Tag Archives: Bases

Microbiology

How the COVID pandemic has improved genomics

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Sponsored Content by MGIMay 4 2023Reviewed by Olivia Frost
insights from industryDavide CacciharelliMolecular Biology and Genomics ProfessorUniversity of Naples

In this interview, Davide Cacchiarelli, Molecular Biology and Genomics Professor at the University of Naples talks to NewsMed about how the COVID pandemic has highlighted the vital role of genomic surveillance and improved genomics.

Please introduce yourself and what inspired your career in molecular biology and genomics?

My name is Davide Cacchiarelli, and I am a molecular biology and genomics professor at the University of Naples. I was inspired by the fact that genomics is classed as an effective tool to improve human health, dissect the molecular events happening in the cell and nucleus, and better understand how cells and organisms work.

Image Credit: ShutterStock/pinkeyes

In The Telethon Institute of Genetics and Medicine, you combine various disciplines with cell biology, molecular biology, and genomics. Why is having a multidisciplinary approach useful when making discoveries, particularly surrounding infectious diseases such as COVID?

The majority of the time, a single omic, measuring only gene expression by RNA sequencing, measuring only epigenetics, or measuring only phenotype, is insufficient to understand how a cell works.

The best solution is to combine all efforts to understand how these events happen, from the nucleus to the cell’s exterior. COVID, in particular, has been a case where acquiring one single omic or a single view of how the system works is ineffective in understanding how COVID behaviors occur in the population or clinically hospitalized patients.

We, therefore, try to combine the general information and patient outcome to get the best result regarding COVID infection.

Davide Cacciarelli at ICG17 – How the COVID pandemic has improved genomics

On what research areas are you and your team at TIGEM currently focusing?

Our group aims to answer various questions, from basic microbiology to developmental biology. Then we can re-engineer it for real regenerative medicine purposes. We also look at how we can effectively use genomics as a medical instrument that can be used to impact the healthcare of patients in our healthcare system.

You have recently co-authored a paper, “Improved SARS-CoV-2 sequencing surveillance allows the identification of new variants and signatures in infected patients.” Can you expand on that?

One of the significant issues in Italy regarding SARS-CoV-2 genome sequencing was the cost. Sequencing the COVID genome was also a tedious and elaborate procedure.

Image Credit: ShutterStock/Kateryna Kon

The main objective was first to make this approach economically affordable and create a proof of printing pulled by which this approach could become a cost-effective method for anyone and any country.

Our second approach, therefore, included integrating the genome information and the transcriptomic profiling of the patient airway epithelia. This helps us to understand how the genome evolves and allows us to track its evolution, in addition to seeing the response of the host respiratory epithelium. Finally, we implemented new ways to classify viral variants based on different characteristics using this approach.

What are the advantages of better identifying new cells, or two variants, for healthcare centers and patients?

The European Center for Disease Control has issued several requirements for next year focused on tracking respiratory viruses. One of these is tracking emerging variants as soon as possible, which we have done with COVID-19. We now know that new, specific variants can emerge in a short timeframe, so immediate tracking is crucial to help contain or at least delay the spreading of possible pathogenic variants.

MGI offers a variety of tools and technology surrounding genomics. Can you tell us more about some of the products used during your research and your experience with them?

At MGI, we have typically applied the COVID and whole genome solutions. We also have the freedom to test the stereo-seq they have in production this month. MGI can offer alternative solutions for various genome sequencing needs.

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At present many sequencing genomic companies are coming up with different solutions. At MGI, we understand that the best genomic solution is the one that better fits your needs. With our experience, for example, with COVID, MGI had the right solution at the right moment.

How important is selecting the right sequencing technology for your research? When undertaking new research, what do you look for in a product/sequencer?

When the primary focus is not on identifying genes or mapping gene expression but on identifying or qualifying gene variants, there must be no issues in the sequencing, as the sequencing issue might be an error in the sequencing and misinterpreted data.

