人类肿瘤基因组系统性突变分析带来的机遇

最近发表于《科学》杂志(Science)的“人类乳腺癌和结直肠癌共有编码序列”一文,是继人类基因组计划完成后,对人类疾病状态下基因组改变的首次无偏倚系统性分析.对如何利用该研究发现的候选癌基因获得肿瘤治疗药物的新靶标作初步分析,并介绍这些候选癌基因在识别肿瘤高危人群和依据分子机制更新肿瘤分型方面的潜在应用价值.     

Hotspots of Large Rare Deletions in the Human Genome

Background

We have examined the genomic distribution of large rare autosomal deletions in a sample of 440 parent-parent-child trios from the Quebec founder population (QFP) which was recruited for a study of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Methodology/Principal Findings

DNA isolated from blood was genotyped on Illumina Hap300 arrays. PennCNV combined with visual evaluation of images generated by the Beadstudio program was used to determine deletion boundary definition of sufficient precision to discern independent events, with near-perfect concordance between parent and child in about 98% of the 399 events detected in the offspring; the remaining 7 deletions were considered de novo. We defined several genomic regions of very high deletion frequency (‘hotspots’), usually of 0.4–0.6 Mb in length where independent rare deletions were found at frequencies of up to 100 fold higher than the average for the genome as a whole. Five of the 7 de novo deletions were in these hotspots. The same hotspots were also observed in three other studies on members of the QFP, those with schizophrenia, with endometriosis and those from a longevity cohort.

Conclusions/Significance

Nine of the 13 hotspots carry one gene (7 of which are very long), while the rest contain no known genes. All nine genes have been implicated in disease. The patterns of exon deletions support the proposed roles for some of these genes in human disease, such as NRXN1 and PARKIN, and suggest limited roles or no role at all, for others, including MACROD2 and CTNNA3. Our results also offer an alternative interpretation for the observations of deletions in tumors which have been proposed as reflecting tumor-suppressive activity of genes in these hotspots.     

Polymorphic Insertions and Deletions in Parabasalian Enolase Genes

Insertions and deletions in gene sequences have been used as characters to infer phylogenetic relationships and, like any character, the information they contain varies in utility between different levels of evolution. In one case, the absence of two otherwise highly conserved deletions in the enolase genes of parabasalian protists has been interpreted as a primitive characteristic that suggests these were among the first eukaryotes. Here, semi-environmental 3-RACE was used to sample enolases from parabasalia in the hindgut of the termite Zootermopsis angusticolis to examine the conservation of this character within the parabasalia. Parabasalian homologues were found to be polymorphic for these deletions, and the phylogeny of parabasalian enolases shows that the deletion-possessing genes branch within deletion-lacking genes (i.e., they did not form two clearly distinct groups). Phylogenetic incongruence was detected in the carboxy-terminal third of the sequence (in the region of the deletions), but there is no unambiguous evidence for recombination. The polymorphism of this character discredits these deletions as strong evidence for the early origin of parabasalia, although the complex distribution makes it impossible to state whether parabasalian enolases were ancestrally like those of other eukaryotes. These observations stress the importance of strong corroborating evidence when considering insertion and deletion data, and raises some interesting questions about the apparent variation in degree of conservation of these deletions between different eukaryotic groups.     

基于隐马氏模型对编码序列缺失与插入的检测(英)

在基因组测序工作完成后,利用计算工具进行基因识别以及基因结构预测受到了越来越多人的重视.人们开发了大量的相关应用软件,如GenScan, Genemark, GRAIL等,这些软件在寻找新基因方面提供了很重要的线索.但基因的识别和预测问题仍未得到完全解决,当目标基因的编码序列有缺失和插入时,其预测结果和基因的实际结构相差很大.为了消除测序错误对预测结果的影响,希望能找出编码序列区的测序错误.基于这种想法,尝试根据DNA序列的一些统计特性,利用隐马尔科夫模型（Hidden Markov Model）,引入缺失和插入状态,然后用Viterbi算法,从中找出含有缺失和插入的外显子序列片段.在常用的Burset/Guigo检测集进行检测,得到的结果在外显子水平上,Sn(sensitivity)和Sp(specificity)均达到84%以上.     

