Lance Martin

Intrinsic retroviral reactivation in human preimplantation embryos and pluripotent cells

Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) are remnants of ancient retroviral infections, and comprise nearly 8% of the human genome. The most recently acquired human ERV is HERVK(HML-2), which repeatedly infected the primate lineage both before and after the divergence of the human and chimpanzee common ancestor. Unlike most other human ERVs, HERVK retained multiple copies of intact open reading frames encoding retroviral proteins. However, HERVK is transcriptionally silenced by the host, with the exception of in certain pathological contexts such as germ-cell tumours, melanoma or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Here we demonstrate that DNA hypomethylation at long terminal repeat elements representing the most recent genomic integrations, together with transactivation by OCT4 (also known as POU5F1), synergistically facilitate HERVK expression. Consequently, HERVK is transcribed during normal human embryogenesis, beginning with embryonic genome activation at the eight-cell stage, continuing through the emergence of epiblast cells in preimplantation blastocysts, and ceasing during human embryonic stem cell derivation from blastocyst outgrowths. Remarkably, we detected HERVK viral-like particles and Gag proteins in human blastocysts, indicating that early human development proceeds in the presence of retroviral products. We further show that overexpression of one such product, the HERVK accessory protein Rec, in a pluripotent cell line is sufficient to increase IFITM1 levels on the cell surface and inhibit viral infection, suggesting at least one mechanism through which HERVK can induce viral restriction pathways in early embryonic cells. Moreover, Rec directly binds a subset of cellular RNAs and modulates their ribosome occupancy, indicating that complex interactions between retroviral proteins and host factors can fine-tune pathways of early human development.

RNA helicase DDX21 coordinates transcription and ribosomal RNA processing

DEAD-box RNA helicases are vital for the regulation of various aspects of the RNA life cycle, but the molecular underpinnings of their involvement, particularly in mammalian cells, remain poorly understood. Here we show that the DEAD-box RNA helicase DDX21 can sense the transcriptional status of both RNA polymerase (Pol) I and II to control multiple steps of ribosome biogenesis in human cells. We demonstrate that DDX21 widely associates with Pol I- and Pol II-transcribed genes and with diverse species of RNA, most prominently with non-coding RNAs involved in the formation of ribonucleoprotein complexes, including ribosomal RNA, small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) and 7SK RNA. Although broad, these molecular interactions, both at the chromatin and RNA level, exhibit remarkable specificity for the regulation of ribosomal genes. In the nucleolus, DDX21 occupies the transcribed rDNA locus, directly contacts both rRNA and snoRNAs, and promotes rRNA transcription, processing and modification. In the nucleoplasm, DDX21 binds 7SK RNA and, as a component of the 7SK small nuclear ribonucleoprotein (snRNP) complex, is recruited to the promoters of Pol II-transcribed genes encoding ribosomal proteins and snoRNAs. Promoter-bound DDX21 facilitates the release of the positive transcription elongation factor b (P-TEFb) from the 7SK snRNP in a manner that is dependent on its helicase activity, thereby promoting transcription of its target genes. Our results uncover the multifaceted role of DDX21 in multiple steps of ribosome biogenesis, and provide evidence implicating a mammalian RNA helicase in RNA modification and Pol II elongation control.

Noninvasive monitoring of infection and rejection after lung transplantation.

