ALBERT

Description: The Internet connects billions of computational platforms of various sizes, from supercomputers to smart phones. However, the same types of data transmission can connect computational resources to much simpler sensors “at the edge of the net” that collect, analyze, and transmit data, as well as controllers that receive instructions. Devices deployed in the environment, homes and offices, and even our bodies would expand the number of connected devices to the trillions. This “Internet of Things” (IoT) underlies the vision of smart homes and buildings that could sense and transmit their status and respond appropriately (1), or track and report on the state of objects (vehicles, goods, or even animals) in the environment. However, the practical implementation of the IoT has been relatively slow, in part because all of these edge devices must draw electrical power from their local environment. We analyze the use of photovoltaics (PV) to power devices and help bring the IoT to fruition. Authors: Richard Haight, Wilfried Haensch, Daniel Friedman

Description: Polyamide thickness and roughness have been identified as critical properties that affect thin-film composite membrane performance for reverse osmosis. Conventional formation methodologies lack the ability to control these properties independently with high resolution or precision. An additive approach is presented that uses electrospraying to deposit monomers directly onto a substrate, where they react to form polyamide. The small droplet size coupled with low monomer concentrations result in polyamide films that are smoother and thinner than conventional polyamides, while the additive nature of the approach allows for control of thickness and roughness. Polyamide films are formed with a thickness that is controllable down to 4-nanometer increments and a roughness as low as 2 nanometers while still exhibiting good permselectivity relative to a commercial benchmarking membrane.

Description: Zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF) membranes are emerging as a promising energy-efficient separation technology. However, their reliable and scalable manufacturing remains a challenge. We demonstrate the fabrication of ZIF nanocomposite membranes by means of an all-vapor-phase processing method based on atomic layer deposition (ALD) of ZnO in a porous support followed by ligand-vapor treatment. After ALD, the obtained nanocomposite exhibits low flux and is not selective, whereas after ligand-vapor (2-methylimidazole) treatment, it is partially transformed to ZIF and shows stable performance with high mixture separation factor for propylene over propane (an energy-intensive high-volume separation) and high propylene flux. Membrane synthesis through ligand-induced permselectivation of a nonselective and impermeable deposit is shown to be simple and highly reproducible and holds promise for scalability.

Description: Insects are among the most agile natural flyers. Hypotheses on their flight control cannot always be validated by experiments with animals or tethered robots. To this end, we developed a programmable and agile autonomous free-flying robot controlled through bio-inspired motion changes of its flapping wings. Despite being 55 times the size of a fruit fly, the robot can accurately mimic the rapid escape maneuvers of flies, including a correcting yaw rotation toward the escape heading. Because the robot’s yaw control was turned off, we showed that these yaw rotations result from passive, translation-induced aerodynamic coupling between the yaw torque and the roll and pitch torques produced throughout the maneuver. The robot enables new methods for studying animal flight, and its flight characteristics allow for real-world flight missions.

Description: The current outbreak of Ebola virus in West Africa is unprecedented, causing more cases and fatalities than all previous outbreaks combined, and has yet to be controlled. Several post-exposure interventions have been employed under compassionate use to treat patients repatriated to Europe and the United States. However, the in vivo efficacy of these interventions against the new outbreak strain of Ebola virus is unknown. Here we show that lipid-nanoparticle-encapsulated short interfering RNAs (siRNAs) rapidly adapted to target the Makona outbreak strain of Ebola virus are able to protect 100% of rhesus monkeys against lethal challenge when treatment was initiated at 3 days after exposure while animals were viraemic and clinically ill. Although all infected animals showed evidence of advanced disease including abnormal haematology, blood chemistry and coagulopathy, siRNA-treated animals had milder clinical features and fully recovered, while the untreated control animals succumbed to the disease. These results represent the first, to our knowledge, successful demonstration of therapeutic anti-Ebola virus efficacy against the new outbreak strain in nonhuman primates and highlight the rapid development of lipid-nanoparticle-delivered siRNA as a countermeasure against this highly lethal human disease.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4467030/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4467030/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Thi, Emily P -- Mire, Chad E -- Lee, Amy C H -- Geisbert, Joan B -- Zhou, Joy Z -- Agans, Krystle N -- Snead, Nicholas M -- Deer, Daniel J -- Barnard, Trisha R -- Fenton, Karla A -- MacLachlan, Ian -- Geisbert, Thomas W -- U19 AI109711/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- U19AI109711/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2015 May 21;521(7552):362-5. doi: 10.1038/nature14442. Epub 2015 Apr 22.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Tekmira Pharmaceuticals, Burnaby, British Columbia V5J 5J8, Canada. ; 1] Galveston National Laboratory, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas 77550, USA [2] Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas 77550, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25901685" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Gene expression is regulated by transcription factors (TFs), proteins that recognize short DNA sequence motifs. Such sequences are very common in the human genome, and an important determinant of the specificity of gene expression is the cooperative binding of multiple TFs to closely located motifs. However, interactions between DNA-bound TFs have not been systematically characterized. To identify TF pairs that bind cooperatively to DNA, and to characterize their spacing and orientation preferences, we have performed consecutive affinity-purification systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (CAP-SELEX) analysis of 9,400 TF-TF-DNA interactions. This analysis revealed 315 TF-TF interactions recognizing 618 heterodimeric motifs, most of which have not been previously described. The observed cooperativity occurred promiscuously between TFs from diverse structural families. Structural analysis of the TF pairs, including a novel crystal structure of MEIS1 and DLX3 bound to their identified recognition site, revealed that the interactions between the TFs were predominantly mediated by DNA. Most TF pair sites identified involved a large overlap between individual TF recognition motifs, and resulted in recognition of composite sites that were markedly different from the individual TF's motifs. Together, our results indicate that the DNA molecule commonly plays an active role in cooperative interactions that define the gene regulatory lexicon.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Jolma, Arttu -- Yin, Yimeng -- Nitta, Kazuhiro R -- Dave, Kashyap -- Popov, Alexander -- Taipale, Minna -- Enge, Martin -- Kivioja, Teemu -- Morgunova, Ekaterina -- Taipale, Jussi -- England -- Nature. 2015 Nov 19;527(7578):384-8. doi: 10.1038/nature15518. Epub 2015 Nov 9.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, SE 141 83, Sweden. ; European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, 38043 Grenoble, France. ; Genome-Scale Biology Program, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 63, FI-00014, Finland.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26550823" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Rare tautomeric and anionic nucleobases are believed to have fundamental biological roles, but their prevalence and functional importance has remained elusive because they exist transiently, in low abundance, and involve subtle movements of protons that are difficult to visualize. Using NMR relaxation dispersion, we show here that wobble dG*dT and rG*rU mispairs in DNA and RNA duplexes exist in dynamic equilibrium with short-lived, low-populated Watson-Crick-like mispairs that are stabilized by rare enolic or anionic bases. These mispairs can evade Watson-Crick fidelity checkpoints and form with probabilities (10(-3) to 10(-5)) that strongly imply a universal role in replication and translation errors. Our results indicate that rare tautomeric and anionic bases are widespread in nucleic acids, expanding their structural and functional complexity beyond that attainable with canonical bases.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4547696/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4547696/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Kimsey, Isaac J -- Petzold, Katja -- Sathyamoorthy, Bharathwaj -- Stein, Zachary W -- Al-Hashimi, Hashim M -- R01 GM089846/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R01GM089846/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2015 Mar 19;519(7543):315-20. doi: 10.1038/nature14227. Epub 2015 Mar 11.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Biochemistry and Chemistry, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA. ; Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics, Karolinska Institute, SE-171 77 Stockholm, Sweden. ; Biophysics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25762137" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The human lens is comprised largely of crystallin proteins assembled into a highly ordered, interactive macro-structure essential for lens transparency and refractive index. Any disruption of intra- or inter-protein interactions will alter this delicate structure, exposing hydrophobic surfaces, with consequent protein aggregation and cataract formation. Cataracts are the most common cause of blindness worldwide, affecting tens of millions of people, and currently the only treatment is surgical removal of cataractous lenses. The precise mechanisms by which lens proteins both prevent aggregation and maintain lens transparency are largely unknown. Lanosterol is an amphipathic molecule enriched in the lens. It is synthesized by lanosterol synthase (LSS) in a key cyclization reaction of a cholesterol synthesis pathway. Here we identify two distinct homozygous LSS missense mutations (W581R and G588S) in two families with extensive congenital cataracts. Both of these mutations affect highly conserved amino acid residues and impair key catalytic functions of LSS. Engineered expression of wild-type, but not mutant, LSS prevents intracellular protein aggregation of various cataract-causing mutant crystallins. Treatment by lanosterol, but not cholesterol, significantly decreased preformed protein aggregates both in vitro and in cell-transfection experiments. We further show that lanosterol treatment could reduce cataract severity and increase transparency in dissected rabbit cataractous lenses in vitro and cataract severity in vivo in dogs. Our study identifies lanosterol as a key molecule in the prevention of lens protein aggregation and points to a novel strategy for cataract prevention and treatment.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Zhao, Ling -- Chen, Xiang-Jun -- Zhu, Jie -- Xi, Yi-Bo -- Yang, Xu -- Hu, Li-Dan -- Ouyang, Hong -- Patel, Sherrina H -- Jin, Xin -- Lin, Danni -- Wu, Frances -- Flagg, Ken -- Cai, Huimin -- Li, Gen -- Cao, Guiqun -- Lin, Ying -- Chen, Daniel -- Wen, Cindy -- Chung, Christopher -- Wang, Yandong -- Qiu, Austin -- Yeh, Emily -- Wang, Wenqiu -- Hu, Xun -- Grob, Seanna -- Abagyan, Ruben -- Su, Zhiguang -- Tjondro, Harry Christianto -- Zhao, Xi-Juan -- Luo, Hongrong -- Hou, Rui -- Perry, J Jefferson P -- Gao, Weiwei -- Kozak, Igor -- Granet, David -- Li, Yingrui -- Sun, Xiaodong -- Wang, Jun -- Zhang, Liangfang -- Liu, Yizhi -- Yan, Yong-Bin -- Zhang, Kang -- England -- Nature. 2015 Jul 30;523(7562):607-11. doi: 10.1038/nature14650. Epub 2015 Jul 22.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] Molecular Medicine Research Center, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China [2] State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510060, China [3] Department of Ophthalmology and Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Center, Institute for Engineering in Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA. ; State Key Laboratory of Membrane Biology, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China. ; 1] Department of Ophthalmology and Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Center, Institute for Engineering in Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA [2] Department of Ophthalmology, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, China. ; BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518083, China. ; 1] State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510060, China [2] Department of Ophthalmology and Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Center, Institute for Engineering in Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA. ; Department of Ophthalmology and Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Center, Institute for Engineering in Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA. ; 1] Molecular Medicine Research Center, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China [2] Guangzhou KangRui Biological Pharmaceutical Technology Company, Guangzhou 510005, China. ; Molecular Medicine Research Center, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China. ; State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510060, China. ; 1] Department of Ophthalmology and Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Center, Institute for Engineering in Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA [2] CapitalBio Genomics Co., Ltd., Dongguan 523808, China. ; 1] Department of Ophthalmology and Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Center, Institute for Engineering in Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA [2] Department of Ophthalmology, Shanghai First People's Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai JiaoTong University, Shanghai 20080, China. ; Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA. ; Guangzhou KangRui Biological Pharmaceutical Technology Company, Guangzhou 510005, China. ; Department of Biochemistry, University of California Riverside, Riverside, California 92521, USA. ; 1] Department of Ophthalmology and Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Center, Institute for Engineering in Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA [2] Department of Nanoengineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA. ; King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. ; Department of Ophthalmology, Shanghai First People's Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai JiaoTong University, Shanghai 20080, China. ; Department of Ophthalmology, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, China. ; 1] Molecular Medicine Research Center, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China [2] State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510060, China [3] Department of Ophthalmology and Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Center, Institute for Engineering in Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA [4] Department of Nanoengineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA [5] Veterans Administration Healthcare System, San Diego, California 92093, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26200341" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Callaway, Ewen -- England -- Nature. 2015 May 14;521(7551):136. doi: 10.1038/521136a.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25971486" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Adult stem cells occur in niches that balance self-renewal with lineage selection and progression during tissue homeostasis. Following injury, culture or transplantation, stem cells outside their niche often display fate flexibility. Here we show that super-enhancers underlie the identity, lineage commitment and plasticity of adult stem cells in vivo. Using hair follicle as a model, we map the global chromatin domains of hair follicle stem cells and their committed progenitors in their native microenvironments. We show that super-enhancers and their dense clusters ('epicentres') of transcription factor binding sites undergo remodelling upon lineage progression. New fate is acquired by decommissioning old and establishing new super-enhancers and/or epicentres, an auto-regulatory process that abates one master regulator subset while enhancing another. We further show that when outside their niche, either in vitro or in wound-repair, hair follicle stem cells dynamically remodel super-enhancers in response to changes in their microenvironment. Intriguingly, some key super-enhancers shift epicentres, enabling their genes to remain active and maintain a transitional state in an ever-changing transcriptional landscape. Finally, we identify SOX9 as a crucial chromatin rheostat of hair follicle stem cell super-enhancers, and provide functional evidence that super-enhancers are dynamic, dense transcription-factor-binding platforms which are acutely sensitive to pioneer master regulators whose levels define not only spatial and temporal features of lineage-status but also stemness, plasticity in transitional states and differentiation.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4482136/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4482136/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Adam, Rene C -- Yang, Hanseul -- Rockowitz, Shira -- Larsen, Samantha B -- Nikolova, Maria -- Oristian, Daniel S -- Polak, Lisa -- Kadaja, Meelis -- Asare, Amma -- Zheng, Deyou -- Fuchs, Elaine -- R01 AR031737/AR/NIAMS NIH HHS/ -- R01-AR31737/AR/NIAMS NIH HHS/ -- R21 MH099452/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- R21MH099452/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- T32 GM066699/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- England -- Nature. 2015 May 21;521(7552):366-70. doi: 10.1038/nature14289. Epub 2015 Mar 18.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Laboratory of Mammalian Cell Biology &Development, The Rockefeller University, New York, New York 10065, USA. ; Department of Genetics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York 10461, USA. ; 1] Department of Genetics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York 10461, USA [2] Departments of Neurology and Neuroscience, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York 10461, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25799994" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The alternative non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) machinery facilitates several genomic rearrangements, some of which can lead to cellular transformation. This error-prone repair pathway is triggered upon telomere de-protection to promote the formation of deleterious chromosome end-to-end fusions. Using next-generation sequencing technology, here we show that repair by alternative NHEJ yields non-TTAGGG nucleotide insertions at fusion breakpoints of dysfunctional telomeres. Investigating the enzymatic activity responsible for the random insertions enabled us to identify polymerase theta (Poltheta; encoded by Polq in mice) as a crucial alternative NHEJ factor in mammalian cells. Polq inhibition suppresses alternative NHEJ at dysfunctional telomeres, and hinders chromosomal translocations at non-telomeric loci. In addition, we found that loss of Polq in mice results in increased rates of homology-directed repair, evident by recombination of dysfunctional telomeres and accumulation of RAD51 at double-stranded breaks. Lastly, we show that depletion of Poltheta has a synergistic effect on cell survival in the absence of BRCA genes, suggesting that the inhibition of this mutagenic polymerase represents a valid therapeutic avenue for tumours carrying mutations in homology-directed repair genes.