The error rate of MGI technology on DNB sequencing is extremely low, which offers significant benefits. Users can confidently rely on the data at the level of leaders in the field, which is what we look for when we start COVID genome sequencing.

You have often collaborated with other researchers throughout your research projects, especially concerning COVID. How vital have these collaborations been in accelerating your research?

Like many scientists who faced the COVID pandemic, I had much to learn. We used our knowledge in medical genetics and variant interpretation, and the crosstalk we had with virologists, MGI scientists, and genomic specialists was a step towards acquiring the best solution and the best effort to try to get those results as soon as possible, which is crucial for COVID sequencing.

Surprisingly, some scientists who had no interest in healthcare possessed knowledge valuable in tackling COVID issues. The circumstances and contingencies around the event forced them to think outside the box.

Do you believe that if we can understand SARS-CoV-2 better, we could better use this knowledge to prepare ourselves for future pandemics better? What advantages would this have for global health?

COVID did not give us any significant advantages for healthcare, but it may have for science. It highlighted how vital advanced genomics is to track diseases which influenced decisions at the governmental level.

Image Credit: ShutterStock/CKA

Today, several diseases require advanced genome sequencing, such as cancer diagnostics and medical genetics. Given that the issues with this problem affect a small population, you do not feel the urgency to improve specific knowledge or tests.

Therefore, the COVID pandemic has highlighted the vital role of genomic surveillance and improved genomics. Today, we have laboratories that, until two years ago, thought they could never afford to set up a genomic workflow; the pandemic forced them to enter the genomics field. Our mission as genomic scientists is to help them implement this solution in their lab because improving genomics in any lab is the best for healthcare in the future.

There is a saying, “omics for all.” As a scientist, what does that mean to you?

‘Omics for all’ has to be understood in two ways. It is critical to give everybody the chance to have access to omics. However, we need to remember that it is still a medical procedure. Thus, the omics flow offers everybody access to high-quality omics profiling of their genome, but under medical supervision.

Finally, what is the future for you in your research?

I will continue my basic research in my lab: studying how pluripotent cells and stem cells can be manipulated and organized for medical purposes. We also want to use the knowledge accumulated in the COVID pandemic to apply fast, cost-effective, and reliable genome sequencing to other types of screening.

Image Credit: ShutterStock/Anusorn Nakdee

With this in mind, we hope to screen for several hereditary cancers, for example, breast cancer inheritance. Therefore, we can effectively use the COVID strategies we set up for COVID sequencing as proof of principle to apply the sequencing to human and human disease-driving genes.

About MGI

MGI Tech Co., Ltd. (referred to as MGI) is committed to building core tools and technology to lead life science through intelligent innovation. MGI focuses on R&D, production, and sales of DNA sequencing instruments, reagents, and related products to support life science research, agriculture, precision medicine, and healthcare. MGI is a leading producer of clinical high-throughput gene sequencers, and its multi-omics platforms include genetic sequencing, mass spectrometry, medical imaging, and laboratory automation.

Founded in 2016, MGI has more than 1000 employees, nearly half of whom are R&D personnel. MGI operates in 39 countries and regions and has established multiple research and production bases around the world. Providing real-time, comprehensive, life-long solutions, its vision is to enable effective and affordable healthcare solutions for all.

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MGI Tech Co., Ltd. 

Microbiology

Avanced genome editing technology could be used as a one-time treatment for CD3 delta SCID

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Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.Mar 21 2023

A new UCLA-led study suggests that advanced genome editing technology could be used as a one-time treatment for the rare and deadly genetic disease CD3 delta severe combined immunodeficiency.

The condition, also known as CD3 delta SCID, is caused by a mutation in the CD3D gene, which prevents the production of the CD3 delta protein that is needed for the normal development of T cells from blood stem cells.

Without T cells, babies born with CD3 delta SCID are unable to fight off infections and, if untreated, often die within the first two years of life. Currently, bone marrow transplant is the only available treatment, but the procedure carries significant risks.

