Computational selection of nucleic acid biosensors via a slip structure model

Aptamers have been shown to undergo ligand-dependent conformational changes, and can be joined to ribozymes to create allosteric ribozymes (aptazymes). An anti-flavin (FMN) aptamer joined to the hammerhead ribozyme yielded an aptazyme that underwent small, FMN-dependent displacements in the helix that joined the aptamer and ribozyme. This 'slip structure' model in which alternative sets of base-pairs are formed in the absence and presence of ligand proved amenable to energetic and computational modeling. Initial successes in modeling the activities of known aptazymes led to the in silico selection of new ligand-dependent aptazymes from virtual pools that contained millions of members. Those aptazymes that were predicted to best fit the slip structure model were synthesized and assayed, and the best-designed aptazyme was activated 60-fold by FMN. The slip structure model proved to be generalizable, and could be applied with equal facility to computationally generate aptazymes that proved to be experimentally activated by other ligands (theophylline) or that contained other catalytic cores (hairpin ribozyme). Moreover, the slip structure model could be applied to the prediction of a ligand-dependent aptamer beacon biosensor in which the addition of the protein vascular endothelial growth factor (VegF) led to a 10-fold increase in fluorescent signal.     

In vivo-applied functional RNAs as tools in proteomics and genomics research

Non-natural, functional RNA molecules, such as short interfering (si) RNAs, aptazymes, maxizymes and intramers, allow modulation of gene function at the mRNA or protein level. This review discusses recent advances made in the expression and application of these functional RNAs and illustrates how engineered, intracellularly active RNAs can serve as promising tools for understanding the function of genes and their protein products or as potential therapeutic agents.     

Simultaneous detection of diverse analytes with an aptazyme ligase array

Allosteric ribozymes (aptazymes) can transduce the noncovalent recognition of analytes into the catalytic generation of readily observable signals. Aptazymes are easily engineered, can detect diverse classes of biologically relevant molecules, and have high signal-to-noise ratios. These features make aptazymes useful candidates for incorporation into biosensor arrays. Allosteric ribozyme ligases that can recognize a variety of analytes ranging from small organics to proteins have been generated. Upon incorporation into an array format, multiple different aptazyme ligases were able to simultaneously detect their cognate analytes with high specificity. Analyte concentrations could be accurately measured into the nanomolar range. The fact that analytes induced the formation of new covalent bonds in aptazyme ligases (as opposed to noncovalent bonds in antibodies) potentiated stringent washing of the array, leading to improved signal-to-noise ratios and limits of detection.     

Synthetic riboswitches for external regulation of genes transferred by replication-deficient and oncolytic adenoviruses

Therapeutic gene transfer by replication-defective viral vectors or, for cancer treatment, by replication-competent oncolytic viruses shows high promise for treatment of major diseases. To ensure safety, timing or dosing in patients, external control of therapeutic gene expression is desirable or even required. In this study, we explored the potential of artificial aptazymes, ligand-dependent self-cleaving ribozymes, as an innovative tool for regulation of therapeutic gene expression. Importantly, aptazymes act on RNA intrinsically, independent of regulatory protein–nucleic acid interactions and stoichiometry, are non-immunogenic and of small size. These are key advantages compared with the widely used inducible promoters, which were also reported to lose regulation at high copy numbers, e.g. after replication of oncolytic viruses. We characterized aptazymes in therapeutic gene transfer utilizing adenovectors (AdVs), adeno-associated vectors (AAVs) and oncolytic adenoviruses (OAds), which are all in advanced clinical testing. Our results show similar aptazyme-mediated regulation of gene expression by plasmids, AdVs, AAVs and OAds. Insertion into the 5′-, 3′- or both untranslated regions of several transgenes resulted in ligand-responsive gene expression. Notably, aptazyme regulation was retained during OAd replication and spread. In conclusion, our study demonstrates the fidelity of aptazymes in viral vectors and oncolytic viruses and highlights the potency of riboswitches for medical applications.     

功能RNA分子的构建、表达及其在基因功能鉴定中的应用

人工构建的siRNAs、aptazymes、maxizymes以及intramers等功能RNA分子,可以在mRNA或蛋白质水平上调控基因的功能.功能RNA分子可在活体内或转基因模式动、植物中抑制目标基因的表达,使目标基因和蛋白质功能丧失,进而引起表型变异.胞内表达的活性RNAs可作为有效的研究工具应用于基因及其编码蛋白的功能鉴定,并在药物开发和人类疾病治疗上有潜在的应用前景.     

Group I aptazymes as genetic regulatory switches

Background  

Allosteric ribozymes (aptazymes) that have extraordinary activation parameters have been generated in vitro by design and selection. For example, hammerhead and ligase ribozymes that are activated by small organic effectors and protein effectors have been selected from random sequence pools appended to extant ribozymes. Many ribozymes, especially self-splicing introns, are known control gene regulation or viral replication in vivo. We attempted to generate Group I self-splicing introns that were activated by a small organic effector, theophylline, and to show that such Group I aptazymes could mediate theophylline-dependent splicing in vivo.     

