RESUMO
Microsatellites are short tandem repeats, ubiquitous in all eukaryotes and represent ~2% of the human genome. Among them, trinucleotide repeats are responsible for more than two dozen neurological and developmental disorders. Targeting microsatellites with dedicated DNA endonucleases could become a viable option for patients affected with dramatic neurodegenerative disorders. Here, we used the Streptococcus pyogenes Cas9 to induce a double-strand break within the expanded CTG repeat involved in myotonic dystrophy type 1, integrated in a yeast chromosome. Repair of this double-strand break generated unexpected large chromosomal deletions around the repeat tract. These deletions depended on RAD50, RAD52, DNL4 and SAE2, and both non-homologous end-joining and single-strand annealing pathways were involved. Resection and repair of the double-strand break (DSB) were totally abolished in a rad50Δ strain, whereas they were impaired in a sae2Δ mutant, only on the DSB end containing most of the repeat tract. This observation demonstrates that Sae2 plays significant different roles in resecting a DSB end containing a repeated and structured sequence as compared to a non-repeated DSB end. In addition, we also discovered that gene conversion was less efficient when the DSB could be repaired using a homologous template, suggesting that the trinucleotide repeat may interfere with gene conversion too. Altogether, these data show that SpCas9 may not be the best choice when inducing a double-strand break at or near a microsatellite, especially in mammalian genomes that contain many more dispersed repeated elements than the yeast genome.
Assuntos
Quebras de DNA de Cadeia Dupla , Distrofia Miotônica/genética , Recombinação Genética , Repetições de Trinucleotídeos/genética , Proteína 9 Associada à CRISPR/genética , Sistemas CRISPR-Cas , Deleção Cromossômica , Cromossomos Fúngicos/genética , Reparo do DNA por Junção de Extremidades/genética , DNA Ligase Dependente de ATP/genética , Reparo do DNA/genética , Proteínas de Ligação a DNA/genética , Endonucleases/genética , Conversão Gênica/genética , Genoma Humano/genética , Humanos , Distrofia Miotônica/patologia , Proteína Rad52 de Recombinação e Reparo de DNA/genética , Saccharomyces cerevisiae/genética , Proteínas de Saccharomyces cerevisiae/genética , Expansão das Repetições de Trinucleotídeos/genéticaRESUMO
Nucleic acid detection and quantification using a labeled DNA probe is a very common molecular biology procedure. Here, we describe a new method, based on commonly used laboratory solutions, for nucleic acid hybridization and detection with digoxigenin-labeled DNA probes. The protocol described is faster, more sensitive and much cheaper than a standard protocol using commercial solutions. Comparison with a classical radioactive detection method shows that the latter exhibits less background and shows a greater linear response. Hence, the proposed protocol may be routinely performed for qualitative detection of nucleic acid, but when precise signal quantitation needs to be obtained, radioactive probe hybridization associated to phosphorimaging technology is more reliable.