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4718306/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4718306/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Mateos-Gomez, Pedro A -- Gong, Fade -- Nair, Nidhi -- Miller, Kyle M -- Lazzerini-Denchi, Eros -- Sfeir, Agnel -- AG038677/AG/NIA NIH HHS/ -- P30 CA016087/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- R01 AG038677/AG/NIA NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2015 Feb 12;518(7538):254-7. doi: 10.1038/nature14157. Epub 2015 Feb 2.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine, Department of Cell Biology, NYU School of Medicine, New York, New York 10016, USA. ; Department of Molecular Biosciences, Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology, University of Texas at Austin. 2506 Speedway Stop A5000, Austin, Texas 78712, USA. ; Department of Molecular and Experimental Medicine, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California 92037, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25642960" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The first step in the biogenesis of microRNAs is the processing of primary microRNAs (pri-miRNAs) by the microprocessor complex, composed of the RNA-binding protein DGCR8 and the type III RNase DROSHA. This initial event requires recognition of the junction between the stem and the flanking single-stranded RNA of the pri-miRNA hairpin by DGCR8 followed by recruitment of DROSHA, which cleaves the RNA duplex to yield the pre-miRNA product. While the mechanisms underlying pri-miRNA processing have been determined, the mechanism by which DGCR8 recognizes and binds pri-miRNAs, as opposed to other secondary structures present in transcripts, is not understood. Here we find in mammalian cells that methyltransferase-like 3 (METTL3) methylates pri-miRNAs, marking them for recognition and processing by DGCR8. Consistent with this, METTL3 depletion reduced the binding of DGCR8 to pri-miRNAs and resulted in the global reduction of mature miRNAs and concomitant accumulation of unprocessed pri-miRNAs. In vitro processing reactions confirmed the sufficiency of the N(6)-methyladenosine (m(6)A) mark in promoting pri-miRNA processing. Finally, gain-of-function experiments revealed that METTL3 is sufficient to enhance miRNA maturation in a global and non-cell-type-specific manner. Our findings reveal that the m(6)A mark acts as a key post-transcriptional modification that promotes the initiation of miRNA biogenesis.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4475635/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4475635/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Alarcon, Claudio R -- Lee, Hyeseung -- Goodarzi, Hani -- Halberg, Nils -- Tavazoie, Sohail F -- T32 CA009673/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2015 Mar 26;519(7544):482-5. doi: 10.1038/nature14281. Epub 2015 Mar 18.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Laboratory of Systems Cancer Biology, Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, New York 10065, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25799998" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: So prized by the ancient Romans were Egyptian obelisks that, at one time, more of them stood in Rome than in Egypt. In the 19th century, France, Britain, and the United States—inspired by Napoleon Bonaparte's expedition to Egypt in 1798— acquired their own major obelisks from Alexandria and Luxor. Cleopatra's Needles, by Egyptologist Bob Brier, explores the engineering challenges associated with building and erecting these massive monuments. Author: Andrew Robinson

Description: Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR) loci and their associated (Cas) proteins provide adaptive immunity against viral infection in prokaryotes. Upon infection, short phage sequences known as spacers integrate between CRISPR repeats and are transcribed into small RNA molecules that guide the Cas9 nuclease to the viral targets (protospacers). Streptococcus pyogenes Cas9 cleavage of the viral genome requires the presence of a 5'-NGG-3' protospacer adjacent motif (PAM) sequence immediately downstream of the viral target. It is not known whether and how viral sequences flanked by the correct PAM are chosen as new spacers. Here we show that Cas9 selects functional spacers by recognizing their PAM during spacer acquisition. The replacement of cas9 with alleles that lack the PAM recognition motif or recognize an NGGNG PAM eliminated or changed PAM specificity during spacer acquisition, respectively. Cas9 associates with other proteins of the acquisition machinery (Cas1, Cas2 and Csn2), presumably to provide PAM-specificity to this process. These results establish a new function for Cas9 in the genesis of prokaryotic immunological memory.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4385744/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4385744/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Heler, Robert -- Samai, Poulami -- Modell, Joshua W -- Weiner, Catherine -- Goldberg, Gregory W -- Bikard, David -- Marraffini, Luciano A -- 1DP2AI104556-01/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- DP2 AI104556/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- England -- Nature. 2015 Mar 12;519(7542):199-202. doi: 10.1038/nature14245. Epub 2015 Feb 18.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Laboratory of Bacteriology, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, New York 10065, USA. ; 1] Laboratory of Bacteriology, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, New York 10065, USA [2] Synthetic Biology Group, Institut Pasteur, 28 Rue du Dr. Roux, 75015 Paris, France.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25707807" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The structure of messenger RNA is important for post-transcriptional regulation, mainly because it affects binding of trans-acting factors. However, little is known about the in vivo structure of full-length mRNAs. Here we present hiCLIP, a biochemical technique for transcriptome-wide identification of RNA secondary structures interacting with RNA-binding proteins (RBPs). Using this technique to investigate RNA structures bound by Staufen 1 (STAU1) in human cells, we uncover a dominance of intra-molecular RNA duplexes, a depletion of duplexes from coding regions of highly translated mRNAs, an unexpected prevalence of long-range duplexes in 3' untranslated regions (UTRs), and a decreased incidence of single nucleotide polymorphisms in duplex-forming regions. We also discover a duplex spanning 858 nucleotides in the 3' UTR of the X-box binding protein 1 (XBP1) mRNA that regulates its cytoplasmic splicing and stability. Our study reveals the fundamental role of mRNA secondary structures in gene expression and introduces hiCLIP as a widely applicable method for discovering new, especially long-range, RNA duplexes.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4376666/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4376666/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Sugimoto, Yoichiro -- Vigilante, Alessandra -- Darbo, Elodie -- Zirra, Alexandra -- Militti, Cristina -- D'Ambrogio, Andrea -- Luscombe, Nicholas M -- Ule, Jernej -- 103760/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- 103760/Z/14/Z/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- 206726/European Research Council/International -- 617837/European Research Council/International -- A16358/Cancer Research UK/United Kingdom -- MC_U105185858/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- U105185858/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- England -- Nature. 2015 Mar 26;519(7544):491-4. doi: 10.1038/nature14280. Epub 2015 Mar 18.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge CB2 0QH, UK. ; 1] Cancer Research UK London Research Institute, 44 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3LY, UK [2] UCL Genetics Institute, Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK. ; Cancer Research UK London Research Institute, 44 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3LY, UK. ; Department of Molecular Neuroscience, UCL Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG, UK. ; 1] MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge CB2 0QH, UK [2] Department of Molecular Neuroscience, UCL Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG, UK. ; 1] Cancer Research UK London Research Institute, 44 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3LY, UK [2] UCL Genetics Institute, Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK [3] Okinawa Institute of Science &Technology, 1919-1 Tancha, Onna-son, Kunigami-gun, Okinawa 904-0495, Japan.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25799984" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The central dogma of gene expression (DNA to RNA to protein) is universal, but in different domains of life there are fundamental mechanistic differences within this pathway. For example, the canonical molecular signals used to initiate protein synthesis in bacteria and eukaryotes are mutually exclusive. However, the core structures and conformational dynamics of ribosomes that are responsible for the translation steps that take place after initiation are ancient and conserved across the domains of life. We wanted to explore whether an undiscovered RNA-based signal might be able to use these conserved features, bypassing mechanisms specific to each domain of life, and initiate protein synthesis in both bacteria and eukaryotes. Although structured internal ribosome entry site (IRES) RNAs can manipulate ribosomes to initiate translation in eukaryotic cells, an analogous RNA structure-based mechanism has not been observed in bacteria. Here we report our discovery that a eukaryotic viral IRES can initiate translation in live bacteria. We solved the crystal structure of this IRES bound to a bacterial ribosome to 3.8 A resolution, revealing that despite differences between bacterial and eukaryotic ribosomes this IRES binds directly to both and occupies the space normally used by transfer RNAs. Initiation in both bacteria and eukaryotes depends on the structure of the IRES RNA, but in bacteria this RNA uses a different mechanism that includes a form of ribosome repositioning after initial recruitment. This IRES RNA bridges billions of years of evolutionary divergence and provides an example of an RNA structure-based translation initiation signal capable of operating in two domains of life.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4352134/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4352134/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Colussi, Timothy M -- Costantino, David A -- Zhu, Jianyu -- Donohue, John Paul -- Korostelev, Andrei A -- Jaafar, Zane A -- Plank, Terra-Dawn M -- Noller, Harry F -- Kieft, Jeffrey S -- GM-103105/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- GM-17129/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- GM-59140/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- GM-81346/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- GM-97333/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R01 GM097333/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R01 GM106105/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- England -- Nature. 2015 Mar 5;519(7541):110-3. doi: 10.1038/nature14219. Epub 2015 Feb 4.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado 80045, USA [2] Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado 80045, USA. ; Center for Molecular Biology of RNA and Department of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology, Sinsheimer Labs, University of California at Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California 95064, USA. ; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado 80045, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25652826" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The RNA-guided endonuclease Cas9 has emerged as a versatile genome-editing platform. However, the size of the commonly used Cas9 from Streptococcus pyogenes (SpCas9) limits its utility for basic research and therapeutic applications that use the highly versatile adeno-associated virus (AAV) delivery vehicle. Here, we characterize six smaller Cas9 orthologues and show that Cas9 from Staphylococcus aureus (SaCas9) can edit the genome with efficiencies similar to those of SpCas9, while being more than 1 kilobase shorter. We packaged SaCas9 and its single guide RNA expression cassette into a single AAV vector and targeted the cholesterol regulatory gene Pcsk9 in the mouse liver. Within one week of injection, we observed 〉40% gene modification, accompanied by significant reductions in serum Pcsk9 and total cholesterol levels. We further assess the genome-wide targeting specificity of SaCas9 and SpCas9 using BLESS, and demonstrate that SaCas9-mediated in vivo genome editing has the potential to be efficient and specific.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4393360/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4393360/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Ran, F Ann -- Cong, Le -- Yan, Winston X -- Scott, David A -- Gootenberg, Jonathan S -- Kriz, Andrea J -- Zetsche, Bernd -- Shalem, Ophir -- Wu, Xuebing -- Makarova, Kira S -- Koonin, Eugene V -- Sharp, Phillip A -- Zhang, Feng -- 5DP1-MH100706/DP/NCCDPHP CDC HHS/ -- 5P30EY012196-17/EY/NEI NIH HHS/ -- 5R01DK097768-03/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- DP1 MH100706/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- P01-CA42063/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- P30 CA014051/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- P30-CA14051/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- R01 EY024259/EY/NEI NIH HHS/ -- R01-CA133404/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- R01-GM34277/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- T32 GM007753/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- T32 GM008313/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- T32GM007753/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- England -- Nature. 2015 Apr 9;520(7546):186-91. doi: 10.1038/nature14299. Epub 2015 Apr 1.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA [2] Society of Fellows, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA. ; 1] Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA [2] Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA. ; 1] Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA [2] Graduate Program in Biophysics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA [3] Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. ; 1] Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA [2] McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA [3] Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA. ; 1] Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA [2] Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. ; Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA. ; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA. ; 1] David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA [2] Computational and Systems Biology Graduate Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA. ; National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20894, USA. ; 1] Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA [2] David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA. ; 1] Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA [2] McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA [3] Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA [4] Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25830891" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Epistasis-the non-additive interactions between different genetic loci-constrains evolutionary pathways, blocking some and permitting others. For biological networks such as transcription circuits, the nature of these constraints and their consequences are largely unknown. Here we describe the evolutionary pathways of a transcription network that controls the response to mating pheromone in yeast. A component of this network, the transcription regulator Ste12, has evolved two different modes of binding to a set of its target genes. In one group of species, Ste12 binds to specific DNA binding sites, while in another lineage it occupies DNA indirectly, relying on a second transcription regulator to recognize DNA. We show, through the construction of various possible evolutionary intermediates, that evolution of the direct mode of DNA binding was not directly accessible to the ancestor. Instead, it was contingent on a lineage-specific change to an overlapping transcription network with a different function, the specification of cell type. These results show that analysing and predicting the evolution of cis-regulatory regions requires an understanding of their positions in overlapping networks, as this placement constrains the available evolutionary pathways.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4531262/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4531262/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Sorrells, Trevor R -- Booth, Lauren N -- Tuch, Brian B -- Johnson, Alexander D -- R01 GM037049/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2015 Jul 16;523(7560):361-5. doi: 10.1038/nature14613. Epub 2015 Jul 8.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] Department of Biochemistry &Biophysics, Department of Microbiology &Immunology, University of California, San Francisco, California 94158, USA [2] Tetrad Graduate Program, University of California, San Francisco, California 94158, USA. ; 1] Department of Biochemistry &Biophysics, Department of Microbiology &Immunology, University of California, San Francisco, California 94158, USA [2] Biological and Medical Informatics Graduate Program, University of California, San Francisco, California 94158, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26153861" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Recursive splicing is a process in which large introns are removed in multiple steps by re-splicing at ratchet points--5' splice sites recreated after splicing. Recursive splicing was first identified in the Drosophila Ultrabithorax (Ubx) gene and only three additional Drosophila genes have since been experimentally shown to undergo recursive splicing. Here we identify 197 zero nucleotide exon ratchet points in 130 introns of 115 Drosophila genes from total RNA sequencing data generated from developmental time points, dissected tissues and cultured cells. The sequential nature of recursive splicing was confirmed by identification of lariat introns generated by splicing to and from the ratchet points. We also show that recursive splicing is a constitutive process, that depletion of U2AF inhibits recursive splicing, and that the sequence and function of ratchet points are evolutionarily conserved in Drosophila. Finally, we identify four recursively spliced human genes, one of which is also recursively spliced in Drosophila. Together, these results indicate that recursive splicing is commonly used in Drosophila, occurs in humans, and provides insight into the mechanisms by which some large introns are removed.