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Pacouret S, Bouzelha M, Shelke R, Andres-Mateos E, Xiao R, Maurer A, Mevel M, Turunen H, Barungi T, Penaud-Budloo M, Broucque F, Blouin V, Moullier P, Ayuso E, Vandenberghe LH.
AAV-ID: A Rapid and Robust Assay for Batch-to-Batch Consistency Evaluation of AAV Preparations. Mol Ther 2017;25(6):1375-1386.
AbstractAdeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors are promising clinical candidates for therapeutic gene transfer, and a number of AAV-based drugs may emerge on the market over the coming years. To insure the consistency in efficacy and safety of any drug vial that reaches the patient, regulatory agencies require extensive characterization of the final product. Identity is a key characteristic of a therapeutic product, as it ensures its proper labeling and batch-to-batch consistency. Currently, there is no facile, fast, and robust characterization assay enabling to probe the identity of AAV products at the protein level. Here, we investigated whether the thermostability of AAV particles could inform us on the composition of vector preparations. AAV-ID, an assay based on differential scanning fluorimetry (DSF), was evaluated in two AAV research laboratories for specificity, sensitivity, and reproducibility, for six different serotypes (AAV1, 2, 5, 6.2, 8, and 9), using 67 randomly selected AAV preparations. In addition to enabling discrimination of AAV serotypes based on their melting temperatures, the obtained fluorescent fingerprints also provided information on sample homogeneity, particle concentration, and buffer composition. Our data support the use of AAV-ID as a reproducible, fast, and low-cost method to ensure batch-to-batch consistency in manufacturing facilities and academic laboratories.
Pasquale LR, Kang JH, Fan BJ, Levkovitch-Verbin H, Wiggs JL.
LOXL1 Polymorphisms: Genetic Biomarkers that Presage Environmental Determinants of Exfoliation Syndrome. J Glaucoma 2018;27 Suppl 1:S20-S23.
AbstractAn agnostic high throughput search of the genome revealed a robust association between LOXL1 genetic polymorphisms and exfoliation syndrome (XFS), a discovery that likely would not have been possible with candidate or family-based gene search strategies. While questions remain regarding how LOXL1 gene variants contribute to XFS pathogenesis, it is clear that the frequencies of disease-related alleles do not track with the varying disease burden throughout the world, prompting a search for environmental risk factors. A geo-medicine approach revealed that disease load seemed to increase as a function of the distance from the equator. The exact reason for this extraequatorial disease distribution pattern remains unclear, but a greater amount of time spent outdoors is a robust risk factor for XFS, suggesting climatic factors such as ocular solar exposure and colder ambient temperature may be involved in disease pathogenesis. Prospective studies have also implicated higher coffee consumption and lower dietary folate intake in association with incident XFS. The discovery of environmental risk factors for XFS suggests that preventive measures may help to reduce ocular morbidity from XFS.
Patak J, Gilfert J, Byler M, Neerukonda V, Thiffault I, Cross L, Amudhavalli S, Pacio-Miguez M, Palomares-Bralo M, Garcia-Minaur S, Santos-Simarro F, Powis Z, Alcaraz W, Tang S, Jurgens J, Barry B, England E, Engle E, Hess J, Lebel RR.
MAGEL2-related disorders: A study and case series. Clin Genet 2019;96(6):493-505.
AbstractPathogenic MAGEL2 variants result in the phenotypes of Chitayat-Hall syndrome (CHS), Schaaf-Yang syndrome (SYS) and Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS). We present five patients with mutations in MAGEL2, including the first patient reported with a missense variant, adding to the limited literature. Further, we performed a systematic review of the CHS and SYS literature, assess the overlap between CHS, SYS and PWS, and analyze genotype-phenotype correlations among them. We conclude that there is neither a clinical nor etiological difference between CHS and SYS, and propose that the two syndromes simply be referred to as MAGEL2-related disorders.
Peng C, Wang Y, Ji L, Kuang L, Yu Z, Li H, Zhang J, Zhao J.
