Genomic origin, fragmentomics, and transcriptional properties of long cell-free DNA molecules in human plasma.

Recent studies have revealed an unexplored population of long cell-free DNA (cfDNA) molecules in human plasma using long-read sequencing technologies. However, the biological properties of long cfDNA molecules (>500 bp) remain largely unknown. To this end, we have investigated the origins of long cfDNA molecules from different genomic elements. Analysis of plasma cfDNA using long-read sequencing reveals an uneven distribution of long molecules from across the genome. Long cfDNA molecules show overrepresentation in euchromatic regions of the genome, in sharp contrast to short DNA molecules. We observe a stronger relationship between the abundance of long molecules and mRNA gene expression levels, compared with short molecules (Pearson's r = 0.71 vs. -0.14). Moreover, long and short molecules show distinct fragmentation patterns surrounding CpG sites. Leveraging the cleavage preferences surrounding CpG sites, the combined cleavage ratios of long and short molecules can differentiate patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) from non-HCC subjects (AUC = 0.87). We also investigated knockout mice in which selected nuclease genes had been inactivated in comparison with wild-type mice. The proportion of long molecules originating from transcription start sites are lower in Dffb-deficient mice but higher in Dnase1l3-deficient mice compared with that of wild-type mice. This work thus provides new insights into the biological properties and potential clinical applications of long cfDNA molecules.

Fragmentation landscape of cell-free DNA revealed by deconvolutional analysis of end motifs.

Cell-free DNA (cfDNA) fragmentation is nonrandom, at least partially mediated by various DNA nucleases, forming characteristic cfDNA end motifs. However, there is a paucity of tools for deciphering the relative contributions of cfDNA cleavage patterns related to underlying fragmentation factors. In this study, through non-negative matrix factorization algorithm, we used 256 5' 4-mer end motifs to identify distinct types of cfDNA cleavage patterns, referred to as "founder" end-motif profiles (F-profiles). F-profiles were associated with different DNA nucleases based on whether such patterns were disrupted in nuclease-knockout mouse models. Contributions of individual F-profiles in a cfDNA sample could be determined by deconvolutional analysis. We analyzed 93 murine cfDNA samples of different nuclease-deficient mice and identified six types of F-profiles. F-profiles I, II, and III were linked to deoxyribonuclease 1 like 3 (DNASE1L3), deoxyribonuclease 1 (DNASE1), and DNA fragmentation factor subunit beta (DFFB), respectively. We revealed that 42.9% of plasma cfDNA molecules were attributed to DNASE1L3-mediated fragmentation, whereas 43.4% of urinary cfDNA molecules involved DNASE1-mediated fragmentation. We further demonstrated that the relative contributions of F-profiles were useful to inform pathological states, such as autoimmune disorders and cancer. Among the six F-profiles, the use of F-profile I could inform the human patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. F-profile VI could be used to detect individuals with hepatocellular carcinoma, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.97. F-profile VI was more prominent in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma undergoing chemoradiotherapy. We proposed that this profile might be related to oxidative stress.

Epigenetic analysis of cell-free DNA by fragmentomic profiling.

Cell-free DNA (cfDNA) fragmentation patterns contain important molecular information linked to tissues of origin. We explored the possibility of using fragmentation patterns to predict cytosine-phosphate-guanine (CpG) methylation of cfDNA, obviating the use of bisulfite treatment and associated risks of DNA degradation. This study investigated the cfDNA cleavage profile surrounding a CpG (i.e., within an 11-nucleotide [nt] window) to analyze cfDNA methylation. The cfDNA cleavage proportion across positions within the window appeared nonrandom and exhibited correlation with methylation status. The mean cleavage proportion was ∼twofold higher at the cytosine of methylated CpGs than unmethylated ones in healthy controls. In contrast, the mean cleavage proportion rapidly decreased at the 1-nt position immediately preceding methylated CpGs. Such differential cleavages resulted in a characteristic change in relative presentations of CGN and NCG motifs at 5' ends, where N represented any nucleotide. CGN/NCG motif ratios were correlated with methylation levels at tissue-specific methylated CpGs (e.g., placenta or liver) (Pearson's absolute r > 0.86). cfDNA cleavage profiles were thus informative for cfDNA methylation and tissue-of-origin analyses. Using CG-containing end motifs, we achieved an area under a receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.98 in differentiating patients with and without hepatocellular carcinoma and enhanced the positive predictive value of nasopharyngeal carcinoma screening (from 19.6 to 26.8%). Furthermore, we elucidated the feasibility of using cfDNA cleavage patterns to deduce CpG methylation at single CpG resolution using a deep learning algorithm and achieved an AUC of 0.93. FRAGmentomics-based Methylation Analysis (FRAGMA) presents many possibilities for noninvasive prenatal, cancer, and organ transplantation assessment.

