We found that indels within the Morpholino binding site are indeed able to suppress both zygotic and maternal morphant phenotypes. We also observed that the ability of such indels to suppress morpholino phenotypes does depend on the size and the location of the deletion. Nonetheless, mutating the morpholino binding sites in both maternal and zygotic genes can ascertain the specificity of morphant phenotypes.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Gianfranco Bellipanni
- Department of Biology, College of Science and Technology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, 19122, USA
| | - Raymond Habas
- Department of Biology, College of Science and Technology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, 19122, USA
| | - Darius Balciunas
- Department of Biology, College of Science and Technology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, 19122, USA.
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18
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Nagai-Tanima M, Hong S, Hu P, Carrington B, Sood R, Roessler E, Muenke M. Rare hypomorphic human variation in the heptahelical domain of SMO contributes to holoprosencephaly phenotypes. Hum Mutat 2020; 41:2105-2118. [PMID: 32906187 DOI: 10.1002/humu.24103] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [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: 04/04/2020] [Revised: 08/14/2020] [Accepted: 08/28/2020] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
Holoprosencephaly (HPE) is the most common congenital anomaly affecting the forebrain and face in humans and occurs as frequently as 1:250 conceptions or 1:10,000 livebirths. Sonic Hedgehog signaling molecule is one of the best characterized HPE genes that plays crucial roles in numerous developmental processes including midline neural patterning and craniofacial development. The Frizzled class G-protein coupled receptor Smoothened (SMO), whose signaling activity is tightly regulated, is the sole obligate transducer of Hedgehog-related signals. However, except for previous reports of somatic oncogenic driver mutations in human cancers (or mosaic tumors in rare syndromes), any potential disease-related role of SMO genetic variation in humans is largely unknown. To our knowledge, ours is the first report of a human hypomorphic variant revealed by functional testing of seven distinct nonsynonymous SMO variants derived from HPE molecular and clinical data. Here we describe several zebrafish bioassays developed and guided by a systems biology analysis. This analysis strategy, and detection of hypomorphic variation in human SMO, demonstrates the necessity of integrating the genomic variant findings in HPE probands with other components of the Hedgehog gene regulatory network in overall medical interpretations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Momoko Nagai-Tanima
- Medical Genetics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | - Sungkook Hong
- Medical Genetics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | - Ping Hu
- Medical Genetics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | - Blake Carrington
- Medical Genetics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
- Zebrafish Core, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | - Raman Sood
- Medical Genetics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
- Zebrafish Core, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | - Erich Roessler
- Medical Genetics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | - Maximilian Muenke
- Medical Genetics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
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Stepanovska B, Zivkovic A, Enzmann G, Tietz S, Homann T, Kleuser B, Engelhardt B, Stark H, Huwiler A. Morpholino Analogues of Fingolimod as Novel and Selective S1P 1 Ligands with In Vivo Efficacy in a Mouse Model of Experimental Antigen-Induced Encephalomyelitis. Int J Mol Sci 2020; 21:E6463. [PMID: 32899717 PMCID: PMC7555234 DOI: 10.3390/ijms21186463] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [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] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2020] [Revised: 08/29/2020] [Accepted: 09/01/2020] [Indexed: 01/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, inflammatory, autoimmune disease of the central nervous system (CNS) which is associated with lower life expectancy and disability. The experimental antigen-induced encephalomyelitis (EAE) in mice is a useful animal model of MS, which allows exploring the etiopathogenetic mechanisms and testing novel potential therapeutic drugs. A new therapeutic paradigm for the treatment of MS was introduced in 2010 through the sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) analogue fingolimod (FTY720, Gilenya®), which acts as a functional S1P1 antagonist on T lymphocytes to deplete these cells from the blood. In this study, we synthesized two novel structures, ST-1893 and ST-1894, which are derived from fingolimod and chemically feature a morpholine ring in the polar head group. These compounds showed a selective S1P1 activation profile and a sustained S1P1 internalization in cultures of S1P1-overexpressing Chinese hamster ovary (CHO)-K1 cells, consistent with a functional antagonism. In vivo, both compounds induced a profound lymphopenia in mice. Finally, these substances showed efficacy in the EAE model, where they reduced clinical symptoms of the disease, and, on the molecular level, they reduced the T-cell infiltration and several inflammatory mediators in the brain and spinal cord. In summary, these data suggest that S1P1-selective compounds may have an advantage over fingolimod and siponimod, not only in MS but also in other autoimmune diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bisera Stepanovska
- Institute of Pharmacology, University of Bern, Inselspital INO-F, CH-3010 Bern, Switzerland;
| | - Aleksandra Zivkovic
- Institute of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Universitaetsstr. 1, D-40225 Duesseldorf, Germany; (A.Z.); (H.S.)
| | - Gaby Enzmann
- Theodor Kocher Institute, University of Bern, Freiestrasse 1, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland; (G.E.); (S.T.); (B.E.)
| | - Silvia Tietz
- Theodor Kocher Institute, University of Bern, Freiestrasse 1, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland; (G.E.); (S.T.); (B.E.)
| | - Thomas Homann
- Institute of Nutritional Science, University of Potsdam, Arthur-Scheunert Allee 114–116, D-14558 Nuthetal, Germany; (T.H.); (B.K.)
| | - Burkhard Kleuser
- Institute of Nutritional Science, University of Potsdam, Arthur-Scheunert Allee 114–116, D-14558 Nuthetal, Germany; (T.H.); (B.K.)
| | - Britta Engelhardt
- Theodor Kocher Institute, University of Bern, Freiestrasse 1, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland; (G.E.); (S.T.); (B.E.)
| | - Holger Stark
- Institute of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Universitaetsstr. 1, D-40225 Duesseldorf, Germany; (A.Z.); (H.S.)
| | - Andrea Huwiler
- Institute of Pharmacology, University of Bern, Inselspital INO-F, CH-3010 Bern, Switzerland;
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20
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Lokapally A, Neuhaus H, Herfurth J, Hollemann T. Interplay of TRIM2 E3 Ubiquitin Ligase and ALIX/ESCRT Complex: Control of Developmental Plasticity During Early Neurogenesis. Cells 2020; 9:cells9071734. [PMID: 32698497 PMCID: PMC7409263 DOI: 10.3390/cells9071734] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2020] [Revised: 07/13/2020] [Accepted: 07/15/2020] [Indexed: 01/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Tripartite motif 2 (TRIM2) drives neurite outgrowth and polarization, is involved in axon specification, and confers neuroprotective functions during rapid ischemia. The mechanisms controlling neuronal cell fate determination and differentiation are fundamental for neural development. Here, we show that in Xenopus, trim2 knockdown affects primary neurogenesis and neural progenitor cell survival. Embryos also suffer from severe craniofacial malformation, a reduction in brain volume, and the loss of motor sensory function. Using a high-throughput LC-MS/MS approach with GST-Trim2 as bait, we pulled down ALG-2 interacting protein X (Alix) from Xenopus embryonic lysates. We demonstrate that the expression of trim2/TRIM2 and alix/ALIX overlap during larval development and on a cellular level in cell culture. Interestingly, trim2 morphants showed a clustering and apoptosis of neural progenitors, which are phenotypic hallmarks that are also observed in Alix KO mice. Therefore, we propose that the interaction of Alix and Trim2 plays a key role in the determination and differentiation of neural progenitors via the modulation of cell proliferation/apoptosis during neurogenesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ashwin Lokapally
- Institute for Physiological Chemistry, Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Hollystrasse 1, 06114 Halle, Germany; (A.L.); (H.N.); (J.H.)
- Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, 455 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
| | - Herbert Neuhaus
- Institute for Physiological Chemistry, Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Hollystrasse 1, 06114 Halle, Germany; (A.L.); (H.N.); (J.H.)
| | - Juliane Herfurth
- Institute for Physiological Chemistry, Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Hollystrasse 1, 06114 Halle, Germany; (A.L.); (H.N.); (J.H.)
| | - Thomas Hollemann
- Institute for Physiological Chemistry, Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Hollystrasse 1, 06114 Halle, Germany; (A.L.); (H.N.); (J.H.)
- Correspondence:
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Abstract
Antisense morpholino oligonucleotides (MOs) have become a valuable method to knockdown protein levels, to block with mRNA splicing and to interfere with miRNA function. MOs are widely used to alter gene expression in development of Xenopus and Zebrafish, where they are typically injected into the fertilized egg or blastomeres. Here we present methods to use electroporation to target delivery of MOs to the central nervous system of Xenopus laevis or Xenopus tropicalis tadpoles. Briefly, MO electroporation is accomplished by injecting MO solution into the brain ventricle and driving the MOs into cells of the brain with current passing between 2 platinum plate electrodes, positioned on either side of the target brain area. The method is relatively straightforward and uses standard equipment found in many neuroscience labs. A major advantage of electroporation is that it allows spatial and temporal control of MO delivery and therefore knockdown. Co-electroporation of MOs with cell type-specific fluorescent protein expression plasmids allows morphological analysis of cellular phenotypes. Furthermore, co-electroporation of MOs with rescuing plasmids allows assessment of specificity of the knockdown and phenotypic outcome. By combining MO-mediated manipulations with sophisticated assays of neuronal function, such as electrophysiological recording, behavioral assays, or in vivo time-lapse imaging of neuronal development, the functions of specific proteins and miRNAs within the developing nervous system can be elucidated. These methods can be adapted to apply antisense morpholinos to study protein and RNA function in a variety of complex tissues.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Hollis T Cline
- The Dorris Neuroscience Center, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA.
