Improved detection of small deletions in complex pools of DNA

About 40% of the genes in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans have homologs in humans. Based on the history of this model system, it is clear that the application of genetic methods to the study of this set of genes would provide important clues to their function in humans. To facilitate such genetic studies, we are engaged in a project to derive deletion alleles in every gene in this set. Our standard methods make use of nested PCR to hunt for animals in mutagenized populations that carry deletions at a given locus. The deletion bearing animals exist initially in mixed populations where the majority of the animals are wild type at the target. Therefore, the production of the PCR fragment representing the deletion allele competes with the production of the wild type fragment. The size of the deletion fragment relative to wild type determines whether it can compete to a level where it can be detected above the background. Using our standard conditions, we have found that when the deletion is <600 bp, the deletion fragment does not compete effectively with the production of the wild type fragment in PCR. Therefore, although our standard methods work well to detect mutants with deletions >600 bp, they do not work well to detect mutants with smaller deletions. Here we report a new strategy to detect small deletion alleles in complex DNA pools. Our new strategy is a modification of our standard PCR based screens. In the first round of the nested PCR, we include a third PCR primer between the two external primers. The presence of this third primer leads to the production of three fragments from wild type DNA. We configure the system so that two of these three fragments cannot serve as a template in the second round of the nested PCR. The addition of this third primer, therefore, handicaps the amplification from wild type template. On the other hand, the amplification of mutant fragments where the binding site for the third primer is deleted is unabated. Overall, we see at least a 500-fold increase in the sensitivity for small deletion fragments using our new method. Using this new method, we report the recovery of new deletion alleles within 12 C.elegans genes.     

CRISPR/Cas9-Targeted Mutagenesis in Caenorhabditis elegans

The generation of genetic mutants in Caenorhabditis elegans has long relied on the selection of mutations in large-scale screens. Directed mutagenesis of specific loci in the genome would greatly speed up analysis of gene function. Here, we adapt the CRISPR/Cas9 system to generate mutations at specific sites in the C. elegans genome.     

Isolation of C. elegans deletion mutants following ENU mutagenesis and thermostable restriction enzyme PCR screening

The ability to generate null mutants is essential for studying gene function. Gene knockouts in Caenorhabditis elegans can be generated in a high throughput manner using chemical mutagenesis followed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays to detect deletions in a gene of interest. However, current methods for identifying deletions are time and labor intensive and are unable to efficiently detect small deletions. In this study, we expanded the method pioneered by Wei et al., which used the thermostable restriction enzyme PspGI and tested the usefulness of other thermostable restriction enzymes including BstUI, Tsp45I, ApeKI, and TfiI. We designed primers to flank one or multiple thermostable restriction enzymes sites in the genes of interest. The use of multiple enzymes and the optimization of PCR primer design enabled us to isolate deletion in 66.7% of the genes screened. The size of the deletions varied from 330 bp to 1 kb. This method should make it possible for small academic laboratories to rapidly isolate deletions in their genes of interest.     

A semi-automated high-throughput approach to the generation of transposon insertion mutants in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans

The generation of a large collection of defined transposon insertion mutants is of general interest to the Caenorhabditis elegans research community and has been supported by the European Union. We describe here a semi-automated high-throughput method for mutant production and screening, using the heterologous transposon Mos1. The procedure allows routine culture of several thousand independent nematode strains in parallel for multiple generations before stereotyped molecular analyses. Using this method, we have already generated >17500 individual strains carrying Mos1 insertions. It could be easily adapted to forward and reverse genetic screens and may influence researchers faced with making a choice of model organism.     

The generation of chromosomal deletions to provide extensive coverage and subdivision of the Drosophila melanogaster genome

Background

Chromosomal deletions are used extensively in Drosophila melanogaster genetics research. Deletion mapping is the primary method used for fine-scale gene localization. Effective and efficient deletion mapping requires both extensive genomic coverage and a high density of molecularly defined breakpoints across the genome.

Results

A large-scale resource development project at the Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center has improved the choice of deletions beyond that provided by previous projects. FLP-mediated recombination between FRT-bearing transposon insertions was used to generate deletions, because it is efficient and provides single-nucleotide resolution in planning deletion screens. The 793 deletions generated pushed coverage of the euchromatic genome to 98.4%. Gaps in coverage contain haplolethal and haplosterile genes, but the sizes of these gaps were minimized by flanking these genes as closely as possible with deletions. In improving coverage, a complete inventory of haplolethal and haplosterile genes was generated and extensive information on other haploinsufficient genes was compiled. To aid mapping experiments, a subset of deletions was organized into a Deficiency Kit to provide maximal coverage efficiently. To improve the resolution of deletion mapping, screens were planned to distribute deletion breakpoints evenly across the genome. The median chromosomal interval between breakpoints now contains only nine genes and 377 intervals contain only single genes.

