ALBERT

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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: A defining feature governing head patterning of jawed vertebrates is a highly conserved gene regulatory network that integrates hindbrain segmentation with segmentally restricted domains of Hox gene expression. Although non-vertebrate chordates display nested domains of axial Hox expression, they lack hindbrain segmentation. The sea lamprey, a jawless fish, can provide unique insights into vertebrate origins owing to its phylogenetic position at the base of the vertebrate tree. It has been suggested that lamprey may represent an intermediate state where nested Hox expression has not been coupled to the process of hindbrain segmentation. However, little is known about the regulatory network underlying Hox expression in lamprey or its relationship to hindbrain segmentation. Here, using a novel tool that allows cross-species comparisons of regulatory elements between jawed and jawless vertebrates, we report deep conservation of both upstream regulators and segmental activity of enhancer elements across these distant species. Regulatory regions from diverse gnathostomes drive segmental reporter expression in the lamprey hindbrain and require the same transcriptional inputs (for example, Kreisler (also known as Mafba), Krox20 (also known as Egr2a)) in both lamprey and zebrafish. We find that lamprey hox genes display dynamic segmentally restricted domains of expression; we also isolated a conserved exonic hox2 enhancer from lamprey that drives segmental expression in rhombomeres 2 and 4. Our results show that coupling of Hox gene expression to segmentation of the hindbrain is an ancient trait with origin at the base of vertebrates that probably led to the formation of rhombomeric compartments with an underlying Hox code.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4209185/" 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/PMC4209185/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Parker, Hugo J -- Bronner, Marianne E -- Krumlauf, Robb -- R01 DE017911/DE/NIDCR NIH HHS/ -- R01 NS086907/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- R01DE017911/DE/NIDCR NIH HHS/ -- R01NS086907/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2014 Oct 23;514(7523):490-3. doi: 10.1038/nature13723. Epub 2014 Sep 14.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, Missouri 64110, USA. ; Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA. ; 1] Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, Missouri 64110, USA [2] Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Kansas University Medical Center, Kansas City, Kansas 66160, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25219855" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Evolutionary changes in traits involved in both ecological divergence and mate choice may produce reproductive isolation and speciation. However, there are few examples of such dual traits, and the genetic and molecular bases of their evolution have not been identified. We show that methyl-branched cuticular hydrocarbons (mbCHCs) are a dual trait that affects both desiccation resistance and mate choice in Drosophila serrata. We identify a fatty acid synthase mFAS (CG3524) responsible for mbCHC production in Drosophila and find that expression of mFAS is undetectable in oenocytes (cells that produce CHCs) of a closely related, desiccation-sensitive species, D. birchii, due in part to multiple changes in cis-regulatory sequences of mFAS. We suggest that ecologically influenced changes in the production of mbCHCs have contributed to reproductive isolation between the two species.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Chung, Henry -- Loehlin, David W -- Dufour, Heloise D -- Vaccarro, Kathy -- Millar, Jocelyn G -- Carroll, Sean B -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2014 Mar 7;343(6175):1148-51. doi: 10.1126/science.1249998. Epub 2014 Feb 13.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Laboratory of Molecular Biology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24526311" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: In its largest outbreak, Ebola virus disease is spreading through Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria. We sequenced 99 Ebola virus genomes from 78 patients in Sierra Leone to ~2000x coverage. We observed a rapid accumulation of interhost and intrahost genetic variation, allowing us to characterize patterns of viral transmission over the initial weeks of the epidemic. This West African variant likely diverged from central African lineages around 2004, crossed from Guinea to Sierra Leone in May 2014, and has exhibited sustained human-to-human transmission subsequently, with no evidence of additional zoonotic sources. Because many of the mutations alter protein sequences and other biologically meaningful targets, they should be monitored for impact on diagnostics, vaccines, and therapies critical to outbreak response.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4431643/" 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/PMC4431643/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Gire, Stephen K -- Goba, Augustine -- Andersen, Kristian G -- Sealfon, Rachel S G -- Park, Daniel J -- Kanneh, Lansana -- Jalloh, Simbirie -- Momoh, Mambu -- Fullah, Mohamed -- Dudas, Gytis -- Wohl, Shirlee -- Moses, Lina M -- Yozwiak, Nathan L -- Winnicki, Sarah -- Matranga, Christian B -- Malboeuf, Christine M -- Qu, James -- Gladden, Adrianne D -- Schaffner, Stephen F -- Yang, Xiao -- Jiang, Pan-Pan -- Nekoui, Mahan -- Colubri, Andres -- Coomber, Moinya Ruth -- Fonnie, Mbalu -- Moigboi, Alex -- Gbakie, Michael -- Kamara, Fatima K -- Tucker, Veronica -- Konuwa, Edwin -- Saffa, Sidiki -- Sellu, Josephine -- Jalloh, Abdul Azziz -- Kovoma, Alice -- Koninga, James -- Mustapha, Ibrahim -- Kargbo, Kandeh -- Foday, Momoh -- Yillah, Mohamed -- Kanneh, Franklyn -- Robert, Willie -- Massally, James L B -- Chapman, Sinead B -- Bochicchio, James -- Murphy, Cheryl -- Nusbaum, Chad -- Young, Sarah -- Birren, Bruce W -- Grant, Donald S -- Scheiffelin, John S -- Lander, Eric S -- Happi, Christian -- Gevao, Sahr M -- Gnirke, Andreas -- Rambaut, Andrew -- Garry, Robert F -- Khan, S Humarr -- Sabeti, Pardis C -- 095831/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- 1DP2OD006514-01/OD/NIH HHS/ -- 1U01HG007480-01/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- 260864/European Research Council/International -- DP2 OD006514/OD/NIH HHS/ -- GM080177/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- HHSN272200900049C/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- HHSN272200900049C/PHS HHS/ -- T32 GM080177/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- U01 HG007480/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- U19 AI110818/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- U19 AI115589/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2014 Sep 12;345(6202):1369-72. doi: 10.1126/science.1259657. Epub 2014 Aug 28.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Center for Systems Biology, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. ; Kenema Government Hospital, Kenema, Sierra Leone. andersen@broadinstitute.org augstgoba@yahoo.com psabeti@oeb.harvard.edu. ; Center for Systems Biology, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. andersen@broadinstitute.org augstgoba@yahoo.com psabeti@oeb.harvard.edu. ; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. ; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. ; Kenema Government Hospital, Kenema, Sierra Leone. ; Kenema Government Hospital, Kenema, Sierra Leone. Eastern Polytechnic College, Kenema, Sierra Leone. ; Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3JT, UK. ; Center for Systems Biology, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. ; Tulane University Medical Center, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA. ; Center for Systems Biology, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. ; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. ; Redeemer's University, Ogun State, Nigeria. ; University of Sierra Leone, Freetown, Sierra Leone. ; Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3JT, UK. Fogarty International Center, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. Centre for Immunity, Infection and Evolution, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3JT, UK.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25214632" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The human neocortex has numerous specialized functional areas whose formation is poorly understood. Here, we describe a 15-base pair deletion mutation in a regulatory element of GPR56 that selectively disrupts human cortex surrounding the Sylvian fissure bilaterally including "Broca's area," the primary language area, by disrupting regional GPR56 expression and blocking RFX transcription factor binding. GPR56 encodes a heterotrimeric guanine nucleotide-binding protein (G protein)-coupled receptor required for normal cortical development and is expressed in cortical progenitor cells. GPR56 expression levels regulate progenitor proliferation. GPR56 splice forms are highly variable between mice and humans, and the regulatory element of gyrencephalic mammals directs restricted lateral cortical expression. Our data reveal a mechanism by which control of GPR56 expression pattern by multiple alternative promoters can influence stem cell proliferation, gyral patterning, and, potentially, neocortex evolution.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4480613/" 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/PMC4480613/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Bae, Byoung-Il -- Tietjen, Ian -- Atabay, Kutay D -- Evrony, Gilad D -- Johnson, Matthew B -- Asare, Ebenezer -- Wang, Peter P -- Murayama, Ayako Y -- Im, Kiho -- Lisgo, Steven N -- Overman, Lynne -- Sestan, Nenad -- Chang, Bernard S -- Barkovich, A James -- Grant, P Ellen -- Topcu, Meral -- Politsky, Jeffrey -- Okano, Hideyuki -- Piao, Xianhua -- Walsh, Christopher A -- 2R01NS035129/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- G0700089/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- GR082557/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- HHSN275200900011C/PHS HHS/ -- N01-HD-9-0011/HD/NICHD NIH HHS/ -- R01 NS035129/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- U01 MH081896/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- U01MH081896/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2014 Feb 14;343(6172):764-8. doi: 10.1126/science.1244392.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Division of Genetics and Genomics, Manton Center for Orphan Disease, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Boston Children's Hospital, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and Departments of Pediatrics and Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24531968" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Fucosylation of intestinal epithelial cells, catalyzed by fucosyltransferase 2 (Fut2), is a major glycosylation mechanism of host-microbiota symbiosis. Commensal bacteria induce epithelial fucosylation, and epithelial fucose is used as a dietary carbohydrate by many of these bacteria. However, the molecular and cellular mechanisms that regulate the induction of epithelial fucosylation are unknown. Here, we show that type 3 innate lymphoid cells (ILC3) induced intestinal epithelial Fut2 expression and fucosylation in mice. This induction required the cytokines interleukin-22 and lymphotoxin in a commensal bacteria-dependent and -independent manner, respectively. Disruption of intestinal fucosylation led to increased susceptibility to infection by Salmonella typhimurium. Our data reveal a role for ILC3 in shaping the gut microenvironment through the regulation of epithelial glycosylation.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4774895/" 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/PMC4774895/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Goto, Yoshiyuki -- Obata, Takashi -- Kunisawa, Jun -- Sato, Shintaro -- Ivanov, Ivaylo I -- Lamichhane, Aayam -- Takeyama, Natsumi -- Kamioka, Mariko -- Sakamoto, Mitsuo -- Matsuki, Takahiro -- Setoyama, Hiromi -- Imaoka, Akemi -- Uematsu, Satoshi -- Akira, Shizuo -- Domino, Steven E -- Kulig, Paulina -- Becher, Burkhard -- Renauld, Jean-Christophe -- Sasakawa, Chihiro -- Umesaki, Yoshinori -- Benno, Yoshimi -- Kiyono, Hiroshi -- 1R01DK098378/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- R01 DK098378/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2014 Sep 12;345(6202):1254009. doi: 10.1126/science.1254009. Epub 2014 Aug 21.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Division of Mucosal Immunology, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 108-8639, Japan. Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Saitama 332-0012, Japan. Microbe Division/Japan Collection of Microorganisms, RIKEN BioResource Center, Tsukuba 305-0074, Japan. ; Division of Mucosal Immunology, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 108-8639, Japan. Microbe Division/Japan Collection of Microorganisms, RIKEN BioResource Center, Tsukuba 305-0074, Japan. ; Division of Mucosal Immunology, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 108-8639, Japan. Laboratory of Vaccine Materials, National Institute of Biomedical Innovation, Osaka 567-0085, Japan. Division of Mucosal Immunology, International Research and Development Center for Mucosal Vaccines, The Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 108-8639, Japan. ; Division of Mucosal Immunology, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 108-8639, Japan. Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Saitama 332-0012, Japan. ; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, USA. ; Division of Mucosal Immunology, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 108-8639, Japan. ; Division of Mucosal Immunology, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 108-8639, Japan. Nippon Institute for Biological Science, Tokyo 198-0024, Japan. ; Microbe Division/Japan Collection of Microorganisms, RIKEN BioResource Center, Tsukuba 305-0074, Japan. ; Yakult Central Institute, Tokyo 186-8650, Japan. ; Division of Innate Immune Regulation, International Research and Development Center for Mucosal Vaccines, The Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 108-8639, Japan. Department of Mucosal Immunology, School of Medicine, Chiba University, 1-8-1 Inohana, Chuou-ku, Chiba, 260-8670, Japan. ; Laboratory of Host Defense, WPI Immunology Frontier Research Center, Osaka University, Osaka 565-0871, Japan. ; Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Cellular and Molecular Biology Program, University of Michigan Medical Center, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-5617, USA. ; Institute of Experimental Immunology, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, Zurich CH-8057, Switzerland. ; Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and Universite Catholique de Louvain, Brussels B-1200, Belgium. ; Nippon Institute for Biological Science, Tokyo 198-0024, Japan. Division of Bacterial Infection, The Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 108-8639, Japan. Medical Mycology Research Center, Chiba University, Chiba 260-8673, Japan. ; Benno Laboratory, Innovation Center, RIKEN, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan. ; Division of Mucosal Immunology, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 108-8639, Japan. Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Saitama 332-0012, Japan. Division of Mucosal Immunology, International Research and Development Center for Mucosal Vaccines, The Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 108-8639, Japan.