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22
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Li A, Fan Y, Cao X, Chen L, Wang L, Alves CS, Mignani S, Majoral JP, Tomás H, Shi X. Morpholino-functionalized phosphorus dendrimers for precision regenerative medicine: osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells. Nanoscale 2019; 11:17230-17234. [PMID: 31531482 DOI: 10.1039/c9nr06410a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
A novel bioactive macromolecule based on morpholino-functionalized phosphorus dendrimers (generation 2, G2-Mor+) was developed for osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). Interestingly, through in vitro tests, it was shown that G2-Mor+ dendrimer can strongly promote the transformation of MSCs into osteoblasts, which implies the potential application of phosphorus dendrimers in bone regeneration for precision regenerative medicine.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aijun Li
- State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, International Joint Laboratory for Advanced Fiber and Low-dimension Materials, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, People's Republic of China.
| | - Yu Fan
- State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, International Joint Laboratory for Advanced Fiber and Low-dimension Materials, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, People's Republic of China.
| | - Xueyan Cao
- State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, International Joint Laboratory for Advanced Fiber and Low-dimension Materials, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, People's Republic of China.
| | - Liang Chen
- State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, International Joint Laboratory for Advanced Fiber and Low-dimension Materials, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, People's Republic of China. and Laboratoire de Chimie de Coordination du CNRS, 205 route de Narbonne, BP 44099, F-31077 Toulouse Cedex 4, France.
| | - Le Wang
- College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University of Engineering Science, Shanghai 201620, People's Republic of China
| | - Carla S Alves
- CQM-Centro de Quimica da Madeira, Universidade da Madeira, Campus da Penteada, 9020-105 Funchal, Portugal.
| | - Serge Mignani
- CQM-Centro de Quimica da Madeira, Universidade da Madeira, Campus da Penteada, 9020-105 Funchal, Portugal. and Université Paris Descartes, PRES Sorbonne Paris Cité, CNRS UMR 860, Laboratoire de Chimie et de Biochimie Pharmacologiques et Toxicologique, 45, rue des Saints Peres, 75006 Paris, France
| | - Jean-Pierre Majoral
- Laboratoire de Chimie de Coordination du CNRS, 205 route de Narbonne, BP 44099, F-31077 Toulouse Cedex 4, France.
| | - Helena Tomás
- CQM-Centro de Quimica da Madeira, Universidade da Madeira, Campus da Penteada, 9020-105 Funchal, Portugal.
| | - Xiangyang Shi
- State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, International Joint Laboratory for Advanced Fiber and Low-dimension Materials, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, People's Republic of China. and CQM-Centro de Quimica da Madeira, Universidade da Madeira, Campus da Penteada, 9020-105 Funchal, Portugal.
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Zhang T, Wang M, Liu L, He B, Hu J, Wang Y. Hypothalamic nesfatin-1 mediates feeding behavior via MC3/4R-ERK signaling pathway after weight loss in obese Sprague-Dawley rats. Peptides 2019; 119:170080. [PMID: 31260713 DOI: 10.1016/j.peptides.2019.04.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2018] [Revised: 04/02/2019] [Accepted: 04/07/2019] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Nesfatin-1 is an anorexic peptide derived from nucleobindin 2 (NUCB2). An increase in hypothalamic nesfatin-1 inhibits feeding behavior and promotes weight loss. However, the effects of weight loss on hypothalamic nesfatin-1 levels are unclear. In this study, obese rats lost weight in three ways: Calorie Restriction diet (CRD), Sleeve gastrectomy (SG) and Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB). We found an increase in nesfatin-1 serum and cerebrospinal fluid levels after weight loss in obese Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. Moreover, weight loss also increased hypothalamic melanocortin 3/4 receptor (MC3/4R) and extracellular regulated kinase phosphorylation (p-ERK) signaling. Third ventricle administration of antisense morpholino oligonucleotide (MON) against the gene encoding NUCB2 inhibited hypothalamic nesfatin-1 and p-ERK signaling, increased food intake and reduced body weight loss in SG and RYGB obese rats. Third ventricle administration of SHU9119 (MC3/4R blocker) blocked hypothalamic MC3/4R, inhibited p-ERK signaling, increased food intake and reduced body weight loss in SG and RYGB obese rats. These findings indicate that weight loss leads to an increase in hypothalamic nesfatin-1. The increase in hypothalamic nesfatin-1 participates in regulating feeding behavior through the MC3/4R-ERK signaling especially after SG and RYGB.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tianyi Zhang
- Fourth Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Chong Shan Road, Huanggu District, 110032, Shenyang, China.
| | - Mofei Wang
- Fourth Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Chong Shan Road, Huanggu District, 110032, Shenyang, China.
| | - Lei Liu
- Shengjing Hospital Affiliated to China Medical University, China.
| | - Bing He
- Shengjing Hospital Affiliated to China Medical University, China.
| | - Jingyao Hu
- Fourth Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Chong Shan Road, Huanggu District, 110032, Shenyang, China.
| | - Yong Wang
- Fourth Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Chong Shan Road, Huanggu District, 110032, Shenyang, China.
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Lai JKH, Gagalova KK, Kuenne C, El-Brolosy MA, Stainier DYR. Induction of interferon-stimulated genes and cellular stress pathways by morpholinos in zebrafish. Dev Biol 2019; 454:21-28. [PMID: 31201802 DOI: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2019.06.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2018] [Revised: 06/11/2019] [Accepted: 06/12/2019] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
Abstract
The phenotypes caused by morpholino-mediated interference of gene function in zebrafish are often not observed in the corresponding mutant(s). We took advantage of the availability of a relatively large collection of transcriptomic datasets to identify common signatures that characterize morpholino-injected animals (morphants). In addition to the previously reported activation of tp53 expression, we observed increased expression of the interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs), isg15 and isg20, the cell death pathway gene casp8, and other cellular stress response genes including phlda3, mdm2 and gadd45aa. Studies involving segmentation stage embryos were more likely to show upregulation of these genes. We also found that the expression of these genes could be upregulated by increasing doses of an egfl7 morpholino, or even high doses of the standard control morpholino. Thus, these data show that morpholinos can induce the expression of ISGs in zebrafish embryos and further our understanding of morpholino effects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jason K H Lai
- Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research, Department of Developmental Genetics, 61231 Bad Nauheim, Germany
| | - Kristina K Gagalova
- Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research, Department of Developmental Genetics, 61231 Bad Nauheim, Germany
| | - Carsten Kuenne
- ECCPS Bioinformatics and Deep Sequencing Platform, Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research, 61231 Bad Nauheim, Germany
| | - Mohamed A El-Brolosy
- Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research, Department of Developmental Genetics, 61231 Bad Nauheim, Germany
| | - Didier Y R Stainier
- Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research, Department of Developmental Genetics, 61231 Bad Nauheim, Germany.
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25
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Sampilo NF, Stepicheva NA, Zaidi SAM, Wang L, Wu W, Wikramanayake A, Song JL. Inhibition of microRNA suppression of Dishevelled results in Wnt pathway-associated developmental defects in sea urchin. Development 2018; 145:dev167130. [PMID: 30389855 PMCID: PMC6288383 DOI: 10.1242/dev.167130] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [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: 04/30/2018] [Accepted: 10/29/2018] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are highly conserved, small non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expressions by binding to the 3' untranslated region of target mRNAs thereby silencing translation. Some miRNAs are key regulators of the Wnt signaling pathways, which impact developmental processes. This study investigates miRNA regulation of different isoforms of Dishevelled (Dvl/Dsh), which encode a key component in the Wnt signaling pathway. The sea urchin Dvl mRNA isoforms have similar spatial distribution in early development, but one isoform is distinctively expressed in the larval ciliary band. We demonstrated that Dvl isoforms are directly suppressed by miRNAs. By blocking miRNA suppression of Dvl isoforms, we observed dose-dependent defects in spicule length, patterning of the primary mesenchyme cells, gut morphology, and cilia. These defects likely result from increased Dvl protein levels, leading to perturbation of Wnt-dependent signaling pathways and additional Dvl-mediated processes. We further demonstrated that overexpression of Dvl isoforms recapitulated some of the Dvl miRNATP-induced phenotypes. Overall, our results indicate that miRNA suppression of Dvl isoforms plays an important role in ensuring proper development and function of primary mesenchyme cells and cilia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nina Faye Sampilo
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA
| | - Nadezda A Stepicheva
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA
- Department of Ophthalmology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA
| | | | - Lingyu Wang
- Department of Biology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL 33124, USA
| | - Wei Wu
- Department of Biology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL 33124, USA
| | | | - Jia L Song
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA
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Neelathi UM, Dalle Nogare D, Chitnis AB. Cxcl12a induces snail1b expression to initiate collective migration and sequential Fgf-dependent neuromast formation in the zebrafish posterior lateral line primordium. Development 2018; 145:dev162453. [PMID: 29945870 PMCID: PMC6078336 DOI: 10.1242/dev.162453] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [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: 12/12/2017] [Accepted: 06/13/2018] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
The zebrafish posterior lateral line primordium migrates along a path defined by the chemokine Cxcl12a, periodically depositing neuromasts, to pioneer formation of the zebrafish posterior lateral line system. snail1b, known for its role in promoting cell migration, is expressed in leading cells of the primordium in response to Cxcl12a, whereas its expression in trailing cells is inhibited by Fgf signaling. snail1b knockdown delays initiation of primordium migration. This delay is associated with aberrant expansion of epithelial cell adhesion molecule (epcam) and reduction of cadherin 2 expression in the leading part of the primordium. Co-injection of snail1b morpholino with snail1b mRNA prevents the initial delay in migration and restores normal expression of epcam and cadherin 2 The delay in initiating primordium migration in snail1b morphants is accompanied by a delay in sequential formation of trailing Fgf signaling centers and associated protoneuromasts. This delay is not specifically associated with knockdown of snail1b but also with other manipulations that delay migration of the primordium. These observations reveal an unexpected link between the initiation of collective migration and sequential formation of protoneuromasts in the primordium.
