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  • Articles  (9)
  • 2010-2014  (9)
  • Nucleic Acids Research  (9)
  • 60967
  • 1
    Publication Date: 2014-10-10
    Description: RNAi technology is taking strong position among the key therapeutic modalities, with dozens of siRNA-based programs entering and successfully progressing through clinical stages of drug development. To further explore potentials of RNAi technology as therapeutics, we engineered and tested VEGFR2 siRNA molecules specifically targeted to tumors through covalently conjugated cyclo(Arg-Gly-Asp- d -Phe-Lys[PEG-MAL]) (cRGD) peptide, known to bind αvβ3 integrin receptors. cRGD-siRNAs were demonstrated to specifically enter and silence targeted genes in cultured αvβ3 positive human cells (HUVEC). Microinjection of zebrafish blastocysts with VEGFR2 cRGD-siRNA resulted in specific inhibition of blood vessel growth. In tumor-bearing mice, intravenously injected cRGD-siRNA molecules generated no innate immune response and bio-distributed to tumor tissues. Continuous systemic delivery of two different VEGFR2 cRGD-siRNAs resulted in down-regulation of corresponding mRNA (55 and 45%) and protein (65 and 45%) in tumors, as well as in overall reduction of tumor volume (90 and 70%). These findings demonstrate strong potential of cRGD-siRNA molecules as anti-tumor therapy.
    Print ISSN: 0305-1048
    Electronic ISSN: 1362-4962
    Topics: Biology
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  • 2
    Publication Date: 2014-09-17
    Description: Circadian clocks allow organisms to orchestrate the daily rhythms in physiology and behaviors, and disruption of circadian rhythmicity can profoundly affect fitness. The mammalian circadian oscillator consists of a negative primary feedback loop and is associated with some ‘auxiliary’ loops. This raises the questions of how these interlocking loops coordinate to regulate the period and maintain its robustness. Here, we focused on the REV-ERBα/ Cry1 auxiliary loop, consisting of Rev-Erbα/ROR-binding elements (RORE) mediated Cry1 transcription, coordinates with the negative primary feedback loop to modulate the mammalian circadian period. The silicon simulation revealed an unexpected rule: the intensity ratio of the primary loop to the auxiliary loop is inversely related to the period length, even when post-translational feedback is fixed. Then we measured the mRNA levels from two loops in 10-mutant mice and observed the similar monotonic relationship. Additionally, our simulation and the experimental results in human osteosarcoma cells suggest that a coupling effect between the numerator and denominator of this intensity ratio ensures the robustness of circadian period and, therefore, provides an efficient means of correcting circadian disorders. This ratio rule highlights the contribution of the transcriptional architecture to the period dynamics and might be helpful in the construction of synthetic oscillators.
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  • 3
    Publication Date: 2014-07-04
    Description: The development of economical de novo gene synthesis methods using microchip-synthesized oligonucleotides has been limited by their high error rates. In this study, a low-cost, effective and improved-throughput (up to 32 oligos per run) error-removal method using an immobilized cellulose column containing the mismatch binding protein MutS was produced to generate high-quality DNA from oligos, particularly microchip-synthesized oligonucleotides. Error-containing DNA in the initial material was specifically retained on the MutS-immobilized cellulose column (MICC), and error-depleted DNA in the eluate was collected for downstream gene assembly. Significantly, this method improved a population of synthetic enhanced green fluorescent protein (720 bp) clones from 0.93% to 83.22%, corresponding to a decrease in the error frequency of synthetic gene from 11.44/kb to 0.46/kb. In addition, a parallel multiplex MICC error-removal strategy was also evaluated in assembling 11 genes encoding ~21 kb of DNA from 893 oligos. The error frequency was reduced by 21.59-fold (from 14.25/kb to 0.66/kb), resulting in a 24.48-fold increase in the percentage of error-free assembled fragments (from 3.23% to 79.07%). Furthermore, the standard MICC error-removal process could be completed within 1.5 h at a cost as low as $0.374 per MICC.
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  • 4
    Publication Date: 2012-12-20
    Description: Human infertility affects 10–15% of couples, half of which is attributed to the male partner. Abnormal spermatogenesis is a major cause of male infertility. Characterizing the genes involved in spermatogenesis is fundamental to understand the mechanisms underlying this biological process and in developing treatments for male infertility. Although many genes have been implicated in spermatogenesis, no dedicated bioinformatic resource for spermatogenesis is available. We have developed such a database, SpermatogenesisOnline 1.0 ( http://mcg.ustc.edu.cn/sdap1/spermgenes/ ), using manual curation from 30 233 articles published before 1 May 2012. It provides detailed information for 1666 genes reported to participate in spermatogenesis in 37 organisms. Based on the analysis of these genes, we developed an algorithm, Greed AUC Stepwise (GAS) model, which predicted 762 genes to participate in spermatogenesis (GAS probability 〉0.5) based on genome-wide transcriptional data in Mus musculus testis from the ArrayExpress database. These predicted and experimentally verified genes were annotated, with several identical spermatogenesis-related GO terms being enriched for both classes. Furthermore, protein–protein interaction analysis indicates direct interactions of predicted genes with the experimentally verified ones, which supports the reliability of GAS. The strategy (manual curation and data mining) used to develop SpermatogenesisOnline 1.0 can be easily extended to other biological processes.
