Activating cryptic biosynthetic gene cluster through a CRISPR-Cas12a-mediated direct cloning approach.

Direct cloning of biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) from microbial genomes facilitates natural product-based drug discovery. Here, by combining Cas12a and the advanced features of bacterial artificial chromosome library construction, we developed a fast yet efficient in vitro platform for directly capturing large BGCs, named CAT-FISHING (CRISPR/Cas12a-mediated fast direct biosynthetic gene cluster cloning). As demonstrations, several large BGCs from different actinomycetal genomic DNA samples were efficiently captured by CAT-FISHING, the largest of which was 145 kb with 75% GC content. Furthermore, the directly cloned, 110 kb long, cryptic polyketide encoding BGC from Micromonospora sp. 181 was then heterologously expressed in a Streptomyces chassis. It turned out to be a new macrolactam compound, marinolactam A, which showed promising anticancer activity. Our results indicate that CAT-FISHING is a powerful method for complicated BGC cloning, and we believe that it would be an important asset to the entire community of natural product-based drug discovery.

Insulin-like growth factor-1 secreted by brain microvascular endothelial cells attenuates neuron injury upon ischemia.

Insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1 is essential for the development of the nervous system, and is present in many cell types. Relatively little is known about IGF-1 expression in brain microvascular endothelial cells (BMECs). For in vivo studies, we examined the expression of IGF-1 and insulin-like growth factor-binding protein (IGFBP)-2 after focal cerebral ischemia for 12 h, 24 h, 3 days and 7 days, utilizing a permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) model in rats. For in vitro studies, we examined the levels of IGF-1 and IGFBP-2 in the culture medium or primary culture of BMECs injured by oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD). Then, we elucidated the protective effects of IGF-1 on cortical neurons injured by OGD and the possible mechanism. In addition, we investigated the effect of BMEC-conditioned medium on IGF-1 receptor expression in neurons. The results showed that IGF-1 expression increased in serum and brain tissue, whereas IGFBP-2 expression decreased in brain tissue of MCAO-injured rats. In primary culture of BMECs, the expression levels of IGF-1 and IGFBP-2 were significantly higher under OGD conditions in culture. IGF-1 administration improved neuron viability upon normoxia or OGD, and upregulated p-Akt expression. This effect was reversed by LY294002, a specific inhibitor of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase-Akt signaling pathway. Furthermore, conditioned medium from OGD-treated BMECs substantially suppressed neuron viability and the expression of IGF-1 receptor simultaneously. These data demonstrate that therapeutic strategies that prioritize the early recovery of the IGF-1 system in BMECs might be promising in ischemic injury.