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Affiliation(s)
- Uma M Neelathi
- Section on Neural Developmental Dynamics, Division of Developmental Biology, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Damian Dalle Nogare
- Section on Neural Developmental Dynamics, Division of Developmental Biology, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Ajay B Chitnis
- Section on Neural Developmental Dynamics, Division of Developmental Biology, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
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27
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Belanger AM, Przybylska M, Gefteas E, Furgerson M, Geller S, Kloss A, Cheng SH, Zhu Y, Yew NS. Inhibiting neutral amino acid transport for the treatment of phenylketonuria. JCI Insight 2018; 3:121762. [PMID: 30046012 DOI: 10.1172/jci.insight.121762] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2018] [Accepted: 06/19/2018] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The neuropathological effects of phenylketonuria (PKU) stem from the inability of the body to metabolize excess phenylalanine (Phe), resulting in accumulation of Phe in the blood and brain. Since the kidney normally reabsorbs circulating amino acids with high efficiency, we hypothesized that preventing the renal uptake of Phe might provide a disposal pathway that could lower systemic Phe levels. SLC6A19 is a neutral amino acid transporter responsible for absorption of the majority of free Phe in the small intestine and reuptake of Phe by renal proximal tubule cells. Transgenic KO mice lacking SLC6A19 have elevated levels of Phe and other amino acids in their urine but are otherwise healthy. Here, we crossed the Pahenu2 mouse model of PKU with the Slc6a19-KO mouse. These mutant/KO mice exhibited abundant excretion of Phe in the urine and an approximately 70% decrease in plasma Phe levels. Importantly, brain Phe levels were decreased by 50%, and the levels of key neurotransmitters were increased in the mutant/KO mice. In addition, a deficit in spatial working memory and markers of neuropathology were corrected. Finally, treatment of Pahenu2 mice with Slc6a19 antisense oligonucleotides lowered Phe levels. The results suggest that inhibition of SLC6A19 may represent a novel approach for the treatment of PKU and related aminoacidopathies.
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MESH Headings
- Amines
- Amino Acid Transport Systems, Neutral/analysis
- Amino Acid Transport Systems, Neutral/genetics
- Amino Acid Transport Systems, Neutral/metabolism
- Amino Acids, Neutral/blood
- Amino Acids, Neutral/metabolism
- Animals
- Astrocytes/metabolism
- Astrocytes/pathology
- Biological Transport/drug effects
- Brain/metabolism
- Disease Models, Animal
- Female
- Gene Expression Regulation
- Genetic Diseases, Inborn/therapy
- Kidney Tubules, Proximal/drug effects
- Kidney Tubules, Proximal/metabolism
- Male
- Memory, Short-Term
- Mice
- Mice, Knockout
- Morpholinos/pharmacology
- Oligonucleotides/pharmacology
- Phenylalanine/blood
- Phenylalanine/metabolism
- Phenylketonurias/pathology
- Phenylketonurias/therapy
- Renal Reabsorption/drug effects
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Cheatham AM, Davis SE, Khatua AK, Popik W. Blocking the 5' splice site of exon 4 by a morpholino oligomer triggers APOL1 protein isoform switch. Sci Rep 2018; 8:8739. [PMID: 29880816 PMCID: PMC5992166 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-27104-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2017] [Accepted: 05/21/2018] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
APOL1 risk alleles G1 or G2 are associated with a kidney disease phenotype exclusively in people of recent African ancestry. Here we show that exon 4 encoding a part of the APOL1 signal peptide is constitutively spliced in major APOL1 transcripts expressed in kidney glomerular and tubular cells. We demonstrate that constitutive splicing of exon 4 results from a suboptimal hnRNP A1 binding motif found in exon 4. Accordingly, a robust binding of hnRNP A1 protein to a consensus hnRNP A1 cis-acting element in exon 4 results in almost complete exclusion of exon 4 from the APOL1 minigene transcripts. Blocking the 5' splice site at the exon 4/intron boundary with a specific antisense morpholino oligonucleotide excludes exon 4 from the splicing pattern of endogenous APOL1 transcripts. These transcripts are fully functional and produce APOL1 protein isoform that is not normally detectable in podocytes. Together with our previous data showing no cytotoxicity of overexpressed APOL1 isoform lacking exon 4, we propose that morpholino-induced APOL1 isoform switch may provide a new tool to identify in vivo molecular mechanism(s) by which risk alleles promote or mediate the kidney disease phenotype.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amber M Cheatham
- Meharry Medical College, Center for AIDS Health Disparities Research, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, 1005 D. B. Todd Blvd, Nashville, TN, 37028, USA
| | - Shamara E Davis
- Meharry Medical College, Center for AIDS Health Disparities Research, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, 1005 D. B. Todd Blvd, Nashville, TN, 37028, USA
| | - Atanu K Khatua
- Meharry Medical College, Center for AIDS Health Disparities Research, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, 1005 D. B. Todd Blvd, Nashville, TN, 37028, USA
| | - Waldemar Popik
- Meharry Medical College, Center for AIDS Health Disparities Research, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, 1005 D. B. Todd Blvd, Nashville, TN, 37028, USA.
- Department of Internal Medicine, 1005 D. B. Todd Blvd, Nashville, TN, 37028, USA.
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29
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Geller BL, Li L, Martinez F, Sully E, Sturge CR, Daly SM, Pybus C, Greenberg DE. Morpholino oligomers tested in vitro, in biofilm and in vivo against multidrug-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae. J Antimicrob Chemother 2018; 73:1611-1619. [PMID: 29506074 PMCID: PMC6251509 DOI: 10.1093/jac/dky058] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2017] [Revised: 01/24/2018] [Accepted: 01/29/2018] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Klebsiella pneumoniae is an opportunistic pathogen and many strains are multidrug resistant. KPC is one of the most problematic resistance mechanisms, as it confers resistance to most β-lactams, including carbapenems. A promising platform technology for treating infections caused by MDR pathogens is the nucleic acid-like synthetic oligomers that silence bacterial gene expression by an antisense mechanism. Objectives To test a peptide-conjugated phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomer (PPMO) in a mouse model of K. pneumoniae infection. Methods PPMOs were designed to target various essential genes of K. pneumoniae and screened in vitro against a panel of diverse strains. The most potent PPMOs were further tested for their bactericidal effects in broth cultures and in established biofilms. Finally, a PPMO was used to treat mice infected with a KPC-expressing strain. Results The most potent PPMOs targeted acpP, rpmB and ftsZ and had MIC75s of 0.5, 4 and 4 μM, respectively. AcpP PPMOs were bactericidal at 1-2 × MIC and reduced viable cells and biofilm mass in established biofilms. In a mouse pneumonia model, therapeutic intranasal treatment with ∼30 mg/kg AcpP PPMO improved survival by 89% and reduced bacterial burden in the lung by ∼3 logs. Survival was proportional to the dose of AcpP PPMO. Delaying treatment by 2, 8 or 24 h post-infection improved survival compared with control groups treated with PBS or scrambled sequence (Scr) PPMOs. Conclusions PPMOs have the potential to be effective therapeutic agents against KPC-expressing, MDR K. pneumoniae.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bruce L Geller
- Department of Microbiology, 226 Nash Hall, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA
| | - Lixin Li
- Department of Microbiology, 226 Nash Hall, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA
| | - Fabian Martinez
- Department of Microbiology, 226 Nash Hall, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA
| | - Erin Sully
- Department of Microbiology, 226 Nash Hall, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA
| | - Carolyn R Sturge
- Department of Internal Medicine, 5323 Harry Hines Blvd., University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA
| | - Seth M Daly
- Department of Internal Medicine, 5323 Harry Hines Blvd., University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA
| | - Christine Pybus
- Department of Internal Medicine, 5323 Harry Hines Blvd., University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA
| | - David E Greenberg
- Department of Internal Medicine, 5323 Harry Hines Blvd., University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA
- Department of Microbiology, 5323 Harry Hines Blvd., University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA
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30
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Lee J, Echigoya Y, Duddy W, Saito T, Aoki Y, Takeda S, Yokota T. Antisense PMO cocktails effectively skip dystrophin exons 45-55 in myotubes transdifferentiated from DMD patient fibroblasts. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0197084. [PMID: 29771942 PMCID: PMC5957359 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0197084] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2018] [Accepted: 04/25/2018] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Antisense-mediated exon skipping has made significant progress as a therapeutic platform in recent years, especially in the case of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Despite FDA approval of eteplirsen-the first-ever antisense drug clinically marketed for DMD-exon skipping therapy still faces the significant hurdles of limited applicability and unknown truncated protein function. In-frame exon skipping of dystrophin exons 45-55 represents a significant approach to treating DMD, as a large proportion of patients harbor mutations within this "hotspot" region. Additionally, patients harboring dystrophin exons 45-55 deletion mutations are reported to have exceptionally mild to asymptomatic phenotypes. Here, we demonstrate that a cocktail of phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomers can effectively skip dystrophin exons 45-55 in vitro in myotubes transdifferentiated from DMD patient fibroblast cells. This is the first report of substantive exons 45-55 skipping in DMD patient cells. These findings help validate the use of transdifferentiated patient fibroblast cells as a suitable cell model for dystrophin exon skipping assays and further emphasize the feasibility of dystrophin exons 45-55 skipping in patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joshua Lee
- Department of Medical Genetics, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
| | - Yusuke Echigoya
- Department of Veterinary Medicine, Nihon University, Fujisawa, Kanagawa, Japan
| | - William Duddy
- Northern Ireland Centre for Stratified Medicine, Altnagelvin Hospital Campus, Ulster University, Londonderry, United Kingdom
| | - Takashi Saito
- Department of Molecular Therapy, National Institute of Neuroscience, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Kodaira, Japan
| | - Yoshitsugu Aoki
- Department of Molecular Therapy, National Institute of Neuroscience, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Kodaira, Japan
| | - Shin’ichi Takeda
- Department of Molecular Therapy, National Institute of Neuroscience, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Kodaira, Japan
| | - Toshifumi Yokota
- Department of Medical Genetics, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
- The Friends of Garrett Cumming Research & Muscular Dystrophy Canada HM Toupin Neurological Science Research Chair, Edmonton, AB, Canada
- * E-mail:
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Abstract
Xenopus laevis has long been a popular model for studies of development and, based on the use of cell-free extracts derived from its eggs, as a model for reconstitution of cell cycle regulation and other basic cellular processes. However, work over the last several years has shown that intact Xenopus eggs and embryos are also powerful models for visualization and characterization of cell cycle-regulated cytoskeletal dynamics. These findings were something of a surprise, given that the relatively low opacity of Xenopus eggs and embryos was assumed to make them poor subjects for live-cell imaging. In fact, however, the high tolerance for light exposure, the development of new imaging approaches, new probes for cytoskeletal components and cytoskeletal regulators, and the ease of microinjection make the Xenopus oocytes, eggs, and embryos one of the most useful live-cell imaging models among the vertebrates. In this review, we describe the basics of using X. laevis as a model organism for studying cell division and outline experimental approaches for imaging cytoskeletal components in vivo in X. laevis embryos and eggs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ani Varjabedian
- Laboratory of Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States; Graduate Program in Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States
| | - Angela Kita
- Graduate Program in Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States; Department of Biomolecular Chemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States
| | - William Bement
- Laboratory of Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States; Graduate Program in Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States; Department of Integrative Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States.