In a study published in Cell, the researchers showed that a new genome editing technique called base editing can correct the mutation that causes CD3 delta SCID in blood stem cells and restore their ability to produce T cells.

The potential therapy is the result of a collaboration between the laboratories of Dr. Donald Kohn and Dr. Gay Crooks, both members of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA and senior authors of the study.

Kohn’s lab has previously developed successful gene therapies for several immune system deficiencies, including other forms of SCID. He and his colleagues turned their attention to CD3 delta SCID at the request of Dr. Nicola Wright, a pediatric hematologist and immunologist at the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute in Canada, who reached out in search of a better treatment option for her patients.

CD3 delta SCID is prevalent in the Mennonite community that migrates between Canada and Mexico.

Because newborns are not screened for SCID in Mexico, I often see babies who have been diagnosed late and are returning to Canada quite sick.”

Dr. Nicola Wright, pediatric hematologist and immunologist at the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute

When Kohn presented Wright’s request to his lab, Grace McAuley, then a research associate who joined the lab at the end of her senior year at UCLA, stepped up with a daring idea.

“Grace proposed we try base editing, a very new technology my lab had never attempted before,” said Kohn, a distinguished professor of microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics, and of pediatrics.

Base editing is an ultraprecise form of genome editing that enables scientists to correct single-letter mutations in DNA. DNA is made up of four chemical bases that are referred to as A, T, C and G; those bases pair together to form the “rungs” in DNA’s double-helix ladder structure.

While other gene editing platforms, like CRISPR-Cas9, cut both strands of the chromosome to make changes to DNA, base editing chemically changes one DNA base letter into another -; an A to a G, for example -; leaving the chromosome intact.

“I had a very steep learning curve in the beginning, when base editing just wasn’t working,” said McAuley, who is now pursuing an M.D.-Ph.D. at UC San Diego and is the study’s co-first author. “But I kept pushing forward. My goal was help get this therapy to the clinic as fast as was safely possible.”

McAuley reached out to the Broad Institute’s David Liu, the inventor of base editing, for advice on how to evaluate the technique’s safety for this particular use. Eventually, McAuley identified a base editor that was highly efficient at correcting the disease-causing genetic mutation.

Because the disease is extremely rare, obtaining patient stem cells for the UCLA study was a significant challenge. The project got a boost when Wright provided the researchers with blood stem cells donated by a CD3 delta SCID patient who was undergoing a bone marrow transplant.

The base editor corrected an average of almost 71% of the patient’s stem cells across three laboratory experiments.

Next, McAuley worked with Dr. Gloria Yiu, a UCLA clinical instructor in rheumatology, to test whether the corrected cells could give rise to T cells. Yiu used artificial thymic organoids, which are stem cell-derived tissue models developed by Crooks’ lab that mimic the environment of the human thymus -; the organ where blood stem cells become T cells.

When the corrected blood stem cells were introduced into the artificial thymic organoids, they produced fully functional and mature T cells.

“Because the artificial thymic organoid supports the development of mature T cells so efficiently, it was the ideal system to show that base editing of patients’ stem cells could fix the defect seen in this disease,” said Yiu, who is also a co-first author of the study.

As a final step, McAuley studied the longevity of the corrected stem cells by transplanting them into a mouse. The corrected cells remained four months after transplant, indicating that base editing had corrected the mutation in true, self-renewing blood stem cells. The findings suggest that corrected blood stem cells could persist long-term and produce the T cells patients would need to live healthy lives.

“This project was a beautiful picture of team science, with clinical need and scientific expertise aligned,” said Crooks, a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine. “Every team member played a vital role in making this work successful.”

The research team is now working with Wright on how to bring the new approach to a clinical trial for infants with CD3 delta SCID from Canada, Mexico and the U.S.

This research was funded by the Jeffrey Modell Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the V Foundation and the A.P. Giannini Foundation.