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25214634" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Ecological specialization should minimize niche overlap, yet herbivorous neotropical flies (Blepharoneura) and their lethal parasitic wasps (parasitoids) exhibit both extreme specialization and apparent niche overlap in host plants. From just two plant species at one site in Peru, we collected 3636 flowers yielding 1478 fly pupae representing 14 Blepharoneura fly species, 18 parasitoid species (14 Bellopius species), and parasitoid-host associations, all discovered through analysis of molecular data. Multiple sympatric species specialize on the same sex flowers of the same fly host-plant species-which suggests extreme niche overlap; however, niche partitioning was exposed by interactions between wasps and flies. Most Bellopius species emerged as adults from only one fly species, yet evidence from pupae (preadult emergence samples) show that most Bellopius also attacked additional fly species but never emerged as adults from those flies.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Condon, Marty A -- Scheffer, Sonja J -- Lewis, Matthew L -- Wharton, Robert -- Adams, Dean C -- Forbes, Andrew A -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2014 Mar 14;343(6176):1240-4. doi: 10.1126/science.1245007.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Biology, Cornell College, Mount Vernon, IA 52314, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24626926" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The New World Arctic, the last region of the Americas to be populated by humans, has a relatively well-researched archaeology, but an understanding of its genetic history is lacking. We present genome-wide sequence data from ancient and present-day humans from Greenland, Arctic Canada, Alaska, Aleutian Islands, and Siberia. We show that Paleo-Eskimos (~3000 BCE to 1300 CE) represent a migration pulse into the Americas independent of both Native American and Inuit expansions. Furthermore, the genetic continuity characterizing the Paleo-Eskimo period was interrupted by the arrival of a new population, representing the ancestors of present-day Inuit, with evidence of past gene flow between these lineages. Despite periodic abandonment of major Arctic regions, a single Paleo-Eskimo metapopulation likely survived in near-isolation for more than 4000 years, only to vanish around 700 years ago.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Raghavan, Maanasa -- DeGiorgio, Michael -- Albrechtsen, Anders -- Moltke, Ida -- Skoglund, Pontus -- Korneliussen, Thorfinn S -- Gronnow, Bjarne -- Appelt, Martin -- Gullov, Hans Christian -- Friesen, T Max -- Fitzhugh, William -- Malmstrom, Helena -- Rasmussen, Simon -- Olsen, Jesper -- Melchior, Linea -- Fuller, Benjamin T -- Fahrni, Simon M -- Stafford, Thomas Jr -- Grimes, Vaughan -- Renouf, M A Priscilla -- Cybulski, Jerome -- Lynnerup, Niels -- Lahr, Marta Mirazon -- Britton, Kate -- Knecht, Rick -- Arneborg, Jette -- Metspalu, Mait -- Cornejo, Omar E -- Malaspinas, Anna-Sapfo -- Wang, Yong -- Rasmussen, Morten -- Raghavan, Vibha -- Hansen, Thomas V O -- Khusnutdinova, Elza -- Pierre, Tracey -- Dneprovsky, Kirill -- Andreasen, Claus -- Lange, Hans -- Hayes, M Geoffrey -- Coltrain, Joan -- Spitsyn, Victor A -- Gotherstrom, Anders -- Orlando, Ludovic -- Kivisild, Toomas -- Villems, Richard -- Crawford, Michael H -- Nielsen, Finn C -- Dissing, Jorgen -- Heinemeier, Jan -- Meldgaard, Morten -- Bustamante, Carlos -- O'Rourke, Dennis H -- Jakobsson, Mattias -- Gilbert, M Thomas P -- Nielsen, Rasmus -- Willerslev, Eske -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2014 Aug 29;345(6200):1255832. doi: 10.1126/science.1255832.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Oster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark. ; Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University, 502 Wartik Laboratory, University Park, PA 16802, USA. ; Bioinformatics Centre, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Ole Maaloes Vej 5, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark. ; Bioinformatics Centre, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Ole Maaloes Vej 5, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark. Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA. ; Department of Evolutionary Biology, Uppsala University, Norbyvagen 18D, 75236 Uppsala, Sweden. Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. ; Arctic Centre at the Ethnographic Collections (SILA), National Museum of Denmark, Frederiksholms Kanal 12, 1220 Copenhagen, Denmark. ; Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2S2, Canada. ; Arctic Studies Center, Post Office Box 37012, Department of Anthropology, MRC 112, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20013-7012, USA. ; Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Oster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark. Department of Evolutionary Biology, Uppsala University, Norbyvagen 18D, 75236 Uppsala, Sweden. ; Center for Biological Sequence Analysis, Department of Systems Biology, Technical University of Denmark, Kemitorvet, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark. ; AMS 14C Dating Centre, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 120, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark. ; Anthropological Laboratory, Institute of Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Frederik V's Vej 11, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark. ; Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA. ; Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Oster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark. AMS 14C Dating Centre, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 120, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark. ; Department of Archaeology, Memorial University, Queen's College, 210 Prince Philip Drive, St. John's, Newfoundland, A1C 5S7, Canada. Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany. ; Department of Archaeology, Memorial University, Queen's College, 210 Prince Philip Drive, St. John's, Newfoundland, A1C 5S7, Canada. ; Canadian Museum of History, 100 Rue Laurier, Gatineau, Quebec K1A 0M8, Canada. Department of Anthropology, University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond Street North, London N6A 5C2, Canada. ; Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1QH, UK. ; Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany. Department of Archaeology, University of Aberdeen, St. Mary's Building, Elphinstone Road, Aberdeen AB24 3UF, Scotland, UK. ; Department of Archaeology, University of Aberdeen, St. Mary's Building, Elphinstone Road, Aberdeen AB24 3UF, Scotland, UK. ; National Museum of Denmark, Frederiksholms kanal 12, 1220 Copenhagen, Denmark. School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9XP, UK. ; Estonian Biocentre, Evolutionary Biology Group, Tartu 51010, Estonia. Department of Evolutionary Biology, University of Tartu, Tartu 51010, Estonia. ; Department of Genetics, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. School of Biological Sciences, Washington State University, Post Office Box 644236, Pullman, WA 99164, USA. ; Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. Ancestry.com DNA LLC, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA. ; Informatics and Bio-computing, Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, 661 University Avenue, Suite 510, Toronto, Ontario, M5G 0A3, Canada. ; Center for Genomic Medicine, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Blegdamsvej 9, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark. ; Institute of Biochemistry and Genetics, Ufa Scientific Center of Russian Academy of Sciences, Ufa, Russia. Department of Genetics and Fundamental Medicine, Bashkir State University, Ufa, Bashkortostan 450074, Russia. ; State Museum for Oriental Art, 12a, Nikitsky Boulevard, Moscow 119019, Russia. ; Greenland National Museum and Archives, Post Office Box 145, 3900 Nuuk, Greenland. ; Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Molecular Medicine, Department of Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL 60611, USA. Department of Anthropology, Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA. Center for Genetic Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL 60611, USA. ; Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA. ; Research Centre for Medical Genetics of Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, 1 Moskvorechie, Moscow 115478, Russia. ; Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden. ; Estonian Biocentre, Evolutionary Biology Group, Tartu 51010, Estonia. Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1QH, UK. ; Laboratory of Biological Anthropology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA. ; Department of Genetics, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. ; Department of Evolutionary Biology, Uppsala University, Norbyvagen 18D, 75236 Uppsala, Sweden. ; Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. ; Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Oster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark. ewillerslev@snm.ku.dk.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25170159" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The ethanolamine utilization (eut) locus of Enterococcus faecalis, containing at least 19 genes distributed over four polycistronic messenger RNAs, appears to be regulated by a single adenosyl cobalamine (AdoCbl)-responsive riboswitch. We report that the AdoCbl-binding riboswitch is part of a small, trans-acting RNA, EutX, which additionally contains a dual-hairpin substrate for the RNA binding-response regulator, EutV. In the absence of AdoCbl, EutX uses this structure to sequester EutV. EutV is known to regulate the eut messenger RNAs by binding dual-hairpin structures that overlap terminators and thus prevent transcription termination. In the presence of AdoCbl, EutV cannot bind to EutX and, instead, causes transcriptional read through of multiple eut genes. This work introduces riboswitch-mediated control of protein sequestration as a posttranscriptional mechanism to coordinately regulate gene expression.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4356242/" 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/PMC4356242/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉DebRoy, Sruti -- Gebbie, Margo -- Ramesh, Arati -- Goodson, Jonathan R -- Cruz, Melissa R -- van Hoof, Ambro -- Winkler, Wade C -- Garsin, Danielle A -- P30 DK056338/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- R01 AI076406/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- R01 AI110432/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- R01 GM099790/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R01AI076406/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- R01GM099790/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R56 AI110432/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- R56AI110432/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2014 Aug 22;345(6199):937-40. doi: 10.1126/science.1255091.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, TX 77030, USA. ; Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA. ; Department of Biochemistry, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA. ; Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA. danielle.a.garsin@uth.tmc.edu wwinkler@umd.edu. ; Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, TX 77030, USA. danielle.a.garsin@uth.tmc.edu wwinkler@umd.edu.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25146291" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The genetic changes underlying the initial steps of animal domestication are still poorly understood. We generated a high-quality reference genome for the rabbit and compared it to resequencing data from populations of wild and domestic rabbits. We identified more than 100 selective sweeps specific to domestic rabbits but only a relatively small number of fixed (or nearly fixed) single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for derived alleles. SNPs with marked allele frequency differences between wild and domestic rabbits were enriched for conserved noncoding sites. Enrichment analyses suggest that genes affecting brain and neuronal development have often been targeted during domestication. We propose that because of a truly complex genetic background, tame behavior in rabbits and other domestic animals evolved by shifts in allele frequencies at many loci, rather than by critical changes at only a few domestication loci.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Carneiro, Miguel -- Rubin, Carl-Johan -- Di Palma, Federica -- Albert, Frank W -- Alfoldi, Jessica -- Barrio, Alvaro Martinez -- Pielberg, Gerli -- Rafati, Nima -- Sayyab, Shumaila -- Turner-Maier, Jason -- Younis, Shady -- Afonso, Sandra -- Aken, Bronwen -- Alves, Joel M -- Barrell, Daniel -- Bolet, Gerard -- Boucher, Samuel -- Burbano, Hernan A -- Campos, Rita -- Chang, Jean L -- Duranthon, Veronique -- Fontanesi, Luca -- Garreau, Herve -- Heiman, David -- Johnson, Jeremy -- Mage, Rose G -- Peng, Ze -- Queney, Guillaume -- Rogel-Gaillard, Claire -- Ruffier, Magali -- Searle, Steve -- Villafuerte, Rafael -- Xiong, Anqi -- Young, Sarah -- Forsberg-Nilsson, Karin -- Good, Jeffrey M -- Lander, Eric S -- Ferrand, Nuno -- Lindblad-Toh, Kerstin -- Andersson, Leif -- 095908/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- U54 HG003067/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- WT095908/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- WT098051/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- Intramural NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2014 Aug 29;345(6200):1074-9. doi: 10.1126/science.1253714.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉CIBIO/InBIO, Centro de Investigacao em Biodiversidade e Recursos Geneticos, Campus Agrario de Vairao, Universidade do Porto, 4485-661, Vairao, Portugal. ; Science for Life Laboratory Uppsala, Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden. ; Broad Institute of Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 7 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. Vertebrate and Health Genomics, The Genome Analysis Centre, Norwich, UK. ; Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany. ; Broad Institute of Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 7 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. ; Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden. ; Science for Life Laboratory Uppsala, Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden. Department of Animal Production, Ain Shams University, Shoubra El-Kheima, Cairo, Egypt. ; Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK. European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK. ; CIBIO/InBIO, Centro de Investigacao em Biodiversidade e Recursos Geneticos, Campus Agrario de Vairao, Universidade do Porto, 4485-661, Vairao, Portugal. Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EH, UK. ; Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), UMR1388 Genetique, Physiologie et Systemes d'Elevage, F-31326 Castanet-Tolosan, France. ; Labovet Conseil, BP539, 85505 Les Herbiers Cedex, France. ; INRA, UMR1198 Biologie du Developpement et Reproduction, F-78350 Jouy-en-Josas, France. ; Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, Division of Animal Sciences, University of Bologna, 40127 Bologna, Italy. ; Laboratory of Immunology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. ; U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2800 Mitchell Drive, Walnut Creek, CA 94598, USA. ; ANTAGENE, Animal Genomics Laboratory, Lyon, France. ; INRA, UMR1313 Genetique Animale et Biologie Integrative, F- 78350, Jouy-en-Josas, France. ; Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK. ; Instituto de Estudios Sociales Avanzados, (IESA-CSIC) Campo Santo de los Martires 7, Cordoba, Spain. ; Science for Life Laboratory, Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden. ; Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany. Division of Biological Sciences, The University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812, USA. ; CIBIO/InBIO, Centro de Investigacao em Biodiversidade e Recursos Geneticos, Campus Agrario de Vairao, Universidade do Porto, 4485-661, Vairao, Portugal. Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciencias, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre sn. 4169-007 Porto, Portugal. ; Science for Life Laboratory Uppsala, Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden. Broad Institute of Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 7 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. kersli@broadinstitute.org leif.andersson@imbim.uu.se. ; Science for Life Laboratory Uppsala, Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden. Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden. Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4458, USA. kersli@broadinstitute.org leif.andersson@imbim.uu.se.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25170157" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Cellular memory is crucial to many natural biological processes and sophisticated synthetic biology applications. Existing cellular memories rely on epigenetic switches or recombinases, which are limited in scalability and recording capacity. In this work, we use the DNA of living cell populations as genomic "tape recorders" for the analog and distributed recording of long-term event histories. We describe a platform for generating single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) in vivo in response to arbitrary transcriptional signals. When coexpressed with a recombinase, these intracellularly expressed ssDNAs target specific genomic DNA addresses, resulting in precise mutations that accumulate in cell populations as a function of the magnitude and duration of the inputs. This platform could enable long-term cellular recorders for environmental and biomedical applications, biological state machines, and enhanced genome engineering strategies.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4266475/" 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/PMC4266475/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Farzadfard, Fahim -- Lu, Timothy K -- 1DP2OD008435/OD/NIH HHS/ -- 1P50GM098792/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- DP2 OD008435/OD/NIH HHS/ -- P50 GM098792/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2014 Nov 14;346(6211):1256272. doi: 10.1126/science.1256272.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Synthetic Biology Group, Research Laboratory of Electronics, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. MIT Synthetic Biology Center, 500 Technology Square, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. MIT Microbiology Program, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. ; Synthetic Biology Group, Research Laboratory of Electronics, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. MIT Synthetic Biology Center, 500 Technology Square, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. MIT Microbiology Program, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. timlu@mit.edu.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25395541" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: A fundamental feature of immune systems is the ability to distinguish pathogenic from self and commensal elements, and to attack the former but tolerate the latter. Prokaryotic CRISPR-Cas immune systems defend against phage infection by using Cas nucleases and small RNA guides that specify one or more target sites for cleavage of the viral genome. Temperate phages include viruses that can integrate into the bacterial chromosome, and they can carry genes that provide a fitness advantage to the lysogenic host. However, CRISPR-Cas targeting that relies strictly on DNA sequence recognition provides indiscriminate immunity both to lytic and lysogenic infection by temperate phages-compromising the genetic stability of these potentially beneficial elements altogether. Here we show that the Staphylococcus epidermidis CRISPR-Cas system can prevent lytic infection but tolerate lysogenization by temperate phages. Conditional tolerance is achieved through transcription-dependent DNA targeting, and ensures that targeting is resumed upon induction of the prophage lytic cycle. Our results provide evidence for the functional divergence of CRISPR-Cas systems and highlight the importance of targeting mechanism diversity. In addition, they extend the concept of 'tolerance to non-self' to the prokaryotic branch of adaptive immunity.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4214910/" 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/PMC4214910/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Goldberg, Gregory W -- Jiang, Wenyan -- Bikard, David -- Marraffini, Luciano A -- 1DP2AI104556-01/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- DP2 AI104556/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- T32 AI070084/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2014 Oct 30;514(7524):633-7. doi: 10.1038/nature13637. Epub 2014 Aug 31.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Laboratory of Bacteriology, The Rockefeller University, New York, New York 10065, USA. ; 1] Laboratory of Bacteriology, The Rockefeller University, 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/25174707" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Cutaneous melanoma is epidemiologically linked to ultraviolet radiation (UVR), but the molecular mechanisms by which UVR drives melanomagenesis remain unclear. The most common somatic mutation in melanoma is a V600E substitution in BRAF, which is an early event. To investigate how UVR accelerates oncogenic BRAF-driven melanomagenesis, we used a BRAF(V600E) mouse model. In mice expressing BRAF(V600E) in their melanocytes, a single dose of UVR that mimicked mild sunburn in humans induced clonal expansion of the melanocytes, and repeated doses of UVR increased melanoma burden. Here we show that sunscreen (UVA superior, UVB sun protection factor (SPF) 50) delayed the onset of UVR-driven melanoma, but only provided partial protection. The UVR-exposed tumours showed increased numbers of single nucleotide variants and we observed mutations (H39Y, S124F, R245C, R270C, C272G) in the Trp53 tumour suppressor in approximately 40% of cases. TP53 is an accepted UVR target in human non-melanoma skin cancer, but is not thought to have a major role in melanoma. However, we show that, in mice, mutant Trp53 accelerated BRAF(V600E)-driven melanomagenesis, and that TP53 mutations are linked to evidence of UVR-induced DNA damage in human melanoma. Thus, we provide mechanistic insight into epidemiological data linking UVR to acquired naevi in humans. Furthermore, we identify TP53/Trp53 as a UVR-target gene that cooperates with BRAF(V600E) to induce melanoma, providing molecular insight into how UVR accelerates melanomagenesis. Our study validates public health campaigns that promote sunscreen protection for individuals at risk of melanoma.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4112218/" 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/PMC4112218/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Viros, Amaya -- Sanchez-Laorden, Berta -- Pedersen, Malin -- Furney, Simon J -- Rae, Joel -- Hogan, Kate -- Ejiama, Sarah -- Girotti, Maria Romina -- Cook, Martin -- Dhomen, Nathalie -- Marais, Richard -- A12738/Cancer Research UK/United Kingdom -- A13540/Cancer Research UK/United Kingdom -- A17240/Cancer Research UK/United Kingdom -- A7091/Cancer Research UK/United Kingdom -- A7192/Cancer Research UK/United Kingdom -- C107/A10433/Cancer Research UK/United Kingdom -- C5759/A12328/Cancer Research UK/United Kingdom -- England -- Nature. 2014 Jul 24;511(7510):478-82. doi: 10.1038/nature13298. Epub 2014 Jun 11.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] Molecular Oncology Group, Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute, University of Manchester, Wilmslow Road, Manchester M20 4BX, UK [2]. ; 1] Signal Transduction Team, Institute of Cancer Research, 237 Fulham Road, London SW3 6JB, UK [2]. ; Signal Transduction Team, Institute of Cancer Research, 237 Fulham Road, London SW3 6JB, UK. ; Molecular Oncology Group, Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute, University of Manchester, Wilmslow Road, Manchester M20 4BX, UK. ; 1] Molecular Oncology Group, Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute, University of Manchester, Wilmslow Road, Manchester M20 4BX, UK [2] Histopathology, Royal Surrey County Hospital, Egerton Road, Guildford GU2 7XX, UK. ; 1] Molecular Oncology Group, Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute, University of Manchester, Wilmslow Road, Manchester M20 4BX, UK [2] Signal Transduction Team, Institute of Cancer Research, 237 Fulham Road, London SW3 6JB, UK.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24919155" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: High-throughput single-cell transcriptomics offers an unbiased approach for understanding the extent, basis and function of gene expression variation between seemingly identical cells. Here we sequence single-cell RNA-seq libraries prepared from over 1,700 primary mouse bone-marrow-derived dendritic cells spanning several experimental conditions. We find substantial variation between identically stimulated dendritic cells, in both the fraction of cells detectably expressing a given messenger RNA and the transcript's level within expressing cells. Distinct gene modules are characterized by different temporal heterogeneity profiles. In particular, a 'core' module of antiviral genes is expressed very early by a few 'precocious' cells in response to uniform stimulation with a pathogenic component, but is later activated in all cells. By stimulating cells individually in sealed microfluidic chambers, analysing dendritic cells from knockout mice, and modulating secretion and extracellular signalling, we show that this response is coordinated by interferon-mediated paracrine signalling from these precocious cells. Notably, preventing cell-to-cell communication also substantially reduces variability between cells in the expression of an early-induced 'peaked' inflammatory module, suggesting that paracrine signalling additionally represses part of the inflammatory program. Our study highlights the importance of cell-to-cell communication in controlling cellular heterogeneity and reveals general strategies that multicellular populations can use to establish complex dynamic responses.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4193940/" 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/PMC4193940/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Shalek, Alex K -- Satija, Rahul -- Shuga, Joe -- Trombetta, John J -- Gennert, Dave -- Lu, Diana -- Chen, Peilin -- Gertner, Rona S -- Gaublomme, Jellert T -- Yosef, Nir -- Schwartz, Schraga -- Fowler, Brian -- Weaver, Suzanne -- Wang, Jing -- Wang, Xiaohui -- Ding, Ruihua -- Raychowdhury, Raktima -- Friedman, Nir -- Hacohen, Nir -- Park, Hongkun -- May, Andrew P -- Regev, Aviv -- 1F32HD075541-01/HD/NICHD NIH HHS/ -- 1P50HG006193-01/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- 5DP1OD003893-03/OD/NIH HHS/ -- DP1 CA174427/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- DP1OD003958-01/OD/NIH HHS/ -- F32 HD075541/HD/NICHD NIH HHS/ -- P50 HG006193/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- U54 AI057159/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- England -- Nature. 2014 Jun 19;510(7505):363-9. doi: 10.1038/nature13437. Epub 2014 Jun 11.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology, Harvard University, 12 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA [2] Department of Physics, Harvard University, 17 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA [3] Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, 7 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA [4]. ; 1] Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, 7 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA [2]. ; 1] Fluidigm Corporation, 7000 Shoreline Court, Suite 100, South San Francisco, California 94080, USA [2]. ; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, 7 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA. ; Fluidigm Corporation, 7000 Shoreline Court, Suite 100, South San Francisco, California 94080, USA. ; 1] Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology, Harvard University, 12 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA [2] Department of Physics, Harvard University, 17 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA. ; School of Computer Science and Engineering, Hebrew University, 91904 Jerusalem, Israel. ; 1] Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, 7 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA [2] Center for Immunology and Inflammatory Diseases & Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, Massachusetts 02129, USA. ; 1] Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology, Harvard University, 12 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA [2] Department of Physics, Harvard University, 17 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA [3] Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, 7 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA. ; 1] Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, 7 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA [2] Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02140, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24919153" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: A hexanucleotide repeat expansion (HRE), (GGGGCC)n, in C9orf72 is the most common genetic cause of the neurodegenerative diseases amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Here we identify a molecular mechanism by which structural polymorphism of the HRE leads to ALS/FTD pathology and defects. The HRE forms DNA and RNA G-quadruplexes with distinct structures and promotes RNA*DNA hybrids (R-loops). The structural polymorphism causes a repeat-length-dependent accumulation of transcripts aborted in the HRE region. These transcribed repeats bind to ribonucleoproteins in a conformation-dependent manner. Specifically, nucleolin, an essential nucleolar protein, preferentially binds the HRE G-quadruplex, and patient cells show evidence of nucleolar stress. Our results demonstrate that distinct C9orf72 HRE structural polymorphism at both DNA and RNA levels initiates molecular cascades leading to ALS/FTD pathologies, and provide the basis for a mechanistic model for repeat-associated neurodegenerative diseases.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4046618/" 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/PMC4046618/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Haeusler, Aaron R -- Donnelly, Christopher J -- Periz, Goran -- Simko, Eric A J -- Shaw, Patrick G -- Kim, Min-Sik -- Maragakis, Nicholas J -- Troncoso, Juan C -- Pandey, Akhilesh -- Sattler, Rita -- Rothstein, Jeffrey D -- Wang, Jiou -- 5T32CA009110-36/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- NS07432/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- NS085207/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- P30 DK089502/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- P50 AG005146/AG/NIA NIH HHS/ -- P50AG05146/AG/NIA NIH HHS/ -- R01 NS074324/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- R01 NS085207/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- T32 CA009110/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- UL1 TR001079/TR/NCATS NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2014 Mar 13;507(7491):195-200. doi: 10.1038/nature13124. Epub 2014 Mar 5.