BMC Genomic Data
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All preprints, ranked by how well they match BMC Genomic Data's content profile, based on 12 papers previously published here. The average preprint has a 0.01% match score for this journal, so anything above that is already an above-average fit. Older preprints may already have been published elsewhere.
Iwata-Otsubo, A.; Lindsay-Temple, S.; Dias, K.-R.; Zhu, Y.; Fiordaliso, S.; Su, C.; Ritter, A.; Baker, S. W.; Kuroda, Y.; Keena, B. A.; Grant, S. F.; Zackai, E.; Edwards, M.; Evans, C.-A.; Dulik, M. C.; Buckley, M. F.; Roscioli, T.; Izumi, K.
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PurposeThis study aimed to establish variants in CBX1, encoding heterochromatin protein 1{beta} (HP1{beta}), as a cause of a novel syndromic neurodevelopmental disorder. MethodsPatients with CBX1 variants were identified, and clinician researchers were connected using GeneMatcher and physician referrals. Clinical histories were collected from each patient. To investigate the pathogenicity of identified variants, we performed in vitro cellular assays, neurobehavioral and cytological analyses of neuronal cells obtained from newly generated Cbx1 mutant mouse lines. ResultsIn three unrelated individuals with developmental delay, hypotonia, and autistic features, we identified heterozygous de novo variants in CBX1. The identified variants were in the chromodomain, the functional domain of HP1 {beta}, which mediates interactions with chromatin. Cbx1 chromodomain mutant mice displayed increased latency-to-peak response, suggesting the possibility of synaptic delay or myelination deficits. Cytological and chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments confirmed the reduction of mutant HP1{beta} binding to heterochromatin, while HP1{beta} interactome analysis demonstrated that the majority of HP1{beta}-interacting proteins remained unchanged between the wild-type and mutant HP1{beta}. ConclusionThese collective findings confirm the role of CBX1 in developmental disabilities through the disruption of HP1{beta} chromatin binding during neurocognitive development. As HP1{beta} forms homodimers and heterodimers, mutant HP1{beta} likely sequesters wild-type HP1{beta} and other HP1 proteins, exerting dominant-negative effects.
Bhattacharyya, M.; De, S.; Chakrabarti, S.
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BackgroundCytosine methylation is a common DNA modification found in most eukaryotic organisms including plants, animals, and fungi. (Cytosine-5)-DNA methyltransferases (C5-DNA MTases) belong to the DNMT family of enzymes that catalyze the transfer of a methyl group from S-adenosyl methionine (SAM) to cytosine residues of DNA. In mammals, four members of the DNMT family have been reported: DNMT1, DNMT3a, DNMT3b and DNMT3L, but only DNMT1, DNMT3a and DNMT3b possess methyltransferase activity. There have been many reports about the methylation landscape in different organisms yet there is no systematic report of how the enzyme DNA (C5) methyltransferases have evolved in different organisms. ResultDNA methyltransferases are found to be present in all three domains of life. However, significant variability has been observed in length, copy number and sequence identity when compared across kingdoms. Sequence conservation is greatly increased in invertebrates and vertebrates compared to other groups. Similarly, sequence length has been found to be increased while domain lengths remain more or less conserved. Vertebrates are also found to be associated with more conserved DNMT domains. Finally, comparison between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) prevailing in human populations and evolutionary changes in DNMT vertebrate alignment revealed that most of the SNPs were conserved in vertebrates. ConclusionThe sequences (including the catalytic domain and motifs) and structure of the DNMT enzymes have been evolved greatly from bacteria to vertebrates with a steady increase in complexity and specificity. This study provides a systematic report of the evolution of DNA methyltransferase enzyme across different lineages of tree of life.
Mustafa, M. I.; Murshed, N.; Elbasher, M.; Makhawi, A.