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4529404/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4529404/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Duff, Michael O -- Olson, Sara -- Wei, Xintao -- Garrett, Sandra C -- Osman, Ahmad -- Bolisetty, Mohan -- Plocik, Alex -- Celniker, Susan E -- Graveley, Brenton R -- R01 GM095296/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R01GM095296/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- U54 HG006994/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- U54HG006994/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2015 May 21;521(7552):376-9. doi: 10.1038/nature14475. Epub 2015 May 13.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Genetics and Genome Sciences, Institute for Systems Genomics, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, Connecticut 06030, USA. ; Department of Genome Dynamics, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25970244" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The reference human genome sequence set the stage for studies of genetic variation and its association with human disease, but epigenomic studies lack a similar reference. To address this need, the NIH Roadmap Epigenomics Consortium generated the largest collection so far of human epigenomes for primary cells and tissues. Here we describe the integrative analysis of 111 reference human epigenomes generated as part of the programme, profiled for histone modification patterns, DNA accessibility, DNA methylation and RNA expression. We establish global maps of regulatory elements, define regulatory modules of coordinated activity, and their likely activators and repressors. We show that disease- and trait-associated genetic variants are enriched in tissue-specific epigenomic marks, revealing biologically relevant cell types for diverse human traits, and providing a resource for interpreting the molecular basis of human disease. Our results demonstrate the central role of epigenomic information for understanding gene regulation, cellular differentiation and human disease.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4530010/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4530010/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Roadmap Epigenomics Consortium -- Kundaje, Anshul -- Meuleman, Wouter -- Ernst, Jason -- Bilenky, Misha -- Yen, Angela -- Heravi-Moussavi, Alireza -- Kheradpour, Pouya -- Zhang, Zhizhuo -- Wang, Jianrong -- Ziller, Michael J -- Amin, Viren -- Whitaker, John W -- Schultz, Matthew D -- Ward, Lucas D -- Sarkar, Abhishek -- Quon, Gerald -- Sandstrom, Richard S -- Eaton, Matthew L -- Wu, Yi-Chieh -- Pfenning, Andreas R -- Wang, Xinchen -- Claussnitzer, Melina -- Liu, Yaping -- Coarfa, Cristian -- Harris, R Alan -- Shoresh, Noam -- Epstein, Charles B -- Gjoneska, Elizabeta -- Leung, Danny -- Xie, Wei -- Hawkins, R David -- Lister, Ryan -- Hong, Chibo -- Gascard, Philippe -- Mungall, Andrew J -- Moore, Richard -- Chuah, Eric -- Tam, Angela -- Canfield, Theresa K -- Hansen, R Scott -- Kaul, Rajinder -- Sabo, Peter J -- Bansal, Mukul S -- Carles, Annaick -- Dixon, Jesse R -- Farh, Kai-How -- Feizi, Soheil -- Karlic, Rosa -- Kim, Ah-Ram -- Kulkarni, Ashwinikumar -- Li, Daofeng -- Lowdon, Rebecca -- Elliott, GiNell -- Mercer, Tim R -- Neph, Shane J -- Onuchic, Vitor -- Polak, Paz -- Rajagopal, Nisha -- Ray, Pradipta -- Sallari, Richard C -- Siebenthall, Kyle T -- Sinnott-Armstrong, Nicholas A -- Stevens, Michael -- Thurman, Robert E -- Wu, Jie -- Zhang, Bo -- Zhou, Xin -- Beaudet, Arthur E -- Boyer, Laurie A -- De Jager, Philip L -- Farnham, Peggy J -- Fisher, Susan J -- Haussler, David -- Jones, Steven J M -- Li, Wei -- Marra, Marco A -- McManus, Michael T -- Sunyaev, Shamil -- Thomson, James A -- Tlsty, Thea D -- Tsai, Li-Huei -- Wang, Wei -- Waterland, Robert A -- Zhang, Michael Q -- Chadwick, Lisa H -- Bernstein, Bradley E -- Costello, Joseph F -- Ecker, Joseph R -- Hirst, Martin -- Meissner, Alexander -- Milosavljevic, Aleksandar -- Ren, Bing -- Stamatoyannopoulos, John A -- Wang, Ting -- Kellis, Manolis -- 5R24HD000836/HD/NICHD NIH HHS/ -- ES017166/ES/NIEHS NIH HHS/ -- F32 HL110473/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- F32HL110473/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- K99 HL119617/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- K99HL119617/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- P01 DA008227/DA/NIDA NIH HHS/ -- P30AG10161/AG/NIA NIH HHS/ -- P50 MH096890/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- R01 AG015819/AG/NIA NIH HHS/ -- R01 AG017917/AG/NIA NIH HHS/ -- R01 ES024984/ES/NIEHS NIH HHS/ -- R01 ES024992/ES/NIEHS NIH HHS/ -- R01 HG004037/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- R01 HG007175/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- R01 HG007354/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- R01AG15819/AG/NIA NIH HHS/ -- R01AG17917/AG/NIA NIH HHS/ -- R01HG004037/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- R01HG004037-S1/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- R01NS078839/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- RC1HG005334/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- RF1 AG015819/AG/NIA NIH HHS/ -- T32 ES007032/ES/NIEHS NIH HHS/ -- T32 GM007198/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- T32 GM007266/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- T32 GM081739/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- U01 ES017154/ES/NIEHS NIH HHS/ -- U01AG46152/AG/NIA NIH HHS/ -- U01DA025956/DA/NIDA NIH HHS/ -- U01ES017154/ES/NIEHS NIH HHS/ -- U01ES017155/ES/NIEHS NIH HHS/ -- U01ES017156/ES/NIEHS NIH HHS/ -- U01ES017166/ES/NIEHS NIH HHS/ -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- England -- Nature. 2015 Feb 19;518(7539):317-30. doi: 10.1038/nature14248.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 32 Vassar St, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA. [2] The Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, 415 Main Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA. [3] Department of Genetics, Department of Computer Science, 300 Pasteur Dr., Lane Building, L301, Stanford, California 94305-5120, USA. ; 1] Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 32 Vassar St, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA. [2] The Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, 415 Main Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA. ; 1] Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 32 Vassar St, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA. [2] The Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, 415 Main Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA. [3] Department of Biological Chemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, 615 Charles E Young Dr South, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA. ; Canada's Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre, BC Cancer Agency, 675 West 10th Avenue, Vancouver, British Columbia V5Z 1L3, Canada. ; 1] The Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, 415 Main Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA. [2] Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, 7 Divinity Ave, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA. ; Epigenome Center, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, Texas 77030, USA. ; Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Institute of Genomic Medicine, Moores Cancer Center, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, California 92093, USA. ; Genomic Analysis Laboratory, Howard Hughes Medical Institute &The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, 10010 N. Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, California 92037, USA. ; Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington, 3720 15th Ave. NE, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA. ; 1] Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 32 Vassar St, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA. [2] The Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, 415 Main Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA. [3] Biology Department, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 31 Ames St, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA. ; The Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, 415 Main Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA. ; 1] The Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, 415 Main Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA. [2] The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 43 Vassar St, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA. ; 1] Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Institute of Genomic Medicine, Moores Cancer Center, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, California 92093, USA. [2] Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, California 92093, USA. ; Department of Neurosurgery, Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California San Francisco, 1450 3rd Street, San Francisco, California 94158, USA. ; Department of Pathology, University of California San Francisco, 513 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco, California 94143-0511, USA. ; Department of Medicine, Division of Medical Genetics, University of Washington, 2211 Elliot Avenue, Seattle, Washington 98121, USA. ; 1] Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 32 Vassar St, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA. [2] The Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, 415 Main Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA. [3] Department of Computer Science &Engineering, University of Connecticut, 371 Fairfield Way, Storrs, Connecticut 06269, USA. ; Department of Microbiology and Immunology and Centre for High-Throughput Biology, University of British Columbia, 2125 East Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada. ; Bioinformatics Group, Department of Molecular Biology, Division of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Horvatovac 102a, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia. ; Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Center for Systems Biology, The University of Texas, Dallas, NSERL, RL10, 800 W Campbell Road, Richardson, Texas 75080, USA. ; Department of Genetics, Center for Genome Sciences and Systems Biology, Washington University in St Louis, 4444 Forest Park Ave, St Louis, Missouri 63108, USA. ; Institute for Molecular Bioscience, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia. ; 1] The Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, 415 Main Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA. [2] Brigham &Women's Hospital, 75 Francis Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. ; 1] Department of Genetics, Center for Genome Sciences and Systems Biology, Washington University in St Louis, 4444 Forest Park Ave, St Louis, Missouri 63108, USA. [2] Department of Computer Science and Engineeering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri 63130, USA. ; 1] Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York 11794-3600, USA. [2] Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York 11724, USA. ; Molecular and Human Genetics Department, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, Texas 77030, USA. ; Biology Department, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 31 Ames St, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA. ; 1] The Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, 415 Main Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA. [2] Brigham &Women's Hospital, 75 Francis Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. [3] Harvard Medical School, 25 Shattuck St, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. ; Department of Biochemistry, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, 1450 Biggy Street, Los Angeles, California 90089-9601, USA. ; ObGyn, Reproductive Sciences, University of California San Francisco, 35 Medical Center Way, San Francisco, California 94143, USA. ; Center for Biomolecular Sciences and Engineering, University of Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, California 95064, USA. ; 1] Canada's Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre, BC Cancer Agency, 675 West 10th Avenue, Vancouver, British Columbia V5Z 1L3, Canada. [2] Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6, Canada. [3] Department of Medical Genetics, University of British Columbia, 2329 West Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6T 1Z4. ; Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, Texas 77030, USA. ; 1] Canada's Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre, BC Cancer Agency, 675 West 10th Avenue, Vancouver, British Columbia V5Z 1L3, Canada. [2] Department of Medical Genetics, University of British Columbia, 2329 West Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6T 1Z4. ; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Diabetes Center, University of California, San Francisco, 513 Parnassus Ave, San Francisco, California 94143-0534, USA. ; 1] University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53715, USA. [2] Morgridge Institute for Research, 330 N. Orchard Street, Madison, Wisconsin 53707, USA. ; USDA/ARS Children's Nutrition Research Center, Baylor College of Medicine, 1100 Bates Street, Houston, Texas 77030, USA. ; 1] Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Center for Systems Biology, The University of Texas, Dallas, NSERL, RL10, 800 W Campbell Road, Richardson, Texas 75080, USA. [2] Bioinformatics Division, Center for Synthetic and Systems Biology, TNLIST, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China. ; National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, 111 T.W. Alexander Drive, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709, USA. ; 1] The Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, 415 Main Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA. [2] Massachusetts General Hospital, 55 Fruit St, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, USA. [3] Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 4000 Jones Bridge Road, Chevy Chase, Maryland 20815-6789, USA. ; 1] Canada's Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre, BC Cancer Agency, 675 West 10th Avenue, Vancouver, British Columbia V5Z 1L3, Canada. [2] Department of Microbiology and Immunology and Centre for High-Throughput Biology, University of British Columbia, 2125 East Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25693563" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The occurrence of Ebola virus (EBOV) in West Africa during 2013-2015 is unprecedented. Early reports suggested that in this outbreak EBOV is mutating twice as fast as previously observed, which indicates the potential for changes in transmissibility and virulence and could render current molecular diagnostics and countermeasures ineffective. We have determined additional full-length sequences from two clusters of imported EBOV infections into Mali, and we show that the nucleotide substitution rate (9.6 x 10(-4) substitutions per site per year) is consistent with rates observed in Central African outbreaks. In addition, overall variation among all genotypes observed remains low. Thus, our data indicate that EBOV is not undergoing rapid evolution in humans during the current outbreak. This finding has important implications for outbreak response and public health decisions and should alleviate several previously raised concerns.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Hoenen, T -- Safronetz, D -- Groseth, A -- Wollenberg, K R -- Koita, O A -- Diarra, B -- Fall, I S -- Haidara, F C -- Diallo, F -- Sanogo, M -- Sarro, Y S -- Kone, A -- Togo, A C G -- Traore, A -- Kodio, M -- Dosseh, A -- Rosenke, K -- de Wit, E -- Feldmann, F -- Ebihara, H -- Munster, V J -- Zoon, K C -- Feldmann, H -- Sow, S -- Intramural NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Apr 3;348(6230):117-9. doi: 10.1126/science.aaa5646. Epub 2015 Mar 26.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Laboratory of Virology, Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Hamilton, MT 59840, USA. ; Bioinformatics and Computational Biosciences Branch, NIAID, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. ; Center of Research and Training for HIV and Tuberculosis, University of Science, Technique and Technologies of Bamako, Mali. ; World Health Organization Office, Bamako, Mali. ; Centre des Operations d'Urgence, Centre pour le Developpement des Vaccins (CVD-Mali), Centre National d'Appui a la lutte contre la Maladie, Ministere de la Sante et de l'Hygiene Publique, Bamako, Mali. ; World Health Organization Inter-Country Support Team, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. ; Rocky Mountain Veterinary Branch, Division of Intramural Research, NIAID, NIH, Hamilton, MT 59840, USA. ; Office of the Scientific Director, NIAID, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20895, USA. ; Laboratory of Virology, Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Hamilton, MT 59840, USA. feldmannh@niaid.nih.gov ssow@medicine.umaryland.edu. ; Centre des Operations d'Urgence, Centre pour le Developpement des Vaccins (CVD-Mali), Centre National d'Appui a la lutte contre la Maladie, Ministere de la Sante et de l'Hygiene Publique, Bamako, Mali. feldmannh@niaid.nih.gov ssow@medicine.umaryland.edu.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25814067" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: DNA strand exchange plays a central role in genetic recombination across all kingdoms of life, but the physical basis for these reactions remains poorly defined. Using single-molecule imaging, we found that bacterial RecA and eukaryotic Rad51 and Dmc1 all stabilize strand exchange intermediates in precise three-nucleotide steps. Each step coincides with an energetic signature (0.3 kBT) that is conserved from bacteria to humans. Triplet recognition is strictly dependent on correct Watson-Crick pairing. Rad51, RecA, and Dmc1 can all step over mismatches, but only Dmc1 can stabilize mismatched triplets. This finding provides insight into why eukaryotes have evolved a meiosis-specific recombinase. We propose that canonical Watson-Crick base triplets serve as the fundamental unit of pairing interactions during DNA recombination.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4580133/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4580133/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Lee, Ja Yil -- Terakawa, Tsuyoshi -- Qi, Zhi -- Steinfeld, Justin B -- Redding, Sy -- Kwon, YoungHo -- Gaines, William A -- Zhao, Weixing -- Sung, Patrick -- Greene, Eric C -- CA146940/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- GM074739/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R01 CA146940/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- R01 ES015252/ES/NIEHS NIH HHS/ -- R01 GM074739/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R01ES015252/ES/NIEHS NIH HHS/ -- T32 GM007367/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Aug 28;349(6251):977-81. doi: 10.1126/science.aab2666.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. ; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. Department of Biophysics, Kyoto University, Sakyo, Kyoto, Japan. ; Department of Chemistry, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. ; Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA. ; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. ecg2108@cumc.columbia.edu.