Sara L. Sawyer

High-throughput DNA sequencing errors are reduced by orders of magnitude using circle sequencing

Significance This paper presents a library preparation method that dramatically improves the error rate associated with high-throughput DNA sequencing and is substantially more cost-effective than existing error-correction methods. In this strategy, DNA templates are circularized, copied multiple times in tandem with a rolling circle polymerase, and then sequenced on any high-throughput sequencing machine. Each read produced is computationally processed to obtain a consensus sequence of all linked copies of the original molecule. Because it efficiently reduces sequencing error, this method will be broadly enabling in projects where high-throughput sequencing is applied to detect variation in complex samples such as tumors, microbial populations, and environmental communities. A major limitation of high-throughput DNA sequencing is the high rate of erroneous base calls produced. For instance, Illumina sequencing machines produce errors at a rate of ∼0.1–1 × 10−2 per base sequenced. These technologies typically produce billions of base calls per experiment, translating to millions of errors. We have developed a unique library preparation strategy, “circle sequencing,” which allows for robust downstream computational correction of these errors. In this strategy, DNA templates are circularized, copied multiple times in tandem with a rolling circle polymerase, and then sequenced on any high-throughput sequencing machine. Each read produced is computationally processed to obtain a consensus sequence of all linked copies of the original molecule. Physically linking the copies ensures that each copy is independently derived from the original molecule and allows for efficient formation of consensus sequences. The circle-sequencing protocol precedes standard library preparations and is therefore suitable for a broad range of sequencing applications. We tested our method using the Illumina MiSeq platform and obtained errors in our processed sequencing reads at a rate as low as 7.6 × 10−6 per base sequenced, dramatically improving the error rate of Illumina sequencing and putting error on par with low-throughput, but highly accurate, Sanger sequencing. Circle sequencing also had substantially higher efficiency and lower cost than existing barcode-based schemes for correcting sequencing errors.

Discordant evolution of the adjacent antiretroviral genes TRIM22 and TRIM5 in mammals.

TRIM5α provides a cytoplasmic block to retroviral infection, and orthologs encoded by some primates are active against HIV. Here, we present an evolutionary comparison of the TRIM5 gene to its closest human paralogs: TRIM22, TRIM34, and TRIM6. We show that TRIM5 and TRIM22 have a dynamic history of gene expansion and loss during the evolution of mammals. The cow genome contains an expanded cluster of TRIM5 genes and no TRIM22 gene, while the dog genome encodes TRIM22 but has lost TRIM5. In contrast, TRIM6 and TRIM34 have been strictly preserved as single gene orthologs in human, dog, and cow. A more focused analysis of primates reveals that, while TRIM6 and TRIM34 have evolved under purifying selection, TRIM22 has evolved under positive selection as was previously observed for TRIM5. Based on TRIM22 sequences obtained from 27 primate genomes, we find that the positive selection of TRIM22 has occurred episodically for approximately 23 million years, perhaps reflecting the changing pathogenic landscape. However, we find that the evolutionary episodes of positive selection that have acted on TRIM5 and TRIM22 are mutually exclusive, with generally only one of these genes being positively selected in any given primate lineage. We interpret this to mean that the positive selection of one gene has constrained the adaptive flexibility of its neighbor, probably due to genetic linkage. Finally, we find a striking congruence in the positions of amino acid residues found to be under positive selection in both TRIM5α and TRIM22, which in both proteins fall predominantly in the β2-β3 surface loop of the B30.2 domain. Astonishingly, this same loop is under positive selection in the multiple cow TRIM5 genes as well, indicating that this small structural loop may be a viral recognition motif spanning a hundred million years of mammalian evolution.

High-Frequency Persistence of an Impaired Allele of the Retroviral Defense Gene TRIM5α in Humans

The intracellular TRIM5alpha protein successfully inhibits HIV-1 infection in rhesus monkeys, but not in humans . A few amino acids in the virus-interacting SPRY domain were found to be responsible for most of this anti-viral specificity , raising the possibility that genetic variation among humans could result in TRIM5alpha proteins with a spectrum of potencies. We found several nonsynonymous SNPs at the human TRIM5 locus, but only one of these (H43Y) was found to have a significant functional consequence. We demonstrate that H43Y impairs TRIM5alpha restriction of two distantly related retroviruses. H43Y lies in the RING domain of TRIM5alpha and may negatively affect its putative E3 ubiquitin ligase activity. This detrimental allele dates back to before the African diaspora and is found at a frequency of 43% in indigenous Central and South Americans. We suggest that relaxed constraint due to a recent period of low retroviral challenge has allowed the deleterious H43Y mutation to persist and even to expand after the bottleneck that occurred upon human migration to the New World. The unexpectedly high frequency of an impaired retroviral restriction allele among humans is likely to have a significant impact on our ability to ward off future retroviral challenges.