Conclusions

Drosophila melanogaster now has the most extensive genomic deletion coverage and breakpoint subdivision as well as the most comprehensive inventory of haploinsufficient genes of any multicellular organism. The improved selection of chromosomal deletion strains will be useful to nearly all Drosophila researchers.     

Physical mapping of Bacillus subtilis phage rho14 cloning vehicles: heteroduplex and restriction enzyme analyses

Summary Four deletion mutants of temperate Bacillus subtilis bacteriophage 14 have been examined utilizing restriction enzyme and DNA heteroduplex methods. This has allowed the orientation and mapping of the deletions on the 14 physical map. A continuous 15% of the genome contains functions not essential for bacteriophage viability. A 7% subsection section of this region contains phage immunity functions. The deletions were found to range in size from about 2.2–3.3 kilobases. In addition, the deletion mutants retain a single Sal I restriction site, which is currently being used as a cloning site for recombinant DNA. We have located the Sal I site to be 400 basepairs from the immunity region. Thus, the clear-and turbid-plaque deletion mutants are all capable of being utilized as molecular cloning vehicles for Bacillus subtilis.     

Removal of the Bloom Syndrome DNA Helicase Extends the Utility of Imprecise Transposon Excision for Making Null Mutations in Drosophila

Transposable elements are frequently used in Drosophila melanogaster for imprecise excision screens to delete genes of interest. However, these screens are highly variable in the number and size of deletions that are recovered. Here, we show that conducting excision screens in mus309 mutant flies that lack DmBlm, the Drosophila ortholog of the Bloom syndrome protein, increases the percentage and overall size of flanking deletions recovered after excision of either P or Minos elements.TRANSPOSABLE elements have a rich history as mutagenesis tools in Drosophila melanogaster (reviewed in Ryder and Russell 2003). Initially, researchers focused their efforts on the use of nonautonomous P-element transposons for gene disruption (Cooley et al. 1988). However, P elements have insertion biases, preferring to transpose into euchromatic regions, the 5′ regions of genes (Tsubota et al. 1985; Kelley et al. 1987), and to target sequence motifs similar to the octamer GGCCAGAC (O''Hare and Rubin 1983). These biases make it unlikely that full genome saturation will be reached using P-element mutagenesis. Therefore, mutational systems that utilize transposable elements with different insertion biases have been developed. These include Hobo (Smith et al. 1993); the lepidopteran-derived piggyBac element, which inserts at TTAA sites (Hacker et al. 2003; Horn et al. 2003); and Minos, a Tc-1/mariner-like element originally isolated from Drosophila hydei that inserts at TA dinucleotides (Franz and Savakis 1991; Loukeris et al. 1995). Using a combination of these transposons, the Drosophila Gene Disruption Project has generated inserts in ∼60% of the 14,850 annotated genes (Spradling et al. 1999; Bellen et al. 2004).In spite of the growing number of transposon insertions in the Drosophila genome, many are inserted in regions that do not completely abolish gene function, such as 5′-UTRs and introns. This can make it difficult to discern the true null phenotypes of genes. Furthermore, there still exist a sizable number of genes for which no transposon insertions are available. To address these issues, many transposons have been constructed with additional characteristics, such as FRT sites, that make generation of molecularly defined deletions by site-specific recombination relatively straightforward (Parks et al. 2004; Thibault et al. 2004; Ryder et al. 2007). However, until saturation of the genome with these designer transposons is achieved, their utility in creating single-gene deletions remains limited.A more general approach for generating single-gene deletions that has proven successful is the use of P elements in imprecise excision screens. Excision of a P element creates a DNA double-strand break with 17 nucleotide noncomplementary ends (Beall and Rio 1997). If the ends of the break are degraded prior to repair, a deletion of DNA flanking the original insertion site is created (reviewed in Hummel and Klambt 2008). On average, the frequency of flanking deletions recovered from imprecise excision screens is ∼1%. However, this frequency varies tremendously by locus and depends on a multitude of factors that are not well understood, including chromatin structure and local sequence context. Therefore, generation of suitable deletion mutants frequently involves screening many hundreds of independent lines.An alternative method that uses P elements to generate deletions involves screening for events associated with male recombination. These events, which probably arise through a hybrid element insertion mechanism, generate one-sided deletions of sizes ranging from several base pairs to several kilobases (Preston and Engels 1996). This method, although powerful, involves screening a large number of flies and requires two sequential screens to generate bidirectional deletions.P-element-induced double-strand breaks are preferentially repaired through homologous recombination using a sister chromatid or a homologous chromosome as a template (Engels et al. 1990). Previously, we and others have demonstrated that the Drosophila Bloom protein ortholog (DmBlm), a RecQ DNA helicase encoded by mus309, is involved in homology-directed repair of these breaks (Beall and Rio 1996; McVey et al. 2004a). In the absence of DmBlm, repair of a P-element-induced break on a plasmid or at a chromosomal locus frequently results in a large, flanking deletion. Several groups have applied this observation to imprecise excision screens using P elements and have successfully recovered multiple deletions (Astrom et al. 2003; Johansson et al. 2007; Y. Rong, unpublished data). However, a direct comparison between imprecise excision screens carried out in wild-type vs. mus309 mutant backgrounds has not been published, and little is known regarding the use of this technique with other types of transposable elements. In this study, we used three different transposons to test the hypothesis that the use of a mus309 mutant background in imprecise excision screens would result in a greater yield of deletions and that these deletions would be larger than those recovered from a wild-type background.