Significance Over 3,500 patients receive life-saving lung transplants every year. Nonetheless, complications due to infection and rejection occur frequently and undermine the long-term benefits of lung transplantation. Although clinicians strive to carefully monitor patients, diagnostic options are often limited. Rejection monitoring currently relies on invasive tissue biopsies, and tests of infection are predominately limited to testing one pathogen at a time. This manuscript describes a noninvasive assay based on sequencing of circulating cell-free DNA that simultaneously enables diagnosis of rejection and broad screening of infections. The survival rate following lung transplantation is among the lowest of all solid-organ transplants, and current diagnostic tests often fail to distinguish between infection and rejection, the two primary posttransplant clinical complications. We describe a diagnostic assay that simultaneously monitors for rejection and infection in lung transplant recipients by sequencing of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) in plasma. We determined that the levels of donor-derived cfDNA directly correlate with the results of invasive tests of rejection (area under the curve 0.9). We also analyzed the nonhuman cfDNA as a hypothesis-free approach to test for infections. Cytomegalovirus is most frequently assayed clinically, and the levels of CMV-derived sequences in cfDNA are consistent with clinical results. We furthermore show that hypothesis-free monitoring for pathogens using cfDNA reveals undiagnosed cases of infection, and that certain infectious pathogens such as human herpesvirus (HHV) 6, HHV-7, and adenovirus, which are not often tested clinically, occur with high frequency in this cohort.

Systematic reconstruction of RNA functional motifs with high-throughput microfluidics.

We present RNA–mechanically induced trapping of molecular interactions (RNA-MITOMI), a microfluidic platform that allows integrated synthesis and functional assays for programmable RNA libraries. The interaction of a comprehensive library of RNA mutants with stem-loop–binding protein precisely defined the RNA structural and sequence features that govern affinity. The functional motif reconstructed in a single experiment on our platform uncovers new binding specificities and enriches interpretation of phylogenetic data.

Dissecting noncoding and pathogen RNA–protein interactomes

RNA-protein interactions are central to biological regulation. Cross-linking immunoprecipitation (CLIP)-seq is a powerful tool for genome-wide interrogation of RNA-protein interactomes, but current CLIP methods are limited by challenging biochemical steps and fail to detect many classes of noncoding and nonhuman RNAs. Here we present FAST-iCLIP, an integrated pipeline with improved CLIP biochemistry and an automated informatic pipeline for comprehensive analysis across protein coding, noncoding, repetitive, retroviral, and nonhuman transcriptomes. FAST-iCLIP of Poly-C binding protein 2 (PCBP2) showed that PCBP2-bound CU-rich motifs in different topologies to recognize mRNAs and noncoding RNAs with distinct biological functions. FAST-iCLIP of PCBP2 in hepatitis C virus-infected cells enabled a joint analysis of the PCBP2 interactome with host and viral RNAs and their interplay. These results show that FAST-iCLIP can be used to rapidly discover and decipher mechanisms of RNA-protein recognition across the diversity of human and pathogen RNAs.

Gemini , a Bifunctional Enzymatic and Fluorescent Reporter of Gene Expression

Background The development of collections of quantitatively characterized standard biological parts should facilitate the engineering of increasingly complex and novel biological systems. The existing enzymatic and fluorescent reporters that are used to characterize biological part functions exhibit strengths and limitations. Combining both enzymatic and fluorescence activities within a single reporter protein would provide a useful tool for biological part characterization. Methodology/Principal Findings Here, we describe the construction and quantitative characterization of Gemini, a fusion between the β-galactosidase (β-gal) α-fragment and the N-terminus of full-length green fluorescent protein (GFP). We show that Gemini exhibits functional β-gal activity, which we assay with plates and fluorometry, and functional GFP activity, which we assay with fluorometry and microscopy. We show that the protein fusion increases the sensitivity of β-gal activity and decreases the sensitivity of GFP. Conclusions/Significance Gemini is therefore a bifunctional reporter with a wider dynamic range than the β-gal α-fragment or GFP alone. Gemini enables the characterization of gene expression, screening assays via enzymatic activity, and quantitative single-cell microscopy or FACS via fluorescence activity. The analytical flexibility afforded by Gemini will likely increase the efficiency of research, particularly for screening and characterization of libraries of standard biological parts.