LncRNA-MALAT1/miRNA-204-5p/Smad4 Axis Regulates Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition, Proliferation and Migration of Lens Epithelial Cells. Curr Eye Res 2021;46(8):1137-1147.
AbstractMATERIALS AND METHODS: LECs were cultured and induced with TGF-β2 (10 ng/mL). SiRNA against MALAT1 (Si-MALAT1) was transfected into LECs to knockdown the expression of MALAT1. To overexpress or knockdown miR-204-5p, miR-204-5p mimics (miR-204-5p mimics) and anti-miR-204-5p (miR-204-5p inhibitor) were transfected into LECs. We used RNA FISH to identify the location of MALAT1. RNA levels of MALAT1 and miR-204-5p were analyzed by RT-qPCR. Additionally, target protein levels of Smad4, epithelial differentiation and mesenchymal markers were analyzed with Western blot. We employed EdU Labeling to measured cell proliferation and performed Transwell Assay to analyze the cell migration. Dual-luciferase reporter assays in LECs were conducted to verify whether miRNA-204-5p was negatively regulated by MALAT1 and Smad4 was a direct target of miR-204-5p. RESULTS: The expression of MALAT1 was upregulated in PCO specimens. MALAT1 was overexpressed in TGF-β2 induced LECs, and the knockdown of MALAT1 could attenuate TGF-β2 induced EMT. Besides, the upregulation of MALAT1 was correlated with the downregulation of miR-204-5p and upregulation of Smad4. Importantly, MALAT1 was revealed to be located in the cytoplasm of LECs. Furthermore, luciferase reporter assays confirmed that MALAT1 could negatively regulate the expression of miR-204-5p and then regulate its direct target Smad4. Finally, the knockdown of MALAT1 could inhibit the EMT, proliferation, and migration of LECs; however, those can be reversed by anti-miR-204-5p. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings reveal that MALAT1 may regulate EMT, proliferation, and migration of LECs as a ceRNA by "sponging" miR-204-5p and targeting Smad4, and serve as a promising therapeutic target in preventing PCO.
Perez-Cervantes C, Smith LA, Nadadur RD, Hughes AEO, Wang S, Corbo JC, Cepko C, Lonfat N, Moskowitz IP.
Enhancer transcription identifies -regulatory elements for photoreceptor cell types. Development 2020;147(3)
AbstractIdentification of cell type-specific regulatory elements (CREs) is crucial for understanding development and disease, although identification of functional regulatory elements remains challenging. We hypothesized that context-specific CREs could be identified by context-specific non-coding RNA (ncRNA) profiling, based on the observation that active CREs produce ncRNAs. We applied ncRNA profiling to identify rod and cone photoreceptor CREs from wild-type and mutant mouse retinas, defined by presence or absence, respectively, of the rod-specific transcription factor (TF) -dependent ncRNA expression strongly correlated with epigenetic profiles of rod and cone photoreceptors, identified thousands of candidate rod- and cone-specific CREs, and identified motifs for rod- and cone-specific TFs. Colocalization of NRL and the retinal TF CRX correlated with rod-specific ncRNA expression, whereas CRX alone favored cone-specific ncRNA expression, providing quantitative evidence that heterotypic TF interactions distinguish cell type-specific CRE activity. We validated the activity of novel -dependent ncRNA-defined CREs in developing cones. This work supports differential ncRNA profiling as a platform for the identification of cell type-specific CREs and the discovery of molecular mechanisms underlying TF-dependent CRE activity.
Peter VG, Quinodoz M, Pinto-Basto J, Sousa SB, Di Gioia SA, Soares G, Ferraz Leal G, Silva ED, Pescini Gobert R, Miyake N, Matsumoto N, Engle EC, Unger S, Shapiro F, Superti-Furga A, Rivolta C, Campos-Xavier B.