Design and optimization of effector-activated ribozyme ligases

A selected ribozyme ligase, L1, has been engineered to respond to small organic effectors. Residues important for ribozyme catalysis were mapped to a compact core structure. Aptamers that bound adenosine and theophylline were appended to the core structure, and the resultant aptazymes proved to be responsive to their cognate effectors. Rational sequence substitutions in the joining region between the aptamer and the ribozyme yielded aptazymes whose activities were enhanced from 800–1600-fold in the presence of 1 mM ATP or theophylline, respectively. However, when an anti-flavin aptamer was appended to the core ribozyme structure flavin-responsivity was minimal. The joining region between the aptamer and the ribozyme core was randomized and a series of negative and positive selection steps yielded aptazymes that were activated by up to 260-fold in the presence of 100 µM FMN. The selected joining regions proved to be ‘communication modules’ that could be used to join other aptamers to the ribozyme core to form aptazymes. These results show that ribozyme ligases can be readily engineered to function as allosteric enzymes, and reveal that many of the techniques and principles previously demonstrated during the development of hammerhead aptazymes may be generalizable.     

In vitro selection of ribozymes dependent on peptides for activity

A peptide-dependent ribozyme ligase (aptazyme ligase) has been selected from a random sequence population based on the small L1 ligase. The aptazyme ligase is activated > 18,000-fold by its cognate peptide effector, the HIV-1 Rev arginine-rich motif (ARM), and specifically recognizes the Rev ARM relative to other peptides containing arginine-rich motifs. Moreover, the aptazyme ligase can preferentially recognize the Rev ARM in the context of the full-length HIV-1 Rev protein. The only cross-reactivity exhibited by the aptazyme is toward the Tat ARM. Reselection of peptide- and protein-dependent aptazymes from a partially randomized population yielded aptazymes that could readily discriminate against the Tat ARM. These results have important implications for the development of aptazymes that can be used in arrays for the detection and quantitation of multiple cellular proteins (proteome arrays).     

In vitro selection of nucleic acids for diagnostic applications

In vitro selection methods have proven to be extraordinarily adept at generating a wide variety of nucleic acid-binding species (aptamers) and catalysts (ribozymes). To date, selected nucleic acids have primarily been of academic interest. However, just as antibodies have proven utility as ‘universal receptors’ that can be crafted against a huge variety of ligands and can be readily adapted to diagnostic assays, aptamers may yet find application in assays. A new class of research reagents, aptazymes, are not mere mimics of antibodies but in fact allow the direct transduction of molecular recognition to catalysis. Aptamers and aptazymes may prove to be uniquely useful for the development of chip arrays for the detection and quantitation of a wide range of molecules in organismal proteomes and metabolomes.     

Morpholino phosphorodiamidate oligonucleotides in zebrafish: a recipe for functional genomics?

Morpholino phosphorodiamidate anti-sense oligonucleotides (MPOs) have recently emerged as a tool for gene-specific knockdown. MPOs have a great potential for both therapeutic applications and functional genomics. In particular, zebrafish are well suited for gene function studies using MPOs owing to their rapid external development, transparent embryos and the ease of delivery of the intervening MPOs. This paper describes principles of MPO action and the application of MPOs for gene function studies and therapeutics. In the field of functional genomics, the MPO strategy has been most successfully used to study gene function in zebrafish. Over 35 mutations have been successfully phenocopied and over 30 novel gene functions have been analysed in zebrafish using MPOs during the last two years. The essential controls that are required to avoid misinterpretation of experimental data when using MPOs for gene function analysis will also be described.     

Functional molecular markers for crop improvement

A tremendous decline in cultivable land and resources and a huge increase in food demand calls for immediate attention to crop improvement. Though molecular plant breeding serves as a viable solution and is considered as “foundation for twenty-first century crop improvement”, a major stumbling block for crop improvement is the availability of a limited functional gene pool for cereal crops. Advancement in the next generation sequencing (NGS) technologies integrated with tools like metabolomics, proteomics and association mapping studies have facilitated the identification of candidate genes, their allelic variants and opened new avenues to accelerate crop improvement through development and use of functional molecular markers (FMMs). The FMMs are developed from the sequence polymorphisms present within functional gene(s) which are associated with phenotypic trait variations. Since FMMs obviate the problems associated with random DNA markers, these are considered as “the holy grail” of plant breeders who employ targeted marker assisted selections (MAS) for crop improvement. This review article attempts to consider the current resources and novel methods such as metabolomics, proteomics and association studies for the identification of candidate genes and their validation through virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) for the development of FMMs. A number of examples where the FMMs have been developed and used for the improvement of cereal crops for agronomic, food quality, disease resistance and abiotic stress tolerance traits have been considered.     

