Non-coding de novo mutations in chromatin interactions are implicated in autism spectrum disorder.

Three-dimensional chromatin interactions regulate gene expressions. The significance of de novo mutations (DNMs) in chromatin interactions remains poorly understood for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We generated 813 whole-genome sequences from 242 Korean simplex families to detect DNMs, and identified target genes which were putatively affected by non-coding DNMs in chromatin interactions. Non-coding DNMs in chromatin interactions were significantly involved in transcriptional dysregulations related to ASD risk. Correspondingly, target genes showed spatiotemporal expressions relevant to ASD in developing brains and enrichment in biological pathways implicated in ASD, such as histone modification. Regarding clinical features of ASD, non-coding DNMs in chromatin interactions particularly contributed to low intelligence quotient levels in ASD probands. We further validated our findings using two replication cohorts, Simons Simplex Collection (SSC) and MSSNG, and showed the consistent enrichment of non-coding DNM-disrupted chromatin interactions in ASD probands. Generating human induced pluripotent stem cells in two ASD families, we were able to demonstrate that non-coding DNMs in chromatin interactions alter the expression of target genes at the stage of early neural development. Taken together, our findings indicate that non-coding DNMs in ASD probands lead to early neurodevelopmental disruption implicated in ASD risk via chromatin interactions.

ΔNp63 intronic miR-944 is implicated in the ΔNp63-mediated induction of epidermal differentiation.

ΔNp63 is required for both the proliferation and differentiation of keratinocytes, but its role in the differentiation of these cells is poorly understood. The corresponding gene, TP63, harbors the MIR944 sequence within its intron. However, the mechanism of biogenesis and the function of miR-944 are unknown. We found that miR-944 is highly expressed in keratinocytes, in a manner that is concordant with that of ΔNp63 mRNA, but the regulation of miR-944 expression under various conditions did not correspond with that of ΔNp63. Bioinformatics analysis and functional studies demonstrated that MIR944 has its own promoter. We demonstrate here that MIR944 is a target of ΔNp63. Promoter analysis revealed that the activity of the MIR944 promoter was markedly enhanced by the binding of ΔNp63, which was maintained by the supportive action of AP-2 during keratinocyte differentiation. Our results indicated that miR-944 biogenesis is dependent on ΔNp63 protein, even though it is generated from ΔNp63 mRNA-independent transcripts. We also demonstrated that miR-944 induces keratin 1 and keratin 10 expression by inhibiting ERK signaling and upregulating p53 expression. Our findings suggested that miR-944, as an intronic miRNA and a direct target of ΔNp63, contributes to the function of ΔNp63 in the induction of epidermal differentiation.

S100A7 (psoriasin) inhibits human epidermal differentiation by enhanced IL-6 secretion through IκB/NF-κB signalling.

Psoriasin (S100A7), a member of the S100 protein family, is a well-known antimicrobial peptide and a signalling molecule which regulates cellular function and is highly expressed in hyperproliferative skin conditions such as atopic dermatitis (AD) and psoriasis with disrupted skin barrier function. However, its role in epidermal differentiation remains unknown. We examined the effect of S100A7 on epidermal differentiation in normal human keratinocytes (NHKs) and on a reconstituted human epidermis model. When NHKs were exposed to disruptive stimuli such as Staphylococcus aureus, ultraviolet irradiation and retinoic acid, the secretion of S100A7 into the culture medium increased and the expression of epidermal differentiation markers decreased. Treatment of NHKs with S100A7 significantly inhibited epidermal differentiation by reducing the expression of keratin 1, keratin 10, involucrin and loricrin and by increasing the expression of abnormal differentiation markers (keratin 6 and keratin 16). We verified that the MyD88-IκB/NF-κB signal cascade was activated via RAGE after S100A7 treatment, resulting in the upregulation of interleukin-6. Finally, we confirmed that S100A7 is a negative regulator of epidermal differentiation using a reconstituted human epidermis model. This study suggests that S100A7-related signalling molecules could be potent targets for recovering skin barrier function in AD and psoriasis where S100A7 is accumulated excessively.