The Liberfarb syndrome, a multisystem disorder affecting eye, ear, bone, and brain development, is caused by a founder pathogenic variant in thePISD gene. Genet Med 2019;21(12):2734-2743.
AbstractPURPOSE: We observed four individuals in two unrelated but consanguineous families from Portugal and Brazil affected by early-onset retinal degeneration, sensorineural hearing loss, microcephaly, intellectual disability, and skeletal dysplasia with scoliosis and short stature. The phenotype precisely matched that of an individual of Azorean descent published in 1986 by Liberfarb and coworkers. METHODS: Patients underwent specialized clinical examinations (including ophthalmological, audiological, orthopedic, radiological, and developmental assessment). Exome and targeted sequencing was performed on selected individuals. Minigene constructs were assessed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and Sanger sequencing. RESULTS: Affected individuals shared a 3.36-Mb region of autozygosity on chromosome 22q12.2, including a 10-bp deletion (NM_014338.3:c.904-12_904-3delCTATCACCAC), immediately upstream of the last exon of the PISD (phosphatidylserine decarboxylase) gene. Sequencing of PISD from paraffin-embedded tissue from the 1986 case revealed the identical homozygous variant. In HEK293T cells, this variant led to aberrant splicing of PISD transcripts. CONCLUSION: We have identified the genetic etiology of the Liberfarb syndrome, affecting brain, eye, ear, bone, and connective tissue. Our work documents the migration of a rare Portuguese founder variant to two continents and highlights the link between phospholipid metabolism and bone formation, sensory defects, and cerebral development, while raising the possibility of therapeutic phospholipid replacement.
Pierce EA, Bennett J.
The Status of RPE65 Gene Therapy Trials: Safety and Efficacy. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med 2015;
AbstractSeveral groups have reported the results of clinical trials of gene augmentation therapy for Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA) because of mutations in the RPE65 gene. These studies have used subretinal injection of adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors to deliver the human RPE65 cDNA to the retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells of the treated eyes. In all of the studies reported to date, this approach has been shown to be both safe and effective. The successful clinical trials of gene augmentation therapy for retinal degeneration caused by mutations in the RPE65 gene sets the stage for broad application of gene therapy to treat retinal degenerative disorders.
Pollack S, Igo RP, Jensen RA, Christiansen M, Li X, Cheng C-Y, Ng MCY, Smith AV, Rossin EJ, Segrè AV, Davoudi S, Tan GS, Chen Y-DI, Kuo JZ, Dimitrov LM, Stanwyck LK, Meng W, Hosseini MS, Imamura M, Nousome D, Kim J, Hai Y, Jia Y, Ahn J, Leong A, Shah K, Park KH, Guo X, Ipp E, Taylor KD, Adler SG, Sedor JR, Freedman BI, Family Investigation of Nephropathy and Diabetes-Eye Research Group DCCT/EDICRG, Lee I-T, Sheu WH-H, Kubo M, Takahashi A, Hadjadj S, Marre M, Tregouet D-A, McKean-Cowdin R, Varma R, McCarthy MI, Groop L, Ahlqvist E, Lyssenko V, Agardh E, Morris A, Doney ASF, Colhoun HM, Toppila I, Sandholm N, Groop P-H, Maeda S, Hanis CL, Penman A, Chen CJ, Hancock H, Mitchell P, Craig JE, Chew EY, Paterson AD, Grassi MA, Palmer C, Bowden DW, Yaspan BL, Siscovick D, Cotch MF, Wang JJ, Burdon KP, Wong TY, Klein BEK, Klein R, Rotter JI, Iyengar SK, Price AL, Sobrin L.
Multiethnic Genome-Wide Association Study of Diabetic Retinopathy Using Liability Threshold Modeling of Duration of Diabetes and Glycemic Control. Diabetes 2019;68(2):441-456.