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26315438" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Variation in vectorial capacity for human malaria among Anopheles mosquito species is determined by many factors, including behavior, immunity, and life history. To investigate the genomic basis of vectorial capacity and explore new avenues for vector control, we sequenced the genomes of 16 anopheline mosquito species from diverse locations spanning ~100 million years of evolution. Comparative analyses show faster rates of gene gain and loss, elevated gene shuffling on the X chromosome, and more intron losses, relative to Drosophila. Some determinants of vectorial capacity, such as chemosensory genes, do not show elevated turnover but instead diversify through protein-sequence changes. This dynamism of anopheline genes and genomes may contribute to their flexible capacity to take advantage of new ecological niches, including adapting to humans as primary hosts.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4380271/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4380271/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Neafsey, Daniel E -- Waterhouse, Robert M -- Abai, Mohammad R -- Aganezov, Sergey S -- Alekseyev, Max A -- Allen, James E -- Amon, James -- Arca, Bruno -- Arensburger, Peter -- Artemov, Gleb -- Assour, Lauren A -- Basseri, Hamidreza -- Berlin, Aaron -- Birren, Bruce W -- Blandin, Stephanie A -- Brockman, Andrew I -- Burkot, Thomas R -- Burt, Austin -- Chan, Clara S -- Chauve, Cedric -- Chiu, Joanna C -- Christensen, Mikkel -- Costantini, Carlo -- Davidson, Victoria L M -- Deligianni, Elena -- Dottorini, Tania -- Dritsou, Vicky -- Gabriel, Stacey B -- Guelbeogo, Wamdaogo M -- Hall, Andrew B -- Han, Mira V -- Hlaing, Thaung -- Hughes, Daniel S T -- Jenkins, Adam M -- Jiang, Xiaofang -- Jungreis, Irwin -- Kakani, Evdoxia G -- Kamali, Maryam -- Kemppainen, Petri -- Kennedy, Ryan C -- Kirmitzoglou, Ioannis K -- Koekemoer, Lizette L -- Laban, Njoroge -- Langridge, Nicholas -- Lawniczak, Mara K N -- Lirakis, Manolis -- Lobo, Neil F -- Lowy, Ernesto -- MacCallum, Robert M -- Mao, Chunhong -- Maslen, Gareth -- Mbogo, Charles -- McCarthy, Jenny -- Michel, Kristin -- Mitchell, Sara N -- Moore, Wendy -- Murphy, Katherine A -- Naumenko, Anastasia N -- Nolan, Tony -- Novoa, Eva M -- O'Loughlin, Samantha -- Oringanje, Chioma -- Oshaghi, Mohammad A -- Pakpour, Nazzy -- Papathanos, Philippos A -- Peery, Ashley N -- Povelones, Michael -- Prakash, Anil -- Price, David P -- Rajaraman, Ashok -- Reimer, Lisa J -- Rinker, David C -- Rokas, Antonis -- Russell, Tanya L -- Sagnon, N'Fale -- Sharakhova, Maria V -- Shea, Terrance -- Simao, Felipe A -- Simard, Frederic -- Slotman, Michel A -- Somboon, Pradya -- Stegniy, Vladimir -- Struchiner, Claudio J -- Thomas, Gregg W C -- Tojo, Marta -- Topalis, Pantelis -- Tubio, Jose M C -- Unger, Maria F -- Vontas, John -- Walton, Catherine -- Wilding, Craig S -- Willis, Judith H -- Wu, Yi-Chieh -- Yan, Guiyun -- Zdobnov, Evgeny M -- Zhou, Xiaofan -- Catteruccia, Flaminia -- Christophides, George K -- Collins, Frank H -- Cornman, Robert S -- Crisanti, Andrea -- Donnelly, Martin J -- Emrich, Scott J -- Fontaine, Michael C -- Gelbart, William -- Hahn, Matthew W -- Hansen, Immo A -- Howell, Paul I -- Kafatos, Fotis C -- Kellis, Manolis -- Lawson, Daniel -- Louis, Christos -- Luckhart, Shirley -- Muskavitch, Marc A T -- Ribeiro, Jose M -- Riehle, Michael A -- Sharakhov, Igor V -- Tu, Zhijian -- Zwiebel, Laurence J -- Besansky, Nora J -- 092654/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- R01 AI050243/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- R01 AI063508/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- R01 AI073745/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- R01 AI076584/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- R01 AI080799/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- R01 AI104956/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- R21 AI101459/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- R56 AI107263/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- SC1 AI109055/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- U19 AI089686/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- U19 AI110818/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- U41 HG007234/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- U54 HG003067/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Jan 2;347(6217):1258522. doi: 10.1126/science.1258522. Epub 2014 Nov 27.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Genome Sequencing and Analysis Program, Broad Institute, 415 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. neafsey@broadinstitute.org nbesansk@nd.edu. ; Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. The Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, 415 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. Department of Genetic Medicine and Development, University of Geneva Medical School, Rue Michel-Servet 1, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland. Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Rue Michel-Servet 1, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland. ; Department of Medical Entomology and Vector Control, School of Public Health and Institute of Health Researches, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. ; George Washington University, Department of Mathematics and Computational Biology Institute, 45085 University Drive, Ashburn, VA 20147, USA. ; European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, EMBL-EBI, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK. ; National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme, Ministry of Health, Tafea Province, Vanuatu. ; Department of Public Health and Infectious Diseases, Division of Parasitology, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy. ; Department of Biological Sciences, California State Polytechnic-Pomona, 3801 West Temple Avenue, Pomona, CA 91768, USA. ; Tomsk State University, 36 Lenina Avenue, Tomsk, Russia. ; Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Eck Institute for Global Health, 211B Cushing Hall, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA. ; Genome Sequencing and Analysis Program, Broad Institute, 415 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. ; Inserm, U963, F-67084 Strasbourg, France. CNRS, UPR9022, IBMC, F-67084 Strasbourg, France. ; Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, UK. ; Faculty of Medicine, Health and Molecular Science, Australian Institute of Tropical Health Medicine, James Cook University, Cairns 4870, Australia. ; Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, Ascot SL5 7PY, UK. ; Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. The Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, 415 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. ; Department of Mathematics, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, Canada. ; Department of Entomology and Nematology, One Shields Avenue, University of California-Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA. ; Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement, Unites Mixtes de Recherche Maladies Infectieuses et Vecteurs Ecologie, Genetique, Evolution et Controle, 911, Avenue Agropolis, BP 64501 Montpellier, France. ; Division of Biology, Kansas State University, 271 Chalmers Hall, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA. ; Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Foundation for Research and Technology, Hellas, Nikolaou Plastira 100 GR-70013, Heraklion, Crete, Greece. ; Centre of Functional Genomics, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy. ; Genomics Platform, Broad Institute, 415 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. ; Centre National de Recherche et de Formation sur le Paludisme, Ouagadougou 01 BP 2208, Burkina Faso. ; Program of Genetics, Bioinformatics, and Computational Biology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA. ; School of Life Sciences, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV 89154, USA. ; Department of Medical Research, No. 5 Ziwaka Road, Dagon Township, Yangon 11191, Myanmar. ; European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, EMBL-EBI, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK. Baylor College of Medicine, 1 Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX 77030, USA. ; Boston College, 140 Commonwealth Avenue, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, USA. ; Department of Biochemistry, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA. Program of Genetics, Bioinformatics, and Computational Biology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA. ; Harvard School of Public Health, Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Dipartimento di Medicina Sperimentale e Scienze Biochimiche, Universita degli Studi di Perugia, Perugia, Italy. ; Department of Entomology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA. ; Computational Evolutionary Biology Group, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PT, UK. ; Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA. ; Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, UK. Bioinformatics Research Laboratory, Department of Biological Sciences, New Campus, University of Cyprus, CY 1678 Nicosia, Cyprus. ; Wits Research Institute for Malaria, Faculty of Health Sciences, and Vector Control Reference Unit, National Institute for Communicable Diseases of the National Health Laboratory Service, Sandringham 2131, Johannesburg, South Africa. ; National Museums of Kenya, P.O. Box 40658-00100, Nairobi, Kenya. ; Department of Biology, University of Crete, 700 13 Heraklion, Greece. ; Eck Institute for Global Health and Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, 317 Galvin Life Sciences Building, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA. ; Virginia Bioinformatics Institute, 1015 Life Science Circle, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA. ; Kenya Medical Research Institute-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Centre for Geographic Medicine Research - Coast, P.O. Box 230-80108, Kilifi, Kenya. ; Harvard School of Public Health, Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Boston, MA 02115, USA. ; Department of Entomology, 1140 East South Campus Drive, Forbes 410, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA. ; Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine, University of California Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA. ; Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, UK. Centre of Functional Genomics, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy. ; Department of Pathobiology, University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, 3800 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. ; Regional Medical Research Centre NE, Indian Council of Medical Research, P.O. Box 105, Dibrugarh-786 001, Assam, India. ; Department of Biology, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM 88003, USA. Molecular Biology Program, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM 88003, USA. ; Department of Vector Biology, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Pembroke Place, Liverpool, L3 5QA, UK. ; Center for Human Genetics Research, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37235, USA. ; Center for Human Genetics Research, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37235, USA. Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA. ; Department of Genetic Medicine and Development, University of Geneva Medical School, Rue Michel-Servet 1, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland. Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Rue Michel-Servet 1, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland. ; Department of Entomology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77807, USA. ; Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand. ; Fundacao Oswaldo Cruz, Avenida Brasil 4365, RJ Brazil. Instituto de Medicina Social, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. ; School of Informatics and Computing, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA. ; Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Center for Research in Molecular Medicine and Chronic Diseases, Instituto de Investigaciones Sanitarias, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, A Coruna, Spain. ; Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire, CB10 1SA, UK. ; School of Natural Sciences and Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool L3 3AF, UK. ; Department of Cellular Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA. ; Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. The Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, 415 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. Department of Computer Science, Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA 91711, USA. ; Program in Public Health, College of Health Sciences, University of California, Irvine, Hewitt Hall, Irvine, CA 92697, USA. ; Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA. ; Department of Vector Biology, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Pembroke Place, Liverpool, L3 5QA, UK. Malaria Programme, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Cambridge CB10 1SJ, UK. ; Eck Institute for Global Health and Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, 317 Galvin Life Sciences Building, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA. Centre of Evolutionary and Ecological Studies (Marine Evolution and Conservation group), University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, NL-9747 AG Groningen, Netherlands. ; Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, 16 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. ; Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA. School of Informatics and Computing, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA. ; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road NE MSG49, Atlanta, GA 30329, USA. ; Department of Biology, University of Crete, 700 13 Heraklion, Greece. Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Foundation for Research and Technology, Hellas, Nikolaou Plastira 100 GR-70013, Heraklion, Crete, Greece. Centre of Functional Genomics, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy. ; Boston College, 140 Commonwealth Avenue, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, USA. Biogen Idec, 14 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. ; Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, 12735 Twinbrook Parkway, Rockville, MD 20852, USA. ; Department of Entomology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA. Program of Genetics, Bioinformatics, and Computational Biology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA. ; Program of Genetics, Bioinformatics, and Computational Biology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA. Department of Biochemistry, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA. ; Departments of Biological Sciences and Pharmacology, Institutes for Chemical Biology, Genetics and Global Health, Vanderbilt University and Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37235, USA. ; Eck Institute for Global Health and Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, 317 Galvin Life Sciences Building, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA. neafsey@broadinstitute.org nbesansk@nd.edu.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25554792" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Transcriptional enhancers direct precise on-off patterns of gene expression during development. To explore the basis for this precision, we conducted a high-throughput analysis of the Otx-a enhancer, which mediates expression in the neural plate of Ciona embryos in response to fibroblast growth factor (FGF) signaling and a localized GATA determinant. We provide evidence that enhancer specificity depends on submaximal recognition motifs having reduced binding affinities ("suboptimization"). Native GATA and ETS (FGF) binding sites contain imperfect matches to consensus motifs. Perfect matches mediate robust but ectopic patterns of gene expression. The native sites are not arranged at optimal intervals, and subtle changes in their spacing alter enhancer activity. Multiple tiers of enhancer suboptimization produce specific, but weak, patterns of expression, and we suggest that clusters of weak enhancers, including certain "superenhancers," circumvent this trade-off in specificity and activity.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Farley, Emma K -- Olson, Katrina M -- Zhang, Wei -- Brandt, Alexander J -- Rokhsar, Daniel S -- Levine, Michael S -- GM46638/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- NS076542/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Oct 16;350(6258):325-8. doi: 10.1126/science.aac6948.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Division of Genetics, Genomics and Development, Center for Integrative Genomics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3200, USA. Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA. msl2@princeton.edu ekfarley@princeton.edu. ; Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Division of Genetics, Genomics and Development, Center for Integrative Genomics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3200, USA. Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA. ; Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, CA 92093-0688, USA. ; Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3200, USA. ; Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Division of Genetics, Genomics and Development, Center for Integrative Genomics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3200, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26472909" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The carnivoran giant panda has a specialized bamboo diet, to which its alimentary tract is poorly adapted. Measurements of daily energy expenditure across five captive and three wild pandas averaged 5.2 megajoules (MJ)/day, only 37.7% of the predicted value (13.8 MJ/day). For the wild pandas, the mean was 6.2 MJ/day, or 45% of the mammalian expectation. Pandas achieve this exceptionally low expenditure in part by reduced sizes of several vital organs and low physical activity. In addition, circulating levels of thyroid hormones thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3) averaged 46.9 and 64%, respectively, of the levels expected for a eutherian mammal of comparable size. A giant panda-unique mutation in the DUOX2 gene, critical for thyroid hormone synthesis, might explain these low thyroid hormone levels. A combination of morphological, behavioral, physiological, and genetic adaptations, leading to low energy expenditure, likely enables giant pandas to survive on a bamboo diet.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Nie, Yonggang -- Speakman, John R -- Wu, Qi -- Zhang, Chenglin -- Hu, Yibo -- Xia, Maohua -- Yan, Li -- Hambly, Catherine -- Wang, Lu -- Wei, Wei -- Zhang, Jinguo -- Wei, Fuwen -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Jul 10;349(6244):171-4. doi: 10.1126/science.aab2413.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Key Laboratory of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. ; State Key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Scotland, UK. ; Beijing Key Laboratory of Captive Wildlife Technologies, Beijing Zoo, Beijing, China. ; Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Scotland, UK. ; State Key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. ; Key Laboratory of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. weifw@ioz.ac.cn.