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BackgroundLi-Fraumeni syndrome (LFS) is a cancer-prone conditions caused by a germline mutation of the TP53 gene on chromosome 17p13.1. It has an autosomal dominant pattern of inheritance with high penetrance. PurposeThe aim of this study is to identify the high-risk pathogenic nsSNPs in PT53 gene that could be involved in the pathogenesis of Li-Fraumeni syndrome. MethodsThe nsSNPs in the human PT53 gene retrieved from NCBI, were analyzed for their functional and structural consequences using various in silico tools to predict the pathogenicity of each SNP. SIFT, Polyphen, PROVEAN, SNAP2, SNPs&Go, PHD-SNP, and P-Mut were chosen to study the functional inference while I-Mutant 3.0, and MUPro tools were used to test the impact of amino acid substitutions on protein stability by calculating {Delta}{Delta}G value. The effects of the mutations on 3D structure of the PT53 protein were predicted using RaptorX and visualized by UCSF Chimera. ResultsA total of 845 PT53 nsSNPs were analyzed. Out of 7 nsSNPs of PT53 three of them (T118L, C242S, and I251N) were found high-risk pathogenic. ConclusionIn this study, out of 7 predicted high-risk pathogenic nsSNPs, three high-risk pathogenic nsSNPs of PT53 gene were identified, which could be used as diagnostic marker for this gene. The combination of sequence-based and structure-based approaches is highly effective for pointing pathogenic regions.
Hettiarachchi, N.
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BackgroundConserved non coding Sequences (CNSs) are extensively studied for their regulatory properties and functional importance to organisms. Many features such as location, proximity to the likely target gene, lineage specificity, functionality of likely target genes, and nucleotide composition of these sequences have been investigated, thus have provided very meaningful insight to signify underlying evolutionary importance of these elements. Also thorough investigation around how to assign function to non-coding regions of eukaryote genomes is another area that is studied. On one hand evolutionary analyses, including signatures of selection or conservation which can indicate the presence of constraint, suggesting that sequences that are evolving non-neutrally are candidates for functionality. On the other hand evidence that is based on experimental profiling of transcription, methylation, histone modifications and chromatin state. While these types of data are very important and are associated with function in most cases, this is not always the case. Evolutionary conservation though highly conservative which mostly considers elements identifiable in more than one species, is still being used as the initial guideline in investigating function via experiments. If we had an understanding of the experimental profiles of conserved non-coding regions as there may be patterns that are often associated these potentially functional elements it may help to construed functionality of conserved non coding regions easily. ResultsIn an effort to try integrate experimental profile data, we investigated evidence of expression of conserved noncoding sequences (CNSs). For CNSs from ten primates, we assessed transcription, histone modifications, level of evolutionary constraint or accelerated evolution, and assessed possible target genes, tissue expression profiles of likely target genes (as some CNSs may be enhancers, and may be ncRNAs that interact directly with mRNA) and clustering patterns of CNSs. In total we found 153475 CNSs conserved across all ten primates. Of these 59,870 were overlapping non coding regions of ncRNA genes. H3K4Me1 marks (often associated with active enhancers) were highly correlated with CNSs whereas H4K20Me1 (linked to, e.g. DNA damage repair) had high correlation with conserved ncRNA regions (ncRNA-gene-CEs). Both CNSs and conserved ncRNA showed evidence of being under purifying selection. The CNSs in our dataset overall exhibited lower allele frequencies, consistent with higher levels of evolutionary constraint. We also found that CNSs and ncRNA-gene-CEs produce mutually exclusive groups. The analyses also suggest that both types of conserved elements have undergone waves of accelerated evolution, which we speculate may indicate changes in regulatory requirements following divergence events. Finally, we find that likely target genes for hominoidae, primate and mammalian-specific CNSs and ncRNA-gene-CEs are predominantly associated with brain-related function in humans. ConclusionThe deep conserved primate CNSs and ncRNA gene-CEs signify functional importance suggesting ongoing recruitment of these elements into brain-related functions, consistent with King and Wilsons hypothesis that regulatory changes may account for rapid changes in phenotype among primates.
Jara-Espejo, M.; Line, S. R.
