Measuring steroids in hair opens up possibilities to identify congenital adrenal hyperplasia in developing countries.

OBJECTIVE: Patients with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) in developing countries have limited access to appropriate laboratory facilities for diagnosis and follow-up. The aim of this study is to evaluate steroid measurement in hair as a diagnostic tool to identify and monitor CAH in these patients. DESIGN: A method was developed to measure steroids in hair, the stability of steroids in hair was assessed, and the concentration range in healthy volunteers was determined. Hair samples of patients, before and after starting therapy, were transported at ambient temperature to The Netherlands for analysis. PATIENTS: Twenty-two Indonesian CAH patients and 84 healthy volunteers participated. MEASUREMENTS: Cortisol, 17-hydroxyprogesterone (17OHP), androstenedione, and testosterone in hair were measured by liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry. RESULTS: Steroids in hair could be measured and remained stable (<4.9% deviation) for at least 3 weeks at 4°C and 30°C. In each of the untreated patients, hair concentrations of 17OHP (9.43-1135 pmol/g), androstenedione (36.1-432 pmol/g), and testosterone (2.85-69.2 pmol/g) were all above the upper limit of the corresponding range in healthy volunteers; 5.5 pmol/g, 13 pmol/g, and 1.8 pmol/g, respectively. After starting glucocorticoid treatment, the steroid concentrations in the hair of CAH patients decreased significantly for androstenedione (73%) and testosterone (59%) after 6 months. CONCLUSIONS: CAH could be confirmed in Indonesian patients based on the concentration of 17OHP, androstenedione, and testosterone in hair, and a treatment effect was observed. These findings open up opportunities to diagnose and/or monitor CAH in developing countries with a simple noninvasive technique.

PID-1 is a novel factor that operates during 21U-RNA biogenesis in Caenorhabditis elegans.

The Piwi-piRNA pathway represents a small RNA-based mechanism responsible for the recognition and silencing of invading DNA. Biogenesis of piRNAs (21U-RNAs) is poorly understood. In Caenorhabditis elegans, the piRNA-binding Argonaute protein PRG-1 is the only known player acting downstream from precursor transcription. From a screen aimed at the isolation of piRNA-induced silencing-defective (Pid) mutations, we identified, among known Piwi pathway components, PID-1 as a novel player. PID-1 is a mostly cytoplasmic, germline-specific factor essential for 21U-RNA biogenesis, affecting an early step in the processing or transport of 21U precursor transcripts. We also show that maternal 21U-RNAs are essential to initiate silencing.

A tissue-specific protein purification approach in Caenorhabditis elegans identifies novel interaction partners of DLG-1/Discs large.

BACKGROUND: Affinity purification followed by mass spectrometry (AP/MS) is a widely used approach to identify protein interactions and complexes. In multicellular organisms, the accurate identification of protein complexes by AP/MS is complicated by the potential heterogeneity of complexes in different tissues. Here, we present an in vivo biotinylation-based approach for the tissue-specific purification of protein complexes from Caenorhabditis elegans. Tissue-specific biotinylation is achieved by the expression in select tissues of the bacterial biotin ligase BirA, which biotinylates proteins tagged with the Avi peptide. RESULTS: We generated N- and C-terminal tags combining GFP with the Avi peptide sequence, as well as four BirA driver lines expressing BirA ubiquitously and specifically in the seam and hyp7 epidermal cells, intestine, or neurons. We validated the ability of our approach to identify bona fide protein interactions by identifying the known LGL-1 interaction partners PAR-6 and PKC-3. Purification of the Discs large protein DLG-1 identified several candidate interaction partners, including the AAA-type ATPase ATAD-3 and the uncharacterized protein MAPH-1.1. We have identified the domains that mediate the DLG-1/ATAD-3 interaction, and show that this interaction contributes to C. elegans development. MAPH-1.1 co-purified specifically with DLG-1 purified from neurons, and shared limited homology with the microtubule-associated protein MAP1A, a known neuronal interaction partner of mammalian DLG4/PSD95. A CRISPR/Cas9-engineered GFP::MAPH-1.1 fusion was broadly expressed and co-localized with microtubules. CONCLUSIONS: The method we present here is able to purify protein complexes from specific tissues. We uncovered a series of DLG-1 interactors, and conclude that ATAD-3 is a biologically relevant interaction partner of DLG-1. Finally, we conclude that MAPH-1.1 is a microtubule-associated protein of the MAP1 family and a candidate neuron-specific interaction partner of DLG-1.