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32
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Slota LA, McClay DR. Identification of neural transcription factors required for the differentiation of three neuronal subtypes in the sea urchin embryo. Dev Biol 2018; 435:138-149. [PMID: 29331498 PMCID: PMC5837949 DOI: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2017.12.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [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: 12/20/2017] [Accepted: 12/20/2017] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Correct patterning of the nervous system is essential for an organism's survival and complex behavior. Embryologists have used the sea urchin as a model for decades, but our understanding of sea urchin nervous system patterning is incomplete. Previous histochemical studies identified multiple neurotransmitters in the pluteus larvae of several sea urchin species. However, little is known about how, where and when neural subtypes are differentially specified during development. Here, we examine the molecular mechanisms of neuronal subtype specification in 3 distinct neural subtypes in the Lytechinus variegatus larva. We show that these subtypes are specified through Delta/Notch signaling and identify a different transcription factor required for the development of each neural subtype. Our results show achaete-scute and neurogenin are proneural for the serotonergic neurons of the apical organ and cholinergic neurons of the ciliary band, respectively. We also show that orthopedia is not proneural but is necessary for the differentiation of the cholinergic/catecholaminergic postoral neurons. Interestingly, these transcription factors are used similarly during vertebrate neurogenesis. We believe this study is a starting point for building a neural gene regulatory network in the sea urchin and for finding conserved deuterostome neurogenic mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leslie A Slota
- Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, United States
| | - David R McClay
- Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, United States.
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Gentsch GE, Spruce T, Monteiro RS, Owens NDL, Martin SR, Smith JC. Innate Immune Response and Off-Target Mis-splicing Are Common Morpholino-Induced Side Effects in Xenopus. Dev Cell 2018; 44:597-610.e10. [PMID: 29478923 PMCID: PMC5861998 DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2018.01.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [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: 07/19/2017] [Revised: 11/21/2017] [Accepted: 01/26/2018] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
Antisense morpholino oligomers (MOs) have been indispensable tools for developmental biologists to transiently knock down (KD) genes rather than to knock them out (KO). Here we report on the implications of genetic KO versus MO-mediated KD of the mesoderm-specifying Brachyury paralogs in the frog Xenopus tropicalis. While both KO and KD embryos fail to activate the same core gene regulatory network, resulting in virtually identical morphological defects, embryos injected with control or target MOs also show a systemic GC content-dependent immune response and many off-target splicing defects. Optimization of MO dosage and increasing incubation temperatures can mitigate, but not eliminate, these MO side effects, which are consistent with the high affinity measured between MO and off-target sequence in vitro. We conclude that while MOs can be useful to profile loss-of-function phenotypes at a molecular level, careful attention must be paid to their immunogenic and off-target side effects.
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Affiliation(s)
- George E Gentsch
- The Francis Crick Institute, Developmental Biology Laboratory, 1 Midland Road, London NW1 1AT, UK.
| | - Thomas Spruce
- The Francis Crick Institute, Developmental Biology Laboratory, 1 Midland Road, London NW1 1AT, UK
| | - Rita S Monteiro
- The Francis Crick Institute, Developmental Biology Laboratory, 1 Midland Road, London NW1 1AT, UK
| | - Nick D L Owens
- The Francis Crick Institute, Developmental Biology Laboratory, 1 Midland Road, London NW1 1AT, UK
| | - Stephen R Martin
- The Francis Crick Institute, Structural Biology Science Technology Platform, 1 Midland Road, London NW1 1AT, UK
| | - James C Smith
- The Francis Crick Institute, Developmental Biology Laboratory, 1 Midland Road, London NW1 1AT, UK.
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Kim CW, Han JH, Wu L, Choi JY. microRNA-183 is Essential for Hair Cell Regeneration after Neomycin Injury in Zebrafish. Yonsei Med J 2018; 59:141-147. [PMID: 29214789 PMCID: PMC5725352 DOI: 10.3349/ymj.2018.59.1.141] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [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] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2017] [Revised: 10/11/2017] [Accepted: 10/29/2017] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
PURPOSE microRNAs (miRNAs) are non-coding RNAs composed of 20 to 22 nucleotides that regulate development and differentiation in various organs by silencing specific RNAs and regulating gene expression. In the present study, we show that the microRNA (miR)-183 cluster is upregulated during hair cell regeneration and that its inhibition reduces hair cell regeneration following neomycin-induced ototoxicity in zebrafish. MATERIALS AND METHODS miRNA expression patterns after neomycin exposure were analyzed using microarray chips. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction was performed to validate miR-183 cluster expression patterns following neomycin exposure (500 μM for 2 h). After injection of an antisense morpholino (MO) to miR-183 (MO-183) immediately after fertilization, hair cell regeneration after neomycin exposure in neuromast cells was evaluated by fluorescent staining (YO-PRO1). The MO-183 effect also was assessed in transgenic zebrafish larvae expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP) in inner ear hair cells. RESULTS Microarray analysis clearly showed that the miR-183 cluster (miR-96, miR-182, and miR-183) was upregulated after neomycin treatment. We also confirmed upregulated expression of the miR-183 cluster during hair cell regeneration after neomycin-induced ototoxicity. miR-183 inhibition using MO-183 reduced hair cell regeneration in both wild-type and GFP transgenic zebrafish larvae. CONCLUSION Our work demonstrates that the miR-183 cluster is essential for the regeneration of hair cells following ototoxic injury in zebrafish larvae. Therefore, regulation of the miR-183 cluster can be a novel target for stimulation of hair cell regeneration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chang Woo Kim
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Hallym University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
| | - Ji Hyuk Han
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
| | - Ling Wu
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
| | - Jae Young Choi
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
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35
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Sen A, Nelson TJ, Alkon DL, Hongpaisan J. Loss in PKC Epsilon Causes Downregulation of MnSOD and BDNF Expression in Neurons of Alzheimer's Disease Hippocampus. J Alzheimers Dis 2018; 63:1173-1189. [PMID: 29710707 DOI: 10.3233/jad-171008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [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: 01/17/2023]
Abstract
Oxidative stress and amyloid-β (Aβ) oligomers have been implicated in Alzheimer's disease (AD). The growth and maintenance of neuronal networks are influenced by brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) expression, which is promoted by protein kinase C epsilon (PKCɛ). We investigated the reciprocal interaction among oxidative stress, Aβ, and PKCɛ levels and subsequent PKCɛ-dependent MnSOD and BDNF expression in hippocampal pyramidal neurons. Reduced levels of PKCɛ, MnSOD, and BDNF and an increased level of Aβ were also found in hippocampal neurons from autopsy-confirmed AD patients. In cultured human primary hippocampal neurons, spherical aggregation of Aβ (amylospheroids) decreased PKCɛ and MnSOD. Treatment with t-butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP) increased superoxide, the oxidative DNA/RNA damage marker, 8-OHG, and Aβ levels, but reduced PKCɛ, MnSOD, BDNF, and cultured neuron density. These changes were reversed with the PKCɛ activators, bryostatin and DCPLA-ME. PKCɛ knockdown suppressed PKCɛ, MnSOD, and BDNF but increased Aβ. In cultured neurons, the increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS) associated with reduced PKCɛ during neurodegeneration was inhibited by the SOD mimetic MnTMPyP and the ROS scavenger NAc, indicating that strong oxidative stress suppresses PKCɛ level. Reduction of PKCɛ and MnSOD was prevented with the PKCɛ activator bryostatin in 5-6-month-old Tg2576 AD transgenic mice. In conclusion, oxidative stress and Aβ decrease PKCɛ expression. Reciprocally, a depression of PKCɛ reduces BDNF and MnSOD, resulting in oxidative stress. These changes can be prevented with the PKCɛ-specific activators.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abhik Sen
- Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA
| | - Thomas J Nelson
- Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA
| | | | - Jarin Hongpaisan
- Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA
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Williams RM, Winkfein RJ, Ginger RS, Green MR, Schnetkamp PP, Wheeler GN. A functional approach to understanding the role of NCKX5 in Xenopus pigmentation. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0180465. [PMID: 28692664 PMCID: PMC5503238 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0180465] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2017] [Accepted: 06/15/2017] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