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While non-coding G-quadruplexes (G4s) act as conserved regulatory elements when located in gene promoter and splice sites, the G4 evolutionary conservation in protein coding regions have been low explored. To address the evolutionary dynamics acting on coding G4, we mapped and characterized potential G4-forming sequences across twenty-four primates gene orthologous. We found that potentially more stable G4 motifs exist in coding regions following a species-specific trend. Moreover, these motifs depicted the least conserved sites across primates at both the DNA and amino acid levels and are characterized by an indel-rich mutational pattern. This trend was not observed for less stable G4 motifs. A deeper analysis revealed that [G>=3N1]4 motifs, depicting potentially most stable G4s, were associated with the lowest conservation and highest indel frequencies. This mutational pattern was more evident when G4-associated amino acid regions were analyzed. We discuss the possibility of an overall conservation of less/moderate stability G4, while more stable G4 may be preserved or arises in a species-specific manner, which may explain their low conservation. Since structure-prone motifs, including G4, have the potential to induce genomic instability, this evolutionary trend may contribute to avoid broad deleterious effects driven by stable G4 on protein function while promoting genetic diversity across close-related species.
Gluncic, M.; Vlahovic, I.; Rosandic, M.; Paar, V.
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It is known that the [~]1.6 kb NBPF repeats are human specific and contributing to cognitive capabilities, with increasing frequency in higher order repeat 3mer HORs (Olduvai triplets). From chimpanzee to modern human there is a discontinuous jump from 0 to [~]50 tandemly organized 3mer HORs. Here we investigate the structure of NBPF 3mer HORs in the Neanderthal genome assembly of Paabo and collaborators, comparing it to the results obtained for human hg38 chromosome 1. Our findings reveal corresponding NBPF 3mer HOR arrays in Neanderthals with slightly different monomer structures and numbers of HOR copies compared to humans. Additionally, we compute the NBPF 3mer HOR pattern for the complete telomere-to-telomere human genome assembly (T2T-CHM13) by Miga and collaborators, identifying two novel tandem arrays of NBPF 3mer HOR repeats with 5 and 9 NBPF 3mer HOR copies. We hypothesize that these arrays correspond to novel NBPF genes (here referred to as NBPFA1 and NBPFA2). Further improving the quality of the Neanderthal genome using T2T-CHM13 as a reference would be of great interest in determining the presence of such distant novel NBPF genes in the Neanderthal genome and enhancing our understanding of human evolution.
Maini, J.; Pathak, A. K.; Bhattacharyya, K.; Kumar, N.; Narang, A.; Jain, N.; Singh, I.; Dhingra, V.; Brahmachari, V.
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Human PRE-PIK3C2B is a dual nature polycomb response element that interacts with both polycomb as well as trithorax members. In the current study, using 4C-Seq (Capturing Circular Chromosomal Conformation-Sequencing), we identified long-range chromatin interactions associated with PRE-PIK3C2B and validated them with 3C-PCR. We identified both intra-as well as inter-chromosomal interactions, a large proportion of which were found to be closely distributed around transcriptional start sites (TSS). A significant number of interactions were also found to be associated with heterochromatic regions. Meta-analysis of ENCODE ChIP-Seq data identified an overall enrichment of YY1, CTCF as well as histone modification such as H3K4me3 and H3K27me marks in different cell lines. Almost 90% interactions were derived from either intronic or intergenic regions. among which large proportions of intronic interactors were either unique sequences or LINE/SINE derived. In case of intergenic interactions, majority of the interaction were associated with LINE/SINE repeats. We further found that genes proximal to the interactor sequences were co-expressed, they showed reduced expression. To the best of our knowledge this is one of the early demonstrations of long-range interaction of PRE sequences in human genome.
Abdelhameed, T. A.; Gasmelseed, M. M.; Mustafa, M. I.; Abdelrahman, D. N.; Abdelrhman, F. A.; Hassan, M. A.
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BackgroundSingle Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) in the HEXB gene are associated with a neurodegenerative disorder called Sandhoff disease (SD) (GM2 gangliosidosis-O variant). This study aimed to predict the possible pathogenic SNPs of this gene and their impact on the protein using different bioinformatics tools. MethodsSNPs retrieved from the NCBI database were analyzed using several bioinformatics tools. The different algorithms collectively predicted the effect of single nucleotide substitution on both structure and function of beta subunit beta subunit of both hexosaminidase A and hexosaminidase B proteins. ResultsForty nine mutations were found to be extremely damaging to the structure and function of the HEXB gene protein. ConclusionAccording to this study, forty two novel nsSNP in HEXB are predicted to have possible role in Sandhoff disease using different bioinformatics tools, beside two SNPs found to have effect on miRNAs binding site affecting expression of HEXB gene. Our findings may assist in genetic study and diagnosis of Sandhoff disease.