Single-molecule sequencing reveals a large population of long cell-free DNA molecules in maternal plasma.

In the field of circulating cell-free DNA, most of the studies have focused on short DNA molecules (e.g., <500 bp). The existence of long cell-free DNA molecules has been poorly explored. In this study, we demonstrated that single-molecule real-time sequencing allowed us to detect and analyze a substantial proportion of long DNA molecules from both fetal and maternal sources in maternal plasma. Such molecules were beyond the size detection limits of short-read sequencing technologies. The proportions of long cell-free DNA molecules in maternal plasma over 500 bp were 15.5%, 19.8%, and 32.3% for the first, second, and third trimesters, respectively. The longest fetal-derived plasma DNA molecule observed was 23,635 bp. Long plasma DNA molecules demonstrated predominance of A or G 5' fragment ends. Pregnancies with preeclampsia demonstrated a reduction in long maternal plasma DNA molecules, reduced frequencies for selected 5' 4-mer end motifs ending with G or A, and increased frequencies for selected motifs ending with T or C. Finally, we have developed an approach that employs the analysis of methylation patterns of the series of CpG sites on a long DNA molecule for determining its tissue origin. This approach achieved an area under the curve of 0.88 in differentiating between fetal and maternal plasma DNA molecules, enabling the determination of maternal inheritance and recombination events in the fetal genome. This work opens up potential clinical utilities of long cell-free DNA analysis in maternal plasma including noninvasive prenatal testing of monogenic diseases and detection/monitoring of pregnancy-associated disorders such as preeclampsia.

Genome-wide detection of cytosine methylation by single molecule real-time sequencing.

5-Methylcytosine (5mC) is an important type of epigenetic modification. Bisulfite sequencing (BS-seq) has limitations, such as severe DNA degradation. Using single molecule real-time sequencing, we developed a methodology to directly examine 5mC. This approach holistically examined kinetic signals of a DNA polymerase (including interpulse duration and pulse width) and sequence context for every nucleotide within a measurement window, termed the holistic kinetic (HK) model. The measurement window of each analyzed double-stranded DNA molecule comprised 21 nucleotides with a cytosine in a CpG site in the center. We used amplified DNA (unmethylated) and M.SssI-treated DNA (methylated) (M.SssI being a CpG methyltransferase) to train a convolutional neural network. The area under the curve for differentiating methylation states using such samples was up to 0.97. The sensitivity and specificity for genome-wide 5mC detection at single-base resolution reached 90% and 94%, respectively. The HK model was then tested on human-mouse hybrid fragments in which each member of the hybrid had a different methylation status. The model was also tested on human genomic DNA molecules extracted from various biological samples, such as buffy coat, placental, and tumoral tissues. The overall methylation levels deduced by the HK model were well correlated with those by BS-seq (r = 0.99; P < 0.0001) and allowed the measurement of allele-specific methylation patterns in imprinted genes. Taken together, this methodology has provided a system for simultaneous genome-wide genetic and epigenetic analyses.

Plasma DNA Profile Associated with DNASE1L3 Gene Mutations: Clinical Observations, Relationships to Nuclease Substrate Preference, and In Vivo Correction.