NCKX5 is an ion exchanger expressed mostly in pigment cells; however, the functional role for this protein in melanogenesis is not clear. A variant allele of SLC24A5, the gene encoding NCKX5, has been shown to correlate with lighter skin pigmentation in humans, indicating a key role for SLC24A5 in determining human skin colour. SLC24A5 expression has been found to be elevated in melanoma. Knockdown analyses have shown SLC24A5 to be important for pigmentation, but to date the function of this ion exchanger in melanogenesis has not been fully established. Our data suggest NCKX5 may have an alternative activity that is key to its role in the regulation of pigmentation. Here Xenopus laevis is employed as an in vivo model system to further investigate the function of NCKX5 in pigmentation. SLC24A5 is expressed in the melanophores as they differentiate from the neural crest and develop in the RPE of the eye. Morpholino knockdown and rescue experiments were designed to elucidate key residues and regions of the NCKX5 protein. Unilateral morpholino injection at the 2 cell stage resulted in a reduction of pigmentation in the eye and epidermis of one lateral side of the tadpole. Xenopus and human SLC24A5 can rescue the morpholino effects. Further rescue experiments including the use of ion exchange inactive SLC24A5 constructs raise the possibility that full ion exchanger function of NCKX5 may not be required for rescue of pigmentation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruth M. Williams
- School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom
| | - Robert J. Winkfein
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
| | - Rebecca S. Ginger
- Unilever Research and Development, Colworth Science Park, Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire, United Kingdom
| | - Martin R. Green
- Unilever Research and Development, Colworth Science Park, Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire, United Kingdom
| | - Paul P. Schnetkamp
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
| | - Grant N. Wheeler
- School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom
- * E-mail:
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Kyritsi K, Meng F, Zhou T, Wu N, Venter J, Francis H, Kennedy L, Onori P, Franchitto A, Bernuzzi F, Invernizzi P, McDaniel K, Mancinelli R, Alvaro D, Gaudio E, Alpini G, Glaser S. Knockdown of Hepatic Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone by Vivo-Morpholino Decreases Liver Fibrosis in Multidrug Resistance Gene 2 Knockout Mice by Down-Regulation of miR-200b. Am J Pathol 2017; 187:1551-1565. [PMID: 28502477 PMCID: PMC5500827 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajpath.2017.03.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2017] [Revised: 03/16/2017] [Accepted: 03/28/2017] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Hepatic fibrosis occurs during the progression of primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) and is characterized by accumulation of extracellular matrix proteins. Proliferating cholangiocytes and activated hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) participate in the promotion of liver fibrosis during cholestasis. Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) is a trophic peptide hormone synthesized by hypothalamic neurons and the biliary epithelium and exerts its biological effects on cholangiocytes by interaction with the receptor subtype (GnRHR1) expressed by cholangiocytes and HSCs. Previously, we demonstrated that administration of GnRH to normal rats increased intrahepatic biliary mass (IBDM) and hepatic fibrosis. Also, miR-200b is associated with the progression of hepatic fibrosis; however, the role of the GnRH/GnRHR1/miR-200b axis in the development of hepatic fibrosis in PSC is unknown. Herein, using the mouse model of PSC (multidrug resistance gene 2 knockout), the hepatic knockdown of GnRH decreased IBDM and liver fibrosis. In vivo and in vitro administration of GnRH increased the expression of miR-200b and fibrosis markers. The GnRH/GnRHR1 axis and miR-200b were up-regulated in human PSC samples. Cetrorelix, a GnRHR1 antagonist, inhibited the expression of fibrotic genes in vitro and decreased IBDM and hepatic fibrosis in vivo. Inhibition of miR-200b decreased the expression of fibrosis genes in vitro in cholangiocyte and HSC lines. Targeting the GnRH/GnRHR1/miR-200b axis may be key for the management of hepatic fibrosis during the progression of PSC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Konstantina Kyritsi
- Department of Internal Medicine, Texas A&M Health Science Center, College of Medicine, Temple, Texas
| | - Fanyin Meng
- Department of Internal Medicine, Texas A&M Health Science Center, College of Medicine, Temple, Texas; Department of Research, Central Texas Veterans Health Care System, Temple, Texas; Baylor Scott & White Health Digestive Disease Research Center, Temple, Texas; Research Foundation, Baylor Scott & White Health, Temple, Texas
| | - Tianhao Zhou
- Department of Internal Medicine, Texas A&M Health Science Center, College of Medicine, Temple, Texas
| | - Nan Wu
- Department of Internal Medicine, Texas A&M Health Science Center, College of Medicine, Temple, Texas
| | - Julie Venter
- Department of Internal Medicine, Texas A&M Health Science Center, College of Medicine, Temple, Texas
| | - Heather Francis
- Department of Internal Medicine, Texas A&M Health Science Center, College of Medicine, Temple, Texas; Department of Research, Central Texas Veterans Health Care System, Temple, Texas; Baylor Scott & White Health Digestive Disease Research Center, Temple, Texas
| | - Lindsey Kennedy
- Department of Internal Medicine, Texas A&M Health Science Center, College of Medicine, Temple, Texas; Department of Research, Central Texas Veterans Health Care System, Temple, Texas
| | - Paolo Onori
- Department of Anatomical, Histological, Forensic Medicine and Orthopedics Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Antonio Franchitto
- Department of Anatomical, Histological, Forensic Medicine and Orthopedics Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy; Eleonora Lorillard Spencer Cenci Foundation, Rome, Italy
| | - Francesca Bernuzzi
- Center for Autoimmune Liver Diseases, Humanitas Clinical and Research Center, Rozzano, Italy
| | - Pietro Invernizzi
- Center for Autoimmune Liver Diseases, Humanitas Clinical and Research Center, Rozzano, Italy
| | - Kelly McDaniel
- Research Foundation, Baylor Scott & White Health, Temple, Texas
| | - Romina Mancinelli
- Department of Anatomical, Histological, Forensic Medicine and Orthopedics Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Domenico Alvaro
- Department of Medicine and Medical Specialties, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Eugenio Gaudio
- Department of Anatomical, Histological, Forensic Medicine and Orthopedics Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Gianfranco Alpini
- Department of Internal Medicine, Texas A&M Health Science Center, College of Medicine, Temple, Texas; Department of Research, Central Texas Veterans Health Care System, Temple, Texas; Baylor Scott & White Health Digestive Disease Research Center, Temple, Texas; Research Foundation, Baylor Scott & White Health, Temple, Texas.
| | - Shannon Glaser
- Department of Internal Medicine, Texas A&M Health Science Center, College of Medicine, Temple, Texas; Department of Research, Central Texas Veterans Health Care System, Temple, Texas; Baylor Scott & White Health Digestive Disease Research Center, Temple, Texas.
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Ma L, Shen HF, Shen YQ, Schachner M. The Adhesion Molecule-Characteristic HNK-1 Carbohydrate Contributes to Functional Recovery After Spinal Cord Injury in Adult Zebrafish. Mol Neurobiol 2017; 54:3253-3263. [PMID: 27086029 DOI: 10.1007/s12035-016-9876-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [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: 12/14/2015] [Accepted: 03/18/2016] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
The human natural killer cell antigen-1 (HNK-1) is functionally important in development, synaptic activity, and regeneration after injury in the nervous system of several mammalian species. It contains a sulfated glucuronic acid which is carried by neural adhesion molecules and expressed in nonmammalian species, including zebrafish, which, as opposed to mammals, spontaneously regenerate after injury in the adult. To evaluate HNK-1's role in recovery of function after spinal cord injury (SCI) of adult zebrafish, we assessed the effects of the two HNK-1 synthesizing enzymes, glucuronyl transferase and HNK-1 sulfotransferase. Expression of these two enzymes was increased at the messenger RNA (mRNA) level 11 days after injury in the brainstem nuclei that are capable of regrowth of severed axons, namely, the nucleus of medial longitudinal fascicle and intermediate reticular formation, but not at earlier time points after SCI. mRNA levels of glucuronyl transferase and sulfotransferase were increased in neurons, not only of these nuclei but also in the spinal cord caudal to the injury site at 11 days. Mauthner neurons which are not capable of regeneration did not show increased levels of enzyme mRNAs after injury. Reducing protein levels of the enzymes by application of anti-sense morpholinos resulted in reduction of locomotor recovery for glucuronyl transferase, but not for HNK-1 sulfotransferase. The combined results indicate that HNK-1 is upregulated in expression only in those neurons that are intrinsically capable of regeneration and contributes to regeneration after spinal cord injury in adult zebrafish in the absence of its sulfate moiety.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liping Ma
- Keck Center for Collaborative Neuroscience and Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, Rutgers University, 604 Allison Road, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA
| | - Hui-Fan Shen
- Center for Neuroscience, Shantou University Medical College, 22 Xin Ling Road, Shantou, Guangdong, 515041, P.R. China
| | - Yan-Qin Shen
- Center for Neuroscience, Shantou University Medical College, 22 Xin Ling Road, Shantou, Guangdong, 515041, P.R. China
- Department of Basic Medicine, Jiangnan University Medical School, Wuxi, Jiangsu, P.R. China
| | - Melitta Schachner
- Keck Center for Collaborative Neuroscience and Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, Rutgers University, 604 Allison Road, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA.
- Center for Neuroscience, Shantou University Medical College, 22 Xin Ling Road, Shantou, Guangdong, 515041, P.R. China.