AbstractTo identify genetic variants associated with diabetic retinopathy (DR), we performed a large multiethnic genome-wide association study. Discovery included eight European cohorts ( = 3,246) and seven African American cohorts ( = 2,611). We meta-analyzed across cohorts using inverse-variance weighting, with and without liability threshold modeling of glycemic control and duration of diabetes. Variants with a value <1 × 10 were investigated in replication cohorts that included 18,545 European, 16,453 Asian, and 2,710 Hispanic subjects. After correction for multiple testing, the C allele of rs142293996 in an intron of nuclear VCP-like () was associated with DR in European discovery cohorts ( = 2.1 × 10), but did not reach genome-wide significance after meta-analysis with replication cohorts. We applied the Disease Association Protein-Protein Link Evaluator (DAPPLE) to our discovery results to test for evidence of risk being spread across underlying molecular pathways. One protein-protein interaction network built from genes in regions associated with proliferative DR was found to have significant connectivity ( = 0.0009) and corroborated with gene set enrichment analyses. These findings suggest that genetic variation in as well as variation within a protein-protein interaction network that includes genes implicated in inflammation, may influence risk for DR.
Pons S, Frapy E, Sereme Y, Gaultier C, Lebreton F, Kropec A, Danilchanka O, Schlemmer L, Schrimpf C, Allain M, Angoulvant F, Lecuyer H, Bonacorsi S, Aschard H, Sokol H, Cywes-Bentley C, Mekalanos JJ, Guillard T, Pier GB, Roux D, Skurnik D.
A high-throughput sequencing approach identifies immunotherapeutic targets for bacterial meningitis in neonates. EBioMedicine 2023;88:104439.
AbstractBACKGROUND: Worldwide, Escherichia coli is the leading cause of neonatal Gram-negative bacterial meningitis, but full understanding of the pathogenesis of this disease is not yet achieved. Moreover, to date, no vaccine is available against bacterial neonatal meningitis. METHODS: Here, we used Transposon Sequencing of saturated banks of mutants (TnSeq) to evaluate E. coli K1 genetic fitness in murine neonatal meningitis. We identified E. coli K1 genes encoding for factors important for systemic dissemination and brain infection, and focused on products with a likely outer-membrane or extra-cellular localization, as these are potential vaccine candidates. We used in vitro and in vivo models to study the efficacy of active and passive immunization. RESULTS: We selected for further study the conserved surface polysaccharide Poly-β-(1-6)-N-Acetyl Glucosamine (PNAG), as a strong candidate for vaccine development. We found that PNAG was a virulence factor in our animal model. We showed that both passive and active immunization successfully prevented and/or treated meningitis caused by E. coli K1 in neonatal mice. We found an excellent opsonophagocytic killing activity of the antibodies to PNAG and in vitro these antibodies were also able to decrease binding, invasion and crossing of E. coli K1 through two blood brain barrier cell lines. Finally, to reinforce the potential of PNAG as a vaccine candidate in bacterial neonatal meningitis, we demonstrated that Group B Streptococcus, the main cause of neonatal meningitis in developed countries, also produced PNAG and that antibodies to PNAG could protect in vitro and in vivo against this major neonatal pathogen. INTERPRETATION: Altogether, these results indicate the utility of a high-throughput DNA sequencing method to identify potential immunotherapy targets for a pathogen, including in this study a potential broad-spectrum target for prevention of neonatal bacterial infections. FUNDINGS: ANR Seq-N-Vaq, Charles Hood Foundation, Hearst Foundation, and Groupe Pasteur Mutualité.
Prabakaran S, Hemberg M, Chauhan R, Winter D, Tweedie-Cullen RY, Dittrich C, Hong E, Gunawardena J, Steen H, Kreiman G, Steen JA.
Quantitative profiling of peptides from RNAs classified as noncoding. Nat Commun 2014;5:5429.