Yadav, M.; Sehrawat, B.; Yadav, P.; Kumari, J.; Yadav, P.; Yadav, S.; Yadav, R.; Singh, A.; Yadav, D. S.
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The genetic material contains all the instructions necessary for the development, functioning & regulation of biological processes. This is also considering as a regulatory molecule. The structure constitute by its unique pattern of bases make it unique for every living being consider from bacteria to human. The varied pattern of bases in genomes or genes represents different types of repeats. These repeats types constitute the major fraction of the genomes. Among varied types Mirror repeats (MRs) play crucial roles in the genome especially in formation of H-DNA structure by Non Watson pairing. Some studies suggest that mirror sequences responsible for neurological diseases also. Now days in modern era of technology in silico techniques were develop to extract any type of repeat sequences from any gene or genome. The major focus of current work is on identification of mirror repeats (MRs) from human insulin gene sequence using an in silico approach. The approach is refer to as FPCB (FASTA Parallel Complement Analysis) were utilized to extract MR sequences. From the current study a total no of 210 MR sequenced were identified in Human insulin gene. The identified repeats vary in their length and majority of them are imperfect in nature. The maximum no of MR were reported in the region 3 & minimum is in the region 8 (8). In the remaining regions the no of MR sequences were lies in between maximum & minimum values. These sequences may be helpful in many molecular level studies.
Castillo, A. H.
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Gene and genome duplications are essential processes in evolution. Salmonids are ideal animal model systems to study these processes, as they originated from a tetraploid ancestor. Conserved non-coding elements (CNEs) are of interest because of their highly conserved DNA consensus motifs spanning lineages as diverse and divergent as humans and fish. The main goal of this study is to test CNEs as a tool to study genome duplications and to revisit the "4R" hypothesis and phylogeny of Salmonine fishes (Salmonidae) Salmo salar, Salvelinus alpinus and Oncorhynchus mykiss through the study of copy number and nucleotide variation in six pairs of CNEs. Allele numbers for most CNE sequence pairs are consistent with the 4R hypothesis, as is the symmetric phylogenetic topology shown by some CNE pairs; the estimated date of CNE duplication is consistent with the only reported range of 25-100Mya. However, the phylogenetic relationships within Salmoninae remain unresolved.
McCarthy, E. M.
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OverviewTo examine the hybrid hypothesis of human origins, a novel data mining program, BOOMSTICK, was used to scan the euchromatic portions of two target genomes, those of Homo sapiens and Pan paniscus. Each of the two genomes were broken up into 100-kB segments, each of which was searched for matches to a large set of porcine queries. All scans sought matches to the same set of 813,194 40-mer nucleotide queries randomly selected from the genome of Sus scrofa (domestic pig). For each of the two study organisms, mean segmental match rates (MSMRs) were then calculated for all segments in each of three categories: those segments occurring on autosomes, those on the X chromosome, and those on the Y chromosome. ResultsIn scans of single-copy regions (euchromatin) in both their Y chromosomes and their autosomes, it was found that the number of matches to randomly selected porcine queries was higher in humans than in bonobos. When autosomes were compared, matches were 1.3% higher in humans than in bonobos. This figure is equal to the percentage of human autosomal nucleotide positions bearing nucleotides that match in pig but not in bonobo. Remarkably, it agrees with the percentage of autosomal nucleotides previously reported to differ in bonobos and humans. So, the results of this study indicate that essentially all the nucleotide positions that differ in humans and bonobos, are the same in humans and pigs. In addition, the number of matches to pig queries found on the human Y chromosome was 34.5% higher than on the bonobo Y, and 12.4% higher than on the chimpanzee Y (the chimpanzee figure may be the more reliable of the two, since the bonobo Y nucleotide sequence file scanned contained only unlocalized scaffolds). MSMRs for the human and bonobo X chromosomes did not significantly differ.