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26160943" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Cytoplasmic aggregation of TDP-43, accompanied by its nuclear clearance, is a key common pathological hallmark of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia (ALS-FTD). However, a limited understanding of this RNA-binding protein (RBP) impedes the clarification of pathogenic mechanisms underlying TDP-43 proteinopathy. In contrast to RBPs that regulate splicing of conserved exons, we found that TDP-43 repressed the splicing of nonconserved cryptic exons, maintaining intron integrity. When TDP-43 was depleted from mouse embryonic stem cells, these cryptic exons were spliced into messenger RNAs, often disrupting their translation and promoting nonsense-mediated decay. Moreover, enforced repression of cryptic exons prevented cell death in TDP-43-deficient cells. Furthermore, repression of cryptic exons was impaired in ALS-FTD cases, suggesting that this splicing defect could potentially underlie TDP-43 proteinopathy.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Ling, Jonathan P -- Pletnikova, Olga -- Troncoso, Juan C -- Wong, Philip C -- P50AG05146/AG/NIA NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Aug 7;349(6248):650-5. doi: 10.1126/science.aab0983.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205-2196, USA. ; Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205-2196, USA. Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205-2196, USA. ; Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205-2196, USA. Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205-2196, USA. wong@jhmi.edu.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26250685" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Bacterial adaptive immunity uses CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats)-associated (Cas) proteins together with CRISPR transcripts for foreign DNA degradation. In type II CRISPR-Cas systems, activation of Cas9 endonuclease for DNA recognition upon guide RNA binding occurs by an unknown mechanism. Crystal structures of Cas9 bound to single-guide RNA reveal a conformation distinct from both the apo and DNA-bound states, in which the 10-nucleotide RNA "seed" sequence required for initial DNA interrogation is preordered in an A-form conformation. This segment of the guide RNA is essential for Cas9 to form a DNA recognition-competent structure that is poised to engage double-stranded DNA target sequences. We construe this as convergent evolution of a "seed" mechanism reminiscent of that used by Argonaute proteins during RNA interference in eukaryotes.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Jiang, Fuguo -- Zhou, Kaihong -- Ma, Linlin -- Gressel, Saskia -- Doudna, Jennifer A -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Jun 26;348(6242):1477-81. doi: 10.1126/science.aab1452.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. ; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. ; Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, 37077 Gottingen, Germany. ; Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. Physical Biosciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. Innovative Genomics Initiative, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. doudna@berkeley.edu.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26113724" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Transcription factors (TFs) bind specific sequences in promoter-proximal and -distal DNA elements to regulate gene transcription. RNA is transcribed from both of these DNA elements, and some DNA binding TFs bind RNA. Hence, RNA transcribed from regulatory elements may contribute to stable TF occupancy at these sites. We show that the ubiquitously expressed TF Yin-Yang 1 (YY1) binds to both gene regulatory elements and their associated RNA species across the entire genome. Reduced transcription of regulatory elements diminishes YY1 occupancy, whereas artificial tethering of RNA enhances YY1 occupancy at these elements. We propose that RNA makes a modest but important contribution to the maintenance of certain TFs at gene regulatory elements and suggest that transcription of regulatory elements produces a positive-feedback loop that contributes to the stability of gene expression programs.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4720525/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4720525/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Sigova, Alla A -- Abraham, Brian J -- Ji, Xiong -- Molinie, Benoit -- Hannett, Nancy M -- Guo, Yang Eric -- Jangi, Mohini -- Giallourakis, Cosmas C -- Sharp, Phillip A -- Young, Richard A -- HG002668/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- R01 HG002668/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Nov 20;350(6263):978-81. doi: 10.1126/science.aad3346. Epub 2015 Oct 29.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. ; Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA. ; Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Cambridge, MA 02140, USA. ; Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. young@wi.mit.edu.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26516199" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Morphinan alkaloids from the opium poppy are used for pain relief. The direction of metabolites to morphinan biosynthesis requires isomerization of (S)- to (R)-reticuline. Characterization of high-reticuline poppy mutants revealed a genetic locus, designated STORR [(S)- to (R)-reticuline] that encodes both cytochrome P450 and oxidoreductase modules, the latter belonging to the aldo-keto reductase family. Metabolite analysis of mutant alleles and heterologous expression demonstrate that the P450 module is responsible for the conversion of (S)-reticuline to 1,2-dehydroreticuline, whereas the oxidoreductase module converts 1,2-dehydroreticuline to (R)-reticuline rather than functioning as a P450 redox partner. Proteomic analysis confirmed that these two modules are contained on a single polypeptide in vivo. This modular assembly implies a selection pressure favoring substrate channeling. The fusion protein STORR may enable microbial-based morphinan production.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Winzer, Thilo -- Kern, Marcelo -- King, Andrew J -- Larson, Tony R -- Teodor, Roxana I -- Donninger, Samantha L -- Li, Yi -- Dowle, Adam A -- Cartwright, Jared -- Bates, Rachel -- Ashford, David -- Thomas, Jerry -- Walker, Carol -- Bowser, Tim A -- Graham, Ian A -- BB/K018809/1/Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council/United Kingdom -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Jul 17;349(6245):309-12. doi: 10.1126/science.aab1852. Epub 2015 Jun 25.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Centre for Novel Agricultural Products, Department of Biology, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK. ; Bioscience Technology Facility, Department of Biology, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK. ; GlaxoSmithKline, 1061 Mountain Highway, Post Office Box 168, Boronia, Victoria 3155, Australia.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26113639" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The 5' leader of the HIV-1 genome contains conserved elements that direct selective packaging of the unspliced, dimeric viral RNA into assembling particles. By using a (2)H-edited nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) approach, we determined the structure of a 155-nucleotide region of the leader that is independently capable of directing packaging (core encapsidation signal; Psi(CES)). The RNA adopts an unexpected tandem three-way junction structure, in which residues of the major splice donor and translation initiation sites are sequestered by long-range base pairing and guanosines essential for both packaging and high-affinity binding to the cognate Gag protein are exposed in helical junctions. The structure reveals how translation is attenuated, Gag binding promoted, and unspliced dimeric genomes selected, by the RNA conformer that directs packaging.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4492308/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4492308/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Keane, Sarah C -- Heng, Xiao -- Lu, Kun -- Kharytonchyk, Siarhei -- Ramakrishnan, Venkateswaran -- Carter, Gregory -- Barton, Shawn -- Hosic, Azra -- Florwick, Alyssa -- Santos, Justin -- Bolden, Nicholas C -- McCowin, Sayo -- Case, David A -- Johnson, Bruce A -- Salemi, Marco -- Telesnitsky, Alice -- Summers, Michael F -- 2T34 GM008663/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- P50 GM 103297/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- P50 GM103297/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R01 GM042561/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R01 GM42561/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 May 22;348(6237):917-21. doi: 10.1126/science.aaa9266.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) and Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250, USA. ; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-5620, USA. ; Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA. ; One Moon Scientific, Incorporated, 839 Grant Avenue, Westfield, NJ 07090, USA, and City University of New York (CUNY) Advanced Science Research Center, 85 St. Nicholas Terrace, New York, NY 10031, USA. ; Department of Pathology, Immunology, and Laboratory Medicine, College of Medicine, and Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610, USA. ; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-5620, USA. summers@hhmi.umbc.edu ateles@umich.edu. ; Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) and Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250, USA. summers@hhmi.umbc.edu ateles@umich.edu.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25999508" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The shortage of organs for transplantation is a major barrier to the treatment of organ failure. Although porcine organs are considered promising, their use has been checked by concerns about the transmission of porcine endogenous retroviruses (PERVs) to humans. Here we describe the eradication of all PERVs in a porcine kidney epithelial cell line (PK15). We first determined the PK15 PERV copy number to be 62. Using CRISPR-Cas9, we disrupted all copies of the PERV pol gene and demonstrated a 〉1000-fold reduction in PERV transmission to human cells, using our engineered cells. Our study shows that CRISPR-Cas9 multiplexability can be as high as 62 and demonstrates the possibility that PERVs can be inactivated for clinical application of porcine-to-human xenotransplantation.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Yang, Luhan -- Guell, Marc -- Niu, Dong -- George, Haydy -- Lesha, Emal -- Grishin, Dennis -- Aach, John -- Shrock, Ellen -- Xu, Weihong -- Poci, Jurgen -- Cortazio, Rebeca -- Wilkinson, Robert A -- Fishman, Jay A -- Church, George -- P50 HG005550/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Nov 27;350(6264):1101-4. doi: 10.1126/science.aad1191. Epub 2015 Oct 11.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA. eGenesis Biosciences, Boston, MA 02115, USA. gchurch@genetics.med.harvard.edu luhan.yang@egenesisbio.com. ; Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA. eGenesis Biosciences, Boston, MA 02115, USA. ; Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. College of Animal Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China. ; Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. ; Department of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. ; Transplant Infectious Disease and Compromised Host Program, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26456528" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Most spontaneous DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) result from replication-fork breakage. Break-induced replication (BIR), a genome rearrangement-prone repair mechanism that requires the Pol32/POLD3 subunit of eukaryotic DNA Poldelta, was proposed to repair broken forks, but how genome destabilization is avoided was unknown. We show that broken fork repair initially uses error-prone Pol32-dependent synthesis, but that mutagenic synthesis is limited to within a few kilobases from the break by Mus81 endonuclease and a converging fork. Mus81 suppresses template switches between both homologous sequences and diverged human Alu repetitive elements, highlighting its importance for stability of highly repetitive genomes. We propose that lack of a timely converging fork or Mus81 may propel genome instability observed in cancer.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Mayle, Ryan -- Campbell, Ian M -- Beck, Christine R -- Yu, Yang -- Wilson, Marenda -- Shaw, Chad A -- Bjergbaek, Lotte -- Lupski, James R -- Ira, Grzegorz -- F31 NS083159/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- GM080600/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- HG006542/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- NS058529/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- NS083159/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- R01 GM080600/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R01 NS058529/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- U54 HG006542/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Aug 14;349(6249):742-7. doi: 10.1126/science.aaa8391.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX 77030, USA. ; Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, University of Aarhus, Aarhus 8000, Denmark. ; Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX 77030, USA. Department of Pediatrics, and Human Genome Sequencing Center, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX 77030, USA. Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX 77030, USA. ; Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX 77030, USA. gira@bcm.edu.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26273056" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The Protoaurignacian culture is pivotal to the debate about the timing of the arrival of modern humans in western Europe and the demise of Neandertals. However, which group is responsible for this culture remains uncertain. We investigated dental remains associated with the Protoaurignacian. The lower deciduous incisor from Riparo Bombrini is modern human, based on its morphology. The upper deciduous incisor from Grotta di Fumane contains ancient mitochondrial DNA of a modern human type. These teeth are the oldest human remains in an Aurignacian-related archaeological context, confirming that by 41,000 calendar years before the present, modern humans bearing Protoaurignacian culture spread into southern Europe. Because the last Neandertals date to 41,030 to 39,260 calendar years before the present, we suggest that the Protoaurignacian triggered the demise of Neandertals in this area.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Benazzi, S -- Slon, V -- Talamo, S -- Negrino, F -- Peresani, M -- Bailey, S E -- Sawyer, S -- Panetta, D -- Vicino, G -- Starnini, E -- Mannino, M A -- Salvadori, P A -- Meyer, M -- Paabo, S -- Hublin, J-J -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 May 15;348(6236):793-6. doi: 10.1126/science.aaa2773. Epub 2015 Apr 23.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Cultural Heritage, University of Bologna, Via degli Ariani 1, 48121 Ravenna, Italy. Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany. stefano.benazzi@unibo.it. ; Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany. ; Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany. ; Dipartimento di Antichita, Filosofia, Storia e Geografia, Universita di Genova, Via Balbi 2, 16126 Genova, Italy. ; Sezione di Scienze Preistoriche e Antropologiche, Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici, Corso Ercole I d'Este 32, Universita di Ferrara, 44100 Ferrara, Italy. ; Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany. Center for the Study of Human Origins, Department of Anthropology, New York University, 25 Waverly Place, New York, NY 10003, USA. ; CNR Institute of Clinical Physiology, National Research Council, Via G. Moruzzi 1, 56124 Pisa, Italy. ; Museo Archeologico del Finale, Chiostri di Santa Caterina, 17024 Finale Ligure Borgo, Italy. ; Scuola di Scienze Umanistiche, Dipartimento di Studi Storici, Universita di Torino, via S. Ottavio 20, 10124 Torino, Italy. Museo Preistorico Nazionale dei Balzi Rossi, Via Balzi Rossi 9, 18039 Ventimiglia, Italy.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25908660" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: To explore the distinct genotypic and phenotypic states of melanoma tumors, we applied single-cell RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) to 4645 single cells isolated from 19 patients, profiling malignant, immune, stromal, and endothelial cells. Malignant cells within the same tumor displayed transcriptional heterogeneity associated with the cell cycle, spatial context, and a drug-resistance program. In particular, all tumors harbored malignant cells from two distinct transcriptional cell states, such that tumors characterized by high levels of the MITF transcription factor also contained cells with low MITF and elevated levels of the AXL kinase. Single-cell analyses suggested distinct tumor microenvironmental patterns, including cell-to-cell interactions. Analysis of tumor-infiltrating T cells revealed exhaustion programs, their connection to T cell activation and clonal expansion, and their variability across patients. Overall, we begin to unravel the cellular ecosystem of tumors and how single-cell genomics offers insights with implications for both targeted and immune therapies.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Tirosh, Itay -- Izar, Benjamin -- Prakadan, Sanjay M -- Wadsworth, Marc H 2nd -- Treacy, Daniel -- Trombetta, John J -- Rotem, Asaf -- Rodman, Christopher -- Lian, Christine -- Murphy, George -- Fallahi-Sichani, Mohammad -- Dutton-Regester, Ken -- Lin, Jia-Ren -- Cohen, Ofir -- Shah, Parin -- Lu, Diana -- Genshaft, Alex S -- Hughes, Travis K -- Ziegler, Carly G K -- Kazer, Samuel W -- Gaillard, Aleth -- Kolb, Kellie E -- Villani, Alexandra-Chloe -- Johannessen, Cory M -- Andreev, Aleksandr Y -- Van Allen, Eliezer M -- Bertagnolli, Monica -- Sorger, Peter K -- Sullivan, Ryan J -- Flaherty, Keith T -- Frederick, Dennie T -- Jane-Valbuena, Judit -- Yoon, Charles H -- Rozenblatt-Rosen, Orit -- Shalek, Alex K -- Regev, Aviv -- Garraway, Levi A -- 1U24CA180922/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- DP2 OD020839/OD/NIH HHS/ -- K99 CA194163/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- K99CA194163/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- P01CA163222/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- P30-CA14051/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- P50GM107618/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R35CA197737/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- U54CA112962/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2016 Apr 8;352(6282):189-96. doi: 10.1126/science.aad0501.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. ; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA. Center for Cancer Precision Medicine, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA 02215, USA. bizar@partners.org aregev@broadinstitute.org levi_garraway@dfci.harvard.edu. ; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. Department of Chemistry, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, MIT and Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. ; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA. Center for Cancer Precision Medicine, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA 02215, USA. ; Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. ; Program in Therapeutic Sciences, Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. ; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA. Department of Genetics and Computational Biology, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. ; HMS LINCS Center and Laboratory of Systems Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. ; Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA. ; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, MIT and Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. ; Department of Surgical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA. Department of Surgical Oncology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. ; Program in Therapeutic Sciences, Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. HMS LINCS Center and Laboratory of Systems Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Ludwig Center at Harvard, Boston, MA 02215, USA. ; Division of Medical Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Boston, MA 02114, USA. ; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. Department of Chemistry, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, MIT and Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Department of Immunology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA. ; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. Department of Biology and Koch Institute, MIT, Boston, MA 02142, USA. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD 20815, USA. bizar@partners.org aregev@broadinstitute.org levi_garraway@dfci.harvard.edu. ; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. bizar@partners.org aregev@broadinstitute.org levi_garraway@dfci.harvard.edu.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27124452" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Computation can be performed in living cells by DNA-encoded circuits that process sensory information and control biological functions. Their construction is time-intensive, requiring manual part assembly and balancing of regulator expression. We describe a design environment, Cello, in which a user writes Verilog code that is automatically transformed into a DNA sequence. Algorithms build a circuit diagram, assign and connect gates, and simulate performance. Reliable circuit design requires the insulation of gates from genetic context, so that they function identically when used in different circuits. We used Cello to design 60 circuits forEscherichia coli(880,000 base pairs of DNA), for which each DNA sequence was built as predicted by the software with no additional tuning. Of these, 45 circuits performed correctly in every output state (up to 10 regulators and 55 parts), and across all circuits 92% of the output states functioned as predicted. Design automation simplifies the incorporation of genetic circuits into biotechnology projects that require decision-making, control, sensing, or spatial organization.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Nielsen, Alec A K -- Der, Bryan S -- Shin, Jonghyeon -- Vaidyanathan, Prashant -- Paralanov, Vanya -- Strychalski, Elizabeth A -- Ross, David -- Densmore, Douglas -- Voigt, Christopher A -- P50 GM098792/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2016 Apr 1;352(6281):aac7341. doi: 10.1126/science.aac7341.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Synthetic Biology Center, Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. ; Synthetic Biology Center, Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. Biological Design Center, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA. ; Biological Design Center, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA. ; Biosystems and Biomaterials Division, Material Measurement Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20817, USA. ; Synthetic Biology Center, Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. cavoigt@gmail.com.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27034378" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Sequencing of exomes and genomes has revealed abundant genetic variation affecting the coding sequences of human transcription factors (TFs), but the consequences of such variation remain largely unexplored. We developed a computational, structure-based approach to evaluate TF variants for their impact on DNA binding activity and used universal protein-binding microarrays to assay sequence-specific DNA binding activity across 41 reference and 117 variant alleles found in individuals of diverse ancestries and families with Mendelian diseases. We found 77 variants in 28 genes that affect DNA binding affinity or specificity and identified thousands of rare alleles likely to alter the DNA binding activity of human sequence-specific TFs. Our results suggest that most individuals have unique repertoires of TF DNA binding activities, which may contribute to phenotypic variation.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4825693/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4825693/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Barrera, Luis A -- Vedenko, Anastasia -- Kurland, Jesse V -- Rogers, Julia M -- Gisselbrecht, Stephen S -- Rossin, Elizabeth J -- Woodard, Jaie -- Mariani, Luca -- Kock, Kian Hong -- Inukai, Sachi -- Siggers, Trevor -- Shokri, Leila -- Gordan, Raluca -- Sahni, Nidhi -- Cotsapas, Chris -- Hao, Tong -- Yi, Song -- Kellis, Manolis -- Daly, Mark J -- Vidal, Marc -- Hill, David E -- Bulyk, Martha L -- P50 HG004233/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- R01 HG003985/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2016 Mar 25;351(6280):1450-4. doi: 10.1126/science.aad2257. Epub 2016 Mar 24.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Division of Genetics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Committee on Higher Degrees in Biophysics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. ; Division of Genetics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. ; Division of Genetics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Committee on Higher Degrees in Biophysics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. ; Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Analytic and Translational Genetics Unit, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA. Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. ; Division of Genetics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Program in Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. ; Center for Cancer Systems Biology (CCSB), Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA 02215, USA. Department of Cancer Biology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA 02215, USA. Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. ; Analytic and Translational Genetics Unit, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA. Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. ; Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. ; Analytic and Translational Genetics Unit, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA. Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. Center for Human Genetics Research and Center for Computational and Integrative Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA. ; Division of Genetics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Committee on Higher Degrees in Biophysics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. Program in Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. Center for Cancer Systems Biology (CCSB), Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA 02215, USA. Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27013732" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Recent studies have implicated long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) as regulators of many important biological processes. Here we report on the identification and characterization of a lncRNA, lnc13, that harbors a celiac disease-associated haplotype block and represses expression of certain inflammatory genes under homeostatic conditions. Lnc13 regulates gene expression by binding to hnRNPD, a member of a family of ubiquitously expressed heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoproteins (hnRNPs). Upon stimulation, lnc13 levels are reduced, thereby allowing increased expression of the repressed genes. Lnc13 levels are significantly decreased in small intestinal biopsy samples from patients with celiac disease, which suggests that down-regulation of lnc13 may contribute to the inflammation seen in this disease. Furthermore, the lnc13 disease-associated variant binds hnRNPD less efficiently than its wild-type counterpart, thus helping to explain how these single-nucleotide polymorphisms contribute to celiac disease.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Castellanos-Rubio, Ainara -- Fernandez-Jimenez, Nora -- Kratchmarov, Radomir -- Luo, Xiaobing -- Bhagat, Govind -- Green, Peter H R -- Schneider, Robert -- Kiledjian, Megerditch -- Bilbao, Jose Ramon -- Ghosh, Sankar -- R01-AI093985/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- R01-DK102180/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- R01-GM067005/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R37-AI33443/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2016 Apr 1;352(6281):91-5. doi: 10.1126/science.aad0467.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY 10032, USA. ; Department of Genetics, Physical Anthropology, and Animal Physiology, University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU), BioCruces Research Institute, Leioa 48940, Basque Country, Spain. ; Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY 10032, USA. ; Center for Celiac Disease, Department of Medicine, Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY 10032, USA. Alexandria Center for Life Sciences, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA. ; Alexandria Center for Life Sciences, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA. ; Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA. ; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY 10032, USA. sg2715@columbia.edu.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27034373" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: A physicist reveals the engineering marvels that underlie the modern metropolis Author: Sybil Derrible

Description: Exoskeletons and active prostheses promise to enhance human mobility, but few have succeeded. Optimizing device characteristics on the basis of measured human performance could lead to improved designs. We have developed a method for identifying the exoskeleton assistance that minimizes human energy cost during walking. Optimized torque patterns from an exoskeleton worn on one ankle reduced metabolic energy consumption by 24.2 ± 7.4% compared to no torque. The approach was effective with exoskeletons worn on one or both ankles, during a variety of walking conditions, during running, and when optimizing muscle activity. Finding a good generic assistance pattern, customizing it to individual needs, and helping users learn to take advantage of the device all contributed to improved economy. Optimization methods with these features can substantially improve performance.

Description: In all domains of life, DNA synthesis occurs bidirectionally from replication origins. Despite variable rates of replication fork progression, fork convergence often occurs at specific sites. Escherichia coli sets a 'replication fork trap' that allows the first arriving fork to enter but not to leave the terminus region. The trap is set by oppositely oriented Tus-bound Ter sites that block forks on approach from only one direction. However, the efficiency of fork blockage by Tus-Ter does not exceed 50% in vivo despite its apparent ability to almost permanently arrest replication forks in vitro. Here we use data from single-molecule DNA replication assays and structural studies to show that both polarity and fork-arrest efficiency are determined by a competition between rates of Tus displacement and rearrangement of Tus-Ter interactions that leads to blockage of slower moving replisomes by two distinct mechanisms. To our knowledge this is the first example where intrinsic differences in rates of individual replisomes have different biological outcomes.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Elshenawy, Mohamed M -- Jergic, Slobodan -- Xu, Zhi-Qiang -- Sobhy, Mohamed A -- Takahashi, Masateru -- Oakley, Aaron J -- Dixon, Nicholas E -- Hamdan, Samir M -- England -- Nature. 2015 Sep 17;525(7569):394-8. doi: 10.1038/nature14866. Epub 2015 Aug 31.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Division of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal 23955, Saudi Arabia. ; Centre for Medical &Molecular Bioscience, Illawarra Health &Medical Research Institute and University of Wollongong, New South Wales 2522, Australia.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26322585" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Catalysis in biology is restricted to RNA (ribozymes) and protein enzymes, but synthetic biomolecular catalysts can also be made of DNA (deoxyribozymes) or synthetic genetic polymers. In vitro selection from synthetic random DNA libraries identified DNA catalysts for various chemical reactions beyond RNA backbone cleavage. DNA-catalysed reactions include RNA and DNA ligation in various topologies, hydrolytic cleavage and photorepair of DNA, as well as reactions of peptides and small molecules. In spite of comprehensive biochemical studies of DNA catalysts for two decades, fundamental mechanistic understanding of their function is lacking in the absence of three-dimensional models at atomic resolution. Early attempts to solve the crystal structure of an RNA-cleaving deoxyribozyme resulted in a catalytically irrelevant nucleic acid fold. Here we report the crystal structure of the RNA-ligating deoxyribozyme 9DB1 (ref. 14) at 2.8 A resolution. The structure captures the ligation reaction in the post-catalytic state, revealing a compact folding unit stabilized by numerous tertiary interactions, and an unanticipated organization of the catalytic centre. Structure-guided mutagenesis provided insights into the basis for regioselectivity of the ligation reaction and allowed remarkable manipulation of substrate recognition and reaction rate. Moreover, the structure highlights how the specific properties of deoxyribose are reflected in the backbone conformation of the DNA catalyst, in support of its intricate three-dimensional organization. The structural principles underlying the catalytic ability of DNA elucidate differences and similarities in DNA versus RNA catalysts, which is relevant for comprehending the privileged position of folded RNA in the prebiotic world and in current organisms.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Ponce-Salvatierra, Almudena -- Wawrzyniak-Turek, Katarzyna -- Steuerwald, Ulrich -- Hobartner, Claudia -- Pena, Vladimir -- England -- Nature. 2016 Jan 14;529(7585):231-4. doi: 10.1038/nature16471. Epub 2016 Jan 6.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Max Planck Research Group Nucleic Acid Chemistry, Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Am Fassberg 11, 37077 Gottingen, Germany. ; Research Group Macromolecular Crystallography, Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Am Fassberg 11, 37077 Gottingen, Germany. ; Institute for Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry, Georg-August-University Gottingen, Tammannstr. 2, 37077 Gottingen, Germany.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26735012" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: CRISPR-Cas9 nucleases are widely used for genome editing but can induce unwanted off-target mutations. Existing strategies for reducing genome-wide off-target effects of the widely used Streptococcus pyogenes Cas9 (SpCas9) are imperfect, possessing only partial or unproven efficacies and other limitations that constrain their use. Here we describe SpCas9-HF1, a high-fidelity variant harbouring alterations designed to reduce non-specific DNA contacts. SpCas9-HF1 retains on-target activities comparable to wild-type SpCas9 with 〉85% of single-guide RNAs (sgRNAs) tested in human cells. Notably, with sgRNAs targeted to standard non-repetitive sequences, SpCas9-HF1 rendered all or nearly all off-target events undetectable by genome-wide break capture and targeted sequencing methods. Even for atypical, repetitive target sites, the vast majority of off-target mutations induced by wild-type SpCas9 were not detected with SpCas9-HF1. With its exceptional precision, SpCas9-HF1 provides an alternative to wild-type SpCas9 for research and therapeutic applications. More broadly, our results suggest a general strategy for optimizing genome-wide specificities of other CRISPR-RNA-guided nucleases.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Kleinstiver, Benjamin P -- Pattanayak, Vikram -- Prew, Michelle S -- Tsai, Shengdar Q -- Nguyen, Nhu T -- Zheng, Zongli -- Joung, J Keith -- DP1 GM105378/DP/NCCDPHP CDC HHS/ -- R01 GM088040/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R01 GM107427/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2016 Jan 28;529(7587):490-5. doi: 10.1038/nature16526. Epub 2016 Jan 6.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Molecular Pathology Unit, Center for Cancer Research, and Center for Computational and Integrative Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, Massachusetts 02129, USA. ; Department of Pathology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. ; Department of Biomedical Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26735016" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Umbilical cord blood-derived haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are essential for many life-saving regenerative therapies. However, despite their advantages for transplantation, their clinical use is restricted because HSCs in cord blood are found only in small numbers. Small molecules that enhance haematopoietic stem and progenitor cell (HSPC) expansion in culture have been identified, but in many cases their mechanisms of action or the nature of the pathways they impinge on are poorly understood. A greater understanding of the molecular circuitry that underpins the self-renewal of human HSCs will facilitate the development of targeted strategies that expand HSCs for regenerative therapies. Whereas transcription factor networks have been shown to influence the self-renewal and lineage decisions of human HSCs, the post-transcriptional mechanisms that guide HSC fate have not been closely investigated. Here we show that overexpression of the RNA-binding protein Musashi-2 (MSI2) induces multiple pro-self-renewal phenotypes, including a 17-fold increase in short-term repopulating cells and a net 23-fold ex vivo expansion of long-term repopulating HSCs. By performing a global analysis of MSI2-RNA interactions, we show that MSI2 directly attenuates aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) signalling through post-transcriptional downregulation of canonical AHR pathway components in cord blood HSPCs. Our study gives mechanistic insight into RNA networks controlled by RNA-binding proteins that underlie self-renewal and provides evidence that manipulating such networks ex vivo can enhance the regenerative potential of human HSCs.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4880456/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4880456/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Rentas, Stefan -- Holzapfel, Nicholas T -- Belew, Muluken S -- Pratt, Gabriel A -- Voisin, Veronique -- Wilhelm, Brian T -- Bader, Gary D -- Yeo, Gene W -- Hope, Kristin J -- HG004659/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- MOP-126030/Canadian Institutes of Health Research/Canada -- NS075449/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2016 Apr 28;532(7600):508-11. doi: 10.1038/nature17665.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada. ; Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Institute for Genomic Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92037, USA. ; Bioinformatics Graduate Program, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92037, USA. ; The Donnelly Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3E1, Canada. ; Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec H3C 3J7, Canada. ; Department of Physiology, National University of Singapore and Molecular Engineering Laboratory, A*STAR, Singapore 138632, Singapore.