Molecular evolution of the antiretroviral TRIM5 gene

In 2004, the first report of TRIM5α as a cellular antiretroviral factor triggered intense interest among virologists, particularly because some primate orthologs of TRIM5α have activity against HIV. Since that time, a complex and eventful evolutionary history of the TRIM5 locus has emerged. A review of the TRIM5 literature constitutes a veritable compendium of evolutionary phenomena, including elevated rates of nonsynonymous substitution, divergence in subdomains due to short insertions and deletions, expansions and contractions in gene copy number, pseudogenization, balanced polymorphism, trans-species polymorphism, convergent evolution, and the acquisition of new domains by exon capture. Unlike most genes, whose history is dominated by long periods of purifying selection interspersed with rare instances of genetic innovation, analysis of restriction factor loci is likely to be complicated by the unpredictable and more-or-less constant influence of positive selection. In this regard, the molecular evolution and population genetics of restriction factor loci most closely resemble patterns that have been documented for immunity genes, such as class I and II MHC genes, whose products interact directly with microbial targets. While the antiretroviral activity encoded by TRIM5 provides plausible mechanistic hypotheses for these unusual evolutionary observations, evolutionary analyses have reciprocated by providing significant insights into the structure and function of the TRIM5α protein. Many of the lessons learned from TRIM5 should be applicable to the study of other restriction factor loci, and molecular evolutionary analysis could facilitate the discovery of new antiviral factors, particularly among the many TRIM genes whose functions remain as yet unidentified.

The hexameric eukaryotic MCM helicase: building symmetry from nonidentical parts.

The separation of the two strands of the DNA duplex is a prerequisite in the propagation or transfer of genetic information during replication, transcription, and repair. The energydependent unwinding of DNA involves a reaction catalyzed by enzymes called helicases. Helicases are protein motors that use the energy of NTP hydrolysis to displace one of the DNA strands and to translocate along the complementary strand (1, 2). Serving both of these functions, helicases move along DNA as an integral part of a macromolecular machine that tracks one of the separated strands for hundreds of kilobases without falling off (3). Processivity of these DNA helicases is therefore crucial to the fidelity of information-transferring mechanisms. A distinct feature of processive helicases is their hexameric ring-shaped structure that enables the enzyme complex to encircle DNA. By encircling DNA, these helicases are topologically linked to DNA, allowing them to travel long distances on DNA without dissociation. To date, over 10 processive helicases from various organisms have been extensively studied (for a comprehensive review, see Patel and Picha (4)). Helicases associated with replication machines include the bacteriophage T7 Gp4 (5, 6), the Escherichia coli DnaB (7), and the SV40 large T-antigen (8, 9). In each of these well studied helicases, the hexameric enzyme is composed of six identical subunits arranged in a ring-shaped structure that has a 6-fold symmetry (10). This 6-fold rotational symmetry coupled to the sequential hydrolysis of NTP by subunits of the hexamer is believed to effect conformational changes that drive the helicase along DNA (11). It is no wonder that enzymologists greeted the latest reports on the eukaryotic MCM helicase with astonishment; recent studies revealed that the helicase is a hexameric enzyme consisting of nonidentical subunits. In this review, we will discuss some of the latest findings related to the eukaryotic MCM helicase, the implied symmetry for this asymmetric complex, and the excitement and new challenges that lie ahead.

Two-stepping through time: mammals and viruses

Recent studies have identified ancient virus genomes preserved as fossils within diverse animal genomes. These fossils have led to the revelation that a broad range of mammalian virus families are older and more ubiquitous than previously appreciated. Long-term interactions between viruses and their hosts often develop into genetic arms races where both parties continually jockey for evolutionary dominance. It is difficult to imagine how mammalian hosts have kept pace in the evolutionary race against rapidly evolving viruses over large expanses of time, given their much slower evolutionary rates. However, recent data has begun to reveal the evolutionary strategy of slowly-evolving hosts. We review these data and suggest a modified arms race model where the evolutionary possibilities of viruses are relatively constrained. Such a model could allow more accurate forecasting of virus evolution.