Mondal, S.; Dutta, A. K.; Goswami, K.
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While many Rare Inborn Errors of Metabolism are treatable conditions their optimal diagnosis and treatment is a challenge for nations with low resources. Moreover, the population prevalence of these conditions is largely unknown. The availability of large genomic datasets brings the opportunity to estimate population carrier frequency of autosomal recessive IEMs. This would help to generate diseases burden statistics for better allocation of resources. In the current work we estimated the gene specific combined minor allele frequency of pathogenic variants from the gnomAD dataset for 235 genes associated with IEM phenotypes in OMIM. As per our estimation almost one third of the Global population is carrier for a pathogenic variant responsible for rare autosomal recessive inborn error of metabolism with the highest carrier frequency in the Ashkenazi Jews. Globally per thousand live births approximately five children are born with an ARIEM. European Finnish have the highest burden of nine out of 10,000 live births. With 25 million live births per year India is expected to have at least 8,025 newborns with an ARIEM. Since many of these diseases are treatable early newborn screening holds the key to ensure optimal management of these children.
Sharma, S.; Yadav, S. S.; Nair, R. R.
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BLM helicase is a member of the RecQ family of DNA helicases, enzymes that play a critical role in maintaining genome stability. The BLM protein is named after Bloom syndrome (BS), a rare genetic disorder caused by mutations in the helicase domain of BLM gene. BLM role has mostly been studied in DNA repair, replication, and recombination; however, a recent study has highlighted the RNA binding capability of the BLM protein. Several proteins, including TDP43, Tau, and alpha-synuclein, are known to play key roles in neurodegenerative diseases. These proteins possess residues prone to parallel aggregation and fibril formation, the key contributor to neurodegenerative disease development. We utilized various in-silico tools like PASTA 2.0, SIFT, PolyPhen 2, and PhD SNP, SNP&GO, Meta-SNP, and SNAP, etc., to identify the molecular signature of the BLMs protein. Our in-silico analysis suggests that the BLMs HRDC domain has ability of parallel aggregation and fibril formation. Moreover, structural similarity with proteins like -synuclein, TDP-43, and Tau and its interactions with PARP1 suggests it may have a role in neurodegenerative diseases. Furthermore, we identified deleterious mutations in the HRDC domain of BLM protein that may compromise its stability and alter its function. Hence, these findings suggest that in addition to BLMs well-known functions, the protein may have ability to form parallel aggregation and fibril formation and its role in neurodegenerative disease need to further be explored. Author SummaryThis paper higlights the importance of considering the structural and physical characteristics of the BLM protein, which may have been previously overlooked in the context of disease pathology. Through in-silico analyses, we identified that the BLM protein possesses residues within the HRDC domain that are prone to parallel aggregation and fibril formation. Moreover, the structural similarity of BLM to proteins such as -synuclein, TDP-43, and Tau indicates a potential role for BLM in neurodegenerative processes. Additionally, we identified deleterious mutations within the HRDC domain that could compromise the stability of the protein. Furthermore, our findings suggest that the association between BLM and PARP1 may involve a regulatory mechanism that could significantly influence BLMs function.
Thomas, W.; Moulinier, L.; Scalzitti, N.; Thompson, J.; Chennen, K.; Poch, O.
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To investigate alternative splicing capacity, we statistically compared the properties of human protein-coding genes with multiple transcript isoforms (MISOG) and single transcript isoforms (SISOG). Apart from global exon content, differential features are concentrated in the 5 gene regions, with MISOG presenting complex 5 untranslated region architecture and a distinctive flanking environment around first 5 intron. Importantly, we found that 5 exons are more prone to alternative splicing in MISOG. These results unravel previous observations indicating the importance of 5 gene regions in some transcriptional processes and call for their reassessment in light of the MISOG/SISOG profiles.
Zunaid, I. R.; Pacini, S.; Ruggiero, M.