Plasma DNA fragmentomics is an emerging area in cell-free DNA diagnostics and research. In murine models, it has been shown that the extracellular DNase, DNASE1L3, plays a role in the fragmentation of plasma DNA. In humans, DNASE1L3 deficiency causes familial monogenic systemic lupus erythematosus with childhood onset and anti-dsDNA reactivity. In this study, we found that human patients with DNASE1L3 disease-associated gene variations showed aberrations in size and a reduction of a "CC" end motif of plasma DNA. Furthermore, we demonstrated that DNA from DNASE1L3-digested cell nuclei showed a median length of 153 bp with CC motif frequencies resembling plasma DNA from healthy individuals. Adeno-associated virus-based transduction of Dnase1l3 into Dnase1l3-deficient mice restored the end motif profiles to those seen in the plasma DNA of wild-type mice. Our findings demonstrate that DNASE1L3 is an important player in the fragmentation of plasma DNA, which appears to act in a cell-extrinsic manner to regulate plasma DNA size and motif frequency.

Detection and characterization of jagged ends of double-stranded DNA in plasma.

Cell-free DNA in plasma has been used for noninvasive prenatal testing and cancer liquid biopsy. The physical properties of cell-free DNA fragments in plasma, such as fragment sizes and ends, have attracted much recent interest, leading to the emerging field of cell-free DNA fragmentomics. However, one aspect of plasma DNA fragmentomics as to whether double-stranded plasma molecules might carry single-stranded ends, termed a jagged end in this study, remains underexplored. We have developed two approaches for investigating the presence of jagged ends in a plasma DNA pool. These approaches utilized DNA end repair to introduce differential methylation signals between the original sequence and the jagged ends, depending on whether unmethylated or methylated cytosines were used in the DNA end-repair procedure. The majority of plasma DNA molecules (87.8%) were found to bear jagged ends. The jaggedness varied according to plasma DNA fragment sizes and appeared to be in association with nucleosomal patterns. In the plasma of pregnant women, the jaggedness of fetal DNA molecules was higher than that of the maternal counterparts. The jaggedness of plasma DNA correlated with the fetal DNA fraction. Similarly, in the plasma of cancer patients, tumor-derived DNA molecules in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma showed an elevated jaggedness compared with nontumoral DNA. In mouse models, knocking out of the Dnase1 gene reduced jaggedness, whereas knocking out of the Dnase1l3 gene enhanced jaggedness. Hence, plasma DNA jagged ends represent an intrinsic property of plasma DNA and provide a link between nuclease activities and the fragmentation of plasma DNA.

Comparison of Single Molecule, Real-Time Sequencing and Nanopore Sequencing for Analysis of the Size, End-Motif, and Tissue-of-Origin of Long Cell-Free DNA in Plasma.

BACKGROUND: Recent studies using single molecule, real-time (SMRT) sequencing revealed a substantial population of analyzable long cell-free DNA (cfDNA) in plasma. Potential clinical utilities of such long cfDNA in pregnancy and cancer have been demonstrated. However, the performance of different long-read sequencing platforms for the analysis of long cfDNA remains unknown. METHODS: Size biases of SMRT sequencing by Pacific Biosciences (PacBio) and nanopore sequencing by Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) were evaluated using artificial mixtures of sonicated human and mouse DNA of different sizes. cfDNA from plasma samples of pregnant women at different trimesters, hepatitis B carriers, and patients with hepatocellular carcinoma were sequenced with the 2 platforms. RESULTS: Both platforms showed biases to sequence longer (1500 bp vs 200 bp) DNA fragments, with PacBio showing a stronger bias (5-fold overrepresentation of long fragments vs 2-fold in ONT). Percentages of cfDNA fragments 500 bp were around 6-fold higher in PacBio compared with ONT. End motif profiles of cfDNA from PacBio and ONT were similar, yet exhibited platform-dependent patterns. Tissue-of-origin analysis based on single-molecule methylation patterns showed comparable performance on both platforms. CONCLUSIONS: SMRT sequencing generated data with higher percentages of long cfDNA compared with nanopore sequencing. Yet, a higher number of long cfDNA fragments eligible for the tissue-of-origin analysis could be obtained from nanopore sequencing due to its much higher throughput. When analyzing the size and end motif of cfDNA, one should be aware of the analytical characteristics and possible biases of the sequencing platforms being used.

Droplet digital PCR is a cost-effective method for analyzing long cell-free DNA in maternal plasma: Application in preeclampsia.