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA [2] Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA. ; 1] Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA [2] The Brain Science Institute, Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA. ; McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA. ; Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA. ; Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, Maryland, 21205, USA. ; 1] Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA [2] Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA [3] The Brain Science Institute, Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24598541" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Check Hayden, Erika -- England -- Nature. 2014 Oct 16;514(7522):282. doi: 10.1038/514282a.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25318499" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Ligation of tRNAs with their cognate amino acids, by aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases, establishes the genetic code. Throughout evolution, tRNA(Ala) selection by alanyl-tRNA synthetase (AlaRS) has depended predominantly on a single wobble base pair in the acceptor stem, G3*U70, mainly on the kcat level. Here we report the crystal structures of an archaeal AlaRS in complex with tRNA(Ala) with G3*U70 and its A3*U70 variant. AlaRS interacts with both the minor- and the major-groove sides of G3*U70, widening the major groove. The geometry difference between G3*U70 and A3*U70 is transmitted along the acceptor stem to the 3'-CCA region. Thus, the 3'-CCA region of tRNA(Ala) with G3*U70 is oriented to the reactive route that reaches the active site, whereas that of the A3*U70 variant is folded back into the non-reactive route. This novel mechanism enables the single wobble pair to dominantly determine the specificity of tRNA selection, by an approximate 100-fold difference in kcat.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4323281/" 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/PMC4323281/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Naganuma, Masahiro -- Sekine, Shun-ichi -- Chong, Yeeting Esther -- Guo, Min -- Yang, Xiang-Lei -- Gamper, Howard -- Hou, Ya-Ming -- Schimmel, Paul -- Yokoyama, Shigeyuki -- GM015539/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- GM023562/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- NS085092/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- R01 GM015539/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R01 GM023562/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R01 GM100136/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R01 NS085092/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2014 Jun 26;510(7506):507-11. doi: 10.1038/nature13440. Epub 2014 Jun 11.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] RIKEN Systems and Structural Biology Center, 1-7-22 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan [2] Department of Biophysics and Biochemistry and Laboratory of Structural Biology, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan [3] RIKEN Structural Biology Laboratory, 1-7-22 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan. ; 1] RIKEN Systems and Structural Biology Center, 1-7-22 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan [2] Department of Biophysics and Biochemistry and Laboratory of Structural Biology, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan [3] Division of Structural and Synthetic Biology, RIKEN Center for Life Science Technologies, 1-7-22 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan. ; 1] The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology and the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, BCC-379, 10550 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, California 92037, USA [2] aTyr Pharma, 3545 John Hopkins Court, San Diego, California 92121, USA (Y.E.C.); Department of Cancer Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, 130 Scripps Way, Jupiter, Florida 33458, USA (M.G.). ; The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology and the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, BCC-379, 10550 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, California 92037, USA. ; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19107, USA. ; 1] The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology and the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, BCC-379, 10550 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, California 92037, USA [2] The Scripps Florida Research Institute, 130 Scripps Way, 3B3 Jupiter, Florida 33458-5284, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24919148" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Cancer genome sequencing studies indicate that a single breast cancer typically harbours multiple genetically distinct subclones. As carcinogenesis involves a breakdown in the cell-cell cooperation that normally maintains epithelial tissue architecture, individual subclones within a malignant microenvironment are commonly depicted as self-interested competitors. Alternatively, breast cancer subclones might interact cooperatively to gain a selective growth advantage in some cases. Although interclonal cooperation has been shown to drive tumorigenesis in fruitfly models, definitive evidence for functional cooperation between epithelial tumour cell subclones in mammals is lacking. Here we use mouse models of breast cancer to show that interclonal cooperation can be essential for tumour maintenance. Aberrant expression of the secreted signalling molecule Wnt1 generates mixed-lineage mammary tumours composed of basal and luminal tumour cell subtypes, which purportedly derive from a bipotent malignant progenitor cell residing atop a tumour cell hierarchy. Using somatic Hras mutations as clonal markers, we show that some Wnt tumours indeed conform to a hierarchical configuration, but that others unexpectedly harbour genetically distinct basal Hras mutant and luminal Hras wild-type subclones. Both subclones are required for efficient tumour propagation, which strictly depends on luminally produced Wnt1. When biclonal tumours were challenged with Wnt withdrawal to simulate targeted therapy, analysis of tumour regression and relapse revealed that basal subclones recruit heterologous Wnt-producing cells to restore tumour growth. Alternatively, in the absence of a substitute Wnt source, the original subclones often evolve to rescue Wnt pathway activation and drive relapse, either by restoring cooperation or by switching to a defector strategy. Uncovering similar modes of interclonal cooperation in human cancers may inform efforts aimed at eradicating tumour cell communities.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4050741/" 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/PMC4050741/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Cleary, Allison S -- Leonard, Travis L -- Gestl, Shelley A -- Gunther, Edward J -- R01 CA152222/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2014 Apr 3;508(7494):113-7. doi: 10.1038/nature13187.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] Jake Gittlen Laboratories for Cancer Research, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania 17033, USA [2] Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, Hershey, Pennsylvania 17033, USA. ; 1] Jake Gittlen Laboratories for Cancer Research, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania 17033, USA [2] Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, Hershey, Pennsylvania 17033, USA [3] Department of Medicine (Hematology/Oncology), Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, Hershey, Pennsylvania 17033, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24695311" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The CRISPR-associated protein Cas9 is an RNA-guided DNA endonuclease that uses RNA-DNA complementarity to identify target sites for sequence-specific double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) cleavage. In its native context, Cas9 acts on DNA substrates exclusively because both binding and catalysis require recognition of a short DNA sequence, known as the protospacer adjacent motif (PAM), next to and on the strand opposite the twenty-nucleotide target site in dsDNA. Cas9 has proven to be a versatile tool for genome engineering and gene regulation in a large range of prokaryotic and eukaryotic cell types, and in whole organisms, but it has been thought to be incapable of targeting RNA. Here we show that Cas9 binds with high affinity to single-stranded RNA (ssRNA) targets matching the Cas9-associated guide RNA sequence when the PAM is presented in trans as a separate DNA oligonucleotide. Furthermore, PAM-presenting oligonucleotides (PAMmers) stimulate site-specific endonucleolytic cleavage of ssRNA targets, similar to PAM-mediated stimulation of Cas9-catalysed DNA cleavage. Using specially designed PAMmers, Cas9 can be specifically directed to bind or cut RNA targets while avoiding corresponding DNA sequences, and we demonstrate that this strategy enables the isolation of a specific endogenous messenger RNA from cells. These results reveal a fundamental connection between PAM binding and substrate selection by Cas9, and highlight the utility of Cas9 for programmable transcript recognition without the need for tags.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4268322/" 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/PMC4268322/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉O'Connell, Mitchell R -- Oakes, Benjamin L -- Sternberg, Samuel H -- East-Seletsky, Alexandra -- Kaplan, Matias -- Doudna, Jennifer A -- P50 GM102706/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- P50GM102706-03/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- T32 GM007232/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- T32 GM066698/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- England -- Nature. 2014 Dec 11;516(7530):263-6. doi: 10.1038/nature13769. Epub 2014 Sep 28.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA. ; Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA. ; 1] Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA [2] Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA. ; 1] Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA [2] Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA [3] Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA [4] Physical Biosciences Division, 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/25274302" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: RNA is arguably the most functionally diverse biological macromolecule. In some cases a single discrete RNA sequence performs multiple roles, and this can be conferred by a complex three-dimensional structure. Such multifunctionality can also be driven or enhanced by the ability of a given RNA to assume different conformational (and therefore functional) states. Despite its biological importance, a detailed structural understanding of the paradigm of RNA structure-driven multifunctionality is lacking. To address this gap it is useful to study examples from single-stranded positive-sense RNA viruses, a prototype being the tRNA-like structure (TLS) found at the 3' end of the turnip yellow mosaic virus (TYMV). This TLS not only acts like a tRNA to drive aminoacylation of the viral genomic (g)RNA, but also interacts with other structures in the 3' untranslated region of the gRNA, contains the promoter for negative-strand synthesis, and influences several infection-critical processes. TLS RNA can provide a glimpse into the structural basis of RNA multifunctionality and plasticity, but for decades its high-resolution structure has remained elusive. Here we present the crystal structure of the complete TYMV TLS to 2.0 A resolution. Globally, the RNA adopts a shape that mimics tRNA, but it uses a very different set of intramolecular interactions to achieve this shape. These interactions also allow the TLS to readily switch conformations. In addition, the TLS structure is 'two faced': one face closely mimics tRNA and drives aminoacylation, the other face diverges from tRNA and enables additional functionality. The TLS is thus structured to perform several functions and interact with diverse binding partners, and we demonstrate its ability to specifically bind to ribosomes.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4136544/" 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/PMC4136544/" 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 -- Hammond, John A -- Ruehle, Grant M -- Nix, Jay C -- Kieft, Jeffrey S -- GM081346/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- GM097333/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- P30 CA046934/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- P30CA046934/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- R01 GM081346/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R01 GM097333/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- England -- Nature. 2014 Jul 17;511(7509):366-9. doi: 10.1038/nature13378. Epub 2014 Jun 8.〈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 [3] Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA (T.M.C.); Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology, Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California 92037, USA (J.A.H.). ; 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. ; 1] Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado 80045, USA [2] Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA (T.M.C.); Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology, Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California 92037, USA (J.A.H.). ; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado 80045, USA. ; Molecular Biology Consortium, Advanced Light Source, 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/24909993" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Genome-wide association studies have identified loci underlying human diseases, but the causal nucleotide changes and mechanisms remain largely unknown. Here we developed a fine-mapping algorithm to identify candidate causal variants for 21 autoimmune diseases from genotyping data. We integrated these predictions with transcription and cis-regulatory element annotations, derived by mapping RNA and chromatin in primary immune cells, including resting and stimulated CD4(+) T-cell subsets, regulatory T cells, CD8(+) T cells, B cells, and monocytes. We find that approximately 90% of causal variants are non-coding, with approximately 60% mapping to immune-cell enhancers, many of which gain histone acetylation and transcribe enhancer-associated RNA upon immune stimulation. Causal variants tend to occur near binding sites for master regulators of immune differentiation and stimulus-dependent gene activation, but only 10-20% directly alter recognizable transcription factor binding motifs. Rather, most non-coding risk variants, including those that alter gene expression, affect non-canonical sequence determinants not well-explained by current gene regulatory models.