The mus309 mutant background increases the frequency and size of flanking deletions following P-element excision:

Previously, we have shown that repair of a double-strand break created by excision of the P{w^a} transposon, located at 13F1–13F4 on the X chromosome, is deletion prone in the absence of DmBlm (McVey et al. 2004a). This is likely due to a requirement for DmBlm in D-loop unwinding during homologous recombination (Bachrati et al. 2006; Weinert and Rio 2007). We have speculated that an unknown endonuclease may cleave D-loops in the absence of DmBlm, resulting in deletions flanking the P-element insertion site. To determine whether these observations can be generalized to imprecise excision screens, we tested two additional P-element insertions. One of these, P{EPgy2}Trf4-1^EY14679, is inserted within a 1-kb intron of the Trf4-1 gene on the X chromosome (Figure 1A). The other, P{EPgy2}mus205^EY20083, is inserted in a small intron in the mus205 gene on chromosome 2 (Figure 1B). Both of these EY elements contain wild-type copies of the yellow and white genes (Bellen et al. 2004). Thus, flies possessing EPgy2 elements have a wild-type body color and pigmented eyes. For our excision screens, we generated males containing the P element and a constitutively expressed transposase source, Δ2-3 (Robertson et al. 1988). To test the effect of DmBlm absence, we also conducted the screens in heteroallelic mus309^D2/mus309^N1 mutants (Kusano et al. 2001; McVey et al. 2007).Open in a separate windowFigure 1.—Frequency and size of deletions accompanying imprecise P-element excision is increased in the mus309 mutant background. Crosses to generate males possessing both the P transposase and the desired P element were carried out in bottles containing standard cornmeal-based food at 25°. Excision events occurring in the male premeiotic germlines of flies carrying (A) P{EPgy2}Trf4-1^EY14679 and the P{ry⁺, Δ2-3}99B transposase or (B) P{EPgy2}mus205^EY20083 and the CyO, H{w⁺, Δ2-3} transposase were recovered in male progeny (for Trf4-1^EY14679) or over a deficiency spanning the region (for mus205^EY20083). Only one excision per male germline was analyzed to ensure that all events were independent. Genomic DNA was isolated and subjected to PCR analysis using primers specific to the P inverted repeats or to sequences flanking each P element. A and B show a genomic region with genes represented as boxes, intergenic regions as lines, and P elements as inverted triangles. Deletions were recovered from both wild-type (top panels) and mus309^D2/mus309^N1 mutant males (bottom panels) for Trf4-1^EY14679, while deletions were recovered only from mus309 mutant males for mus205^EY20083. Solid lines represent confirmed deletions, broken lines represent potential deletions, and arrows represent deletions that extend farther than was tested by PCR. Numbers in parentheses indicate the number of excisions recovered.First, we determined whether loss of DmBlm affected the fertility of males in which P-element excision was occurring. We found no significant difference in the percentage of wild-type vs. mus309 males that were sterile, as defined by an inability of an individual male to produce more than five adult offspring (

Comparative genomic hybridization detects secondary chromosomal deletions in Escherichia coli K-12 MG1655 mutants and highlights instability in the flhDC region

The use of whole-genome microarrays for monitoring mutagenized or otherwise engineered genetic derivatives is a potentially powerful tool for checking genomic integrity. Using comparative genomic hybridization of a number of unrelated, directed deletion mutants in Escherichia coli K-12 MG1655, we identified unintended secondary genomic deletions in the flhDC region in Δfnr, Δcrp, and ΔcreB mutants. These deletions were confirmed by PCR and phenotypic tests. Our findings show that nonmotile progeny are found in some MG1655 directed deletion mutants, and studies on the effects of gene knockouts should be viewed with caution when the mutants have not been screened for the presence of secondary deletions or confirmed by other methods.     

