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Functional genomics: high-throughput mRNA, protein, and metabolite analyses.

A tremendous amount of DNA sequence information is now available to scientists and engineers. These DNA sequences provide the foundation for studying how the genome of an organism is functioning and they are particularly useful for metabolic engineers interested in manipulating plants for the production of chemicals and enzymes. Functional genomics relies on high-throughput techniques for measuring the mRNA (the transcriptome), protein (the proteome), and metabolite (the metabolome) components of plants as well as their organs and tissues. Microarray technologies, recent advances in protein mass spectrometry, and high-throughput metabolite analyses are beginning to provide detailed information on the total mRNA, protein, and metabolite components of plants. This knowledge will allow scientists to monitor changes in proteins and metabolites in plants. Ultimately, it may allow them to discover new metabolic pathways and to model metabolic and regulatory networks in plants.

Base Sequence↗

Transposable elements as the key to a 21st century view of evolution.

Cells are capable of sophisticated information processing. Cellular signal transduction networks serve to compute data from multiple inputs and make decisions about cellular behavior. Genomes are organized like integrated computer programs as systems of routines and subroutines, not as a collection of independent genetic 'units'. DNA sequences which do not code for protein structure determine the system architecture of the genome. Repetitive DNA elements serve as tags to mark and integrate different protein coding sequences into coordinately functioning groups, to build up systems for genome replication and distribution to daughter cells, and to organize chromatin. Genomes can be reorganized through the action of cellular systems for cutting, splicing and rearranging DNA molecules. Natural genetic engineering systems (including transposable elements) are capable of acting genome-wide and not just one site at a time. Transposable elements are subject to regulation by cellular signal transduction/computing networks. This regulation acts on both the timing and extent of DNA rearrangements and (in a few documented cases so far) on the location of changes in the genomes. By connecting transcriptional regulatory circuits to the action of natural genetic engineering systems, there is a plausible molecular basis for coordinated changes in the genome subject to biologically meaningful feedback.

DNA Transposable Elements↗

In silico aided metabolic engineering of Saccharomyces cerevisiae for improved bioethanol production.

In silico genome-scale cell models are promising tools for accelerating the design of cells with improved and desired properties. We demonstrated this by using a genome-scale reconstructed metabolic network of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to score a number of strategies for metabolic engineering of the redox metabolism that will lead to decreased glycerol and increased ethanol yields on glucose under anaerobic conditions. The best-scored strategies were predicted to completely eliminate formation of glycerol and increase ethanol yield with 10%. We successfully pursued one of the best strategies by expressing a non-phosphorylating, NADP(+)-dependent glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase in S. cerevisiae. The resulting strain had a 40% lower glycerol yield on glucose while the ethanol yield increased with 3% without affecting the maximum specific growth rate. Similarly, expression of GAPN in a strain harbouring xylose reductase and xylitol dehydrogenase led to an improvement in ethanol yield by up to 25% on xylose/glucose mixtures.

Computer Simulation↗

[Genetic transformation of plants, recombination processes, and gene expression regulation in transgenic plants].

Recent studies in molecular biology and gene engineering were conducive to accumulation of numerous facts which help better understand the processes of plant genome functioning and follow up the effects of recombination processes in purposefully modified genome of a transformed plant on its expression. This review analyzes the major approaches to studies and results attained in plant gene engineering and plant genome imprinting.

DNA Methylation↗

Process design for microbial plastic factories: metabolic engineering of polyhydroxyalkanoates.

Implementing several metabolic engineering strategies, either individually or in combination, it is possible to construct microbial plastic factories to produce a variety of polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) biopolymers with desirable structures and material properties. Approaches include external substrate manipulation, inhibitor addition, recombinant gene expression, host cell genome manipulation and, most recently, protein engineering of PHA biosynthetic enzymes. In addition, mathematical models and molecular methods can be used to elucidate metabolically engineered systems and to identify targets for performance improvement.

Acyltransferases↗

MetaCyc: a multiorganism database of metabolic pathways and enzymes.