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27121842" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Since their discovery, giant viruses have revealed several unique features that challenge the conventional definition of a virus, such as their large and complex genomes, their infection by virophages and their presence of transferable short element transpovirons. Here we investigate the sensitivity of mimivirus to virophage infection in a collection of 59 viral strains and demonstrate lineage specificity in the resistance of mimivirus to Zamilon, a unique virophage that can infect lineages B and C of mimivirus but not lineage A. We hypothesized that mimiviruses harbour a defence mechanism resembling the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)-Cas system that is widely present in bacteria and archaea. We performed de novo sequencing of 45 new mimivirus strains and searched for sequences specific to Zamilon in a total of 60 mimivirus genomes. We found that lineage A strains are resistant to Zamilon and contain the insertion of a repeated Zamilon sequence within an operon, here named the 'mimivirus virophage resistance element' (MIMIVIRE). Further analyses of the surrounding sequences showed that this locus is reminiscent of a defence mechanism related to the CRISPR-Cas system. Silencing the repeated sequence and the MIMIVIRE genes restores mimivirus susceptibility to Zamilon. The MIMIVIRE proteins possess the typical functions (nuclease and helicase) involved in the degradation of foreign nucleic acids. The viral defence system, MIMIVIRE, represents a nucleic-acid-based immunity against virophage infection.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Levasseur, Anthony -- Bekliz, Meriem -- Chabriere, Eric -- Pontarotti, Pierre -- La Scola, Bernard -- Raoult, Didier -- England -- Nature. 2016 Mar 10;531(7593):249-52. doi: 10.1038/nature17146. Epub 2016 Feb 29.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Aix-Marseille Universite, Unite de Recherche sur les Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Emergentes (URMITE), UM63, CNRS 7278, IRD 198, INSERM U1095, Marseille, France. ; IHU Mediterranee Infection, Pole des Maladies Infectieuses, Assistance Publique-Hopitaux de Marseille, Faculte de Medecine, 27 Boulevard Jean Moulin, 13005 Marseille, France. ; Aix-Marseille Universite, CNRS, Centrale Marseille, I2M, UMR7373, FR 4213 - FR Eccorev 3098, equipe EBM, 13331 Marseille, France.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26934229" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Schizophrenia is a heritable brain illness with unknown pathogenic mechanisms. Schizophrenia's strongest genetic association at a population level involves variation in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) locus, but the genes and molecular mechanisms accounting for this have been challenging to identify. Here we show that this association arises in part from many structurally diverse alleles of the complement component 4 (C4) genes. We found that these alleles generated widely varying levels of C4A and C4B expression in the brain, with each common C4 allele associating with schizophrenia in proportion to its tendency to generate greater expression of C4A. Human C4 protein localized to neuronal synapses, dendrites, axons, and cell bodies. In mice, C4 mediated synapse elimination during postnatal development. These results implicate excessive complement activity in the development of schizophrenia and may help explain the reduced numbers of synapses in the brains of individuals with schizophrenia.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4752392/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4752392/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Sekar, Aswin -- Bialas, Allison R -- de Rivera, Heather -- Davis, Avery -- Hammond, Timothy R -- Kamitaki, Nolan -- Tooley, Katherine -- Presumey, Jessy -- Baum, Matthew -- Van Doren, Vanessa -- Genovese, Giulio -- Rose, Samuel A -- Handsaker, Robert E -- Schizophrenia Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium -- Daly, Mark J -- Carroll, Michael C -- Stevens, Beth -- McCarroll, Steven A -- R01 HG006855/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- R01 MH077139/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- T32 GM007753/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- U01 MH105641/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2016 Feb 11;530(7589):177-83. doi: 10.1038/nature16549. Epub 2016 Jan 27.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. ; Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA. ; MD-PhD Program, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. ; Department of Neurology, F.M. Kirby Neurobiology Center, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. ; Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. ; Analytical and Translational Genetics Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26814963" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: It is generally believed that splicing removes introns as single units from precursor messenger RNA transcripts. However, some long Drosophila melanogaster introns contain a cryptic site, known as a recursive splice site (RS-site), that enables a multi-step process of intron removal termed recursive splicing. The extent to which recursive splicing occurs in other species and its mechanistic basis have not been examined. Here we identify highly conserved RS-sites in genes expressed in the mammalian brain that encode proteins functioning in neuronal development. Moreover, the RS-sites are found in some of the longest introns across vertebrates. We find that vertebrate recursive splicing requires initial definition of an 'RS-exon' that follows the RS-site. The RS-exon is then excluded from the dominant mRNA isoform owing to competition with a reconstituted 5' splice site formed at the RS-site after the first splicing step. Conversely, the RS-exon is included when preceded by cryptic promoters or exons that fail to reconstitute an efficient 5' splice site. Most RS-exons contain a premature stop codon such that their inclusion can decrease mRNA stability. Thus, by establishing a binary splicing switch, RS-sites demarcate different mRNA isoforms emerging from long genes by coupling cryptic elements with inclusion of RS-exons.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4471124/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4471124/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Sibley, Christopher R -- Emmett, Warren -- Blazquez, Lorea -- Faro, Ana -- Haberman, Nejc -- Briese, Michael -- Trabzuni, Daniah -- Ryten, Mina -- Weale, Michael E -- Hardy, John -- Modic, Miha -- Curk, Tomaz -- Wilson, Stephen W -- Plagnol, Vincent -- Ule, Jernej -- 104682/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- 206726/European Research Council/International -- 617837/European Research Council/International -- G0802462/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- G0901254/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- MC_U105185858/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- U105185858/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- England -- Nature. 2015 May 21;521(7552):371-5. doi: 10.1038/nature14466. Epub 2015 May 13.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] Department of Molecular Neuroscience, UCL Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG, UK [2] MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge CB2 0QH, UK. ; University College London Genetics Institute, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK. ; Department of Molecular Neuroscience, UCL Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG, UK. ; Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK. ; 1] MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge CB2 0QH, UK [2] Institute for Clinical Neurobiology, University of Wurzburg, Versbacherstr. 5, 97078, Wurzburg, Germany. ; 1] Department of Molecular Neuroscience, UCL Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG, UK [2] Department of Genetics, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, Riyadh 11211, Saudi Arabia. ; 1] Department of Molecular Neuroscience, UCL Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG, UK [2] Department of Medical &Molecular Genetics, King's College London, Guy's Hospital, London SE1 9RT, UK. ; Department of Medical &Molecular Genetics, King's College London, Guy's Hospital, London SE1 9RT, UK. ; 1] MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge CB2 0QH, UK [2] Institute of Stem Cell Research, German Research Center for Environmental Health, Helmholtz Center Munich, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany. ; Faculty of Computer and Information Science, University of Ljubljana, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25970246" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The bacterial CRISPR/Cas9 system allows sequence-specific gene editing in many organisms and holds promise as a tool to generate models of human diseases, for example, in human pluripotent stem cells. CRISPR/Cas9 introduces targeted double-stranded breaks (DSBs) with high efficiency, which are typically repaired by non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) resulting in nonspecific insertions, deletions or other mutations (indels). DSBs may also be repaired by homology-directed repair (HDR) using a DNA repair template, such as an introduced single-stranded oligo DNA nucleotide (ssODN), allowing knock-in of specific mutations. Although CRISPR/Cas9 is used extensively to engineer gene knockouts through NHEJ, editing by HDR remains inefficient and can be corrupted by additional indels, preventing its widespread use for modelling genetic disorders through introducing disease-associated mutations. Furthermore, targeted mutational knock-in at single alleles to model diseases caused by heterozygous mutations has not been reported. Here we describe a CRISPR/Cas9-based genome-editing framework that allows selective introduction of mono- and bi-allelic sequence changes with high efficiency and accuracy. We show that HDR accuracy is increased dramatically by incorporating silent CRISPR/Cas-blocking mutations along with pathogenic mutations, and establish a method termed 'CORRECT' for scarless genome editing. By characterizing and exploiting a stereotyped inverse relationship between a mutation's incorporation rate and its distance to the DSB, we achieve predictable control of zygosity. Homozygous introduction requires a guide RNA targeting close to the intended mutation, whereas heterozygous introduction can be accomplished by distance-dependent suboptimal mutation incorporation or by use of mixed repair templates. Using this approach, we generated human induced pluripotent stem cells with heterozygous and homozygous dominant early onset Alzheimer's disease-causing mutations in amyloid precursor protein (APP(Swe)) and presenilin 1 (PSEN1(M146V)) and derived cortical neurons, which displayed genotype-dependent disease-associated phenotypes. Our findings enable efficient introduction of specific sequence changes with CRISPR/Cas9, facilitating study of human disease.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Paquet, Dominik -- Kwart, Dylan -- Chen, Antonia -- Sproul, Andrew -- Jacob, Samson -- Teo, Shaun -- Olsen, Kimberly Moore -- Gregg, Andrew -- Noggle, Scott -- Tessier-Lavigne, Marc -- 8 UL1 TR000043/TR/NCATS NIH HHS/ -- T32GM007739/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- England -- Nature. 2016 May 5;533(7601):125-9. doi: 10.1038/nature17664. Epub 2016 Apr 27.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Laboratory of Brain Development and Repair, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, New York 10065, USA. ; The New York Stem Cell Foundation Research Institute, New York, New York 10032, USA. ; Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences, The Rockefeller University and Sloan-Kettering Institute Tri-institutional MD-PhD Program, 1300 York Avenue, New York, New York 10065, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27120160" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Gain-of-function IDH mutations are initiating events that define major clinical and prognostic classes of gliomas. Mutant IDH protein produces a new onco-metabolite, 2-hydroxyglutarate, which interferes with iron-dependent hydroxylases, including the TET family of 5'-methylcytosine hydroxylases. TET enzymes catalyse a key step in the removal of DNA methylation. IDH mutant gliomas thus manifest a CpG island methylator phenotype (G-CIMP), although the functional importance of this altered epigenetic state remains unclear. Here we show that human IDH mutant gliomas exhibit hypermethylation at cohesin and CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF)-binding sites, compromising binding of this methylation-sensitive insulator protein. Reduced CTCF binding is associated with loss of insulation between topological domains and aberrant gene activation. We specifically demonstrate that loss of CTCF at a domain boundary permits a constitutive enhancer to interact aberrantly with the receptor tyrosine kinase gene PDGFRA, a prominent glioma oncogene. Treatment of IDH mutant gliomaspheres with a demethylating agent partially restores insulator function and downregulates PDGFRA. Conversely, CRISPR-mediated disruption of the CTCF motif in IDH wild-type gliomaspheres upregulates PDGFRA and increases proliferation. Our study suggests that IDH mutations promote gliomagenesis by disrupting chromosomal topology and allowing aberrant regulatory interactions that induce oncogene expression.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Flavahan, William A -- Drier, Yotam -- Liau, Brian B -- Gillespie, Shawn M -- Venteicher, Andrew S -- Stemmer-Rachamimov, Anat O -- Suva, Mario L -- Bernstein, Bradley E -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- England -- Nature. 2016 Jan 7;529(7584):110-4. doi: 10.1038/nature16490. Epub 2015 Dec 23.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Pathology and Center for Cancer Research, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, USA. ; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA. ; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, Maryland 20815, USA. ; Department of Neurosurgery, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26700815" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: CRISPR-Cas systems that provide defence against mobile genetic elements in bacteria and archaea have evolved a variety of mechanisms to target and cleave RNA or DNA. The well-studied types I, II and III utilize a set of distinct CRISPR-associated (Cas) proteins for production of mature CRISPR RNAs (crRNAs) and interference with invading nucleic acids. In types I and III, Cas6 or Cas5d cleaves precursor crRNA (pre-crRNA) and the mature crRNAs then guide a complex of Cas proteins (Cascade-Cas3, type I; Csm or Cmr, type III) to target and cleave invading DNA or RNA. In type II systems, RNase III cleaves pre-crRNA base-paired with trans-activating crRNA (tracrRNA) in the presence of Cas9 (refs 13, 14). The mature tracrRNA-crRNA duplex then guides Cas9 to cleave target DNA. Here, we demonstrate a novel mechanism in CRISPR-Cas immunity. We show that type V-A Cpf1 from Francisella novicida is a dual-nuclease that is specific to crRNA biogenesis and target DNA interference. Cpf1 cleaves pre-crRNA upstream of a hairpin structure formed within the CRISPR repeats and thereby generates intermediate crRNAs that are processed further, leading to mature crRNAs. After recognition of a 5'-YTN-3' protospacer adjacent motif on the non-target DNA strand and subsequent probing for an eight-nucleotide seed sequence, Cpf1, guided by the single mature repeat-spacer crRNA, introduces double-stranded breaks in the target DNA to generate a 5' overhang. The RNase and DNase activities of Cpf1 require sequence- and structure-specific binding to the hairpin of crRNA repeats. Cpf1 uses distinct active domains for both nuclease reactions and cleaves nucleic acids in the presence of magnesium or calcium. This study uncovers a new family of enzymes with specific dual endoribonuclease and endonuclease activities, and demonstrates that type V-A constitutes the most minimalistic of the CRISPR-Cas systems so far described.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Fonfara, Ines -- Richter, Hagen -- Bratovic, Majda -- Le Rhun, Anais -- Charpentier, Emmanuelle -- England -- Nature. 2016 Apr 28;532(7600):517-21. doi: 10.1038/nature17945. Epub 2016 Apr 20.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉The Laboratory for Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden (MIMS), Umea Centre for Microbial Research (UCMR), Department of Molecular Biology, Umea University, Umea 90187, Sweden. ; Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Department of Regulation in Infection Biology, Braunschweig 38124, Germany. ; Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Department of Regulation in Infection Biology, Berlin 10117, Germany. ; Hannover Medical School, Hannover 30625, Germany.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27096362" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Bacteria and archaea generate adaptive immunity against phages and plasmids by integrating foreign DNA of specific 30-40-base-pair lengths into clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR) loci as spacer segments. The universally conserved Cas1-Cas2 integrase complex catalyses spacer acquisition using a direct nucleophilic integration mechanism similar to retroviral integrases and transposases. How the Cas1-Cas2 complex selects foreign DNA substrates for integration remains unknown. Here we present X-ray crystal structures of the Escherichia coli Cas1-Cas2 complex bound to cognate 33-nucleotide protospacer DNA substrates. The protein complex creates a curved binding surface spanning the length of the DNA and splays the ends of the protospacer to allow each terminal nucleophilic 3'-OH to enter a channel leading into the Cas1 active sites. Phosphodiester backbone interactions between the protospacer and the proteins explain the sequence-nonspecific substrate selection observed in vivo. Our results uncover the structural basis for foreign DNA capture and the mechanism by which Cas1-Cas2 functions as a molecular ruler to dictate the sequence architecture of CRISPR loci.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4662619/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4662619/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Nunez, James K -- Harrington, Lucas B -- Kranzusch, Philip J -- Engelman, Alan N -- Doudna, Jennifer A -- AI070042/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- R01 AI070042/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- England -- Nature. 2015 Nov 26;527(7579):535-8. doi: 10.1038/nature15760. Epub 2015 Oct 21.