Characterisation and Validation of Insertions and Deletions in 173 Patient Exomes

Recent advances in genomics technologies have spurred unprecedented efforts in genome and exome re-sequencing aiming to unravel the genetic component of rare and complex disorders. While in rare disorders this allowed the identification of novel causal genes, the missing heritability paradox in complex diseases remains so far elusive. Despite rapid advances of next-generation sequencing, both the technology and the analysis of the data it produces are in its infancy. At present there is abundant knowledge pertaining to the role of rare single nucleotide variants (SNVs) in rare disorders and of common SNVs in common disorders. Although the 1,000 genome project has clearly highlighted the prevalence of rare variants and more complex variants (e.g. insertions, deletions), their role in disease is as yet far from elucidated.We set out to analyse the properties of sequence variants identified in a comprehensive collection of exome re-sequencing studies performed on samples from patients affected by a broad range of complex and rare diseases (N = 173). Given the known potential for Loss of Function (LoF) variants to be false positive, we performed an extensive validation of the common, rare and private LoF variants identified, which indicated that most of the private and rare variants identified were indeed true, while common novel variants had a significantly higher false positive rate. Our results indicated a strong enrichment of very low-frequency insertion/deletion variants, so far under-investigated, which might be difficult to capture with low coverage and imputation approaches and for which most of study designs would be under-powered. These insertions and deletions might play a significant role in disease genetics, contributing specifically to the underlining rare and private variation predicted to be discovered through next generation sequencing.     

Precise and Heritable Genome Editing in Evolutionarily Diverse Nematodes Using TALENs and CRISPR/Cas9 to Engineer Insertions and Deletions

Exploitation of custom-designed nucleases to induce DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) at genomic locations of choice has transformed our ability to edit genomes, regardless of their complexity. DSBs can trigger either error-prone repair pathways that induce random mutations at the break sites or precise homology-directed repair pathways that generate specific insertions or deletions guided by exogenously supplied DNA. Prior editing strategies using site-specific nucleases to modify the Caenorhabditis elegans genome achieved only the heritable disruption of endogenous loci through random mutagenesis by error-prone repair. Here we report highly effective strategies using TALE nucleases and RNA-guided CRISPR/Cas9 nucleases to induce error-prone repair and homology-directed repair to create heritable, precise insertion, deletion, or substitution of specific DNA sequences at targeted endogenous loci. Our robust strategies are effective across nematode species diverged by 300 million years, including necromenic nematodes (Pristionchus pacificus), male/female species (Caenorhabditis species 9), and hermaphroditic species (C. elegans). Thus, genome-editing tools now exist to transform nonmodel nematode species into genetically tractable model organisms. We demonstrate the utility of our broadly applicable genome-editing strategies by creating reagents generally useful to the nematode community and reagents specifically designed to explore the mechanism and evolution of X chromosome dosage compensation. By developing an efficient pipeline involving germline injection of nuclease mRNAs and single-stranded DNA templates, we engineered precise, heritable nucleotide changes both close to and far from DSBs to gain or lose genetic function, to tag proteins made from endogenous genes, and to excise entire loci through targeted FLP-FRT recombination.     