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Abstract
During vertebrate somitogenesis, retinoic acid is known to establish the position of the determination wavefront, controlling where new somites are permitted to form along the anteroposterior body axis. Less is understood about how RAR regulates somite patterning, rostral-caudal boundary setting, specialization of myotome subdivisions or the specific RAR subtype that is required for somite patterning. Characterizing the function of RARβ has been challenging due to the absence of embryonic phenotypes in murine loss-of-function studies. Using the Xenopus system, we show that RARβ2 plays a specific role in somite number and size, restriction of the presomitic mesoderm anterior border, somite chevron morphology and hypaxial myoblast migration. Rarβ2 is the RAR subtype whose expression is most upregulated in response to ligand and its localization in the trunk somites positions it at the right time and place to respond to embryonic retinoid levels during somitogenesis. RARβ2 positively regulates Tbx3 a marker of hypaxial muscle, and negatively regulates Tbx6 via Ripply2 to restrict the anterior boundaries of the presomitic mesoderm and caudal progenitor pool. These results demonstrate for the first time an early and essential role for RARβ2 in vertebrate somitogenesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amanda Janesick
- Department of Developmental and Cell Biology, 2011 Biological Sciences 3, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697-2300, USA
| | - Weiyi Tang
- Department of Developmental and Cell Biology, 2011 Biological Sciences 3, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697-2300, USA
| | - Tuyen T L Nguyen
- Department of Developmental and Cell Biology, 2011 Biological Sciences 3, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697-2300, USA
| | - Bruce Blumberg
- Department of Developmental and Cell Biology, 2011 Biological Sciences 3, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697-2300, USA
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
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40
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Rudigier LJ, Dame C, Scholz H, Kirschner KM. Ex vivo cultures combined with vivo-morpholino induced gene knockdown provide a system to assess the role of WT1 and GATA4 during gonad differentiation. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0176296. [PMID: 28426816 PMCID: PMC5398674 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0176296] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2016] [Accepted: 04/07/2017] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Gonad morphogenesis relies on the correct spatiotemporal expression of a number of genes that together fulfill the differentiation of the bipotential gonad into testes or ovaries. As such, the transcription factors WT1 and GATA4 are pivotal for proper gonadal development. Here we address the contributions of GATA4 and WT1 to the sex differentiation phase in testes and ovaries. We applied an ex vivo technique for cultivating gonads in hanging droplets of media that were supplemented with vivo-morpholinos to knockdown WT1 and GATA4 either alone or in combination at the same developmental stage. We show that WT1 is equally important for both, the initial establishment and the maintenance of the sex-specific gene expression signature in testes and ovaries. We further identified Foxl2 as a novel putative downstream target gene of WT1. Moreover, knockdown of WT1 reduced mRNA levels of several molecular components of the hedgehog signaling pathway in XY gonads, whereas Gata4 vivo-morpholino treatment increased transcripts of Dhh and Ptch1 in embryonic testes. The data suggest that for its proper function, WT1 relies on the correct expression of the GATA4 protein. Furthermore, GATA4 down-regulates several ovarian promoting genes in testes, such as Ctnnb1, Fst, and Bmp2, suggesting that this repression is required for maintaining the male phenotype. In conclusion, this study provides novel insights into the role of WT1 and GATA4 during the sex differentiation phase and represents an approach that can be applied to assess other proteins with as yet unknown functions during gonadal development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucas J. Rudigier
- Institut für Vegetative Physiologie, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Charité Mitte, Berlin, Germany
| | - Christof Dame
- Klinik für Neonatologie, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Virchow-Klinikum, Berlin, Germany
| | - Holger Scholz
- Institut für Vegetative Physiologie, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Charité Mitte, Berlin, Germany
- * E-mail:
| | - Karin M. Kirschner
- Institut für Vegetative Physiologie, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Charité Mitte, Berlin, Germany
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41
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Kelu JJ, Webb SE, Parrington J, Galione A, Miller AL. Ca 2+ release via two-pore channel type 2 (TPC2) is required for slow muscle cell myofibrillogenesis and myotomal patterning in intact zebrafish embryos. Dev Biol 2017; 425:109-129. [PMID: 28390800 DOI: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2017.03.031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2016] [Revised: 03/30/2017] [Accepted: 03/31/2017] [Indexed: 01/14/2023]
Abstract
We recently demonstrated a critical role for two-pore channel type 2 (TPC2)-mediated Ca2+ release during the differentiation of slow (skeletal) muscle cells (SMC) in intact zebrafish embryos, via the introduction of a translational-blocking morpholino antisense oligonucleotide (MO). Here, we extend our study and demonstrate that knockdown of TPC2 with a non-overlapping splice-blocking MO, knockout of TPC2 (via the generation of a tpcn2dhkz1a mutant line of zebrafish using CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing), or the pharmacological inhibition of TPC2 action with bafilomycin A1 or trans-ned-19, also lead to a significant attenuation of SMC differentiation, characterized by a disruption of SMC myofibrillogenesis and gross morphological changes in the trunk musculature. When the morphants were injected with tpcn2-mRNA or were treated with IP3/BM or caffeine (agonists of the inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor (IP3R) and ryanodine receptor (RyR), respectively), many aspects of myofibrillogenesis and myotomal patterning (and in the case of the pharmacological treatments, the Ca2+ signals generated in the SMCs), were rescued. STED super-resolution microscopy revealed a close physical relationship between clusters of RyR in the terminal cisternae of the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR), and TPC2 in lysosomes, with a mean estimated separation of ~52-87nm. Our data therefore add to the increasing body of evidence, which indicate that localized Ca2+ release via TPC2 might trigger the generation of more global Ca2+ release from the SR via Ca2+-induced Ca2+ release.
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MESH Headings
- Animals
- Base Sequence
- Behavior, Animal/drug effects
- Body Patterning/drug effects
- CRISPR-Cas Systems/genetics
- Caffeine/pharmacology
- Calcium/metabolism
- Calcium Channels/metabolism
- Calcium Signaling/drug effects
- Cell Death/drug effects
- Cells, Cultured
- Embryo, Nonmammalian/drug effects
- Embryo, Nonmammalian/metabolism
- Gene Knockdown Techniques
- Gene Knockout Techniques
- Inositol 1,4,5-Trisphosphate Receptors/metabolism
- Kinesins/metabolism
- Macrolides/pharmacology
- Models, Biological
- Morpholinos/pharmacology
- Motor Activity/drug effects
- Muscle Cells/cytology
- Muscle Cells/drug effects
- Muscle Cells/metabolism
- Muscle Development/drug effects
- Muscle Fibers, Slow-Twitch/cytology
- Muscle Fibers, Slow-Twitch/drug effects
- Muscle Fibers, Slow-Twitch/metabolism
- Phenotype
- RNA, Messenger/genetics
- RNA, Messenger/metabolism
- Ryanodine Receptor Calcium Release Channel/metabolism
- Sarcomeres/drug effects
- Sarcomeres/metabolism
- Zebrafish/embryology
- Zebrafish/metabolism
- Zebrafish Proteins/metabolism
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeffrey J Kelu
- Division of Life Science & State Key Laboratory of Molecular Neuroscience, HKUST, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong, PR China
| | - Sarah E Webb
- Division of Life Science & State Key Laboratory of Molecular Neuroscience, HKUST, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong, PR China
| | - John Parrington
- Department of Pharmacology, University of Oxford, Mansfield Road, Oxford, UK
| | - Antony Galione
- Department of Pharmacology, University of Oxford, Mansfield Road, Oxford, UK
| | - Andrew L Miller
- Division of Life Science & State Key Laboratory of Molecular Neuroscience, HKUST, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong, PR China; Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA, USA.
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42
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Naylor RW, Han HI, Hukriede NA, Davidson AJ. Wnt8a expands the pool of embryonic kidney progenitors in zebrafish. Dev Biol 2017; 425:130-141. [PMID: 28359809 DOI: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2017.03.027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2016] [Revised: 03/24/2017] [Accepted: 03/25/2017] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
Abstract
During zebrafish embryogenesis the pronephric kidney arises from a small population of posterior mesoderm cells that then undergo expansion during early stages of renal organogenesis. While wnt8 is required for posterior mesoderm formation during gastrulation, it is also transiently expressed in the post-gastrula embryo in the intermediate mesoderm, the precursor to the pronephros and some blood/vascular lineages. Here, we show that knockdown of wnt8a, using a low dose of morpholino that does not disrupt early mesoderm patterning, reduces the number of kidney and blood cells. For the kidney, wnt8a deficiency decreases renal progenitor growth during early somitogenesis, as detected by EdU incorporation, but has no effect on apoptosis. The depletion of the renal progenitor pool in wnt8a knockdown embryos leads to cellular deficits in the pronephros at 24 hpf that are characterised by a shortened distal-most segment and stretched proximal tubule cells. A pulse of the canonical Wnt pathway agonist BIO during early somitogenesis is sufficient to rescue the size of the renal progenitor pool while longer treatment expands the number of kidney cells. Taken together, these observations indicate that Wnt8, in addition to its well-established role in posterior mesoderm patterning, also plays a later role as a factor that expands the renal progenitor pool prior to kidney morphogenesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard W Naylor
- Department of Molecular Medicine and Pathology, University of Auckland, Auckland 1142, New Zealand.
| | - Hwa In Han
- Department of Developmental Biology, Center for Critical Care Nephrology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.
| | - Neil A Hukriede
- Department of Developmental Biology, Center for Critical Care Nephrology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.
| | - Alan J Davidson
- Department of Molecular Medicine and Pathology, University of Auckland, Auckland 1142, New Zealand.
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43
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Chen T, Yu Y, Hu C, Schachner M. L1.2, the zebrafish paralog of L1.1 and ortholog of the mammalian cell adhesion molecule L1 contributes to spinal cord regeneration in adult zebrafish. Restor Neurol Neurosci 2016; 34:325-35. [PMID: 26889968 DOI: 10.3233/rnn-150602] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE The aim of the study was to investigate the functional role of L1.2, the zebrafish paralog of L1.1 and ortholog of mammalian L1CAM in adult zebrafish spinal cord regeneration after injury. L1CAM and L1.1 have shown beneficial features in ameliorating nervous system dysfunctions in different experimental paradigms. It thus deemed important to characterize the L1.2 member of the L1CAM family, the functions of which are unknown. METHODS Spinal cord transection of adult zebrafish, application of anti-sense morpholino to reduce L1.2 expression, qPCR, immunohistology, immunoblotting, in situ hybridization, retrograde tracing, anterograde tracing. RESULTS Similar to L1.1, L1.2 expression in adult zebrafish is upregulated after spinal cord transection. By co-localization of in situ hybridization and immunohistology, L1.2 is expressed in neurons and, in contrast to L1.1, it is also expressed in GFAP-immunoreactive glia. Reducing L1.2 protein levels leads to impaired locomotor recovery and reduction of regrowth of severed descending axons from a brain stem nucleus which is composed of neurons innately capable of axonal regrowth. CONCLUSIONS Our findings support the speculation that paralogs of duplicated genes can exert similar functions and may thus represent an advantage over other species that do not carry duplicated genes.