OBJECTIVE: Long cell-free DNA (cfDNA) can be found in the plasma of pregnant women and cancer patients. We investigated if droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) can analyze such molecules for diagnostic purposes using preeclampsia as a model. METHOD: Plasma samples from ten preeclamptic and sixteen normal pregnancies were analyzed. Two ddPCR assays targeting a single-copy gene, VCP, and one ddPCR assay targeting LINE-1 repetitive regions were used to measure the percentages of long cfDNA >533, 1001, and 170 bp, respectively. The LINE-1 assay was developed as guided by in silico PCR analyses to better differentiate preeclamptic and normal pregnancies. RESULTS: Preeclamptic patients had a significantly lower median percentage of long cfDNA than healthy pregnant controls, as determined by the LINE-1 170 bp assay (28.9% vs. 35.1%, p < 0.0001) and the VCP 533 bp assay (6.6% vs. 8.7%, p = 0.014). The LINE-1 assay provided a better differentiation than the VCP 533 bp assay (area under ROC curves, 0.94 vs. 0.79). CONCLUSION: ddPCR is a cost-effective approach for unlocking diagnostic information carried by long cfDNA in plasma and may have applications for the detection of preeclampsia. Further longitudinal studies with larger cohorts are required to assess the clinical utility of this test.

Effects of Capsaicin on Glucose Uptake and Consumption in Hepatocytes.

Obesity represents a major health challenge because it substantially increases the risk of metabolic diseases. Capsaicin, the major active ingredient of Capsicum spp., has been reported to possess anti-obesity activity. Hereon, the effect of capsaicin on glucose uptake and consumption in hepatocytes was extensively studied. Capsaicin was shown to accelerate the glucose uptake/consumption and the ATP production of hepatocytes. The elevation of intracellular Ca2+ was thought to be a potential mechanism. By transcriptome analysis, 78, 146 and 507 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified between capsaicin and the control group for 4 h, 12 h and 24 h treatments. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis showed that most of the DEGs were involved in canonical pathways, like MAPK and PI3K-AKT signaling pathways. Clustering analysis showed that many DEGs were associated with glucose and amino acid metabolism. The variation trend in genes related to glucose and amino acid metabolism (like CTH, VEGFA, PCK2 and IGFBP3) in the quantitative PCR (q-PCR) assay was consistent with the transcriptome data. These results demonstrated that capsaicin efficiently accelerated the glucose uptake and consumption of hepatocytes.

Jagged Ends on Multinucleosomal Cell-Free DNA Serve as a Biomarker for Nuclease Activity and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.

BACKGROUND: Jagged ends of plasma DNA are a recently recognized class of fragmentomic markers for cell-free DNA, reflecting the activity of nucleases. A number of recent studies have also highlighted the importance of jagged ends in the context of pregnancy and oncology. However, knowledge regarding the generation of jagged ends is incomplete. METHODS: Jaggedness of plasma DNA was analyzed based on Jag-seq, which utilized the differential methylation signals introduced by the DNA end-repair process. We investigated the jagged ends in plasma DNA using mouse models by deleting the deoxyribonuclease 1 (Dnase1), DNA fragmentation factor subunit beta (Dffb), or deoxyribonuclease 1 like 3 (Dnase1l3) gene. RESULTS: Aberrations in the profile of plasma DNA jagged ends correlated with the type of nuclease that had been genetically deleted, depending on nucleosomal structures. The deletion of Dnase1l3 led to a significant reduction of jaggedness for those plasma DNA molecules involving more than 1 nucleosome (e.g., size ranges 240-290 bp, 330-380 bp, and 420-470 bp). However, less significant effects of Dnase1 and Dffb deletions were observed regarding different sizes of DNA fragments. Interestingly, the aberration in plasma DNA jagged ends related to multinucleosomes was observed in human subjects with familial systemic lupus erythematosus with Dnase1l3 deficiency and human subjects with sporadic systemic lupus erythematosus. CONCLUSIONS: Detailed understanding of the relationship between nuclease and plasma DNA jaggedness has opened up avenues for biomarker development.

Single-Molecule Sequencing Enables Long Cell-Free DNA Detection and Direct Methylation Analysis for Cancer Patients.