AbstractOnly a small fraction of the mammalian genome codes for messenger RNAs destined to be translated into proteins, and it is generally assumed that a large portion of transcribed sequences--including introns and several classes of noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs)--do not give rise to peptide products. A systematic examination of translation and physiological regulation of ncRNAs has not been conducted. Here we use computational methods to identify the products of non-canonical translation in mouse neurons by analysing unannotated transcripts in combination with proteomic data. This study supports the existence of non-canonical translation products from both intragenic and extragenic genomic regions, including peptides derived from antisense transcripts and introns. Moreover, the studied novel translation products exhibit temporal regulation similar to that of proteins known to be involved in neuronal activity processes. These observations highlight a potentially large and complex set of biologically regulated translational events from transcripts formerly thought to lack coding potential.
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Ramke M, Lee JY, Dyer DW, Seto D, Rajaiya J, Chodosh J.
The 5'UTR in human adenoviruses: leader diversity in late gene expression. Sci Rep 2017;7(1):618.
AbstractHuman adenoviruses (HAdVs) shut down host cellular cap-dependent mRNA translation while initiating the translation of viral late mRNAs in a cap-independent manner. HAdV 5' untranslated regions (5'UTRs) are crucial for cap-independent initiation, and influence mRNA localization and stability. However, HAdV translational regulation remains relatively uncharacterized. The HAdV tripartite leader (TPL), composed of three introns (TPL 1-3), is critical to the translation of HAdV late mRNA. Herein, we annotated and analyzed 72 HAdV genotypes for the HAdV TPL and another previously described leader, the i-leader. Using HAdV species D, type 37 (HAdV-D37), we show by reverse transcription PCR and Sanger sequencing that mRNAs of the HAdV-D37 E3 transcription unit are spliced to the TPL. We also identified a polycistronic mRNA for RID-α and RID-β. Analysis of the i-leader revealed a potential open reading frame within the leader sequence and the termination of this potential protein in TPL3. A potential new leader embedded within the E3 region was also detected and tentatively named the j-leader. These results suggest an underappreciated complexity of post-transcriptional regulation, and the importance of HAdV 5'UTRs for precisely coordinated viral protein expression along the path from genotype to phenotype.
Reichart D, Newby GA, Wakimoto H, Lun M, Gorham JM, Curran JJ, Raguram A, DeLaughter DM, Conner DA, Marsiglia JDC, Kohli S, Chmatal L, Page DC, Zabaleta N, Vandenberghe L, Liu DR, Seidman JG, Seidman C.
Efficient in vivo genome editing prevents hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in mice. Nat Med 2023;29(2):412-421.
AbstractDominant missense pathogenic variants in cardiac myosin heavy chain cause hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), a currently incurable disorder that increases risk for stroke, heart failure and sudden cardiac death. In this study, we assessed two different genetic therapies-an adenine base editor (ABE8e) and a potent Cas9 nuclease delivered by AAV9-to prevent disease in mice carrying the heterozygous HCM pathogenic variant myosin R403Q. One dose of dual-AAV9 vectors, each carrying one half of RNA-guided ABE8e, corrected the pathogenic variant in ≥70% of ventricular cardiomyocytes and maintained durable, normal cardiac structure and function. An additional dose provided more editing in the atria but also increased bystander editing. AAV9 delivery of RNA-guided Cas9 nuclease effectively inactivated the pathogenic allele, albeit with dose-dependent toxicities, necessitating a narrow therapeutic window to maintain health. These preclinical studies demonstrate considerable potential for single-dose genetic therapies to correct or silence pathogenic variants and prevent the development of HCM.
Robinette ML, Weeks LD, Kramer RJ, Agrawal M, Gibson CJ, Yu Z, Sekar A, Mehta A, Niroula A, Brown JT, McDermott GC, Reshef ER, Lu JE, Liou VD, Chiou CA, Natarajan P, Freitag SK, Rao DA, Ebert BL.