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Chen S, Le BT, Rahimizadeh K, Shaikh K, Mohal N, Veedu RN. Synthesis of a Morpholino Nucleic Acid (MNA)-Uridine Phosphoramidite, and Exon Skipping Using MNA/2'-O-Methyl Mixmer Antisense Oligonucleotide. Molecules 2016; 21:molecules21111582. [PMID: 27879669 PMCID: PMC6274534 DOI: 10.3390/molecules21111582] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2016] [Revised: 11/11/2016] [Accepted: 11/16/2016] [Indexed: 01/14/2023] Open
Abstract
In this study, we synthesised a morpholino nucleoside-uridine (MNA-U) phosphoramidite and evaluated the potential of a MNA-modified antisense oligonucleotide (AO) sequences to induce exon 23 skipping in mdx mouse myotubes in vitro towards extending the applicability of morpholino chemistry with other nucleotide monomers. We designed, synthesised, and compared exon skipping efficiencies of 20 mer MNA-modified 2'-O-methyl RNA mixmer AO on a phosphorothioate backbone (MNA/2'-OMePS) to the corresponding fully modified 2'-O-methyl RNA AO (2'-OMePS) as a control. Our results showed that the MNA/2'-OMePS efficiently induced exon 23 skipping. As expected, the 2'-OMePS AO control yielded efficient exon 23 skipping. Under the applied conditions, both the AOs showed minor products corresponding to exon 22/23 dual exon skipping in low yield. As these are very preliminary data, more detailed studies are necessary; however, based on the preliminary results, MNA nucleotides might be useful in constructing antisense oligonucleotides.
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Affiliation(s)
- Suxiang Chen
- Centre for Comparative Genomics, Murdoch University, Perth 6150, Australia.
- Western Australian Neuroscience Research Institute, Perth 6150, Australia.
| | - Bao T Le
- Centre for Comparative Genomics, Murdoch University, Perth 6150, Australia.
- Western Australian Neuroscience Research Institute, Perth 6150, Australia.
| | - Kamal Rahimizadeh
- Centre for Comparative Genomics, Murdoch University, Perth 6150, Australia.
| | - Khalil Shaikh
- GMK Research Laboratories Pvt. Ltd., Mallapur, Hyderabad 500 076, India.
| | - Narinder Mohal
- GMK Research Laboratories Pvt. Ltd., Mallapur, Hyderabad 500 076, India.
| | - Rakesh N Veedu
- Centre for Comparative Genomics, Murdoch University, Perth 6150, Australia.
- Western Australian Neuroscience Research Institute, Perth 6150, Australia.
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45
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Mu Z, Zhang S, He C, Hou H, Liu D, Hu N, Xu H. Expression of SoxC Transcription Factors during Zebrafish Retinal and Optic Nerve Regeneration. Neurosci Bull 2016; 33:53-61. [PMID: 27743342 DOI: 10.1007/s12264-016-0073-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2016] [Accepted: 07/23/2016] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The SoxC transcription factors (Sox4, Sox11, and Sox12) play important roles in the development of the vertebrate eye and retina. However, their expression and function during retinal and optic nerve regeneration remain elusive. In this study, we investigated the expression and possible functions of the SoxC genes after retinal and optic nerve injury in adult zebrafish. We found that among the five SoxC members, Sox11b was strongly induced in BrdU-positive cells in the inner nuclear layer (INL) after retinal injury, and morpholino-mediated Sox11b-knockdown significantly reduced the number of proliferating cells in the INL at 4 days post-injury. After optic nerve lesion, both Sox11a and Sox11b were strongly expressed in retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), and knockdown of both Sox11a and Sox11b inhibited RGC axon regrowth in retinal explants. Our study thus uncovered a novel expression pattern of SoxC family genes after retinal and optic nerve injury, and suggests that they have important functions during retinal and optic nerve regeneration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhaoxia Mu
- Eye Institute, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong, 226001, China
| | - Shuqiang Zhang
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Neuroregeneration, Co-innovation Center of Neuroregeneration, Nantong University, Nantong, 226001, China
| | - Chunjiao He
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Neuroregeneration, Co-innovation Center of Neuroregeneration, Nantong University, Nantong, 226001, China
| | - Haitao Hou
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Neuroregeneration, Co-innovation Center of Neuroregeneration, Nantong University, Nantong, 226001, China
| | - Dong Liu
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Neuroregeneration, Co-innovation Center of Neuroregeneration, Nantong University, Nantong, 226001, China
| | - Nan Hu
- Eye Institute, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong, 226001, China.
| | - Hui Xu
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Neuroregeneration, Co-innovation Center of Neuroregeneration, Nantong University, Nantong, 226001, China.
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46
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Shi B, Liu X, Thomas P, Pang Y, Xu Y, Li X, Li X. Identification and characterization of a progestin and adipoQ receptor (PAQR) structurally related to Paqr7 in the ovary of Cynoglossus semilaevis and its potential role in regulating oocyte maturation. Gen Comp Endocrinol 2016; 237:109-120. [PMID: 27554928 DOI: 10.1016/j.ygcen.2016.08.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2015] [Revised: 08/08/2016] [Accepted: 08/18/2016] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Membrane progestin receptors (mPRs) play an important role in the regulation of oocyte meiotic maturation in fish. However, details of the molecular endocrine mechanism regulating oocyte maturation in multiple spawning fish with asynchronous ovarian development remain unclear. The cDNA encoding a novel progestin and adipoQ receptor with structural similarity to mPRα (Paqr7), herein called Paqr7b, was cloned and sequenced from the ovary of half-smooth tongue sole Cynoglossus semilaevis. Phylogenetic analysis showed that Paqr7b represents an evolutionary intermediate between mPRα and mPRβ and shares high homology with other similar Paqr proteins in other teleost species. However, the tongue sole Paqr7b protein showed much greater homology to teleost mPRαs (average 52%) than mPRβs (average 40%), suggesting it may have arisen from gene duplication of mPRα. paqr7b and paqr7 mRNA exhibited similar patterns of tissue expression. The mRNA and protein of Paqr7b were ubiquitously detected in all tissues analyzed, including the ovary. Moreover, in situ hybridization results revealed that paqr7b was expressed in stage V oocytes, as well as in scattered cells in the pituitary. The expression of paqr7b mRNA in brain and ovary significantly increased from ovarian development stage II to stage V (P<0.05), and was maximal at stage V, and then sharply decreased at stage VI. The transcript level of paqr7b mRNA in the pituitary also peaked at stage V (P<0.05). Treatment of tongue sole ovarian follicles with gonadotropin consistently increased the expression level of Paqr7b protein and mRNA in both a dose- and stage-dependent manner. Microinjection of tongue sole oocytes with a morpholino antisense oligonucleotide to Paqr7b blocked the progestin induction of oocyte maturation. Our findings demonstrate an important role of Paqr7b in the regulation of oocyte maturation in tongue sole and suggest the receptor may also influence other aspects of reproduction, such as pituitary function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bao Shi
- Key Laboratory for the Sustainable Development of Marine Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture, Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China; Laboratory for Marine Fisheries Science and Food Production Processes, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao 266071, China
| | - Xuezhou Liu
- Key Laboratory for the Sustainable Development of Marine Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture, Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China; Laboratory for Marine Fisheries Science and Food Production Processes, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao 266071, China.
| | - Peter Thomas
- Marine Science Institute, University of Texas At Austin, Port Aransas, TX 78373, USA
| | - Yefei Pang
- Marine Science Institute, University of Texas At Austin, Port Aransas, TX 78373, USA
| | - Yongjiang Xu
- Key Laboratory for the Sustainable Development of Marine Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture, Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China; Laboratory for Marine Fisheries Science and Food Production Processes, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao 266071, China
| | - Xiaoni Li
- Key Laboratory for the Sustainable Development of Marine Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture, Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China; Laboratory for Marine Fisheries Science and Food Production Processes, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao 266071, China
| | - Xiaoxiao Li
- Key Laboratory for the Sustainable Development of Marine Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture, Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China; Laboratory for Marine Fisheries Science and Food Production Processes, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao 266071, China
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47
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Diz-Muñoz A, Romanczuk P, Yu W, Bergert M, Ivanovitch K, Salbreux G, Heisenberg CP, Paluch EK. Steering cell migration by alternating blebs and actin-rich protrusions. BMC Biol 2016; 14:74. [PMID: 27589901 PMCID: PMC5010735 DOI: 10.1186/s12915-016-0294-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [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] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2016] [Accepted: 08/08/2016] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND High directional persistence is often assumed to enhance the efficiency of chemotactic migration. Yet, cells in vivo usually display meandering trajectories with relatively low directional persistence, and the control and function of directional persistence during cell migration in three-dimensional environments are poorly understood. RESULTS Here, we use mesendoderm progenitors migrating during zebrafish gastrulation as a model system to investigate the control of directional persistence during migration in vivo. We show that progenitor cells alternate persistent run phases with tumble phases that result in cell reorientation. Runs are characterized by the formation of directed actin-rich protrusions and tumbles by enhanced blebbing. Increasing the proportion of actin-rich protrusions or blebs leads to longer or shorter run phases, respectively. Importantly, both reducing and increasing run phases result in larger spatial dispersion of the cells, indicative of reduced migration precision. A physical model quantitatively recapitulating the migratory behavior of mesendoderm progenitors indicates that the ratio of tumbling to run times, and thus the specific degree of directional persistence of migration, are critical for optimizing migration precision. CONCLUSIONS Together, our experiments and model provide mechanistic insight into the control of migration directionality for cells moving in three-dimensional environments that combine different protrusion types, whereby the proportion of blebs to actin-rich protrusions determines the directional persistence and precision of movement by regulating the ratio of tumbling to run times.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alba Diz-Muñoz
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, 01307, Germany.
- International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Warsaw, 02-109, Poland.
- Cell Biology and Biophysics Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg, 69117, Germany.
| | - Pawel Romanczuk
- Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Dresden, 01187, Germany.