Detection of mitochondrial DNA deletion by a modified PCR method in a 60Co radiation-exposed patient

A new PCR based method was developed to detect deleted mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Peripheral blood cell DNA was obtained from a victim who was accidently exposed to a 60Co radiation source in 1990. Using the DNA as template, first PCR was performed to generate multiple products including true deletions and artifacts. The full length product was recovered and used as template of secondary PCR. The suspicious deletion product of mtDNA could be confirmed only if it was yielded by first PCR. Using either original primers or their nested primers, the suspicious deletion product was amplified and authenticated as a true deletion product. The template was recovered and determined to be a deletion by sequencing directly. The results show that a new mtDNA deletion, which spans 889 bp from nt 11688 to nt 12576, was detected in the peripheral blood cells of the victim. It indicates that this new PCR-based method was more efficient at detecting small populations of mtDNA deletion than other routine methods. MtDNA deletion was found in the victim, suggesting the relationship between the deletion and phenotypes of the disease.     

Deletion mutants of simian virus 40 generated by enzymatic excision of DNA segments from the viral genome

Deleted genomes of simian virus 40 have been constructed by enzymatic excision of specific segments of DNA from the genome of wild-type SV40². For this purpose, a restriction endonuclease from Hemophilus influenzae (endo R · HindIII) was used. This enzyme cleaves SV40 DNA into six fragments, which have cohesive termini. Partial digest products were separated by electrophoresis in agarose gel and subsequently cloned by plaque formation in the presence of complementing temperature-sensitive mutants of SV40. Individual deletion mutants generated in this way were mapped by analysis of DNA fragments produced by endo R · Hind digestion of their deleted genomes, and by heteroduplex mapping. Two types of deletions were found: (1) “excisional” deletions, in which the limits of the deleted segment corresponded to HindIII cleavage sites, and (2) “extended” deletions, in which the deleted segment extended beyond HindIII cleavage sites. Excisionally deleted genomes presumably arose by cyclization of a linear fragment via cohesive termini generated by endo R · HindIII whereas genomes with extended deletions probably were generated by intramolecular recombination near the ends of linear fragments. Of the nine mutants analyzed, two had deletions in the “early” region of the SV40 genome, six had deletions in the “late” region, and one had a deletion that spanned both regions.     

A genomic analysis of chronological longevity factors in budding yeast

Chronological life span (CLS) has been studied as an aging paradigm in yeast. A few conserved aging genes have been identified that modulate both chronological and replicative longevity in yeast as well as longevity in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans; however, a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between genetic control of chronological longevity and aging in other model systems has yet to be reported. To address this question, we performed a functional genomic analysis of chronological longevity for 550 single-gene deletion strains, which accounts for approximately 12% of the viable homozygous diploid deletion strains in the yeast ORF deletion collection. This study identified 33 previously unknown determinants of CLS. We found no significant enrichment for enhanced CLS among deletions corresponding to yeast orthologs of worm aging genes or among replicatively long-lived deletion strains, although a trend toward overlap was noted. In contrast, a subset of gene deletions identified from a screen for reduced acidification of culture media during growth to stationary phase was enriched for increased CLS. These results suggest that genetic control of CLS under the most commonly utilized assay conditions does not strongly overlap with longevity determinants in C. elegans, with the existing confined to a small number of genetic pathways. These data also further support the model that acidification of the culture medium plays an important role in survival during chronological aging in synthetic medium, and suggest that chronological aging studies using alternate medium conditions may be more informative with regard to aging of multicellular eukaryotes.Key words: aging, genomic, screen, lifespan, yeast, C. elegans, pH, chronological, replicative     

Characterization of Genomic Deletion Efficiency Mediated by Clustered Regularly Interspaced Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)/Cas9 Nuclease System in Mammalian Cells