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4336207/" 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/PMC4336207/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Farh, Kyle Kai-How -- Marson, Alexander -- Zhu, Jiang -- Kleinewietfeld, Markus -- Housley, William J -- Beik, Samantha -- Shoresh, Noam -- Whitton, Holly -- Ryan, Russell J H -- Shishkin, Alexander A -- Hatan, Meital -- Carrasco-Alfonso, Marlene J -- Mayer, Dita -- Luckey, C John -- Patsopoulos, Nikolaos A -- De Jager, Philip L -- Kuchroo, Vijay K -- Epstein, Charles B -- Daly, Mark J -- Hafler, David A -- Bernstein, Bradley E -- 12-0089/Worldwide Cancer Research/United Kingdom -- AI039671/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- AI045757/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- AI046130/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- AI070352/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- ES017155/ES/NIEHS NIH HHS/ -- GM093080/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- HG004570/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- NS067305/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- NS24247/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- P01 AI039671/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- P01 AI045757/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- P30 DK063720/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- R01 NS024247/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- R37 NS024247/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- T32 GM007748/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- U01 ES017155/ES/NIEHS NIH HHS/ -- U19 AI046130/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- U19 AI070352/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- U54 HG004570/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- U54 HG006991/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- England -- Nature. 2015 Feb 19;518(7539):337-43. doi: 10.1038/nature13835. Epub 2014 Oct 29.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA [2] Analytical and Translational Genetics Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, USA. ; Diabetes Center and Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, California 94143, USA. ; 1] Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA [2] Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, Maryland 20815, USA [3] Department of Pathology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, USA [4] Center for Systems Biology and Center for Cancer Research, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, USA. ; 1] Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA [2] Departments of Neurology and Immunobiology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, USA. ; Departments of Neurology and Immunobiology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, USA. ; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA. ; 1] Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA [2] Department of Pathology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, USA. ; 1] Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA [2] California Institute of Technology, 1200 E California Boulevard, Pasadena, California 91125, USA. ; Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. ; 1] Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA [2] Program in Translational NeuroPsychiatric Genomics, Institute for the Neurosciences, Department of Neurology, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02142, USA [3] Division of Genetics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02142, USA. ; Center for Neurologic Diseases, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02142, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25363779" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The ribosome is a molecular machine responsible for protein synthesis and a major target for small-molecule inhibitors. Compared to the wealth of structural information available on ribosome-targeting antibiotics in bacteria, our understanding of the binding mode of ribosome inhibitors in eukaryotes is currently limited. Here we used X-ray crystallography to determine 16 high-resolution structures of 80S ribosomes from Saccharomyces cerevisiae in complexes with 12 eukaryote-specific and 4 broad-spectrum inhibitors. All inhibitors were found associated with messenger RNA and transfer RNA binding sites. In combination with kinetic experiments, the structures suggest a model for the action of cycloheximide and lactimidomycin, which explains why lactimidomycin, the larger compound, specifically targets the first elongation cycle. The study defines common principles of targeting and resistance, provides insights into translation inhibitor mode of action and reveals the structural determinants responsible for species selectivity which could guide future drug development.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Garreau de Loubresse, Nicolas -- Prokhorova, Irina -- Holtkamp, Wolf -- Rodnina, Marina V -- Yusupova, Gulnara -- Yusupov, Marat -- 294312/European Research Council/International -- England -- Nature. 2014 Sep 25;513(7519):517-22. doi: 10.1038/nature13737. Epub 2014 Sep 10.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Institut de Genetique et de Biologie Moleculaire et Cellulaire (IGBMC), INSERM U964, CNRS UMR7104, Universite de Strasbourg, 67404, Illkirch, France. ; Department of Physical Biochemistry, Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Am Fassberg 11, 37077 Gottingen, Germany.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25209664" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The silkworm Bombyx mori uses a WZ sex determination system that is analogous to the one found in birds and some reptiles. In this system, males have two Z sex chromosomes, whereas females have Z and W sex chromosomes. The silkworm W chromosome has a dominant role in female determination, suggesting the existence of a dominant feminizing gene in this chromosome. However, the W chromosome is almost fully occupied by transposable element sequences, and no functional protein-coding gene has been identified so far. Female-enriched PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) are the only known transcripts that are produced from the sex-determining region of the W chromosome, but the function(s) of these piRNAs are unknown. Here we show that a W-chromosome-derived, female-specific piRNA is the feminizing factor of B. mori. This piRNA is produced from a piRNA precursor which we named Fem. Fem sequences were arranged in tandem in the sex-determining region of the W chromosome. Inhibition of Fem-derived piRNA-mediated signalling in female embryos led to the production of the male-specific splice variants of B. mori doublesex (Bmdsx), a gene which acts at the downstream end of the sex differentiation cascade. A target gene of Fem-derived piRNA was identified on the Z chromosome of B. mori. This gene, which we named Masc, encoded a CCCH-type zinc finger protein. We show that the silencing of Masc messenger RNA by Fem piRNA is required for the production of female-specific isoforms of Bmdsx in female embryos, and that Masc protein controls both dosage compensation and masculinization in male embryos. Our study characterizes a single small RNA that is responsible for primary sex determination in the WZ sex determination system.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Kiuchi, Takashi -- Koga, Hikaru -- Kawamoto, Munetaka -- Shoji, Keisuke -- Sakai, Hiroki -- Arai, Yuji -- Ishihara, Genki -- Kawaoka, Shinpei -- Sugano, Sumio -- Shimada, Toru -- Suzuki, Yutaka -- Suzuki, Masataka G -- Katsuma, Susumu -- England -- Nature. 2014 May 29;509(7502):633-6. doi: 10.1038/nature13315. Epub 2014 May 14.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Agricultural and Environmental Biology, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 1-1-1 Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8657, Japan. ; 1] Department of Agricultural and Environmental Biology, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 1-1-1 Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8657, Japan [2]. ; Department of Integrated Biosciences, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8562, Japan. ; Department of Medical Genome Sciences, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 4-6-1 Shirokanedai, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-8639, Japan.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24828047" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Cells of the osteoblast lineage affect the homing and the number of long-term repopulating haematopoietic stem cells, haematopoietic stem cell mobilization and lineage determination and B cell lymphopoiesis. Osteoblasts were recently implicated in pre-leukaemic conditions in mice. However, a single genetic change in osteoblasts that can induce leukaemogenesis has not been shown. Here we show that an activating mutation of beta-catenin in mouse osteoblasts alters the differentiation potential of myeloid and lymphoid progenitors leading to development of acute myeloid leukaemia with common chromosomal aberrations and cell autonomous progression. Activated beta-catenin stimulates expression of the Notch ligand jagged 1 in osteoblasts. Subsequent activation of Notch signalling in haematopoietic stem cell progenitors induces the malignant changes. Genetic or pharmacological inhibition of Notch signalling ameliorates acute myeloid leukaemia and demonstrates the pathogenic role of the Notch pathway. In 38% of patients with myelodysplastic syndromes or acute myeloid leukaemia, increased beta-catenin signalling and nuclear accumulation was identified in osteoblasts and these patients showed increased Notch signalling in haematopoietic cells. These findings demonstrate that genetic alterations in osteoblasts can induce acute myeloid leukaemia, identify molecular signals leading to this transformation and suggest a potential novel pharmacotherapeutic approach to acute myeloid leukaemia.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4116754/" 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/PMC4116754/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Kode, Aruna -- Manavalan, John S -- Mosialou, Ioanna -- Bhagat, Govind -- Rathinam, Chozha V -- Luo, Na -- Khiabanian, Hossein -- Lee, Albert -- Murty, Vundavalli V -- Friedman, Richard -- Brum, Andrea -- Park, David -- Galili, Naomi -- Mukherjee, Siddhartha -- Teruya-Feldstein, Julie -- Raza, Azra -- Rabadan, Raul -- Berman, Ellin -- Kousteni, Stavroula -- P01 AG032959/AG/NIA NIH HHS/ -- P30 DK063608/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- R01 AR054447/AR/NIAMS NIH HHS/ -- R01 AR055931/AR/NIAMS NIH HHS/ -- T32 GM082797/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2014 Feb 13;506(7487):240-4. doi: 10.1038/nature12883. Epub 2014 Jan 15.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, College of Physicians & Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032, USA. ; Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, College of Physicians & Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032, USA. ; Department of Genetics and Development College of Physicians & Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032, USA. ; Department of Biomedical Informatics and Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032, USA. ; Department of Pathology & Institute for Cancer Genetics Irving Cancer Research Center, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032, USA. ; Biomedical Informatics Shared Resource, Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center and Department of Biomedical Informatics, College of Physicians & Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032, USA. ; 1] Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, College of Physicians & Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032, USA [2] Department of Internal Medicine, Erasmus MC, Dr. Molewaterplein 50, NL-3015 GE Rotterdam, The Netherlands. ; Department of Pathology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York 10021, USA. ; Myelodysplastic Syndromes Center, Columbia University New York, New York 10032, USA. ; Departments of Medicine Hematology & Oncology Columbia University New York, New York 10032, USA. ; Leukemia Service, Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York 10021, USA. ; 1] Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, College of Physicians & Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032, USA [2] Department of Physiology & Cellular Biophysics, College of Physicians & Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24429522" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: In parallel to the genetic code for protein synthesis, a second layer of information is embedded in all RNA transcripts in the form of RNA structure. RNA structure influences practically every step in the gene expression program. However, the nature of most RNA structures or effects of sequence variation on structure are not known. Here we report the initial landscape and variation of RNA secondary structures (RSSs) in a human family trio (mother, father and their child). This provides a comprehensive RSS map of human coding and non-coding RNAs. We identify unique RSS signatures that demarcate open reading frames and splicing junctions, and define authentic microRNA-binding sites. Comparison of native deproteinized RNA isolated from cells versus refolded purified RNA suggests that the majority of the RSS information is encoded within RNA sequence. Over 1,900 transcribed single nucleotide variants (approximately 15% of all transcribed single nucleotide variants) alter local RNA structure. We discover simple sequence and spacing rules that determine the ability of point mutations to impact RSSs. Selective depletion of 'riboSNitches' versus structurally synonymous variants at precise locations suggests selection for specific RNA shapes at thousands of sites, including 3' untranslated regions, binding sites of microRNAs and RNA-binding proteins genome-wide. These results highlight the potentially broad contribution of RNA structure and its variation to gene regulation.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3973747/" 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/PMC3973747/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Wan, Yue -- Qu, Kun -- Zhang, Qiangfeng Cliff -- Flynn, Ryan A -- Manor, Ohad -- Ouyang, Zhengqing -- Zhang, Jiajing -- Spitale, Robert C -- Snyder, Michael P -- Segal, Eran -- Chang, Howard Y -- P30 CA034196/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- R01 HG004361/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- R01-HG004361/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- T32 CA009302/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- England -- Nature. 2014 Jan 30;505(7485):706-9. doi: 10.1038/nature12946.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Program in Epithelial Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305, USA [2] Stem Cell and Development, Genome Institute of Singapore, 60 Biopolis Street, Singapore 138672 [3]. ; 1] Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Program in Epithelial Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305, USA [2]. ; Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Program in Epithelial Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305, USA. ; Department of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovet 76100, Israel. ; 1] Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Program in Epithelial Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305, USA [2] The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine, 263 Farmington Avenue, ASB Call Box 901 Farmington, Connecticut 06030, USA. ; Department of Genetics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24476892" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Bone-resorbing osteoclasts significantly contribute to osteoporosis and bone metastases of cancer. MicroRNAs play important roles in physiology and disease, and present tremendous therapeutic potential. Nonetheless, how microRNAs regulate skeletal biology is underexplored. Here we identify miR-34a as a novel and critical suppressor of osteoclastogenesis, bone resorption and the bone metastatic niche. miR-34a is downregulated during osteoclast differentiation. Osteoclastic miR-34a-overexpressing transgenic mice exhibit lower bone resorption and higher bone mass. Conversely, miR-34a knockout and heterozygous mice exhibit elevated bone resorption and reduced bone mass. Consequently, ovariectomy-induced osteoporosis, as well as bone metastasis of breast and skin cancers, are diminished in osteoclastic miR-34a transgenic mice, and can be effectively attenuated by miR-34a nanoparticle treatment. Mechanistically, we identify transforming growth factor-beta-induced factor 2 (Tgif2) as an essential direct miR-34a target that is pro-osteoclastogenic. Tgif2 deletion reduces bone resorption and abolishes miR-34a regulation. Together, using mouse genetic, pharmacological and disease models, we reveal miR-34a as a key osteoclast suppressor and a potential therapeutic strategy to confer skeletal protection and ameliorate bone metastasis of cancers.