High Inter-Individual Diversity of Point Mutations,Insertions, and Deletions in Human Influenza Virus Nucleoprotein-Specific Memory B Cells

The diversity of virus-specific antibodies and of B cells among different individuals is unknown. Using single-cell cloning of antibody genes, we generated recombinant human monoclonal antibodies from influenza nucleoprotein-specific memory B cells in four adult humans with and without preceding influenza vaccination. We examined the diversity of the antibody repertoires and found that NP-specific B cells used numerous immunoglobulin genes. The heavy chains (HCs) originated from 26 and the kappa light chains (LCs) from 19 different germ line genes. Matching HC and LC chains gave rise to 43 genetically distinct antibodies that bound influenza NP. The median lengths of the CDR3 of the HC, kappa and lambda LC were 14, 9 and 11 amino acids, respectively. We identified changes at 13.6% of the amino acid positions in the V gene of the antibody heavy chain, at 8.4 % in the kappa and at 10.6 % in the lambda V gene. We identified somatic insertions or deletions in 8.1% of the variable genes. We also found several small groups of clonal relatives that were highly diversified. Our findings demonstrate broadly diverse memory B cell repertoires for the influenza nucleoprotein. We found extensive variation within individuals with a high number of point mutations, insertions, and deletions, and extensive clonal diversification. Thus, structurally conserved proteins can elicit broadly diverse and highly mutated B-cell responses.     

Strain-Specific Genotyping of Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis by Using Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms,Insertions, and Deletions

Several probiotic strains of Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis are widely supplemented into food products and dietary supplements due to their documented health benefits and ability to survive within the mammalian gastrointestinal tract and acidified dairy products. The strain specificity of these characteristics demands techniques with high discriminatory power to differentiate among strains. However, to date, molecular approaches, such as pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and randomly amplified polymorphic DNA-PCR, have been ineffective at achieving strain separation due to the monomorphic nature of this subspecies. Previously, sequencing and comparison of two B. animalis subsp. lactis genomes (DSMZ 10140 and Bl-04) confirmed this high level of sequence similarity, identifying only 47 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and four insertions and/or deletions (INDELs) between them. In this study, we hypothesized that a sequence-based typing method targeting these loci would permit greater discrimination between strains than previously attempted methods. Sequencing 50 of these loci in 24 strains of B. animalis subsp. lactis revealed that a combination of nine SNPs/INDELs could be used to differentiate strains into 14 distinct genotypic groups. In addition, the presence of a nonsynonymous SNP within the gene encoding a putative glucose uptake protein was found to correlate with the ability of certain strains to transport glucose and to grow rapidly in a medium containing glucose as the sole carbon source. The method reported here can be used in clinical, regulatory, and commercial applications requiring identification of B. animalis subsp. lactis at the strain level.Probiotics are currently defined as live microorganisms which, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host (12). Many of the organisms studied for their probiotic potential are members of lactic acid bacteria and the genus Bifidobacterium, which has resulted in their inclusion in a large variety of dietary supplements and food products. Relative to most bifidobacterial species of human origin, Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis is less sensitive to stressful conditions (bile, acid, and oxygen) which might be encountered in the mammalian gastrointestinal tract or in fermented or acidified dairy products (7, 26, 28, 31, 37). B. animalis subsp. lactis is widely added to commercial products because it is better able to withstand the adverse conditions of starter culture and product manufacture and to maintain viability and stability during product shelf-life (30). Therefore, strains of B. animalis, specifically B. animalis subsp. lactis, have been found in the majority of probiotic-supplemented dairy products surveyed in North America (the United States and Canada) and Europe (Great