The clustered regularly interspaced palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated (Cas) 9 nuclease system has provided a powerful tool for genome engineering. Double strand breaks may trigger nonhomologous end joining repair, leading to frameshift mutations, or homology-directed repair using an extrachromosomal template. Alternatively, genomic deletions may be produced by a pair of double strand breaks. The efficiency of CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genomic deletions has not been systematically explored. Here, we present a methodology for the production of deletions in mammalian cells, ranging from 1.3 kb to greater than 1 Mb. We observed a high frequency of intended genomic deletions. Nondeleted alleles are nonetheless often edited with inversions or small insertion/deletions produced at CRISPR recognition sites. Deleted alleles also typically include small insertion/deletions at predicted deletion junctions. We retrieved cells with biallelic deletion at a frequency exceeding that of probabilistic expectation. We demonstrate an inverse relationship between deletion frequency and deletion size. This work suggests that CRISPR/Cas9 is a robust system to produce a spectrum of genomic deletions to allow investigation of genes and genetic elements.     

Enhanced productivity of protease-sensitive heterologous proteins by disruption of multiple protease genes in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe

The creation of protease-deficient mutants to avoid product degradation is one of the current strategies employed to improve productivity and secretion efficiency of heterologous protein expression. We previously constructed a set of single protease-deficient mutants of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe by respective disruption of 52 protease genes, and we succeeded in confirming useful disruptants (Idiris et al., Yeast 23:83–99, 2006). In the present study, we attempted multiple deletions of 13 protease genes, single deletions of which were previously confirmed as being beneficial for reducing extracellular product degradation. Using PCR-based gene replacement, a series of multiple deletion strains was constructed by multiple disruption of a maximum of seven protease genes. Effects of the resultant multiple deletion strains on heterologous expression were then measured by practical expression of a proteolytically sensitive model protein, the human growth hormone (hGH). Time profiles of hGH secretion from each resultant mutant demonstrated significantly enhanced hGH productivity with processing of the multiple protease deletions. The data clearly indicated that disruption of multiple protease genes in the fission yeast is an effective method for controlling proteolytic degradation of heterologous proteins particularly susceptible to proteases.     

Enhanced Mutant Screening in One-step PCR-based Multiple Site-directed Plasmid Mutagenesis by Introduction of Silent Restriction Sites for Structural and Functional Study of Proteins

Site-directed mutagenesis (SDM) has been widely used for studying the structure and function of proteins. A one-step polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based multiple site-directed plasmid mutagenesis method with extended non-overlapping sequence at the 3′ end of the primer increases the PCR amplification efficiency and the capacity of multi-site mutagenesis. Here, we introduced silent restriction sites in the primers used in this PCR-based SDM method by utilizing SDM-Assist software to generate mutants of Helicobacter pylori neutrophil-activating protein (HP-NAP), whose gene has low GC content. The HP-NAP mutants were efficiently generated by this modified mutagenesis method and quickly identified by a simple restriction digest due to the presence of the silent restriction site. This modified PCR-based SDM method with the introduction of a silent restriction site on the primer is efficient for generation and identification of mutations in the gene of interest.     

Detection of 98% of DMD/BMD gene deletions by polymerase chain reaction

Summary We describe oligonucleotide primer sequences that can be used to amplify eight exons plus the muscle promoter of the dystrophin gene in a single multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR). When used in conjunction with an existing primer set, these two multiplex reactions detect about 98% of deletions in patients with Duchenne or Becker muscular dystrophy (DMD, BMD). Furthermore, these primers amplify most of the exons in the deletion prone hot spot region around exons 44 to 53, allowing determination of deletion endpoints and prediction of mutational effects on the translational reading frame. Thus, use of these PCR-based assays will allow deletion detection and prenatal diagnosis for most DMD/BMD patients in a fraction of the time required for Southern blot analysis.     

Isolation of Caenorhabditis elegans gene knockouts by PCR screening of chemically mutagenized libraries

This protocol details methodologies to generate Caenorhabditis elegans deletion mutants by chemical mutagenesis and to detect them by PCR screening. Approximately, 600,000 worms are grown synchronously, mutagenized with ethyl methane sulfonate, divided in groups of 500 and allowed to self-fertilize for two generations. DNA is prepared from a fraction of each worm population, pooled into a 96-well plate, and screened by PCR with primers positioned 2.5-3.5 kb apart. Cultures containing deletion mutants are subdivided in small worm populations and tested again by PCR to identify positives. Single animals are then cloned from positive cultures, allowed to self-fertilize and identified by PCR genotyping. This method, which takes about a month, gives approximately a 50% chance of finding a deletion of interest larger than 500-600 bp. If a deletion cannot be found, the library can be pooled at lower complexity and screened for smaller deletions using an alternative PCR-based method.