Reconstruction of Acetogenesis Pathway Using Short-Read Sequencing of Clostridium aceticum Genome.

Clostridium aceticum is an anaerobic homoacetogen, able to reduce CO2 to multi-carbon products using the reductive acetyl-CoA pathway. This unique ability to use CO2 or CO makes the microbe a potential platform for the biotech industry. However, the development of genetically engineered homoacetogen for the large-scale production of commodity chemicals is hampered by the limited amount of their genetic and metabolic information. Here we exploited next-generation sequencing to reveal C. aceticum genome. The short-read sequencing produced 44,871,196 high quality reads with an average length of 248 bases. Following sequence trimming step, 30,256,976 reads were assembled into 12,563 contigs with 168-fold coverage and 1,971 bases in length using de Bruijn graph algorithm. Since the k-mer hash length in the algorithm is an important factor for the quality of output contigs, a window of k-mers (k-51 to k-201) was tested to obtain high quality contigs. In addition to the assembly metrics, the functional annotation of the contigs was investigated to select the k-mer optimum. Metabolic pathway mapping using the functional annotation identified the majority of central metabolic pathways, such as the glycolysis and TCA cycle. Further, these analyses elucidated the enzymes consisting of Wood-Ljungdahl pathway, in which CO2 is fixed into acetyl-CoA. Thus, the metabolic reconstruction based on the draft genome assembly provides a foundation for the functional genomics required to engineer C. aceticum.

Brain somatic mutations observed in Alzheimer's disease associated with aging and dysregulation of tau phosphorylation.

The role of brain somatic mutations in Alzheimer's disease (AD) is not well understood. Here, we perform deep whole-exome sequencing (average read depth 584×) in 111 postmortem hippocampal formation and matched blood samples from 52 patients with AD and 11 individuals not affected by AD. The number of somatic single nucleotide variations (SNVs) in AD brain specimens increases significantly with aging, and the rate of mutation accumulation in the brain is 4.8-fold slower than that in AD blood. The putatively pathogenic brain somatic mutations identified in 26.9% (14 of 52) of AD individuals are enriched in PI3K-AKT, MAPK, and AMPK pathway genes known to contribute to hyperphosphorylation of tau. We show that a pathogenic brain somatic mutation in PIN1 leads to a loss-of-function mutation. In vitro mimicking of haploinsufficiency of PIN1 aberrantly increases tau phosphorylation and aggregation. This study provides new insights into the genetic architecture underlying the pathogenesis of AD.

Network Comparison of Inflammation in Colorectal Cancer and Alzheimer's Disease.

Recently, a large clinical study revealed an inverse correlation of individual risk of cancer versus Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, no explanation exists for this anticorrelation at the molecular level; however, inflammation is crucial to the pathogenesis of both diseases, necessitating a need to understand differing signaling usage during inflammatory responses distinct to both diseases. Using a subpathway analysis approach, we identified numerous well-known and previously unknown pathways enriched in datasets from both diseases. Here, we present the quantitative importance of the inflammatory response in the two disease pathologies and summarize signal transduction pathways common to both diseases that are affected by inflammation.

Novel inhibitory function of miR-125b in melanogenesis.

MicroRNAs are known to be the important regulators of skin physiology and considered as new therapeutic targets to treat skin diseases. In this study, miR-125b was identified as a potent regulator of steady-state melanogenesis. We found that the expression of miR-125b was inversely related to pigment levels. A miR-125b mimic decreased the expression of pigmentation-related gene and melanin content, implying that miR-125b functions to decrease pigmentation. Moreover, we observed that the reduction in miR-125b expression in pigmented cells was at least partially due to the hypermethylation of the MIR125B-1 promoter, and miR-125b expression was regulated by intracellular cAMP levels.