Britain, France, Italy, and Germany) (6, 13-15, 21, 22, 28, 29, 32, 49).When selecting a probiotic microorganism to add to supplements or foods, the strain must be identified at the genus, species, and strain levels (40). Proper characterization of a strain is important for safety and quality assurance, for identifying and differentiating putative probiotic strains, and for understanding the interactions among members of gut microbiota. In addition, proper characterization is important to maintain consumer confidence. Product labels often list invalid names of organisms or misidentify the species the product contains, leading to consumer confusion (6, 16, 20, 28, 29, 35, 38, 49). In the case of Bifidobacterium, most dairy products sold in the United States do not identify species, and many only refer to the invalid name “Bifid” or “Bifidus.” At the very least, added microorganisms should be accurately identified to the species level on product labels.According to the FAO/WHO guidelines for probiotic use, specific health benefits observed in research using a specific strain cannot be extrapolated to other, closely related strains (12). Although most clinical studies of probiotic strains compare strains of different genera or different species, few studies have assessed the actual variability of expected health benefits within species or subspecies. However, it is reasonable to consider that health effects, like the phenotypic traits exhibited by strains within a species, are strain specific. Therefore, reliable techniques for the identification of probiotic organisms at the strain level are required.Characterization to the strain level has several important potential applications. Understanding the complex interactions among microorganisms in the intestinal ecosystem requires methods of differentiating a strain of interest from other strains of the same species contained in the autochthonous microbiota. Strain differentiation techniques also aid in assessing survival of a probiotic organism through the gastrointestinal system, which is particularly important for clinical trials and regulatory purposes (17). The ability to uniquely identify a strain also lends credibility to statements made about the potential health benefits of consuming a particular product containing a strain with demonstrated probiotic effects and supports the licensing or intellectual property rights of the manufacturer.The high degree of genome conservation observed between strains of B. animalis subsp. lactis in terms of size, organization, and sequence is indicative of a genomically monomorphic subspecies (2, 25; also HN019 GenBank project 28807). As an example, comparison of the complete genome sequences of two B. animalis subsp. lactis strains, DSMZ 10140 (the type strain) and Bl-04 (a commercial strain, also known as RB 4825) (2), identified 47 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in nonrepetitive elements, as well as 443 bp distributed among four INDEL sites: a 121-bp tRNA-encoding sequence, a 54-bp region within the long-chain fatty acid-coenzyme A ligase gene, a 214-bp region within the CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) locus, and a 54-bp intergenic sequence. Overall, this 99.975% genome identity explains the inability to differentiate these strains by techniques such as the sequencing of housekeeping genes, multilocus sequence typing, and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) (3, 9, 23, 39, 44-46, 50).The strain specificity of reported health benefits of probiotics and the frequent use of B. animalis subsp. lactis as a probiotic in food products and supplements demands techniques with greater discriminatory power to identify and differentiate among strains within this highly homogeneous group. Unfortunately, strain level differentiation of B. animalis subsp. lactis presents several challenges. Although Ventura and Zink were able to differentiate strains of B. animalis subsp. lactis by sequencing the 16S-23S internal transcribed sequence (ITS) region (47), analysis of the four ITS operons between DSMZ 10140 and Bl-04 indicated complete identity (2). However, SNPs and INDELs do have potential for strain differentiation. According to Achtman, focusing on polymorphic SNPs is a desirable approach for the typing of monomorphic species (1). Therefore, the objective of the present study was to exploit the previously identified SNP and INDEL sites to develop a technique capable of differentiating among a collection of B. animalis subsp. lactis strains obtained from culture collections and commercial starter culture companies.     