Engineering the Caenorhabditis elegans genome with CRISPR/Cas9.

The development in early 2013 of CRISPR/Cas9-based genome engineering promises to dramatically advance our ability to alter the genomes of model systems at will. A single, easily produced targeting RNA guides the Cas9 endonuclease to a specific DNA sequence where it creates a double strand break. Imprecise repair of the break can yield mutations, while homologous recombination with a repair template can be used to effect specific changes to the genome. The tremendous potential of this system led several groups to independently adapt it for use in Caenorhabditiselegans, where it was successfully used to generate mutations and to create tailored genome changes through homologous recombination. Here, we review the different approaches taken to adapt CRISPR/Cas9 for C. elegans, and provide practical guidelines for CRISPR/Cas9-based genome engineering.

Identification of human protein interaction domains using an ORFeome-based yeast two-hybrid fragment library.

Physical interactions between proteins are essential for biological processes. Hence, there have been major efforts to elucidate the complete networks of protein-protein interactions, or "interactomes", of various organisms. Detailed descriptions of protein interaction networks should include information on the discrete domains that mediate these interactions, yet most large-scale efforts model interactions between whole proteins only. We previously developed a yeast two-hybrid-based strategy to systematically map interaction domains and generated a domain-based interactome network for 750 proteins involved in C. elegans early embryonic development. Here, we expand the concept of Y2H-based interaction domain mapping to the genome-wide level. We generated a human fragment library by randomly fragmenting the full-length open reading frames (ORFs) present in the human ORFeome collection. Screens using several proteins required for cell division or polarity establishment as baits demonstrate the ability to accurately identify interaction domains for human proteins using this approach, while the experimental quality of the Y2H data was independently verified in coaffinity purification assays. The library generation strategy can easily be adapted to generate libraries from full-length ORF collections of other organisms.

Loss of sdhb in zebrafish larvae recapitulates human paraganglioma characteristics.

Pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas (PPGLs) caused by mutations in the B-subunit of the succinate dehydrogenase (SDHB) have the highest metastatic rate among PPGLs, and effective systemic therapy is lacking. To unravel underlying pathogenic mechanisms, and to evaluate therapeutic strategies, suitable in vivo models are needed. The available systemic Sdhb knock-out mice cannot model the human PPGL phenotype: heterozygous Sdhb mice lack a disease phenotype, and homozygous Sdhb mice are embryonically lethal. Using CRISPR/cas9 technology, we introduced a protein-truncating germline lesion into the zebrafish sdhb gene. Heterozygous sdhb mutants were viable and displayed no obvious morphological or developmental defects. Homozygous sdhb larvae were viable, but exhibited a decreased lifespan. Morphological analysis revealed incompletely or non-inflated swim bladders in homozygous sdhb mutants at day 6. Although no differences in number and ultrastructure of the mitochondria were observed. Clear defects in energy metabolism and swimming behavior were observed in homozygous sdhb mutant larvae. Functional and metabolomic analyses revealed decreased mitochondrial complex 2 activity and significant succinate accumulation in the homozygous sdhb mutant larvae, mimicking the metabolic effects observed in SDHB-associated PPGLs. This is the first study to present a vertebrate animal model that mimics metabolic effects of SDHB-associated PPGLs. This model will be useful in unraveling pathomechanisms behind SDHB-associated PPGLs. We can now study the metabolic effects of sdhb disruption during different developmental stages and develop screening assays to identify novel therapeutic targets in vivo. Besides oncological syndromes, our model might also be useful for pediatric mitochondrial disease caused by loss of the SDHB gene.

The C. elegans Crumbs family contains a CRB3 homolog and is not essential for viability.

Crumbs proteins are important regulators of epithelial polarity. In C. elegans, no essential role for the two described Crumbs homologs has been uncovered. Here, we identify and characterize an additional Crumbs family member in C. elegans, which we termed CRB-3 based on its similarity in size and sequence to mammalian CRB3. We visualized CRB-3 subcellular localization by expressing a translational GFP fusion. CRB-3::GFP was expressed in several polarized tissues in the embryo and larval stages, and showed apical localization in the intestine and pharynx. To identify the function of the Crumbs family in C. elegans development, we generated a triple Crumbs deletion mutant by sequentially removing the entire coding sequence for each crumbs homolog using a CRISPR/Cas9-based approach. Remarkably, animals lacking all three Crumbs homologs are viable and show normal epithelial polarity. Thus, the three C. elegans Crumbs family members do not appear to play an essential role in epithelial polarity establishment.

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.