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4149606/" 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/PMC4149606/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Krzeszinski, Jing Y -- Wei, Wei -- Huynh, HoangDinh -- Jin, Zixue -- Wang, Xunde -- Chang, Tsung-Cheng -- Xie, Xian-Jin -- He, Lin -- Mangala, Lingegowda S -- Lopez-Berestein, Gabriel -- Sood, Anil K -- Mendell, Joshua T -- Wan, Yihong -- 1P30 CA142543/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- 1S10RR02564801/RR/NCRR NIH HHS/ -- P01 CA134292/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- P30 CA142543/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- R01 CA120185/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- R01 CA139067/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- R01 DK089113/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- S10 RR024757/RR/NCRR NIH HHS/ -- S10 RR025648/RR/NCRR NIH HHS/ -- U54 CA151668/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- UH2 TR000943/TR/NCATS NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2014 Aug 28;512(7515):431-5. doi: 10.1038/nature13375. Epub 2014 Jun 25.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Pharmacology, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas 75390, USA. ; Department of Molecular Biology, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas 75390, USA. ; 1] Simmons Cancer Center, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas 75390, USA [2] Department of Clinical Sciences, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas 75390, USA. ; Division of Cellular and Developmental Biology, Molecular and Cell Biology Department, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94705, USA. ; 1] Department of Gynecologic Oncology and Reproductive Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas 77030, USA [2] Center for RNA Interference and Non-coding RNA, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas 77030, USA. ; 1] Center for RNA Interference and Non-coding RNA, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas 77030, USA [2] Department of Experimental Therapeutics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas 77030, USA. ; 1] Department of Gynecologic Oncology and Reproductive Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas 77030, USA [2] Center for RNA Interference and Non-coding RNA, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas 77030, USA [3] Department of Cancer Biology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas 77030, USA. ; 1] Department of Molecular Biology, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas 75390, USA [2] Simmons Cancer Center, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas 75390, USA. ; 1] Department of Pharmacology, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas 75390, USA [2] Simmons Cancer Center, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas 75390, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25043055" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Poly(A) tails enhance the stability and translation of most eukaryotic messenger RNAs, but difficulties in globally measuring poly(A)-tail lengths have impeded greater understanding of poly(A)-tail function. Here we describe poly(A)-tail length profiling by sequencing (PAL-seq) and apply it to measure tail lengths of millions of individual RNAs isolated from yeasts, cell lines, Arabidopsis thaliana leaves, mouse liver, and zebrafish and frog embryos. Poly(A)-tail lengths were conserved between orthologous mRNAs, with mRNAs encoding ribosomal proteins and other 'housekeeping' proteins tending to have shorter tails. As expected, tail lengths were coupled to translational efficiencies in early zebrafish and frog embryos. However, this strong coupling diminished at gastrulation and was absent in non-embryonic samples, indicating a rapid developmental switch in the nature of translational control. This switch complements an earlier switch to zygotic transcriptional control and explains why the predominant effect of microRNA-mediated deadenylation concurrently shifts from translational repression to mRNA destabilization.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4086860/" 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/PMC4086860/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Subtelny, Alexander O -- Eichhorn, Stephen W -- Chen, Grace R -- Sive, Hazel -- Bartel, David P -- GM067031/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R01 GM067031/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- T32 GM007753/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- T32GM007753/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- England -- Nature. 2014 Apr 3;508(7494):66-71. doi: 10.1038/nature13007. Epub 2014 Jan 29.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA [2] Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, 9 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA [3] Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA [4] Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA [5]. ; 1] Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA [2] Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, 9 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA [3] Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA [4]. ; 1] Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA [2] Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, 9 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA [3] Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA. ; 1] Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, 9 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA [2] Department of Biology, 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/24476825" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: MicroRNA and protein sequestration by non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) has recently generated much interest. In the bacterial Csr/Rsm system, which is considered to be the most general global post-transcriptional regulatory system responsible for bacterial virulence, ncRNAs such as CsrB or RsmZ activate translation initiation by sequestering homodimeric CsrA-type proteins from the ribosome-binding site of a subset of messenger RNAs. However, the mechanism of ncRNA-mediated protein sequestration is not understood at the molecular level. Here we show for Pseudomonas fluorescens that RsmE protein dimers assemble sequentially, specifically and cooperatively onto the ncRNA RsmZ within a narrow affinity range. This assembly yields two different native ribonucleoprotein structures. Using a powerful combination of nuclear magnetic resonance and electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy we elucidate these 70-kilodalton solution structures, thereby revealing the molecular mechanism of the sequestration process and how RsmE binding protects the ncRNA from RNase E degradation. Overall, our findings suggest that RsmZ is well-tuned to sequester, store and release RsmE and therefore can be viewed as an ideal protein 'sponge'.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Duss, Olivier -- Michel, Erich -- Yulikov, Maxim -- Schubert, Mario -- Jeschke, Gunnar -- Allain, Frederic H-T -- England -- Nature. 2014 May 29;509(7502):588-92. doi: 10.1038/nature13271. Epub 2014 May 14.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Institute of Molecular Biology and Biophysics, ETH Zurich, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland. ; Laboratory of Physical Chemistry, ETH Zurich, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24828038" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The mir-34/449 family consists of six homologous miRNAs at three genomic loci. Redundancy of miR-34/449 miRNAs and their dominant expression in multiciliated epithelia suggest a functional significance in ciliogenesis. Here we report that mice deficient for all miR-34/449 miRNAs exhibited postnatal mortality, infertility and strong respiratory dysfunction caused by defective mucociliary clearance. In both mouse and Xenopus, miR-34/449-deficient multiciliated cells (MCCs) exhibited a significant decrease in cilia length and number, due to defective basal body maturation and apical docking. The effect of miR-34/449 on ciliogenesis was mediated, at least in part, by post-transcriptional repression of Cp110, a centriolar protein suppressing cilia assembly. Consistent with this, cp110 knockdown in miR-34/449-deficient MCCs restored ciliogenesis by rescuing basal body maturation and docking. Altogether, our findings elucidate conserved cellular and molecular mechanisms through which miR-34/449 regulate motile ciliogenesis.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4119886/" 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/PMC4119886/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Song, Rui -- Walentek, Peter -- Sponer, Nicole -- Klimke, Alexander -- Lee, Joon Sub -- Dixon, Gary -- Harland, Richard -- Wan, Ying -- Lishko, Polina -- Lize, Muriel -- Kessel, Michael -- He, Lin -- 1R21CA175560-01/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- GM42341/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R01 CA139067/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- R01 GM042341/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2014 Jun 5;510(7503):115-20. doi: 10.1038/nature13413.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] Division of Cellular and Developmental Biology, MCB Department, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94705, USA [2]. ; 1] Division of Genetics, Genomics and Development, Centre for Integrative Genomics, MCB Department, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94705, USA [2]. ; Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Goettingen 37077, Germany. ; Division of Cellular and Developmental Biology, MCB Department, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94705, USA. ; Division of Genetics, Genomics and Development, Centre for Integrative Genomics, MCB Department, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94705, USA. ; The Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, China. ; Department of Molecular Oncology, University of Goettingen, Goettingen 37073, Germany.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24899310" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The study of cancer genes in mouse models has traditionally relied on genetically-engineered strains made via transgenesis or gene targeting in embryonic stem cells. Here we describe a new method of cancer model generation using the CRISPR/Cas (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/CRISPR-associated proteins) system in vivo in wild-type mice. We used hydrodynamic injection to deliver a CRISPR plasmid DNA expressing Cas9 and single guide RNAs (sgRNAs) to the liver that directly target the tumour suppressor genes Pten (ref. 5) and p53 (also known as TP53 and Trp53) (ref. 6), alone and in combination. CRISPR-mediated Pten mutation led to elevated Akt phosphorylation and lipid accumulation in hepatocytes, phenocopying the effects of deletion of the gene using Cre-LoxP technology. Simultaneous targeting of Pten and p53 induced liver tumours that mimicked those caused by Cre-loxP-mediated deletion of Pten and p53. DNA sequencing of liver and tumour tissue revealed insertion or deletion mutations of the tumour suppressor genes, including bi-allelic mutations of both Pten and p53 in tumours. Furthermore, co-injection of Cas9 plasmids harbouring sgRNAs targeting the beta-catenin gene and a single-stranded DNA oligonucleotide donor carrying activating point mutations led to the generation of hepatocytes with nuclear localization of beta-catenin. This study demonstrates the feasibility of direct mutation of tumour suppressor genes and oncogenes in the liver using the CRISPR/Cas system, which presents a new avenue for rapid development of liver cancer models and functional genomics.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4199937/" 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/PMC4199937/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Xue, Wen -- Chen, Sidi -- Yin, Hao -- Tammela, Tuomas -- Papagiannakopoulos, Thales -- Joshi, Nikhil S -- Cai, Wenxin -- Yang, Gillian -- Bronson, Roderick -- Crowley, Denise G -- Zhang, Feng -- Anderson, Daniel G -- Sharp, Phillip A -- Jacks, Tyler -- 1K99CA169512/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- 2-P01-CA42063/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- 5-U54-CA151884-04/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- DP1 MH100706/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- K99 CA169512/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- P30 CA014051/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- P30-CA14051/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- R00 CA169512/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- R01 DK097768/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- R01-CA115527/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- R01-CA132091/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- R01-CA133404/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- R01-EB000244/EB/NIBIB NIH HHS/ -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- England -- Nature. 2014 Oct 16;514(7522):380-4. doi: 10.1038/nature13589. Epub 2014 Aug 6.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA [2]. ; David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA. ; Tufts University and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. ; Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA. ; 1] David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA [2] Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA [3] Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences &Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA [4] Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA. ; 1] David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA [2] Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA. ; 1] David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA [2] Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA [3] Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 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/25119044" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The translational control of oncoprotein expression is implicated in many cancers. Here we report an eIF4A RNA helicase-dependent mechanism of translational control that contributes to oncogenesis and underlies the anticancer effects of silvestrol and related compounds. For example, eIF4A promotes T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia development in vivo and is required for leukaemia maintenance. Accordingly, inhibition of eIF4A with silvestrol has powerful therapeutic effects against murine and human leukaemic cells in vitro and in vivo. We use transcriptome-scale ribosome footprinting to identify the hallmarks of eIF4A-dependent transcripts. These include 5' untranslated region (UTR) sequences such as the 12-nucleotide guanine quartet (CGG)4 motif that can form RNA G-quadruplex structures. Notably, among the most eIF4A-dependent and silvestrol-sensitive transcripts are a number of oncogenes, superenhancer-associated transcription factors, and epigenetic regulators. Hence, the 5' UTRs of select cancer genes harbour a targetable requirement for the eIF4A RNA helicase.