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  • 5
    Publication Date: 2013-09-06
    Description: Detailed mechanisms of DNA clamps in prokaryotic and eukaryotic systems were investigated by probing their mechanics with single-molecule force spectroscopy. Specifically, the mechanical forces required for the Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae clamp opening were measured at the single-molecule level by optical tweezers. Steered molecular dynamics simulations further examined the forces involved in DNA clamp opening from the perspective of the interface binding energies associated with the clamp opening processes. In combination with additional molecular dynamics simulations, we identified the contact networks between the clamp subunits that contribute significantly to the interface stability of the S.cerevisiae and E. coli clamps. These studies provide a vivid picture of the mechanics and energy landscape of clamp opening and reveal how the prokaryotic and eukaryotic clamps function through different mechanisms.
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  • 6
    Publication Date: 2013-04-14
    Description: The genome-wide distribution patterns of the ‘6th base’ 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) in many tissues and cells have recently been revealed by hydroxymethylated DNA immunoprecipitation (hMeDIP) followed by high throughput sequencing or tiling arrays. However, it has been challenging to directly compare different data sets and samples using data generated by this method. Here, we report a new comparative hMeDIP-seq method, which involves barcoding different input DNA samples at the start and then performing hMeDIP-seq for multiple samples in one hMeDIP reaction. This approach extends the barcode technology from simply multiplexing the DNA deep sequencing outcome and provides significant advantages for quantitative control of all experimental steps, from unbiased hMeDIP to deep sequencing data analysis. Using this improved method, we profiled and compared the DNA hydroxymethylomes of mouse ES cells (ESCs) and mouse ESC-derived neural progenitor cells (NPCs). We identified differentially hydroxymethylated regions (DHMRs) between ESCs and NPCs and uncovered an intricate relationship between the alteration of DNA hydroxymethylation and changes in gene expression during neural lineage commitment of ESCs. Presumably, the DHMRs between ESCs and NPCs uncovered by this approach may provide new insight into the function of 5hmC in gene regulation and neural differentiation. Thus, this newly developed comparative hMeDIP-seq method provides a cost-effective and user-friendly strategy for direct genome-wide comparison of DNA hydroxymethylation across multiple samples, lending significant biological, physiological and clinical implications.
    Keywords: Massively Parallel (Deep) Sequencing, Chromatin and Epigenetics
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  • 7
    Publication Date: 2014-10-10
    Description: Human single-strand (ss) DNA binding proteins 1 (hSSB1) has been shown to participate in DNA damage response and maintenance of genome stability by regulating the initiation of ATM-dependent signaling. ATM phosphorylates hSSB1 and prevents hSSB1 from ubiquitin-proteasome-mediated degradation. However, the E3 ligase that targets hSSB1 for destruction is still unknown. Here, we report that hSSB1 is the bona fide substrate for an Fbxl5-containing SCF (Skp1-Cul1-F box) E3 ligase. Fbxl5 interacts with and targets hSSB1 for ubiquitination and degradation, which could be prevented by ATM-mediated hSSB1 T117 phosphorylation. Furthermore, cells overexpression of Fbxl5 abrogated the cellular response to DSBs, including activation of ATM and phosphorylation of ATM targets and exhibited increased radiosensitivity, chemosensitivity and defective checkpoint activation after genotoxic stress stimuli. Moreover, the protein levels of hSSB1 and Fbxl5 showed an inverse correlation in lung cancer cells lines and clinical lung cancer samples. Therefore, Fbxl5 may negatively modulate hSSB1 to regulate DNA damage response, implicating Fbxl5 as a novel, promising therapeutic target for lung cancers.
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  • 8
    Publication Date: 2014-05-20
    Description: The trigger loop (TL) of RNA polymerase II (Pol II) is a conserved structural motif that is crucial for Pol II catalytic activity and transcriptional fidelity. The TL remains in an inactive open conformation when the mismatched substrate is bound. In contrast, TL switches from an inactive open state to a closed active state to facilitate nucleotide addition upon the binding of the cognate substrate to the Pol II active site. However, a comprehensive understanding of the specific chemical interactions and substrate structural signatures that are essential to this TL conformational change remains elusive. Here we employed synthetic nucleotide analogues as ‘chemical mutation’ tools coupling with α-amanitin transcription inhibition assay to systematically dissect the key chemical interactions and structural signatures governing the substrate-coupled TL closure in Saccharomyces cerevisiae Pol II. This study reveals novel insights into understanding the molecular basis of TL conformational transition upon substrate binding during Pol II transcription. This synthetic chemical biology approach may be extended to understand the mechanisms of other RNA polymerases as well as other nucleic acid enzymes in future studies.
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  • 9
    Publication Date: 2013-01-20
    Description: Genomic deletions induced by imprecise excision of transposons have been used to disrupt gene functions in Drosophila . To determine the excision properties of Tol2 , a popular transposon in zebrafish, we took advantage of two transgenic zebrafish lines Et(gata2a:EGFP)pku684 and Et(gata2a:EGFP)pku760 , and mobilized the transposon by injecting transposase mRNA into homozygous transgenic embryos. Footprint analysis showed that the Tol2 transposons were excised in either a precise or an imprecise manner. Furthermore, we identified 1093-bp and 1253-bp genomic deletions in Et(gata2a:EGFP)pku684 founder embryos flanking the 5' end of the original Tol2 insertion site, and a 1340-bp deletion in the Et(gata2a:EGFP)pku760 founder embryos flanking the 3' end of the insertion site. The mosaic Et(gata2a:EGFP)pku684 embryos were raised to adulthood and screened for germline transmission of Tol2 excision in their F 1 progeny. On average, ~42% of the F 1 embryos displayed loss or altered EGFP patterns, demonstrating that this transposon could be efficiently excised from the zebrafish genome in the germline. Furthermore, from 59 founders, we identified one that transmitted the 1093-bp genomic deletion to its offspring. These results suggest that imprecise Tol2 transposon excision can be used as an alternative strategy to achieve gene targeting in zebrafish.
    Keywords: Chromatin and Epigenetics
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