Somatic TET2 Mutations are Associated with Giant Cell Arteritis. Arthritis Rheumatol 2023;
AbstractOBJECTIVE: Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is an age-related vasculitis. Prior studies have identified an association between GCA and hematologic malignancies (HM). How the presence of somatic mutations which drive development of HM, or clonal hematopoiesis (CH), may influence clinical outcomes in GCA is not well understood. METHODS: To examine an association between CH and GCA, we analyzed sequenced exomes of 470960 UK Biobank participants for the presence of CH and used multivariable Cox regression. To examine the clinical phenotype of GCA in patients with and without somatic mutations across the spectrum of CH to HM, we performed targeted sequencing of blood samples and electronic health record review on 114 patients with GCA seen at our institution. We then examined associations between specific clonal mutations and GCA disease manifestations. RESULTS: UKB participants with CH had a 1.48-fold increased risk of incident GCA compared to UKB participants without CH. GCA risk was highest among individuals with cytopenia (HR 2.98, p = 0.00178) and with TET2 mutation (HR 2.02, p = 0.00116). Mutations were detected in 27.2% of our institutional GCA cohort, 3 of whom had HM at GCA diagnosis. TET2 mutations were associated with vision loss in patients with GCA (OR 4.33, p = 0.047). CONCLUSIONS: CH increases risk for development of GCA in a genotype-specific fashion, with greatest risk being conferred by the presence of mutations in TET2. Somatic TET2 mutations likewise increase the risk of GCA-associated vision loss. Integration of somatic genetic testing in GCA diagnostics may be warranted in the future. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Robinson CM, Singh G, Lee JY, Dehghan S, Rajaiya J, Liu EB, Yousuf MA, Betensky RA, Jones MS, Dyer DW, Seto D, Chodosh J.
Molecular evolution of human adenoviruses. Sci Rep 2013;3:1812.
AbstractThe recent emergence of highly virulent human adenoviruses (HAdVs) with new tissue tropisms underscores the need to determine their ontogeny. Here we report complete high quality genome sequences and analyses for all the previously unsequenced HAdV serotypes (n = 20) within HAdV species D. Analysis of nucleotide sequence variability for these in conjunction with another 40 HAdV prototypes, comprising all seven HAdV species, confirmed the uniquely hypervariable regions within species. The mutation rate among HAdV-Ds was low when compared to other HAdV species. Homologous recombination was identified in at least two of five examined hypervariable regions for every virus, suggesting the evolution of HAdV-Ds has been highly dependent on homologous recombination. Patterns of alternating GC and AT rich motifs correlated well with hypervariable region recombination sites across the HAdV-D genomes, suggesting foci of DNA instability lead to formulaic patterns of homologous recombination and confer agility to adenovirus evolution.
Romano F, Lamanna F, Boon CJF, Siligato A, Kalra G, Agarwal A, Medori C, Bertelli M, Pellegrini M, Invernizzi A, Staurenghi G, Salvetti AP.
Clinical, Genotypic and Imaging Characterization of the spectrum of ABCA4 Retinopathies. Ophthalmol Retina 2023;
AbstractPURPOSE: To investigate the clinical and genotypic differences in the spectrum of ABCA4-associated retinopathies (ABCA4R). DESIGN: Observational, cross-sectional case series. PARTICIPANTS: Sixty-six patients (132 eyes) carrying biallelic ABCA4 variants. METHODS: Patients underwent visual acuity measurement and multimodal imaging. Clinical records were reviewed for age at onset, presenting symptoms, genetic variants, and electroretinogram (ERG). Each eye was assigned to a phenotype based on age at onset, imaging and ERG: cone dystrophy-bull's eye maculopathy (CD-BEM, 40 eyes), cone-rod dystrophy (CRD, 12 eyes), Stargardt disease (SD, 28 eyes), late-onset SD (LO-SD, 38 eyes), fundus flavimaculatus (FFM, 14 eyes). Images were analyzed for: peripapillary sparing, retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) atrophy (definitely decreased autofluorescence, DDAF), flecks patterns using autofluorescence; type of atrophy according to CAM reports, macular and choroidal thickness on optical coherence tomography (OCT); choriocapillaris flow deficits on OCT angiography. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Primary outcome was to report the demographic, genotypic and imaging characteristics of the different ABCA4R phenotypes. Secondary objectives included the assessment of imaging biomarkers as outcome measures for clinical trials. RESULTS: Age at onset was lower in CRD (12±8 years) and higher in LO-SD patients (59±9 years) (all p<0.01). Central vision loss was a common presenting symptom in CD-BEM and SD, whereas LO-SD patients primarily complained of difficult dark adaptation. Missense variants were more frequent in CD-BEM, and splice site in CRD and LO-SD (p<0.05). Peripapillary sparing was absent in three eyes with LO-SD (8%). CD-BEM eyes typically had cORA alterations (98%), while CRD and SD eyes showed both cORA and cRORA (71-100%). LO-SD patients had larger areas of DDAF (100% cRORA) and of choriocapillaris flow deficits (all p<0.01). Repeatability of DDAF measurements was low for some phenotypes (CD-BEM and CRD) and atrophic areas <7.5 mm2. Resorbed flecks were significantly associated with CRD and LO-SD (p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: This research provides a thorough evaluation of the spectrum of ABCA4R. Our findings suggest that certain phenotypes show preferential photoreceptor degeneration (e.g., CD-BEM), while others have substantial RPE and choriocapillaris alterations (e.g., LO-SD). We recommend that clinical trial endpoints take into consideration these imaging features to improve the interpretation of their results.
Rose AM, Shah AZ, Alfano G, Bujakowska KM, Barker AF, Robertson LJ, Rahman S, Sánchez LV, Diaz-Corrales FJ, Chakarova CF, Krishna A, Bhattacharya SS.
A Study into the Evolutionary Divergence of the Core Promoter Elements of PRPF31 and TFPT. J Mol Genet Med 2013;7(2)
AbstractMutations in have been implicated in retinitis pigmentosa, a blinding disease caused by degeneration of rod photoreceptors. The disease mechanism in the majority of cases is haploinsufficiency. Crucially, attempts at generation of animal models of disease have proved unsuccessful, yielding animals with a visual phenotype that does not mirror human disease. This suggests that, in these animals, the transcriptional regulation of is different to humans and compared to other species. Study of the evolution of the core promoter has important implications for our understanding of human disease, as disease phenotype is modified by differentially expressed alleles in the population. lies in a head-to-head arrangement with , a gene involved in cellular apoptosis. The two genes were shown to share common regulatory elements in the human genome. In this study, the core promoters of and were characterised by dual-luciferase reporter assay using genomic DNA from the green monkey, domestic dog and house mouse. It was found that the core promoters were conserved between human and monkey. In dog, the core promoter was conserved, but different gene architecture meant the gene was controlled by a long-range promoter lying some 2000bp from the transcription start site. There was very low level of conservation (<20%) of the 5' region between mouse and human. It was shown that mouse populations did not show variable expression levels, revealing a potential explanation for the lack of phenotype observed in the knock-out mouse model.
Rossin EJ, Sobrin L, Kim LA.
Single-cell RNA sequencing: An overview for the ophthalmologist. Semin Ophthalmol 2021;36(4):191-197.
AbstractUnderstanding the molecular composition of pathogenic tissues is a critical step in understanding the pathophysiology of disease and designing therapeutics. First described in 2009, single cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq) is a methodology whereby thousands of cells are simultaneously isolated into individual micro-environments that can be altered experimentally and the genome-wide RNA expression of each cell is captured. It has undergone significant technological improvement over the last decade and gained tremendous popularity. scRNAseq is an improvement over prior pooled RNA analyses which cannot identify the cellular composition and heterogeneity of a tissue of interest. This new approach offers new opportunity for new discovery, as tissue samples can now be sub-categorized into groups of cell types based on genome-wide gene expression in an unbiased fashion. As ophthalmologists, we are uniquely positioned to obtain pathologic samples from the eye for further study. ScRNAseq has already been applied in ophthalmology to characterize retinal tissue, and it may offer the key to understanding various pathological processes in the future.