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4492470/" 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/PMC4492470/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Wolfe, Andrew L -- Singh, Kamini -- Zhong, Yi -- Drewe, Philipp -- Rajasekhar, Vinagolu K -- Sanghvi, Viraj R -- Mavrakis, Konstantinos J -- Jiang, Man -- Roderick, Justine E -- Van der Meulen, Joni -- Schatz, Jonathan H -- Rodrigo, Christina M -- Zhao, Chunying -- Rondou, Pieter -- de Stanchina, Elisa -- Teruya-Feldstein, Julie -- Kelliher, Michelle A -- Speleman, Frank -- Porco, John A Jr -- Pelletier, Jerry -- Ratsch, Gunnar -- Wendel, Hans-Guido -- GM-067041/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- GM-073855/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- MOP-10653/Canadian Institutes of Health Research/Canada -- P30 CA008748/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- R01 CA142798/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- R01-CA142798-01/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2014 Sep 4;513(7516):65-70. doi: 10.1038/nature13485. Epub 2014 Jul 27.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] Cancer Biology and Genetics, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York 10065, USA [2] Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences, New York, New York 10065, USA [3]. ; 1] Cancer Biology and Genetics, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York 10065, USA [2]. ; Computational Biology Department, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York 10065, USA. ; Stem Cell Center and Developmental Biology Program, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York 10065, USA. ; Cancer Biology and Genetics, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York 10065, USA. ; 1] Cancer Biology and Genetics, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York 10065, USA [2] Novartis, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA (K.J.M.); The University of Arizona Cancer Center, Tucson, Arizona 85719, USA (J.H.S.). ; Department of Cancer Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts 01605 USA. ; 1] Cancer Biology and Genetics, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York 10065, USA [2] Center for Medical Genetics, Ghent University Hospital, De Pintelaan 185, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium. ; 1] Cancer Biology and Genetics, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York 10065, USA [2] Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York 10065, USA [3] Novartis, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA (K.J.M.); The University of Arizona Cancer Center, Tucson, Arizona 85719, USA (J.H.S.). ; Department of Chemistry, Center for Chemical Methodology and Library Development, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA. ; Center for Medical Genetics, Ghent University Hospital, De Pintelaan 185, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium. ; Molecular Pharmacology Program, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York 10065, USA. ; Department of Pathology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York 10065, USA. ; 1] Department of Biochemistry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3G 1Y6, Canada [2] Department of Oncology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3G 1Y6, Canada [3] The Rosalind and Morris Goodman Cancer Research Center, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3G 1Y6, Canada.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25079319" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Programmed -1 ribosomal frameshift (-1 PRF) signals redirect translating ribosomes to slip back one base on messenger RNAs. Although well characterized in viruses, how these elements may regulate cellular gene expression is not understood. Here we describe a -1 PRF signal in the human mRNA encoding CCR5, the HIV-1 co-receptor. CCR5 mRNA-mediated -1 PRF is directed by an mRNA pseudoknot, and is stimulated by at least two microRNAs. Mapping the mRNA-miRNA interaction suggests that formation of a triplex RNA structure stimulates -1 PRF. A -1 PRF event on the CCR5 mRNA directs translating ribosomes to a premature termination codon, destabilizing it through the nonsense-mediated mRNA decay pathway. At least one additional mRNA decay pathway is also involved. Functional -1 PRF signals that seem to be regulated by miRNAs are also demonstrated in mRNAs encoding six other cytokine receptors, suggesting a novel mode through which immune responses may be fine-tuned in mammalian cells.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4369343/" 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/PMC4369343/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Belew, Ashton Trey -- Meskauskas, Arturas -- Musalgaonkar, Sharmishtha -- Advani, Vivek M -- Sulima, Sergey O -- Kasprzak, Wojciech K -- Shapiro, Bruce A -- Dinman, Jonathan D -- 5 R01GM058859/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- HHSN261200800001/PHS HHS/ -- R01 GM058859/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R01 HL119439/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- R21 GM068123/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R21GM068123/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- T32 AI051967/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- T32AI051967/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- T32GM080201/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- Intramural NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2014 Aug 21;512(7514):265-9. doi: 10.1038/nature13429. Epub 2014 Jul 9.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA [2]. ; 1] Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA [2] Department of Biotechnology and Microbiology, Vilnius University, Vilnius, LT 03101, Lithuania [3]. ; Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA. ; 1] Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA [2] VIB Center for the Biology of Disease, KU Leuven, Campus Gasthuisberg, Herestraat 49, bus 602, 3000 Leuven, Belgium. ; Basic Science Program, Leidos Biomedical Research, Inc., Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Frederick, Maryland 21702, USA. ; Basic Research Laboratory, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, Maryland 21702, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25043019" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Mammalian cells possess mechanisms to detect and defend themselves from invading viruses. In the cytosol, the RIG-I-like receptors (RLRs), RIG-I (retinoic acid-inducible gene I; encoded by DDX58) and MDA5 (melanoma differentiation-associated gene 5; encoded by IFIH1) sense atypical RNAs associated with virus infection. Detection triggers a signalling cascade via the adaptor MAVS that culminates in the production of type I interferons (IFN-alpha and beta; hereafter IFN), which are key antiviral cytokines. RIG-I and MDA5 are activated by distinct viral RNA structures and much evidence indicates that RIG-I responds to RNAs bearing a triphosphate (ppp) moiety in conjunction with a blunt-ended, base-paired region at the 5'-end (reviewed in refs 1, 2, 3). Here we show that RIG-I also mediates antiviral responses to RNAs bearing 5'-diphosphates (5'pp). Genomes from mammalian reoviruses with 5'pp termini, 5'pp-RNA isolated from yeast L-A virus, and base-paired 5'pp-RNAs made by in vitro transcription or chemical synthesis, all bind to RIG-I and serve as RIG-I agonists. Furthermore, a RIG-I-dependent response to 5'pp-RNA is essential for controlling reovirus infection in cultured cells and in mice. Thus, the minimal determinant for RIG-I recognition is a base-paired RNA with 5'pp. Such RNAs are found in some viruses but not in uninfected cells, indicating that recognition of 5'pp-RNA, like that of 5'ppp-RNA, acts as a powerful means of self/non-self discrimination by the innate immune system.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4201573/" 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/PMC4201573/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Goubau, Delphine -- Schlee, Martin -- Deddouche, Safia -- Pruijssers, Andrea J -- Zillinger, Thomas -- Goldeck, Marion -- Schuberth, Christine -- Van der Veen, Annemarthe G -- Fujimura, Tsutomu -- Rehwinkel, Jan -- Iskarpatyoti, Jason A -- Barchet, Winfried -- Ludwig, Janos -- Dermody, Terence S -- Hartmann, Gunther -- Reis e Sousa, Caetano -- A3598/Cancer Research UK/United Kingdom -- MC_UU_12010/8/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- R01 AI038296/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- R37 AI038296/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- Cancer Research UK/United Kingdom -- England -- Nature. 2014 Oct 16;514(7522):372-5. doi: 10.1038/nature13590. Epub 2014 Aug 10.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] Immunobiology Laboratory, Cancer Research UK, London Research Institute, 44 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3LY, UK [2]. ; 1] Institut fur Klinische Chemie und Klinische Pharmakologie, Universitatsklinikum Bonn, Sigmund-Freud-Strasse 25, D-53127 Bonn, Germany [2]. ; 1] Immunobiology Laboratory, Cancer Research UK, London Research Institute, 44 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3LY, UK [2] Drosophila Genetics and Epigenetics, Laboratory of Developmental Biology, CNRS UMR7622, Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France (S.D.); Medical Research Council Human Immunology Unit, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, Medical Research Council Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DS, UK (J.R.). ; 1] Department of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, D7235 Medical Center North, 1161 21st Avenue South, Nashville, Tennessee 37232-2581, USA [2] Elizabeth B. Lamb Center for Pediatric Research, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, D7235 Medical Center North, 1161 21st Avenue South, Nashville, Tennessee 37232-2581, USA. ; Institut fur Klinische Chemie und Klinische Pharmakologie, Universitatsklinikum Bonn, Sigmund-Freud-Strasse 25, D-53127 Bonn, Germany. ; Immunobiology Laboratory, Cancer Research UK, London Research Institute, 44 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3LY, UK. ; Instituto de Biologia Funcional y Genomica. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas/Universidad de Salamanca, Zacarias Gonzalez 2, 37007, Salamanca, Spain. ; 1] Department of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, D7235 Medical Center North, 1161 21st Avenue South, Nashville, Tennessee 37232-2581, USA [2] Elizabeth B. Lamb Center for Pediatric Research, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, D7235 Medical Center North, 1161 21st Avenue South, Nashville, Tennessee 37232-2581, USA [3] Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, D7235 Medical Center North, 1161 21st Avenue South, Nashville, Tennessee 37232-2581, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25119032" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Thirty years ago it was shown that the non-enzymatic, template-directed polymerization of activated mononucleotides proceeds readily in a homochiral system, but is severely inhibited by the presence of the opposing enantiomer. This finding poses a severe challenge for the spontaneous emergence of RNA-based life, and has led to the suggestion that either RNA was preceded by some other genetic polymer that is not subject to chiral inhibition or chiral symmetry was broken through chemical processes before the origin of RNA-based life. Once an RNA enzyme arose that could catalyse the polymerization of RNA, it would have been possible to distinguish among the two enantiomers, enabling RNA replication and RNA-based evolution to occur. It is commonly thought that the earliest RNA polymerase and its substrates would have been of the same handedness, but this is not necessarily the case. Replicating D- and L-RNA molecules may have emerged together, based on the ability of structured RNAs of one handedness to catalyse the templated polymerization of activated mononucleotides of the opposite handedness. Here we develop such a cross-chiral RNA polymerase, using in vitro evolution starting from a population of random-sequence RNAs. The D-RNA enzyme, consisting of 83 nucleotides, catalyses the joining of L-mono- or oligonucleotide substrates on a complementary L-RNA template, and similar behaviour occurs for the L-enzyme with D-substrates and a D-template. Chiral inhibition is avoided because the 10(6)-fold rate acceleration of the enzyme only pertains to cross-chiral substrates. The enzyme's activity is sufficient to generate full-length copies of its enantiomer through the templated joining of 11 component oligonucleotides.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4239201/" 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/PMC4239201/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Sczepanski, Jonathan T -- Joyce, Gerald F -- F32 GM101741/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2014 Nov 20;515(7527):440-2. doi: 10.1038/nature13900. Epub 2014 Oct 29.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Chemistry, The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, California 92037, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25363769" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-associated enzyme Cas9 is an RNA-guided endonuclease that uses RNA-DNA base-pairing to target foreign DNA in bacteria. Cas9-guide RNA complexes are also effective genome engineering agents in animals and plants. Here we use single-molecule and bulk biochemical experiments to determine how Cas9-RNA interrogates DNA to find specific cleavage sites. We show that both binding and cleavage of DNA by Cas9-RNA require recognition of a short trinucleotide protospacer adjacent motif (PAM). Non-target DNA binding affinity scales with PAM density, and sequences fully complementary to the guide RNA but lacking a nearby PAM are ignored by Cas9-RNA. Competition assays provide evidence that DNA strand separation and RNA-DNA heteroduplex formation initiate at the PAM and proceed directionally towards the distal end of the target sequence. Furthermore, PAM interactions trigger Cas9 catalytic activity. These results reveal how Cas9 uses PAM recognition to quickly identify potential target sites while scanning large DNA molecules, and to regulate scission of double-stranded DNA.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4106473/" 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/PMC4106473/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Sternberg, Samuel H -- Redding, Sy -- Jinek, Martin -- Greene, Eric C -- Doudna, Jennifer A -- GM074739/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R01 GM073794/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R01 GM074739/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- T32 GM066698/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- England -- Nature. 2014 Mar 6;507(7490):62-7. doi: 10.1038/nature13011. Epub 2014 Jan 29.