BACKGROUND: Analysis of circulating tumor DNA has become increasingly important as a tool for cancer care. However, the focus of previous studies has been on short fragments of DNA. Also, bisulfite sequencing, a conventional approach for methylation analysis, causes DNA degradation, which is not ideal for the assessment of long DNA properties and methylation patterns. This study attempted to overcome such obstacles by single-molecule sequencing. METHODS: Single-molecule real-time (SMRT) sequencing was used to sequence plasma DNA. We performed fragment size and direct methylation analysis for each molecule. A methylation score concerning single-molecule methylation patterns was used for cancer detection. RESULTS: A substantial proportion of plasma DNA was longer than 1 kb with a median of 16% in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients, hepatitis B virus carriers, and healthy individuals. The longest plasma DNA molecule in the HCC patients was 39.8 kb. Tumoral cell-free DNA (cfDNA) was generally shorter than nontumoral cfDNA. The longest tumoral cfDNA was 13.6 kb. Tumoral cfDNA had lower methylation levels compared with nontumoral cfDNA (median: 59.3% vs 76.9%). We developed and analyzed a metric reflecting single-molecule methylation patterns associated with cancer, named the HCC methylation score. HCC patients displayed significantly higher HCC methylation scores than those without HCC. Interestingly, compared to using short cfDNA (area under the receiver operating characteristic [ROC] curve, AUC: 0.75), the use of long cfDNA molecules greatly enhanced the discriminatory power (AUC: 0.91). CONCLUSIONS: A previously unidentified long cfDNA population was revealed in cancer patients. The presence and direct methylation analysis of these molecules open new possibilities for cancer liquid biopsy.

Dnase1l3 deletion causes aberrations in length and end-motif frequencies in plasma DNA.

Circulating DNA in plasma consists of short DNA fragments. The biological processes generating such fragments are not well understood. DNASE1L3 is a secreted DNASE1-like nuclease capable of digesting DNA in chromatin, and its absence causes anti-DNA responses and autoimmunity in humans and mice. We found that the deletion of Dnase1l3 in mice resulted in aberrations in the fragmentation of plasma DNA. Such aberrations included an increase in short DNA molecules below 120 bp, which was positively correlated with anti-DNA antibody levels. We also observed an increase in long, multinucleosomal DNA molecules and decreased frequencies of the most common end motifs found in plasma DNA. These aberrations were independent of anti-DNA response, suggesting that they represented a primary effect of DNASE1L3 loss. Pregnant Dnase1l3-/- mice carrying Dnase1l3+/- fetuses showed a partial restoration of normal frequencies of plasma DNA end motifs, suggesting that DNASE1L3 from Dnase1l3-proficient fetuses could enter maternal systemic circulation and affect both fetal and maternal DNA fragmentation in a systemic as well as local manner. However, the observed shortening of circulating fetal DNA relative to maternal DNA was not affected by the deletion of Dnase1l3 Collectively, our findings demonstrate that DNASE1L3 plays a role in circulating plasma DNA homeostasis by enhancing fragmentation and influencing end-motif frequencies. These results support a distinct role of DNASE1L3 as a regulator of the physical form and availability of cell-free DNA and may have important implications for the mechanism whereby this enzyme prevents autoimmunity.

Jagged Ends of Urinary Cell-Free DNA: Characterization and Feasibility Assessment in Bladder Cancer Detection.

BACKGROUND: Double-stranded DNA in plasma is known to carry single-stranded ends, called jagged ends. Plasma DNA jagged ends are biomarkers for pathophysiologic states such as pregnancy and cancer. It remains unknown whether urinary cell-free DNA (cfDNA) molecules have jagged ends. METHODS: Jagged ends of cfDNA were detected by incorporating unmethylated cytosines during a DNA end-repair process, followed by bisulfite sequencing. Incorporation of unmethylated cytosines during the repair of the jagged ends lowered the apparent methylation levels measured by bisulfite sequencing and were used to calculate a jagged end index. This approach is called jagged end analysis by sequencing. RESULTS: The jagged end index of urinary cfDNA was higher than that of plasma DNA. The jagged end index profile of plasma DNA displayed several strongly oscillating major peaks at intervals of approximately 165 bp (i.e., nucleosome size) and weakly oscillating minor peaks with periodicities of approximately 10 bp. In contrast, the urinary DNA jagged end index profile showed weakly oscillating major peaks but strongly oscillating minor peaks. The jagged end index was generally higher in nucleosomal linker DNA regions. Patients with bladder cancer (n = 46) had lower jagged end indexed of urinary DNA than participants without bladder cancer (n = 39). The area under the curve for differentiating between patients with and without bladder cancer was 0.83. CONCLUSIONS: Jagged ends represent a property of urinary cfDNA. The generation of jagged ends might be related to nucleosomal structures, with enrichment in linker DNA regions. Jagged ends of urinary DNA could potentially serve as a new biomarker for bladder cancer detection.