Assessing the biological significance of gene expression signatures and co-expression modules by studying their network properties

Microarray experiments have been extensively used to define signatures, which are sets of genes that can be considered markers of experimental conditions (typically diseases). Paradoxically, in spite of the apparent functional role that might be attributed to such gene sets, signatures do not seem to be reproducible across experiments. Given the close relationship between function and protein interaction, network properties can be used to study to what extent signatures are composed of genes whose resulting proteins show a considerable level of interaction (and consequently a putative common functional role).We have analysed 618 signatures and 507 modules of co-expression in cancer looking for significant values of four main protein-protein interaction (PPI) network parameters: connection degree, cluster coefficient, betweenness and number of components. A total of 3904 gene ontology (GO) modules, 146 KEGG pathways, and 263 Biocarta pathways have been used as functional modules of reference.Co-expression modules found in microarray experiments display a high level of connectivity, similar to the one shown by conventional modules based on functional definitions (GO, KEGG and Biocarta). A general observation for all the classes studied is that the networks formed by the modules improve their topological parameters when an external protein is allowed to be introduced within the paths (up to the 70% of GO modules show network parameters beyond the random expectation). This fact suggests that functional definitions are incomplete and some genes might still be missing. Conversely, signatures are clearly not capturing the altered functions in the corresponding studies. This is probably because the way in which the genes have been selected in the signatures is too conservative. These results suggest that gene selection methods which take into account relationships among genes should be superior to methods that assume independence among genes outside their functional contexts.     

Use of amoB as a new molecular marker for ammonia-oxidizing bacteria

Specific molecular determination and classification of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria have relied on the use of conventional markers such as 16S rDNA. However, this gene does not satisfactorily provide a wide vision of all phylogenetic lineages. Despite the initial expectations, the use of functional genes as for example amoA has only been useful to corroborate the established taxonomy. Ammonia-oxidizing bacteria constitute a physiological group that crosses over principal phylogenetic radiations. Therefore, it is necessary to look for novel functional markers, which are needed for both diversity and taxonomic studies. In this work, the available amoB sequences have been used to design a new degenerate set of primers flanking a ca. 500-bp region. Partial amoB gene sequences of up to 16 AOB strains (5 Nitrosomonas, 10 Nitrosospira, and 1 Nitrosococcus) belonging to both the beta- and the gamma-Proteobacteria have been obtained. Comparison of both DNA and deduced amino acid sequences results in three subgroups, two of them of the beta-Proteobacteria and a third one of the gamma-Proteobacteria displaying 75% and 35% homology in their deduced amino acid sequences, respectively. This gene has proven to be a suitable molecular marker to study AOB, as well as providing a new insight into the classification of this group.     

The Roles of Whole-Genome and Small-Scale Duplications in the Functional Specialization of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Genes

Researchers have long been enthralled with the idea that gene duplication can generate novel functions, crediting this process with great evolutionary importance. Empirical data shows that whole-genome duplications (WGDs) are more likely to be retained than small-scale duplications (SSDs), though their relative contribution to the functional fate of duplicates remains unexplored. Using the map of genetic interactions and the re-sequencing of 27 Saccharomyces cerevisiae genomes evolving for 2,200 generations we show that SSD-duplicates lead to neo-functionalization while WGD-duplicates partition ancestral functions. This conclusion is supported by: (a) SSD-duplicates establish more genetic interactions than singletons and WGD-duplicates; (b) SSD-duplicates copies share more interaction-partners than WGD-duplicates copies; (c) WGD-duplicates interaction partners are more functionally related than SSD-duplicates partners; (d) SSD-duplicates gene copies are more functionally divergent from one another, while keeping more overlapping functions, and diverge in their sub-cellular locations more than WGD-duplicates copies; and (e) SSD-duplicates complement their functions to a greater extent than WGD–duplicates. We propose a novel model that uncovers the complexity of evolution after gene duplication.     

Rube Goldberg goes (ribo)nuclear? Molecular switches and sensors made from RNA

Switches and sensors play important roles in our everyday lives. The chemical properties of RNA make it amenable for use as a switch or sensor, both artificially and in nature. This review focuses on recent advances in artificial RNA switches and sensors. Researchers have been applying classical biochemical principles such as allostery in elegant ways that are influencing the development of biosensors and other applications. Particular attention is given here to allosteric ribozymes (aptazymes) that are regulated by small organic molecules, by proteins, or by oligonucleotides. Also discussed are ribozymes whose activities are controlled by various nonallosteric strategies.     

Random mutagenesis of the mouse genome: a strategy for discovering gene function and the molecular basis of disease

Mutagenesis of mice with N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU) is a phenotype-driven approach to unravel gene function and discover new biological pathways. Phenotype-driven approaches have the advantage of making no assumptions about the function of genes and their products and have been successfully applied to the discovery of novel gene-phenotype relationships in many physiological systems. ENU mutagenesis of mice is used in many large-scale and more focused projects to generate and identify novel mouse models for the study of gene functions and human disease. This review examines the strategies and tools used in ENU mutagenesis screens to efficiently generate and identify functional mutations.