Nucleotide Insertions and Deletions Complement Point Mutations to Massively Expand the Diversity Created by Somatic Hypermutation of Antibodies

During somatic hypermutation (SHM), deamination of cytidine by activation-induced cytidine deaminase and subsequent DNA repair generates mutations within immunoglobulin V-regions. Nucleotide insertions and deletions (indels) have recently been shown to be critical for the evolution of antibody binding. Affinity maturation of 53 antibodies using in vitro SHM in a non-B cell context was compared with mutation patterns observed for SHM in vivo. The origin and frequency of indels seen during in vitro maturation were similar to that in vivo. Indels are localized to CDRs, and secondary mutations within insertions further optimize antigen binding. Structural determination of an antibody matured in vitro and comparison with human-derived antibodies containing insertions reveal conserved patterns of antibody maturation. These findings indicate that activation-induced cytidine deaminase acting on V-region sequences is sufficient to initiate authentic formation of indels in vitro and in vivo and that point mutations, indel formation, and clonal selection form a robust tripartite system for antibody evolution.     

Survivin microRNA对人肝癌细胞间通讯功能影响的实验观察

目的 观察survivin的microRNA对HepG2细胞间通讯功能主要环节的影响作用.方法 人工设计合成特异性靶向survivin的microRNA的序列.肝癌细胞株HepG2接种于细胞培养板内并分为5组.作用后收集各组细胞.流式细胞术检测各组细胞增殖率和凋亡指数.划痕染料示踪技术检测转染前后HepG2的细胞间隙连接通讯功能变化,放射性免疫法定量测定细胞内cAMP含量的变化,钙离子指示剂Fura-2双波长荧光检测技术检测转染前后胞内Ca2＋水平的变化.结果 流式细胞术检测各浓度miRNA转染组细胞凋亡指数明显高于对照组（P＜0.05）,高浓度转染组最明显（P＜0.05）;各浓度microRNA转染组细胞增殖指数明显低于对照组（P＜0.05）,高浓度转染组最明显（P＜0.05）;Survivin microRNA转染组HepG2细胞间隙连接通讯功能较两个对照组有不同程度的恢复和增强;不同浓度Survivin microRNA转染组细胞内cAMP浓度明显高于对照组;Survivin microRNA转染组HepG2细胞内[Ca2＋]与两个对照组相比有升高趋势.结论 Survivin microRNA能显著抑制HepG2细胞的增殖,促进GJIC功能恢复和增强,并能直接影响细胞内的第二信使传递系统.     

GINDEL: Accurate Genotype Calling of Insertions and Deletions from Low Coverage Population Sequence Reads

Insertions and deletions (indels) are important types of structural variations. Obtaining accurate genotypes of indels may facilitate further genetic study. There are a few existing methods for calling indel genotypes from sequence reads. However, none of these tools can accurately call indel genotypes for indels of all lengths, especially for low coverage sequence data. In this paper, we present GINDEL, an approach for calling genotypes of both insertions and deletions from sequence reads. GINDEL uses a machine learning approach which combines multiple features extracted from next generation sequencing data. We test our approach on both simulated and real data and compare with existing tools, including Genome STRiP, Pindel and Clever-sv. Results show that GINDEL works well for deletions larger than 50 bp on both high and low coverage data. Also, GINDEL performs well for insertion genotyping on both simulated and real data. For comparison, Genome STRiP performs less well for shorter deletions (50–200 bp) on both simulated and real sequence data from the 1000 Genomes Project. Clever-sv performs well for intermediate deletions (200–1500 bp) but is less accurate when coverage is low. Pindel only works well for high coverage data, but does not perform well at low coverage. To summarize, we show that GINDEL not only can call genotypes of insertions and deletions (both short and long) for high and low coverage population sequence data, but also is more accurate and efficient than other approaches. The program GINDEL can be downloaded at: http://sourceforge.net/p/gindel     

Systematic Analysis of Small RNAs Associated with Human Mitochondria by Deep Sequencing: Detailed Analysis of Mitochondrial Associated miRNA

Mitochondria are one of the central regulators of many cellular processes beyond its well established role in energy metabolism. The inter-organellar crosstalk is critical for the optimal function of mitochondria. Many nuclear encoded proteins and RNA are imported to mitochondria. The translocation of small RNA (sRNA) including miRNA to mitochondria and other sub-cellular organelle is still not clear. We characterized here sRNA including miRNA associated with human mitochondria by cellular fractionation and deep sequencing approach. Mitochondria were purified from HEK293 and HeLa cells for RNA isolation. The sRNA library was generated and sequenced using Illumina system. The analysis showed the presence of unique population of sRNA associated with mitochondria including miRNA. Putative novel miRNAs were characterized from unannotated sRNA sequences. The study showed the association of 428 known, 196 putative novel miRNAs to mitochondria of HEK293 and 327 known, 13 putative novel miRNAs to mitochondria of HeLa cells. The alignment of sRNA to mitochondrial genome was also studied. The targets were analyzed using DAVID to classify them in unique networks using GO and KEGG tools. Analysis of identified targets showed that miRNA associated with mitochondria regulates critical cellular processes like RNA turnover, apoptosis, cell cycle and nucleotide metabolism. The six miRNAs (counts >1000) associated with mitochondria of both HEK293 and HeLa were validated by RT-qPCR. To our knowledge, this is the first systematic study demonstrating the associations of sRNA including miRNA with mitochondria that may regulate site-specific turnover of target mRNA important for mitochondrial related functions.     