MetaCyc is a database of metabolic pathways and enzymes located at http://MetaCyc.org/. Its goal is to serve as a metabolic encyclopedia, containing a collection of non-redundant pathways central to small molecule metabolism, which have been reported in the experimental literature. Most of the pathways in MetaCyc occur in microorganisms and plants, although animal pathways are also represented. MetaCyc contains metabolic pathways, enzymatic reactions, enzymes, chemical compounds, genes and review-level comments. Enzyme information includes substrate specificity, kinetic properties, activators, inhibitors, cofactor requirements and links to sequence and structure databases. Data are curated from the primary literature by curators with expertise in biochemistry and molecular biology. MetaCyc serves as a readily accessible comprehensive resource on microbial and plant pathways for genome analysis, basic research, education, metabolic engineering and systems biology. Querying, visualization and curation of the database is supported by SRI's Pathway Tools software. The PathoLogic component of Pathway Tools is used in conjunction with MetaCyc to predict the metabolic network of an organism from its annotated genome. SRI and the European Bioinformatics Institute employed this tool to create pathway/genome databases (PGDBs) for 165 organisms, available at the BioCyc.org website. These PGDBs also include predicted operons and pathway hole fillers.

Animals↗

Unraveling human cancer in the mouse: recent refinements to modeling and analysis.

The ability to manipulate the mouse genome has made the mouse the primary mammalian genetic model organism. It has been possible to model human cancer in the mouse by overexpressing oncogenes or inactivating tumor suppressor genes, and these experiments have provided much of our in vivo understanding of cancer. However, these transgenic approaches do not always completely and accurately model human carcinogenesis. Recent developments in transgenic and knockout approaches have improved the accuracy of modeling somatic cancer in the mouse and analyzing the genomic instability that occurs in murine tumors. It is possible to use retroviral gene delivery, chromosome engineering and inducible transgenes to selectively manipulate the genome in a more precise spatial and temporal pattern. In addition, the development of powerful cytogenetic tools such as spectral karyotyping, fluorescence in situ hybridization and comparative genome hybridization have improved our ability to detect chromosomal rearrangements. Finally, global patterns of gene expression can be determined by microarray analysis to decipher complex gene patterns which occur in cancers. Several of these advances in mouse modeling of human cancer are discussed in this review.

Animals↗

Enhancer detection in the zebrafish using pseudotyped murine retroviruses.

Vectors based on murine retroviruses are among the most efficient means to insert reporter constructs into the context of a vertebrate chromosome with the aim to visualize cis-regulatory information available to a basal promoter at the site of insertion. In combination with using the zebrafish embryo as a readout for the activity of regulatory elements, enhancer detection becomes a powerful technique for gene discovery and for the mapping of the extent of regulatory domains in a vertebrate genome. Our laboratory has performed the only large-scale enhancer detection screen to date in any vertebrate and we describe in this paper the methods we developed to generate viral particles, to insert reporter constructs into the zebrafish germ line, the screening of detection events in heterozygous F1 embryos, and the isolation of genomic sequence flanking the inserted vector for the purpose of genomic mapping. Given sufficient scale, the technology described here can be used to obtain cis-regulatory information across the entire zebrafish genome for any given basal promoter.

Animals↗

Vascular endothelium summary statement VI: Research directions for the 21st century.

Effective translation of research advances from the bench to clinical and public health practice at the bedside and in the community at large represents an important step in the health research discovery enterprise. Increasingly, the gap in translating these advances into practice is being recognized. Successfully addressing this translational gap for the prevention and control of chronic diseases will require the development of novel, innovative, and, if necessary, nontraditional approaches. Participants in the 8th International Conference on Vascular Endothelium discussed a variety of novel approaches that have significant promise. Three of these approaches-vaccine development, genomics and proteomics, and tissue engineering-are highlighted in this position statement and strategies for public health practice and research are suggested.

Animals↗

FluxRETAP: a REaction TArget Prioritization genome-scale modeling technique for selecting genetic targets.