- Department of Biology, Institute of Theoretical Biology, Humboldt University, Berlin, 10115, Germany.
| | - Weimiao Yu
- Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, A-STAR, Singapore, 138673, Singapore
| | - Martin Bergert
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, 01307, Germany
- International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Warsaw, 02-109, Poland
- Cell Biology and Biophysics Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg, 69117, Germany
- Medical Research Council Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology, University College London, WC1E 6BT, London, UK
| | - Kenzo Ivanovitch
- Medical Research Council Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology, University College London, WC1E 6BT, London, UK
- Present address: Department of Cardiovascular Development and Repair, Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC), 28029, Madrid, Spain
| | - Guillaume Salbreux
- Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Dresden, 01187, Germany
- The Francis Crick Institute, Lincoln's Inn Fields Laboratories, 44 Lincolns Inn Fields, London, WC2A 3LY, UK
| | | | - Ewa K Paluch
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, 01307, Germany
- International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Warsaw, 02-109, Poland
- Medical Research Council Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology, University College London, WC1E 6BT, London, UK
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Manocha GD, Floden AM, Rausch K, Kulas JA, McGregor BA, Rojanathammanee L, Puig KR, Puig KL, Karki S, Nichols MR, Darland DC, Porter JE, Combs CK. APP Regulates Microglial Phenotype in a Mouse Model of Alzheimer's Disease. J Neurosci 2016; 36:8471-86. [PMID: 27511018 PMCID: PMC4978805 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.4654-15.2016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [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: 12/31/2015] [Revised: 05/20/2016] [Accepted: 06/24/2016] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
Abstract
UNLABELLED Prior work suggests that amyloid precursor protein (APP) can function as a proinflammatory receptor on immune cells, such as monocytes and microglia. Therefore, we hypothesized that APP serves this function in microglia during Alzheimer's disease. Although fibrillar amyloid β (Aβ)-stimulated cytokine secretion from both wild-type and APP knock-out (mAPP(-/-)) microglial cultures, oligomeric Aβ was unable to stimulate increased secretion from mAPP(-/-) cells. This was consistent with an ability of oligomeric Aβ to bind APP. Similarly, intracerebroventricular infusions of oligomeric Aβ produced less microgliosis in mAPP(-/-) mice compared with wild-type mice. The mAPP(-/-) mice crossed to an APP/PS1 transgenic mouse line demonstrated reduced microgliosis and cytokine levels and improved memory compared with wild-type mice despite robust fibrillar Aβ plaque deposition. These data define a novel function for microglial APP in regulating their ability to acquire a proinflammatory phenotype during disease. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT A hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD) brains is the accumulation of amyloid β (Aβ) peptide within plaques robustly invested with reactive microglia. This supports the notion that Aβ stimulation of microglial activation is one source of brain inflammatory changes during disease. Aβ is a cleavage product of the ubiquitously expressed amyloid precursor protein (APP) and is able to self-associate into a wide variety of differently sized and structurally distinct multimers. In this study, we demonstrate both in vitro and in vivo that nonfibrillar, oligomeric forms of Aβ are able to interact with the parent APP protein to stimulate microglial activation. This provides a mechanism by which metabolism of APP results in possible autocrine or paracrine Aβ production to drive the microgliosis associated with AD brains.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gunjan D Manocha
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Grand Forks, North Dakota 58203
| | - Angela M Floden
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Grand Forks, North Dakota 58203
| | - Keiko Rausch
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Grand Forks, North Dakota 58203
| | - Joshua A Kulas
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Grand Forks, North Dakota 58203
| | - Brett A McGregor
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Grand Forks, North Dakota 58203
| | - Lalida Rojanathammanee
- Institute of Science, Suranaree University of Technology, Nakhon Ratchasima, 30000 Thailand
| | - Kelley R Puig
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Grand Forks, North Dakota 58203
| | - Kendra L Puig
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Grand Forks, North Dakota 58203
| | - Sanjib Karki
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Missouri-St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri 63121-4400, and
| | - Michael R Nichols
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Missouri-St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri 63121-4400, and
| | - Diane C Darland
- Department of Biology, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, North Dakota 58202
| | - James E Porter
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Grand Forks, North Dakota 58203
| | - Colin K Combs
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Grand Forks, North Dakota 58203,
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49
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Wager K, Zdebik AA, Fu S, Cooper JD, Harvey RJ, Russell C. Neurodegeneration and Epilepsy in a Zebrafish Model of CLN3 Disease (Batten Disease). PLoS One 2016; 11:e0157365. [PMID: 27327661 PMCID: PMC4915684 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0157365] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2015] [Accepted: 05/27/2016] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
The neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses are a group of lysosomal storage disorders that comprise the most common, genetically heterogeneous, fatal neurodegenerative disorders of children. They are characterised by childhood onset, visual failure, epileptic seizures, psychomotor retardation and dementia. CLN3 disease, also known as Batten disease, is caused by autosomal recessive mutations in the CLN3 gene, 80–85% of which are a ~1 kb deletion. Currently no treatments exist, and after much suffering, the disease inevitably results in premature death. The aim of this study was to generate a zebrafish model of CLN3 disease using antisense morpholino injection, and characterise the pathological and functional consequences of Cln3 deficiency, thereby providing a tool for future drug discovery. The model was shown to faithfully recapitulate the pathological signs of CLN3 disease, including reduced survival, neuronal loss, retinopathy, axonopathy, loss of motor function, lysosomal storage of subunit c of mitochondrial ATP synthase, and epileptic seizures, albeit with an earlier onset and faster progression than the human disease. Our study provides proof of principle that the advantages of the zebrafish over other model systems can be utilised to further our understanding of the pathogenesis of CLN3 disease and accelerate drug discovery.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kim Wager
- Department of Comparative Biomedical Sciences, Royal Veterinary College, Royal College Street, London, NW1 0TU, United Kingdom
| | - Anselm A. Zdebik
- Department of Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology, UCL Medical School, Royal Free Campus, Rowland Hill Street, London, NW3 2PF, United Kingdom
- Department of Nephrology, UCL Medical School, Royal Free Campus, Rowland Hill Street, London, NW3 2PF, United Kingdom
- * E-mail: (CR); (AAZ)
| | - Sonia Fu
- Department of Comparative Biomedical Sciences, Royal Veterinary College, Royal College Street, London, NW1 0TU, United Kingdom
| | - Jonathan D. Cooper
- Pediatric Storage Disorders Laboratory, Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London, 5 Cutcombe Road, London, SE5 9RX, United Kingdom
| | - Robert J. Harvey
- Department of Pharmacology, UCL School of Pharmacy, 29-39 Brunswick Square, London, WC1N 1AX, United Kingdom
| | - Claire Russell
- Department of Comparative Biomedical Sciences, Royal Veterinary College, Royal College Street, London, NW1 0TU, United Kingdom
- * E-mail: (CR); (AAZ)
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50
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Burger A, Lindsay H, Felker A, Hess C, Anders C, Chiavacci E, Zaugg J, Weber LM, Catena R, Jinek M, Robinson MD, Mosimann C. Maximizing mutagenesis with solubilized CRISPR-Cas9 ribonucleoprotein complexes. Development 2016; 143:2025-37. [PMID: 27130213 DOI: 10.1242/dev.134809] [Citation(s) in RCA: 166] [Impact Index Per Article: 20.8] [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: 01/06/2016] [Accepted: 04/12/2016] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
CRISPR-Cas9 enables efficient sequence-specific mutagenesis for creating somatic or germline mutants of model organisms. Key constraints in vivo remain the expression and delivery of active Cas9-sgRNA ribonucleoprotein complexes (RNPs) with minimal toxicity, variable mutagenesis efficiencies depending on targeting sequence, and high mutation mosaicism. Here, we apply in vitro assembled, fluorescent Cas9-sgRNA RNPs in solubilizing salt solution to achieve maximal mutagenesis efficiency in zebrafish embryos. MiSeq-based sequence analysis of targeted loci in individual embryos using CrispRVariants, a customized software tool for mutagenesis quantification and visualization, reveals efficient bi-allelic mutagenesis that reaches saturation at several tested gene loci. Such virtually complete mutagenesis exposes loss-of-function phenotypes for candidate genes in somatic mutant embryos for subsequent generation of stable germline mutants. We further show that targeting of non-coding elements in gene regulatory regions using saturating mutagenesis uncovers functional control elements in transgenic reporters and endogenous genes in injected embryos. Our results establish that optimally solubilized, in vitro assembled fluorescent Cas9-sgRNA RNPs provide a reproducible reagent for direct and scalable loss-of-function studies and applications beyond zebrafish experiments that require maximal DNA cutting efficiency in vivo.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexa Burger
- Institute of Molecular Life Sciences, University of Zürich, Zürich 8057, Switzerland
| | - Helen Lindsay
- Institute of Molecular Life Sciences, University of Zürich, Zürich 8057, Switzerland SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, University of Zürich, Zürich 8057, Switzerland
| | - Anastasia Felker
- Institute of Molecular Life Sciences, University of Zürich, Zürich 8057, Switzerland
| | - Christopher Hess
- Institute of Molecular Life Sciences, University of Zürich, Zürich 8057, Switzerland
| | - Carolin Anders
- Institute of Biochemistry, University of Zürich, Zürich 8057, Switzerland
| | - Elena Chiavacci
- Institute of Molecular Life Sciences, University of Zürich, Zürich 8057, Switzerland
| | - Jonas Zaugg
- Institute of Molecular Life Sciences, University of Zürich, Zürich 8057, Switzerland
| | - Lukas M Weber
- Institute of Molecular Life Sciences, University of Zürich, Zürich 8057, Switzerland SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, University of Zürich, Zürich 8057, Switzerland
| | - Raul Catena
- Institute of Molecular Life Sciences, University of Zürich, Zürich 8057, Switzerland
| | - Martin Jinek
- Institute of Biochemistry, University of Zürich, Zürich 8057, Switzerland
| | - Mark D Robinson
- Institute of Molecular Life Sciences, University of Zürich, Zürich 8057, Switzerland SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, University of Zürich, Zürich 8057, Switzerland
| | - Christian Mosimann
- Institute of Molecular Life Sciences, University of Zürich, Zürich 8057, Switzerland
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