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720, USA. ; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720, USA. ; Department of Cancer Immunology and Virology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. ; Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. ; Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720, USA. ; Physical Biosciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA. ; Innovative Genomics Initiative, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720, USA. ; Center for RNA Systems Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26503043" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: RNA-binding proteins control many aspects of cellular biology through binding single-stranded RNA binding motifs (RBMs). However, RBMs can be buried within their local RNA structures, thus inhibiting RNA-protein interactions. N(6)-methyladenosine (m(6)A), the most abundant and dynamic internal modification in eukaryotic messenger RNA, can be selectively recognized by the YTHDF2 protein to affect the stability of cytoplasmic mRNAs, but how m(6)A achieves its wide-ranging physiological role needs further exploration. Here we show in human cells that m(6)A controls the RNA-structure-dependent accessibility of RBMs to affect RNA-protein interactions for biological regulation; we term this mechanism 'the m(6)A-switch'. We found that m(6)A alters the local structure in mRNA and long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) to facilitate binding of heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein C (HNRNPC), an abundant nuclear RNA-binding protein responsible for pre-mRNA processing. Combining photoactivatable-ribonucleoside-enhanced crosslinking and immunoprecipitation (PAR-CLIP) and anti-m(6)A immunoprecipitation (MeRIP) approaches enabled us to identify 39,060 m(6)A-switches among HNRNPC-binding sites; and global m(6)A reduction decreased HNRNPC binding at 2,798 high-confidence m(6)A-switches. We determined that these m(6)A-switch-regulated HNRNPC-binding activities affect the abundance as well as alternative splicing of target mRNAs, demonstrating the regulatory role of m(6)A-switches on gene expression and RNA maturation. Our results illustrate how RNA-binding proteins gain regulated access to their RBMs through m(6)A-dependent RNA structural remodelling, and provide a new direction for investigating RNA-modification-coded cellular biology.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4355918/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4355918/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Liu, Nian -- Dai, Qing -- Zheng, Guanqun -- He, Chuan -- Parisien, Marc -- Pan, Tao -- GM088599/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- K01 HG006699/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- K01HG006699/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- R01 GM088599/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- UL1 TR000430/TR/NCATS NIH HHS/ -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- England -- Nature. 2015 Feb 26;518(7540):560-4. doi: 10.1038/nature14234.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Chemistry, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA. ; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA. ; 1] Department of Chemistry, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA [2] Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA [3] Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA [4] Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA. ; 1] Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA [2] Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25719671" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Innate immunity serves as the first line of defence against invading pathogens such as bacteria and viruses. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are examples of innate immune receptors, which sense specific molecular patterns from pathogens and activate immune responses. TLR9 recognizes bacterial and viral DNA containing the cytosine-phosphate-guanine (CpG) dideoxynucleotide motif. The molecular basis by which CpG-containing DNA (CpG-DNA) elicits immunostimulatory activity via TLR9 remains to be elucidated. Here we show the crystal structures of three forms of TLR9: unliganded, bound to agonistic CpG-DNA, and bound to inhibitory DNA (iDNA). Agonistic-CpG-DNA-bound TLR9 formed a symmetric TLR9-CpG-DNA complex with 2:2 stoichiometry, whereas iDNA-bound TLR9 was a monomer. CpG-DNA was recognized by both protomers in the dimer, in particular by the amino-terminal fragment (LRRNT-LRR10) from one protomer and the carboxy-terminal fragment (LRR20-LRR22) from the other. The iDNA, which formed a stem-loop structure suitable for binding by intramolecular base pairing, bound to the concave surface from LRR2-LRR10. This structure serves as an important basis for improving our understanding of the functional mechanisms of TLR9.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Ohto, Umeharu -- Shibata, Takuma -- Tanji, Hiromi -- Ishida, Hanako -- Krayukhina, Elena -- Uchiyama, Susumu -- Miyake, Kensuke -- Shimizu, Toshiyuki -- England -- Nature. 2015 Apr 30;520(7549):702-5. doi: 10.1038/nature14138. Epub 2015 Feb 9.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan. ; 1] Division of Innate Immunity, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Laboratory of Innate Immunity, Center for Experimental Medicine and Systems Biology, The Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo, 4-6-1 Shirokanedai, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-8639, Japan [2] Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology (CREST), Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), Saitama 332-0012, Japan. ; 1] Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, 2-1 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan [2] U-Medico Corporation, 2-1 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan. ; Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, 2-1 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan. ; Division of Innate Immunity, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Laboratory of Innate Immunity, Center for Experimental Medicine and Systems Biology, The Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo, 4-6-1 Shirokanedai, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-8639, Japan. ; 1] Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan [2] Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology (CREST), Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), Saitama 332-0012, Japan.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25686612" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Knowledge of the structure and dynamics of RNA molecules is critical to understanding their many biological functions. Furthermore, synthetic RNAs have applications as therapeutics and molecular sensors. Both research and technological applications of RNA would be dramatically enhanced by methods that enable incorporation of modified or labelled nucleotides into specifically designated positions or regions of RNA. However, the synthesis of tens of milligrams of such RNAs using existing methods has been impossible. Here we develop a hybrid solid-liquid phase transcription method and automated robotic platform for the synthesis of RNAs with position-selective labelling. We demonstrate its use by successfully preparing various isotope- or fluorescently labelled versions of the 71-nucleotide aptamer domain of an adenine riboswitch for nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy or single-molecule Forster resonance energy transfer, respectively. Those RNAs include molecules that were selectively isotope-labelled in specific loops, linkers, a helix, several discrete positions, or a single internal position, as well as RNA molecules that were fluorescently labelled in and near kissing loops. These selectively labelled RNAs have the same fold as those transcribed using conventional methods, but they greatly simplify the interpretation of NMR spectra. The single-position isotope- and fluorescently labelled RNA samples reveal multiple conformational states of the adenine riboswitch. Lastly, we describe a robotic platform and the operation that automates this technology. Our selective labelling method may be useful for studying RNA structure and dynamics and for making RNA sensors for a variety of applications including cell-biological studies, substance detection, and disease diagnostics.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Liu, Yu -- Holmstrom, Erik -- Zhang, Jinwei -- Yu, Ping -- Wang, Jinbu -- Dyba, Marzena A -- Chen, De -- Ying, Jinfa -- Lockett, Stephen -- Nesbitt, David J -- Ferre-D'Amare, Adrian R -- Sousa, Rui -- Stagno, Jason R -- Wang, Yun-Xing -- HHSN261200800001E/PHS HHS/ -- R01 GM052522/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- T32 GM-065103/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- Intramural NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2015 Jun 18;522(7556):368-72. doi: 10.1038/nature14352. Epub 2015 May 4.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Protein-Nucleic Acid Interaction Section, Structural Biophysics Laboratory, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Frederick, Maryland 21702, USA. ; JILA, National Institute of Standards and Technology and Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA. ; Biochemistry and Biophysics Center, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA. ; Structural Biophysics Laboratory, Basic Science Program, Leidos Biomedical Research, Inc., Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Frederick, Maryland 21702, USA. ; Optical Microscopy and Analysis Laboratory, Leidos Biomedical Research, Inc., Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Frederick, Maryland 21702, USA. ; Laboratory of Chemical Physics, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA. ; Department of Biochemistry, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, Texas 78229, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25938715" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Photoreceptor proteins enable organisms to sense and respond to light. The newly discovered CarH-type photoreceptors use a vitamin B12 derivative, adenosylcobalamin, as the light-sensing chromophore to mediate light-dependent gene regulation. Here we present crystal structures of Thermus thermophilus CarH in all three relevant states: in the dark, both free and bound to operator DNA, and after light exposure. These structures provide visualizations of how adenosylcobalamin mediates CarH tetramer formation in the dark, how this tetramer binds to the promoter -35 element to repress transcription, and how light exposure leads to a large-scale conformational change that activates transcription. In addition to the remarkable functional repurposing of adenosylcobalamin from an enzyme cofactor to a light sensor, we find that nature also repurposed two independent protein modules in assembling CarH. These results expand the biological role of vitamin B12 and provide fundamental insight into a new mode of light-dependent gene regulation.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4634937/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4634937/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Jost, Marco -- Fernandez-Zapata, Jesus -- Polanco, Maria Carmen -- Ortiz-Guerrero, Juan Manuel -- Chen, Percival Yang-Ting -- Kang, Gyunghoon -- Padmanabhan, S -- Elias-Arnanz, Montserrat -- Drennan, Catherine L -- GM069857/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- P41 GM103393/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- P41 GM103403/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- P41GM103393/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- P41GM103403/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R01 GM069857/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- England -- Nature. 2015 Oct 22;526(7574):536-41. doi: 10.1038/nature14950. Epub 2015 Sep 28.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA. ; Instituto de Quimica Fisica "Rocasolano", Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, 28006 Madrid, Spain. ; Department of Genetics and Microbiology, Area of Genetics (Unidad Asociada al Instituto de Quimica Fisica "Rocasolano", Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas), Faculty of Biology, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia 30100, Spain. ; Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA. ; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26416754" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Disruption of the MECP2 gene leads to Rett syndrome (RTT), a severe neurological disorder with features of autism. MECP2 encodes a methyl-DNA-binding protein that has been proposed to function as a transcriptional repressor, but despite numerous mouse studies examining neuronal gene expression in Mecp2 mutants, no clear model has emerged for how MeCP2 protein regulates transcription. Here we identify a genome-wide length-dependent increase in gene expression in MeCP2 mutant mouse models and human RTT brains. We present evidence that MeCP2 represses gene expression by binding to methylated CA sites within long genes, and that in neurons lacking MeCP2, decreasing the expression of long genes attenuates RTT-associated cellular deficits. In addition, we find that long genes as a population are enriched for neuronal functions and selectively expressed in the brain. These findings suggest that mutations in MeCP2 may cause neurological dysfunction by specifically disrupting long gene expression in the brain.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4480648/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4480648/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Gabel, Harrison W -- Kinde, Benyam -- Stroud, Hume -- Gilbert, Caitlin S -- Harmin, David A -- Kastan, Nathaniel R -- Hemberg, Martin -- Ebert, Daniel H -- Greenberg, Michael E -- 1R01NS048276/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- P30 HD018655/HD/NICHD NIH HHS/ -- R01 NS048276/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- T32 GM007753/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- T32GM007753/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- England -- Nature. 2015 Jun 4;522(7554):89-93. doi: 10.1038/nature14319. Epub 2015 Mar 11.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. ; Department of Ophthalmology, Children's Hospital Boston, Center for Brain Science and Swartz Center for Theoretical Neuroscience, Harvard University, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25762136" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Enhancers, critical determinants of cellular identity, are commonly recognized by correlative chromatin marks and gain-of-function potential, although only loss-of-function studies can demonstrate their requirement in the native genomic context. Previously, we identified an erythroid enhancer of human BCL11A, subject to common genetic variation associated with the fetal haemoglobin level, the mouse orthologue of which is necessary for erythroid BCL11A expression. Here we develop pooled clustered regularly interspaced palindromic repeat (CRISPR)-Cas9 guide RNA libraries to perform in situ saturating mutagenesis of the human and mouse enhancers. This approach reveals critical minimal features and discrete vulnerabilities of these enhancers. Despite conserved function of the composite enhancers, their architecture diverges. The crucial human sequences appear to be primate-specific. Through editing of primary human progenitors and mouse transgenesis, we validate the BCL11A erythroid enhancer as a target for fetal haemoglobin reinduction. The detailed enhancer map will inform therapeutic genome editing, and the screening approach described here is generally applicable to functional interrogation of non-coding genomic elements.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4644101/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4644101/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Canver, Matthew C -- Smith, Elenoe C -- Sher, Falak -- Pinello, Luca -- Sanjana, Neville E -- Shalem, Ophir -- Chen, Diane D -- Schupp, Patrick G -- Vinjamur, Divya S -- Garcia, Sara P -- Luc, Sidinh -- Kurita, Ryo -- Nakamura, Yukio -- Fujiwara, Yuko -- Maeda, Takahiro -- Yuan, Guo-Cheng -- Zhang, Feng -- Orkin, Stuart H -- Bauer, Daniel E -- 5DP1-MH100706/DP/NCCDPHP CDC HHS/ -- 5R01-DK097768/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- F30DK103359-01A1/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- K08DK093705/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- K99 HG008171/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- K99-HG008171/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- K99HG008399/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- P01 HL032262/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- P01HL032262/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- P30DK049216/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- R01 A1084905/PHS HHS/ -- R01 HL032259/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- R01HG005085/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- R01HL119099/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- England -- Nature. 2015 Nov 12;527(7577):192-7. doi: 10.1038/nature15521. Epub 2015 Sep 16.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Division of Hematology/Oncology, Boston Children's Hospital, Department of Pediatric Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. ; Department of Biostatistics and Computational Biology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. ; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and Department of Biological Engineering, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA. ; Cell Engineering Division, RIKEN BioResource Center, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0074, Japan. ; Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8577, Japan. ; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. ; Division of Hematology, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26375006" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Kim et al . (Reports, 28 April 2017, p. 430) presented results for the solar-driven harvesting of water from air via metal-organic frameworks as a prodigious potential advance toward remedying global water shortages. Basic thermodynamics and a survey of multiple off-the-shelf technologies show that their approach is vastly inferior in efficiency (and thereby in feasibility) to available alternatives.

Description: In their comment, Bui et al . argue that the approach we described in our report is vastly inferior in efficiency to alternative off-the-shelf technologies. Their conclusion is invalid, as they compare efficiencies in completely different operating conditions. Here, using heat transfer and thermodynamics principles, we show how Bui et al .’s conclusions about the efficiencies of off-the-shelf technologies are fundamentally flawed and inaccurate for the operating conditions described in our study.

Description: Bacteria within communities can interact to organize their behavior. It has been unclear whether such interactions can extend beyond a single community to coordinate the behavior of distant populations. We discovered that two Bacillus subtilis biofilm communities undergoing metabolic oscillations can become coupled through electrical signaling and synchronize their growth dynamics. Coupling increases competition by also synchronizing demand for limited nutrients. As predicted by mathematical modeling, we confirm that biofilms resolve this conflict by switching from in-phase to antiphase oscillations. This results in time-sharing behavior, where each community takes turns consuming nutrients. Time-sharing enables biofilms to counterintuitively increase growth under reduced nutrient supply. Distant biofilms can thus coordinate their behavior to resolve nutrient competition through time-sharing, a strategy used in engineered systems to allocate limited resources.

Description: Engineering has an image problem. The phrase "engineering disaster" rolls off the tongue, while great technical achievements are more often heralded as "scientific miracles." Enter Dream Big. Sponsored by the American Society of Civil Engineers with support from Bechtel Corporation, the film sets out to reframe engineering as a force for good and a profession in service to people and the planet. Author: Donna Riley