Dual Host-Virus Arms Races Shape an Essential Housekeeping Protein

Relentless selective pressures exerted by viruses trigger arms race dynamics that shape the evolution of even critical host genes like those involved in iron homeostasis.

Understanding Biases in Ribosome Profiling Experiments Reveals Signatures of Translation Dynamics in Yeast

Ribosome profiling produces snapshots of the locations of actively translating ribosomes on messenger RNAs. These snapshots can be used to make inferences about translation dynamics. Recent ribosome profiling studies in yeast, however, have reached contradictory conclusions regarding the average translation rate of each codon. Some experiments have used cycloheximide (CHX) to stabilize ribosomes before measuring their positions, and these studies all counterintuitively report a weak negative correlation between the translation rate of a codon and the abundance of its cognate tRNA. In contrast, some experiments performed without CHX report strong positive correlations. To explain this contradiction, we identify unexpected patterns in ribosome density downstream of each type of codon in experiments that use CHX. These patterns are evidence that elongation continues to occur in the presence of CHX but with dramatically altered codon-specific elongation rates. The measured positions of ribosomes in these experiments therefore do not reflect the amounts of time ribosomes spend at each position in vivo. These results suggest that conclusions from experiments in yeast using CHX may need reexamination. In particular, we show that in all such experiments, codons decoded by less abundant tRNAs were in fact being translated more slowly before the addition of CHX disrupted these dynamics.

Identification of a Genomic Reservoir for New TRIM Genes in Primate Genomes

Tripartite Motif (TRIM) ubiquitin ligases act in the innate immune response against viruses. One of the best characterized members of this family, TRIM5α, serves as a potent retroviral restriction factor with activity against HIV. Here, we characterize what are likely to be the youngest TRIM genes in the human genome. For instance, we have identified 11 TRIM genes that are specific to humans and African apes (chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas) and another 7 that are human-specific. Many of these young genes have never been described, and their identification brings the total number of known human TRIM genes to approximately 100. These genes were acquired through segmental duplications, most of which originated from a single locus on chromosome 11. Another polymorphic duplication of this locus has resulted in these genes being copy number variable within the human population, with a Han Chinese woman identified as having 12 additional copies of these TRIM genes compared to other individuals screened in this study. Recently, this locus was annotated as one of 34 “hotspot” regions that are also copy number variable in the genomes of chimpanzees and rhesus macaques. Most of the young TRIM genes originating from this locus are expressed, spliced, and contain signatures of positive natural selection in regions known to determine virus recognition in TRIM5α. However, we find that they do not restrict the same retroviruses as TRIM5α, consistent with the high degree of divergence observed in the regions that control target specificity. We propose that this recombinationally volatile locus serves as a reservoir from which new TRIM genes arise through segmental duplication, allowing primates to continually acquire new antiviral genes that can be selected to target new and evolving pathogens.

Generation of an HIV resistant T-cell line by targeted "stacking" of restriction factors.

Restriction factors constitute a newly appreciated line of innate immune defense, blocking viral replication inside of infected cells. In contrast to these antiviral proteins, some cellular proteins, such as the CD4, CCR5, and CXCR4 cell surface receptors, facilitate HIV replication. We have used zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs) to insert a cocktail of anti-HIV restriction factors into the CCR5 locus in a T-cell reporter line, knocking out the CCR5 gene in the process. Mirroring the logic of highly active antiretroviral therapy, this strategy provides multiple parallel blocks to infection, dramatically limiting pathways for viral escape, without relying on random integration of transgenes into the genome. Because of the combination of blocks that this strategy creates, our modified T-cell lines are robustly resistant to both CCR5-tropic (R5-tropic) and CXCR4-tropic (X4-tropic) HIV-1. While zinc finger nuclease-mediated CCR5 disruption alone, which mimics the strategy being used in clinical trials, confers 16-fold protection against R5-tropic HIV, it has no effect against X4-tropic virus. Rhesus TRIM5α, chimeric human-rhesus TRIM5α, APOBEC3G D128K, or Rev M10 alone targeted to CCR5 confers significantly improved resistance to infection by both variants compared with CCR5 disruption alone. The combination of three factors targeted to CCR5 blocks infection at multiple stages, providing virtually complete protection against infection by R5-tropic and X4-tropic HIV.