Medulloblastoma-associated DDX3 variant selectively alters the translational response to stress

DDX3X encodes a DEAD-box family RNA helicase (DDX3) commonly mutated in medulloblastoma, a highly aggressive cerebellar tumor affecting both children and adults. Despite being implicated in several facets of RNA metabolism, the nature and scope of DDX3′s interactions with RNA remain unclear. Here, we show DDX3 collaborates extensively with the translation initiation machinery through direct binding to 5′UTRs of nearly all coding RNAs, specific sites on the 18S rRNA, and multiple components of the translation initiation complex. Impairment of translation initiation is also evident in primary medulloblastomas harboring mutations in DDX3X, further highlighting DDX3′s role in this process. Arsenite-induced stress shifts DDX3 binding from the 5′UTR into the coding region of mRNAs concomitant with a general reduction of translation, and both the shift of DDX3 on mRNA and decreased translation are blunted by expression of a catalytically-impaired, medulloblastoma-associated DDX3R534H variant. Furthermore, despite the global repression of translation induced by arsenite, translation is preserved on select genes involved in chromatin organization in DDX3R534H-expressing cells. Thus, DDX3 interacts extensively with RNA and ribosomal machinery to help remodel the translation landscape in response to stress, while cancer-related DDX3 variants adapt this response to selectively preserve translation.

Humans are colonized by many uncharacterized and highly divergent microbes

Blood circulates throughout the entire body and contains molecules drawn from virtually every tissue, including the microbes and viruses which colonize the body. Through massive shotgun sequencing of circulating cell-free DNA from the blood, we identified hundreds of new bacteria and viruses which represent previously unidentified members of the human microbiome. Analysing cumulative sequence data from 1,351 blood samples collected from 188 patients enabled us to assemble 7,190 contiguous regions (contigs) larger than 1 kbp, of which 3,761 are novel with little or no sequence homology in any existing databases. The vast majority of these novel contigs possess coding sequences, and we have validated their existence both by finding their presence in independent experiments and by performing direct PCR amplification. When their nearest neighbors are located in the tree of life, many of the organisms represent entirely novel taxa, showing that microbial diversity within the human body is substantially broader than previously appreciated.

Quantification of transplant-derived circulating cell-free DNA in absence of a donor genotype

Quantification of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) in circulating blood derived from a transplanted organ is a powerful approach to monitoring post-transplant injury. Genome transplant dynamics (GTD) quantifies donor-derived cfDNA (dd-cfDNA) by taking advantage of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) distributed across the genome to discriminate donor and recipient DNA molecules. In its current implementation, GTD requires genotyping of both the transplant recipient and donor. However, in practice, donor genotype information is often unavailable. Here, we address this issue by developing an algorithm that estimates dd-cfDNA levels in the absence of a donor genotype. Our algorithm predicts heart and lung allograft rejection with an accuracy that is similar to conventional GTD. We furthermore refined the algorithm to handle closely related recipients and donors, a scenario that is common in bone marrow and kidney transplantation. We show that it is possible to estimate dd-cfDNA in bone marrow transplant patients that are unrelated or that are siblings of the donors, using a hidden Markov model (HMM) of identity-by-descent (IBD) states along the genome. Last, we demonstrate that comparing dd-cfDNA to the proportion of donor DNA in white blood cells can differentiate between relapse and the onset of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). These methods alleviate some of the barriers to the implementation of GTD, which will further widen its clinical application.

Meeting report for the 1st skin microbiota workshop, boulder, CO October 15-16 2012

This report details the outcome of the 1st Skin Microbiota Workshop, Boulder, CO, held on October 15th-16th 2012. The workshop was arranged to bring Department of Defense personnel together with experts in microbial ecology, human skin physiology and anatomy, and computational techniques for interrogating the microbiome to define research frontiers at the intersection of these important areas. The workshop outlined a series of questions and created several working groups to address those questions, specifically to promote interdisciplinary activity and potential future collaboration. The US Army provided generous grant support and the meeting was organized and hosted by the University of Colorado at Boulder. A primary forward vision of the meeting was the importance of understanding skin microbial communities to improve the health and stealth of US Army warfighters.