MOTIVATION: Metabolic engineering is rapidly evolving as a result of new advances in synthetic biology tools and automation platforms that enable high throughput strain construction, as well as the development of machine learning tools (ML) for biology. However, selecting genetic engineering targets that effectively guide the metabolic engineering process is still challenging. ML can provide predictive power for synthetic biology, but current technical limitations prevent the independent use of ML approaches without previous biological knowledge. RESULTS: Here, we present FluxRETAP, a simple and computationally inexpensive method that leverages the prior mechanistic knowledge embedded in genome-scale models for suggesting targets for genetic overexpression, downregulation or deletion, with the final goal of increasing the production of a desired metabolite. This method can provide a list of desirable engineering targets that can be combined with current ML pipelines. FluxRETAP captured 100% of reaction targets experimentally verified to improve Escherichia coli isoprenol production, 50% of targets that experimentally improved taxadiene production in E. coli and ∼60% of genetic targets from a verified minimal constrained cut-set in Pseudomonas putida, while providing additional high priority targets that could be tested. Overall, FluxRETAP is an efficient algorithm for identifying a prioritized list of testable genetic and reaction targets. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: FluxRETAP is implemented in python and released under the creative commons license. The implementation and code are freely available at: https://github.com/JBEI/FluxRETAP.

Escherichia coli↗

The transcription factor NFAT promotes exhaustion of activated CD8⁺ T cells.

During persistent antigen stimulation, CD8(+) T cells show a gradual decrease in effector function, referred to as exhaustion, which impairs responses in the setting of tumors and infections. Here we demonstrate that the transcription factor NFAT controls the program of T cell exhaustion. When expressed in cells, an engineered form of NFAT1 unable to interact with AP-1 transcription factors diminished T cell receptor (TCR) signaling, increased the expression of inhibitory cell surface receptors, and interfered with the ability of CD8(+) T cells to protect against Listeria infection and attenuate tumor growth in vivo. We defined the genomic regions occupied by endogenous and engineered NFAT1 in primary CD8(+) T cells and showed that genes directly induced by the engineered NFAT1 overlapped with genes expressed in exhausted CD8(+) T cells in vivo. Our data show that NFAT promotes T cell anergy and exhaustion by binding at sites that do not require cooperation with AP-1.

Animals↗

Individual metabolism should guide agriculture toward foods for improved health and nutrition.

Genomics and bioinformatics have the vast potential to identify genes that cause disease by investigating whole-genome databases. Comparison of an individual's geno-type with a genomic database will allow the prescription of drugs to be tailored to an individual's genotype. This same bioinformatic approach, applied to the study of human metabolites, has the potential to identify and validate targets to improve personalized nutritional health and thus serve to define the added value for the next generation of foods and crops. Advances in high-throughput analytic chemistry and computing technologies make the creation of a vast database of metabolites possible for several subsets of metabolites, including lipids and organic acids. In creating integrative databases of metabolites for bioinformatic investigation, the current concept of measuring single biomarkers must be expanded to 3 dimensions to 1) include a highly comprehensive set of metabolite measurements (a profile) by multiparallel analyses, 2) measure the metabolic profile of individuals over time rather than simply in the fasted state, and 3) integrate these metabolic profiles with genomic, expression, and proteomic databases. Application of the knowledge of individual metabolism will revolutionize the ability of nutrition to deliver health benefits through food in the same way that knowledge of genomics will revolutionize individual treatment of dis-ease with pharmaceuticals.

Biomarkers↗

An infectious transfer and expression system for genomic DNA loci in human and mouse cells.