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Sodium-bile acid cotransporter, also denominated sodium-taurocholate cotransporting polypeptide (NTCP) is an integral membrane protein with multiple hydrophobic transmembrane domains. The third extracellular domain of NTCP presents a stretch of nine aminoacids (KGIVISLVL) that is characterized by pronounced hydrophobicity and serves as receptor for a protein, preS1, showing the hydrophobic epta-peptide sequence NPLGFFP. Vitamin D-binding protein macrophage activating factor (DBP-MAF) is a multifunctional protein that is characterized by two hydrophobic regions able to bind fatty acids and vitamin D, respectively. Here we demonstrate that NTCP and DBP-MAF show significant sequence similarities as far as hydrophobic stretches of aminoacids are concerned. Alignment of the sequence of seven aminoacids preceding the 157-KGIVISLVL-165 stretch of NTCP shows four aminoacids that are identical to those of the corresponding sequence of DBP-MAF, and two that are conserved substitutions. In addition, in the sequence of DBP-MAF that is aligned with the sequence YKGIVISLVL of NTCP, there are two contiguous negatively charged aminoacids (ED) and, in the preceding epta-peptide sequence, there are three negatively charged aminoacids (D-ED), whereas in the corresponding sequence of NTCP there are only two (D--D) that are not contiguous. This concentration of negatively charged aminoacids may be involved in binding of protein inserts characterized by high density of positively charges residues. The alternating hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions described in this paper may help elucidating the biological roles of these proteins as far as protein-protein interactions are concerned.
Wu, W.; LoVerde, P.
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Nuclear receptors (NRs) are important transcriptional modulators in metazoans. Typical NRs possess a conserved DNA binding domain (DBD) and a ligand binding domain (LBD). Since we discovered a type of novel NRs each of them has two DBDs and single LBD (2DBD-NRs) more than decade ago, there has been very few studies about 2DBD-NRs. Recently, 2DBD-NRs have been only reported in Platyhelminths and Mollusca and are thought to be specific NRs to lophotrochozoan. In this study, we searched different databases and identified 2DBD-NRs in different animals from both protostomes and deuterostomes. Phylogenetic analysis shows that at least two ancient 2DBD-NR genes were present in the urbilaterian, a common ancestor of protostomes and deuterostomes. 2DBD-NRs underwent gene duplication and loss after the split of different animal phyla, most of them in a certain animal phylum as paralogues, rather than orthologues, of that in another animal phylum. Amino acid sequence analysis shows that the conserved motifs in typical NRs are also present in 2DBD-NRs and they are gene specific. From our phylogenetic analysis of 2DBD-NRs and following the rule of Nomenclature System for the Nuclear Receptors, a nomenclature for 2DBD-NRs is proposed.
Shen, J.; Tang, S.; Xia, Y.; Qin, J.; Xu, H.; Tan, Z.
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BackgroundConventional models of human ribosomal DNA (rDNA) array organization have historically depended on transcription-centric boundaries, partitioning the unit into a [~]13 kb rDNA transcription region and a monolithic [~]31 kb intergenic spacer (IGS). While our previous identification of Duplication Segment Units (DSUs) mapped these arrays based on an intuitive analysis of the microsatellite density landscape of the complete reference human genome, our present deep mining of this landscape has revealed a more accurate rDNA Gene Unit Pattern. Methods & ResultsIn this study, we conducted a deep mining analysis of our previously established microsatellite density landscape of the T2T-CHM13 assembly, focusing specifically on nucleolar organizing regions (NORs). We suggest a more accurate rDNA Gene Unit Pattern containing a (CTTT)n microsatellite aggregation ahead of the rDNA gene and a (CT)n microsatellite aggregation behind the gene, rather than a pattern featuring an IGS region inserted between two rDNA genes. ConclusionsA correct rDNA gene pattern of the human genome probably includes a (CTTT)n microsatellite aggregation ahead of the gene and a (CT)n microsatellite aggregation behind it, which possibly constitute cis- and trans-regulating regions; the (CTTT)n and (CT)n microsatellite aggregations may provide two different local stable DNA structures for regulatory protein binding.
Taneera, J.; Hachim, M. Y.; Hachim, I. Y.; Al Heialy, S.; Sulaiman, N.