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA [2]. ; 1] Department of Chemistry, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032, USA [2]. ; 1] Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA [2] Department of Biochemistry, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland. ; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032, USA. ; 1] Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA [2] Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA [3] Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA [4] Physical Biosciences Division, 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/24476820" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: A core promoter is a stretch of DNA surrounding the transcription start site (TSS) that integrates regulatory inputs and recruits general transcription factors to initiate transcription. The nature and causative relationship of the DNA sequence and chromatin signals that govern the selection of most TSSs by RNA polymerase II remain unresolved. Maternal to zygotic transition represents the most marked change of the transcriptome repertoire in the vertebrate life cycle. Early embryonic development in zebrafish is characterized by a series of transcriptionally silent cell cycles regulated by inherited maternal gene products: zygotic genome activation commences at the tenth cell cycle, marking the mid-blastula transition. This transition provides a unique opportunity to study the rules of TSS selection and the hierarchy of events linking transcription initiation with key chromatin modifications. We analysed TSS usage during zebrafish early embryonic development at high resolution using cap analysis of gene expression, and determined the positions of H3K4me3-marked promoter-associated nucleosomes. Here we show that the transition from the maternal to zygotic transcriptome is characterized by a switch between two fundamentally different modes of defining transcription initiation, which drive the dynamic change of TSS usage and promoter shape. A maternal-specific TSS selection, which requires an A/T-rich (W-box) motif, is replaced with a zygotic TSS selection grammar characterized by broader patterns of dinucleotide enrichments, precisely aligned with the first downstream (+1) nucleosome. The developmental dynamics of the H3K4me3-marked nucleosomes reveal their DNA-sequence-associated positioning at promoters before zygotic transcription and subsequent transcription-independent adjustment to the final position downstream of the zygotic TSS. The two TSS-defining grammars coexist, often physically overlapping, in core promoters of constitutively expressed genes to enable their expression in the two regulatory environments. The dissection of overlapping core promoter determinants represents a framework for future studies of promoter structure and function across different regulatory contexts.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Haberle, Vanja -- Li, Nan -- Hadzhiev, Yavor -- Plessy, Charles -- Previti, Christopher -- Nepal, Chirag -- Gehrig, Jochen -- Dong, Xianjun -- Akalin, Altuna -- Suzuki, Ana Maria -- van IJcken, Wilfred F J -- Armant, Olivier -- Ferg, Marco -- Strahle, Uwe -- Carninci, Piero -- Muller, Ferenc -- Lenhard, Boris -- MC_UP_1102/1/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- England -- Nature. 2014 Mar 20;507(7492):381-5. doi: 10.1038/nature12974. Epub 2014 Feb 16.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] Department of Biology, University of Bergen, Thormohlensgate 53A, N-5008 Bergen, Norway [2] Institute of Clinical Sciences and MRC Clinical Sciences Center, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, Hammersmith Hospital, Du Cane Road, London W12 0NN, UK [3]. ; 1] School of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, College of Medical and Dental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK [2]. ; School of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, College of Medical and Dental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK. ; 1] RIKEN Omics Science Center, Yokohama, Kanagawa 230-0045, Japan [2] RIKEN Center for Life Science Technologies, Division of Genomic Technologies, RIKEN Yokohama Campus, 1-7-22 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 230-0045, Japan. ; 1] Computational Biology Unit, Uni Computing, Uni Research AS, University of Bergen, Thormohlensgate 55, N-5008 Bergen, Norway [2] German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Genomics & Proteomics Core Facility (GPCF), Im Neuenheimer Feld 580/TP3, Heidelberg 69120, Germany (C.Pr.); Broegelmann Research Laboratory, The Gade Institute, University of Bergen, The Laboratory Building, Haukeland University Hospital, N-5021 Bergen, Norway (C.N.); Acquifer AG, Sophienstrasse 136, 76135 Karlsruhe, Germany (J.G.); Department of Neurology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA (X.D.); Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Maulbeerstrasse 66, 4058 Basel, Switzerland (A.A.). ; 1] School of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, College of Medical and Dental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK [2] German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Genomics & Proteomics Core Facility (GPCF), Im Neuenheimer Feld 580/TP3, Heidelberg 69120, Germany (C.Pr.); Broegelmann Research Laboratory, The Gade Institute, University of Bergen, The Laboratory Building, Haukeland University Hospital, N-5021 Bergen, Norway (C.N.); Acquifer AG, Sophienstrasse 136, 76135 Karlsruhe, Germany (J.G.); Department of Neurology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA (X.D.); Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Maulbeerstrasse 66, 4058 Basel, Switzerland (A.A.). ; Erasmus Medical Center, Center for Biomics, Room Ee679b, Dr Molewaterplein 50, 3015 GE Rotterdam, The Netherlands. ; Institute of Toxicology and Genetics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Postfach 3640, 76021 Karlsruhe, Germany. ; 1] Institute of Clinical Sciences and MRC Clinical Sciences Center, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, Hammersmith Hospital, Du Cane Road, London W12 0NN, UK [2] Department of Informatics, University of Bergen, Thormohlensgate 55, N-5008 Bergen, Norway.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24531765" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: RNA interference is widely distributed in eukaryotes and has a variety of functions, including antiviral defence and gene regulation. All RNA interference pathways use small single-stranded RNA (ssRNA) molecules that guide proteins of the Argonaute (Ago) family to complementary ssRNA targets: RNA-guided RNA interference. The role of prokaryotic Ago variants has remained elusive, although bioinformatics analysis has suggested their involvement in host defence. Here we demonstrate that Ago of the bacterium Thermus thermophilus (TtAgo) acts as a barrier for the uptake and propagation of foreign DNA. In vivo, TtAgo is loaded with 5'-phosphorylated DNA guides, 13-25 nucleotides in length, that are mostly plasmid derived and have a strong bias for a 5'-end deoxycytidine. These small interfering DNAs guide TtAgo to cleave complementary DNA strands. Hence, despite structural homology to its eukaryotic counterparts, TtAgo functions in host defence by DNA-guided DNA interference.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4697943/" 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/PMC4697943/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Swarts, Daan C -- Jore, Matthijs M -- Westra, Edze R -- Zhu, Yifan -- Janssen, Jorijn H -- Snijders, Ambrosius P -- Wang, Yanli -- Patel, Dinshaw J -- Berenguer, Jose -- Brouns, Stan J J -- van der Oost, John -- P30 CA008748/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- R01 GM104962/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2014 Mar 13;507(7491):258-61. doi: 10.1038/nature12971. Epub 2014 Feb 16.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] Laboratory of Microbiology, Department of Agrotechnology and Food Sciences, Wageningen University, Dreijenplein 10, 6703 HB Wageningen, the Netherlands [2]. ; Laboratory of Microbiology, Department of Agrotechnology and Food Sciences, Wageningen University, Dreijenplein 10, 6703 HB Wageningen, the Netherlands. ; Clare Hall Laboratories, Cancer Research UK, London Research Institute, South Mimms EN6 3LD, UK. ; Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China. ; Structural Biology Program, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York 10065, USA. ; Centro de Biologia Molecular Severo Ochoa, UAM-CSIC, Campus de Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24531762" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The CRISPR-associated protein Cas9 is an RNA-guided endonuclease that cleaves double-stranded DNA bearing sequences complementary to a 20-nucleotide segment in the guide RNA. Cas9 has emerged as a versatile molecular tool for genome editing and gene expression control. RNA-guided DNA recognition and cleavage strictly require the presence of a protospacer adjacent motif (PAM) in the target DNA. Here we report a crystal structure of Streptococcus pyogenes Cas9 in complex with a single-molecule guide RNA and a target DNA containing a canonical 5'-NGG-3' PAM. The structure reveals that the PAM motif resides in a base-paired DNA duplex. The non-complementary strand GG dinucleotide is read out via major-groove interactions with conserved arginine residues from the carboxy-terminal domain of Cas9. Interactions with the minor groove of the PAM duplex and the phosphodiester group at the +1 position in the target DNA strand contribute to local strand separation immediately upstream of the PAM. These observations suggest a mechanism for PAM-dependent target DNA melting and RNA-DNA hybrid formation. Furthermore, this study establishes a framework for the rational engineering of Cas9 enzymes with novel PAM specificities.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4176945/" 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/PMC4176945/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Anders, Carolin -- Niewoehner, Ole -- Duerst, Alessia -- Jinek, Martin -- 337284/European Research Council/International -- England -- Nature. 2014 Sep 25;513(7519):569-73. doi: 10.1038/nature13579. Epub 2014 Jul 27.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Biochemistry, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25079318" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: In cancer patients, visual identification of sentinel lymph nodes (LNs) is achieved by the injection of dyes that bind avidly to endogenous albumin, targeting these compounds to LNs, where they are efficiently filtered by resident phagocytes. Here we translate this 'albumin hitchhiking' approach to molecular vaccines, through the synthesis of amphiphiles (amph-vaccines) comprising an antigen or adjuvant cargo linked to a lipophilic albumin-binding tail by a solubility-promoting polar polymer chain. Administration of structurally optimized CpG-DNA/peptide amph-vaccines in mice resulted in marked increases in LN accumulation and decreased systemic dissemination relative to their parent compounds, leading to 30-fold increases in T-cell priming and enhanced anti-tumour efficacy while greatly reducing systemic toxicity. Amph-vaccines provide a simple, broadly applicable strategy to simultaneously increase the potency and safety of subunit vaccines.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4069155/" 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/PMC4069155/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Liu, Haipeng -- Moynihan, Kelly D -- Zheng, Yiran -- Szeto, Gregory L -- Li, Adrienne V -- Huang, Bonnie -- Van Egeren, Debra S -- Park, Clara -- Irvine, Darrell J -- AI091693/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- AI095109/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- AI104715/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- F32 CA180586/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- P01 AI104715/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- P30-CA14051/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- R01 AI095109/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- U19 AI091693/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- England -- Nature. 2014 Mar 27;507(7493):519-22. doi: 10.1038/nature12978. Epub 2014 Feb 16.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA [2] Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA [3] Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA. ; 1] Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA [2] Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA. ; Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA. ; Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA. ; 1] Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA [2] Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA [3] Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA [4] Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA [5] Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, Maryland 20815, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24531764" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: UvrD helicase is required for nucleotide excision repair, although its role in this process is not well defined. Here we show that Escherichia coli UvrD binds RNA polymerase during transcription elongation and, using its helicase/translocase activity, forces RNA polymerase to slide backward along DNA. By inducing backtracking, UvrD exposes DNA lesions shielded by blocked RNA polymerase, allowing nucleotide excision repair enzymes to gain access to sites of damage. Our results establish UvrD as a bona fide transcription elongation factor that contributes to genomic integrity by resolving conflicts between transcription and DNA repair complexes. Furthermore, we show that the elongation factor NusA cooperates with UvrD in coupling transcription to DNA repair by promoting backtracking and recruiting nucleotide excision repair enzymes to exposed lesions. Because backtracking is a shared feature of all cellular RNA polymerases, we propose that this mechanism enables RNA polymerases to function as global DNA damage scanners in bacteria and eukaryotes.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4471481/" 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/PMC4471481/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Epshtein, Vitaly -- Kamarthapu, Venu -- McGary, Katelyn -- Svetlov, Vladimir -- Ueberheide, Beatrix -- Proshkin, Sergey -- Mironov, Alexander -- Nudler, Evgeny -- R01 GM058750/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- T32 GM088118/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- England -- Nature. 2014 Jan 16;505(7483):372-7. doi: 10.1038/nature12928. Epub 2014 Jan 8.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York 10016, USA [2]. ; 1] Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York 10016, USA [2] Howard Hughes Medical Institute, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York 10016, USA [3]. ; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York 10016, USA. ; State Research Institute of Genetics and Selection of Industrial Microorganisms, Moscow 117545, Russia. ; 1] State Research Institute of Genetics and Selection of Industrial Microorganisms, Moscow 117545, Russia [2] Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology, Russian Academy of Science, Moscow 119991, Russia. ; 1] Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York 10016, USA [2] Howard Hughes Medical Institute, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York 10016, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24402227" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