The recent completion of the human genome sequence allows genomics research to focus on understanding gene complexity, expression, and regulation. However, the routine-use genomic DNA expression systems required to investigate these phenomena are not well developed. Bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs) and P1-based artificial chromosomes (PACs) have proved excellent tools for the human genome sequencing projects. We describe a system to rapidly and efficiently deliver and express BAC and PAC library clones in human and mouse cells by converting them into infectious amplicon vectors. We show packaging and intact delivery of genomic inserts of >100 kilobases with efficiencies of up to 100%. To demonstrate that genomic loci transferred in this way are functional, the complete human hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase (HPRT) locus contained within a 115-kilobase BAC insert was shown to be expressed when delivered by infection into both a human HPRT-deficient fibroblast cell line and a mouse primary hepatocyte culture derived from Hprt-/- mice. Efficient gene delivery to primary cells is especially important, as these cells cannot be expanded using antibiotic selection. This work is the first demonstration of infectious delivery and expression of genomic DNA sequences of >100 kilobases, a technique that may prove useful for analyzing gene expression from the human genome.

Animals↗

Repair and polyadenylation of a naturally occurring hepatitis C virus 3' nontranslated region-shorter variant in selectable replicon cell lines.

The 3' nontranslated region (NTR) of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) genome is highly conserved and contains specific cis-acting RNA motifs that are essential in directing the viral replication machinery to initiate at the correct 3' end of the viral genome. Since the ends of viral genomes may be damaged by cellular RNases, preventing the initiation of viral RNA replication, stable RNA hairpin structures in the 3' NTR may also be essential in host defense against exoribonucleases. During 3'-terminal sequence analysis of serum samples of a patient with chronic hepatitis related to an HCV1b infection, a number of clones were obtained that were several nucleotides shorter at the extreme 3' end of the genome. These shorter 3' ends were engineered in selectable HCV replicons in order to enable the study of RNA replication in cell culture. When in vitro-transcribed subgenomic RNAs, containing shorter 3' ends, were introduced into Huh-7 cells, a few selectable colonies were obtained, and the 3' terminus of these subgenomic RNAs was sequenced. Interestingly, most genomes recovered from these colonies had regained the wild-type 3' ends, showing that HCV, like several other positive-stranded RNA viruses, has developed a strategy to repair deleted 3' end nucleotides. Furthermore, we found several genomes in these replicon colonies that contained a poly(A) tail and a short linker sequence preceding the poly(A) tail. After recloning and subsequent passage in Huh-7 cells, these poly(A) tails persisted and varied in length. In addition, the connecting linker became highly diverse in sequence and length, suggesting that these tails are actively replicated. The possible terminal repair mechanisms, including roles for the poly(A) tail addition, are discussed.

3' Untranslated Regions↗

Mammalian cell transduction and internalization properties of lambda phages displaying the full-length adenoviral penton base or its central domain.

In recent years a strong effort has been devoted to the search for new, safe and efficient gene therapy vectors. Phage lambda is a promising backbone for the development of new vectors: its genome can host large inserts, DNA is protected from degradation by the capsid and the ligand-exposed D and V proteins can be extensively modified. Current phage-based vectors are inefficient and/or receptor-independent transducers. To produce new, receptor-selective and transduction-efficient vectors for mammalian cells we engineered lambda by inserting into its genome a GFP expression cassette, and by displaying the penton base (Pb) of adenovirus or its central region (amino acids 286-393). The Pb mediates attachment, entry and endosomal escape of adenovirus in mammalian cells, and its central region (amino acids 286-393) includes the principal receptor-binding motif ((340)RGD(342)). Both the phage chimerae lambda Pb and lambda Pb (286-393) were able to transduce cell lines and primary cultures of human fibroblasts. Competition experiments showed that the transduction pathway was receptor-dependent. We also describe the different trafficking properties of lambda Pb and lambda Pb (286-393). Bafilomycin, which blocks endosome maturation, influenced the intracellular distribution of lambda Pb (286-393), but not that of lambda Pb. The proteasome inhibitor MG-132 improved the efficiency of lambda Pb (286-393)-mediated transduction, but not that of lambda Pb. In summary, this work shows the feasibility of using lambda phage as an efficient vector for gene transfer into mammalian cells. We show that lambda Pb and lambda Pb (286-393) can both mediate receptor-dependent transduction; while only lambda Pb is able to promote endosomal escape and proteasome resistance of phage particles.

Bacteriophage lambda↗