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Diabetes is one of the most critical comorbidities linked to an increased risk of severe complications in the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. A better molecular understanding of COVID-19 in people with type diabetes mellitus (T2D) is mandatory, especially in countries with a high rate of T2D, such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Identification of the cellular and molecular mechanisms that make T2D patients prone to aggressive course of the disease can help in the discovery of novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets to improve our response to the disease pandemic. Herein, we employed a system genetics approach to explore potential genomic, transcriptomic alterations in genes specific to lung and pancreas tissues, affected by SARS-CoV-2 infection, and study their association with susceptibility to T2D in Emirati patients. Our results identified the Exocyst complex component, 6 (EXOC6/6B) gene (a component for docks insulin granules to the plasma membrane) with documented INDEL in 3 of 4 whole genome sequenced Emirati diabetic patients. Publically available transcriptomic data showed that lung infected with SARS-CoV-2 showed significantly lower expression of EXOC6/6B compared to healthy lungs. In conclusion, our data suggest that EXOC6/6B might be an important molecular link between dysfunctional pancreatic islets and ciliated lung epithelium that makes diabetic patients more susceptible to severe SARS-COV-2 complication.
Kawai, T.; Kinoshita, S.; Takayama, Y.; Onishi, E.; Kamura, H.; Kojima, K.; Kikuchi, H.; Terao, M.; Sugawara, T.; Migita, O.; Kagami, M.; Isojima, T.; Yamaguchi, Y.; Wakui, K.; Ohashi, H.; Shimizu, K.; Mizuno, S.; Okamoto, N.; Fukushima, Y.; Takada, F.; Kosaki, K.; Takada, S.; Akutsu, H.; Ura, K.; Nakabayashi, K.; Hata, K.
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PurposeWolf-Hirschhorn syndrome (WHS), a contiguous gene syndrome caused by the hemizygous deletion of the distal short arm of chromosome 4 where NSD2 is, reportedly exhibits specific DNA methylation signatures in peripheral blood cells. However, responsible genomic loci for signatures are unreported. The objective of the study is to define the loci of WHS-related DNA methylation signatures and to explore the role of NSD2 for the signatures. MethodsWe conducted genome-wide methylation analysis of individuals with WHS or NSD2 variants using array. We studied genome-edited knock in mice or induced pluripotent stem cells to explore the function of NSD2 variants which are observed in congenital anomaly cases. ResultsThree undiagnosed cases with NSD2 variants showed WHS-related DNA methylation signatures. These variants were validated to be NSD2 loss-of-function in induced pluripotent stem cells or genome-edited knock-in mice. p.Pro905Leu variant decreased Nsd2 protein levels, and changed Histone H3-Lysine 36 demethylation levels in similar way in the same genomic regions as Nsd2 knock out mice regulated. Nsd2 knock out mice exhibited common DNA methylation changes. ConclusionThese results revealed that WHS-related DNA methylation signatures are dependent on NSD2 dysfunction and are useful in diagnosing NSD2 variants of unknown significance.
Abdelmoneim, A. H.; Mohammed, A. I.; Mohammed, M. A.; Gadim, E. O.; Hamza, S. H.; Mirghani, S. A.; Mahmoud, T. A.; Hassan, M. A.
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Back groundhyperparathyroidism-jaw tumor (HPT-JT) is an autosomal dominant disorder with variable expression, with an estimated prevalence of 6.7 per 1,000 population. Genetic testing for predisposing CDC73 (HRPT2) mutations has been an important clinical advance, aimed at early detection and/or treatment to prevent advanced disease. The aim of this study is to assess the effect of SNPs on CDC73 structure and function using different bioinformatics tools.\n\nMethodComputational analysis using eight different in-silico tools including SIFT, PROVEAN, PolyPhen-2, SNAP2, PhD-SNP, SNPs&GO, PMut and Imutant were used to identify the impact on the structure and/or function of CDC73 gene that might be causing jaw tumour.\n\nResultsFrom (733) SNPs identified in the CDC73 gene we found that only Eleven were deleterious to the function and structure of protein and expected to cause syndrome.\n\nConclusionEleven substantial genetic/molecular aberrations in CDC73 gene were identified that could serve as actionable targets for chemotherapeutic intervention in patients whose disease is no longer surgically curable.