The therapeutic approach described in this article has been used in preclinical tests only and has not been tested in humans or approved by the Food and Drug Administration as safe and effective for use in humans. The technique is covered by a patent application filed by the UCLA Technology Development Group on behalf of the Regents of the University of California, with Kohn and McAuley listed as co-inventors.

Source:

University of California – Los Angeles Health Sciences

Journal reference:

McAuley, G.E., et al. (2023) Human T cell generation is restored in CD3δ severe combined immunodeficiency through adenine base editing. Cell. doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2023.02.027.

Microbiology

Simple blood tests for telomeric protein could provide a valuable screen for certain cancers

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Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.Feb 21 2023

Once thought incapable of encoding proteins due to their simple monotonous repetitions of DNA, tiny telomeres at the tips of our chromosomes seem to hold a potent biological function that’s potentially relevant to our understanding of cancer and aging.

Reporting in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, UNC School of Medicine researchers Taghreed Al-Turki, PhD, and Jack Griffith, PhD, made the stunning discovery that telomeres contain genetic information to produce two small proteins, one of which they found is elevated in some human cancer cells, as well as cells from patients suffering from telomere-related defects.

Based on our research, we think simple blood tests for these proteins could provide a valuable screen for certain cancers and other human diseases. These tests also could provide a measure of ‘telomere health,’ because we know telomeres shorten with age.”

Jack Griffith, PhD, the Kenan Distinguished Professor of Microbiology and Immunology and Member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center

Telomeres contain a unique DNA sequence consisting of endless repeats of TTAGGG bases that somehow inhibit chromosomes from sticking to each other. Two decades ago, the Griffith laboratory showed that the end of a telomere’s DNA loops back on itself to form a tiny circle, thus hiding the end and blocking chromosome-to-chromosome fusions. When cells divide, telomeres shorten, eventually becoming so short that the cell can no longer divide properly, leading to cell death.

Scientist first identified telomeres about 80 years ago, and because of their monotonous sequence, the established dogma in the field held that telomeres could not encode for any proteins, let alone ones with potent biological function.

In 2011 a group in Florida working on an inherited form of ALS reported that the culprit was an RNA molecule containing a six-base repeat which by a novel mechanism could generate a series of toxic proteins consisting of two amino acids repeating one after the other. Al-Turki and Griffith note in their paper a striking similarity of this RNA to the RNA generated from human telomeres, and they hypothesized that the same novel mechanism might be in play.

They conducted experiments – as described in the PNAS paper – to show how telomeric DNA can instruct the cell to produce signaling proteins they termed VR (valine-arginine) and GL (glycine-leucine). Signaling proteins are essentially chemicals that trigger a chain reaction of other proteins inside cells that then lead to a biological function important for health or disease.

Al-Turki and Griffith then chemically synthesized VR and GL to examine their properties using powerful electron and confocal microscopes along with state-of-the-art biological methods, revealing that the VR protein is present in elevated amounts in some human cancer cells, as well as cells from patients suffering from diseases resulting from defective telomeres.

“We think it’s possible that as we age, the amount of VR and GL in our blood will steadily rise, potentially providing a new biomarker for biological age as contrasted to chronological age,” said Al-Turki, a postdoctoral researcher in the Griffith lab. “We think inflammation may also trigger the production of these proteins.”

Griffith noted, “When you go against current thinking, you are usually wrong because you are bucking many people who’ve worked so diligently in their fields. But occasionally scientists have failed to put observations from two very distant fields together and that’s what we did. Discovering that telomeres encode two novel signaling proteins will change our understanding of cancer, aging, and how cells communicate with other cells.

“Many questions remain to be answered, but our biggest priority now is developing a simple blood test for these proteins. This could inform us of our biological age and also provide warnings of issues, such as cancer or inflammation.”

Source:

University of North Carolina Health Care

Journal reference:

Al-Turki, T., et al. (2023) Mammalian Telomeric RNA (TERRA) can be translated to produce valine-arginine and glycine-leucine dipeptide repeat proteins. PNAS. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2221529120.