SIFT Indel: Predictions for the Functional Effects of Amino Acid Insertions/Deletions in Proteins

Indels in the coding regions of a gene can either cause frameshifts or amino acid insertions/deletions. Frameshifting indels are indels that have a length that is not divisible by 3 and subsequently cause frameshifts. Indels that have a length divisible by 3 cause amino acid insertions/deletions or block substitutions; we call these 3n indels. The new amino acid changes resulting from 3n indels could potentially affect protein function. Therefore, we construct a SIFT Indel prediction algorithm for 3n indels which achieves 82% accuracy, 81% sensitivity, 82% specificity, 82% precision, 0.63 MCC, and 0.87 AUC by 10-fold cross-validation. We have previously published a prediction algorithm for frameshifting indels. The rules for the prediction of 3n indels are different from the rules for the prediction of frameshifting indels and reflect the biological differences of these two different types of variations. SIFT Indel was applied to human 3n indels from the 1000 Genomes Project and the Exome Sequencing Project. We found that common variants are less likely to be deleterious than rare variants. The SIFT indel prediction algorithm for 3n indels is available at http://sift-dna.org/     

人类基因组DNA甲基化数据分析的研究现状

作为人类基因组最为典型的表观遗传现象,DNA甲基化在多种关键生理活动中扮演重要角色.系统分析基因组尺度的DNA甲基化概况意义重大.从Cp G岛等基本定义出发,阐述了高通量DNA甲基化的检测技术以及针对芯片技术与下一代测序技术的低水平数据处理方法;重点对比了基于机器学习理论对Cp G位点及Cp G岛甲基化水平的预测算法,以及所利用的特征对预测效果的影响与发展趋势;并对DNA差异甲基化在组织特异性、癌症等多种疾病中的计算分析进行了全面的综述.     

Modified Proofreading PCR for Detection of Point Mutations,Insertions and Deletions Using a ddNTP-Blocked Primer

The development of simple, accurate, rapid and cost-effective technologies for mutation detection is crucial to the early diagnosis and prevention of numerous genetic diseases, pharmacogenetics, and drug resistance. Proofreading PCR (PR-PCR) was developed for mutation detection in 1998 but is rarely applied due to its low efficiency in allele discrimination. Here we developed a modified PR-PCR method using a ddNTP-blocked primer and a mixture of DNA polymerases with and without the 3''-5'' proofreading function. The ddNTP-blocked primer exhibited the best blocking efficiency to avoid nonspecific primer extension while the mixture of a tiny amount of high-fidelity DNA polymerase with a routine amount of Taq DNA polymerase provided the best discrimination and amplification effects. The modified PR-PCR method is quite capable of detecting various mutation types, including point mutations and insertions/deletions (indels), and allows discrimination amplification when the mismatch is located within the last eight nucleotides from the 3''-end of the ddNTP-blocked primer. The modified PR-PCR has a sensitivity of 1-5 × 10² copies and a selectivity of 5 × 10^-5 mutant among 10⁷ copies of wild-type DNA. It showed a 100% accuracy rate in the detection of P72R germ-line mutation in the TP53 gene among 60 clinical blood samples, and a high potential to detect rifampin-resistant mutations at low frequency in Mycobacterium tuberculosis using an adaptor and a fusion-blocked primer. These results suggest that the modified PR-PCR technique is effective in detection of various mutations or polymorphisms as a simple, sensitive and promising approach.