Sequencing-based counting and size profiling of plasma Epstein-Barr virus DNA enhance population screening of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Circulating tumor-derived DNA testing for cancer screening has recently been demonstrated in a prospective study on identification of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) among 20,174 asymptomatic individuals. Plasma EBV DNA, a marker for NPC, was detected using real-time PCR. While plasma EBV DNA was persistently detectable in 97.1% of the NPCs identified, ∼5% of the general population had transiently detectable plasma EBV DNA. We hypothesized that EBV DNA in plasma of subjects with or without NPC may have different molecular characteristics. We performed target-capture sequencing of plasma EBV DNA and identified differences in the abundance and size profiles of EBV DNA molecules within plasma of NPC and non-NPC subjects. NPC patients had significantly higher amounts of plasma EBV DNA, which showed longer fragment lengths. Cutoff values were established from an exploratory dataset and tested in a validation sample set. Adopting an algorithm that required a sample to concurrently pass cutoffs for EBV DNA counting and size measurements, NPCs were detected at a positive predictive value (PPV) of 19.6%. This represented superior performance compared with the PPV of 11.0% in the prospective screening study, which required participants with an initially detectable plasma EBV DNA result to be retested within 4 weeks. The observed differences in the molecular nature of EBV DNA molecules in plasma of subjects with or without NPC were successfully translated into a sequencing-based test that had a high PPV for NPC screening and achievable through single time-point testing.

Topologic Analysis of Plasma Mitochondrial DNA Reveals the Coexistence of Both Linear and Circular Molecules.

BACKGROUND: Cellular mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is organized as circular, covalently closed and double-stranded DNA. Studies have demonstrated the presence of short mtDNA fragments in plasma. It is not known whether circular mtDNA might concurrently exist with linear mtDNA in plasma. METHODS: We elucidated the topology of plasma mtDNA using restriction enzyme BfaI cleavage signatures on mtDNA fragment ends to differentiate linear and circular mtDNA. mtDNA fragments with both ends carrying BfaI cleavage signatures were defined as circular-derived mtDNA, whereas those with no cleavage signature or with 1 cleavage signature were defined as linear-derived mtDNA. An independent assay using exonuclease V to remove linear DNA followed by restriction enzyme MspI digestion was used for confirming the conclusions based on BfaI cleavage analysis. We analyzed the presence of BfaI cleavage signatures on plasma DNA ends in nonhematopoietically and hematopoietically derived DNA molecules by sequencing plasma DNA of patients with liver transplantation and bone marrow transplantation. RESULTS: Both linear and circular mtDNA coexisted in plasma. In patients with liver transplantation, donor-derived (i.e., liver) mtDNA molecules were mainly linear (median fraction, 91%; range, 75%-97%), whereas recipient-derived (i.e., hematopoietic) mtDNA molecules were mainly circular (median fraction, 88%; range, 77%-93%). The proportion of linear mtDNA was well correlated with liver DNA contribution in the plasma DNA pool (r = 0.83; P value = 0.0008). Consistent data were obtained from a bone marrow transplantation recipient in whom the donor-derived (i.e., hematopoietic) mtDNA molecules were predominantly circular. CONCLUSIONS: Linear and circular mtDNA molecules coexist in plasma and may have different tissue origins.

Plasma DNA End-Motif Profiling as a Fragmentomic Marker in Cancer, Pregnancy, and Transplantation.

Plasma DNA fragmentomics is an emerging area of research covering plasma DNA sizes, end points, and nucleosome footprints. In the present study, we found a significant increase in the diversity of plasma DNA end motifs in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Compared with patients without HCC, patients with HCC showed a preferential pattern of 4-mer end motifs. In particular, the abundance of plasma DNA motif CCCA was much lower in patients with HCC than in subjects without HCC. The aberrant end motifs were also observed in patients with other cancer types, including colorectal cancer, lung cancer, nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. We further observed that the profile of plasma DNA end motifs originating from the same organ, such as the liver, placenta, and hematopoietic cells, generally clustered together. The profile of end motifs may therefore serve as a class of biomarkers for liquid biopsy in oncology, noninvasive prenatal testing, and transplantation monitoring. SIGNIFICANCE: Plasma DNA molecules originating from the liver, HCC and other cancers, placenta, and hematopoietic cells each harbor a set of characteristic plasma DNA end motifs. Such markers carry tissue-of-origin information and represent a new class of biomarkers in the nascent field of fragmentomics.This article is highlighted in the In This Issue feature, p. 627.

Methylation analysis of plasma DNA informs etiologies of Epstein-Barr virus-associated diseases.

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is associated with a number of diseases, including malignancies. Currently, it is not known whether patients with different EBV-associated diseases have different methylation profiles of circulating EBV DNA. Through whole-genome methylation analysis of plasma samples from patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), EBV-associated lymphoma and infectious mononucleosis, we demonstrate that EBV DNA methylation profiles exhibit a disease-associated pattern. This observation implies a significant potential for the development of methylation analysis of plasma EBV DNA for NPC diagnostics. We further analyse the plasma EBV DNA methylome of NPC and non-NPC subjects from a prospective screening cohort. Plasma EBV DNA fragments demonstrate differential methylation patterns between NPC and non-NPC subjects. Combining such differential methylation patterns with the fractional concentration (count) and size of plasma EBV DNA, population screening of NPC is performed with an improved positive predictive value of 35.1%, compared to a count- and size-based only protocol.

Regulation of plant height in rice by the Polycomb group genes OsEMF2b, OsFIE2 and OsCLF.

An ideal plant height is essential for crop yield. Some Polycomb group (PcG) genes mutants exhibit a dwarf phenotype in rice. To determine how PcG genes regulate plant height, we investigated the phenotypes of the emf2b mutant and OsEMF2b, OsFIE2 and OsCLF RNAi transgenic plants; they all exhibited dwarf phenotype. Further analyses indicated that stem elongation at jointing stage was seriously inhibited in emf2b and RNAi transgenic plants. Reduced cell expansion and cell division of stem caused significant reduction of stem length during mature period of OsEMF2b, OsFIE2 and OsCLF RNAi transgenic plants. Transcription analysis revealed that cell division, cell expansion and plant hormones related genes differentially expressed between emf2b and WT. In addition, PcG genes mutants weakened GA signal and GA concentration and leaded to suppresseion of plant height. Analysis of differentially expressed genes revealed that 109 up-regulated and 19 down-regulated genes were identified in both emf2b and fie2. H3K27me3-modified sites were observed in 95 of the 109 up-regulated genes, and some of them were up-regulated in OsFIE2, OsCLF and OsEMF2b RNAi transgenic plants, and their H3K27me3 levels were reduced in emf2b. Moreover, OsEMF2b interacted with OsCLF. Therefore, we speculated that these PcG genes, OsFIE2, OsCLF and OsEMF2b, may work as a PRC2 to regulate rice height.

Contributions of Zea mays subspecies mexicana haplotypes to modern maize.

Maize was domesticated from lowland teosinte (Zea mays ssp. parviglumis), but the contribution of highland teosinte (Zea mays ssp. mexicana, hereafter mexicana) to modern maize is not clear. Here, two genomes for Mo17 (a modern maize inbred) and mexicana are assembled using a meta-assembly strategy after sequencing of 10 lines derived from a maize-teosinte cross. Comparative analyses reveal a high level of diversity between Mo17, B73, and mexicana, including three Mb-size structural rearrangements. The maize spontaneous mutation rate is estimated to be 2.17 × 10-8 ~3.87 × 10-8 per site per generation with a nonrandom distribution across the genome. A higher deleterious mutation rate is observed in the pericentromeric regions, and might be caused by differences in recombination frequency. Over 10% of the maize genome shows evidence of introgression from the mexicana genome, suggesting that mexicana contributed to maize adaptation and improvement. Our data offer a rich resource for constructing the pan-genome of Zea mays and genetic improvement of modern maize varieties.