Inherited C-terminal TREX1 variants disrupt homology-directed repair to cause senescence and DNA damage phenotypes in Drosophila, mice, and humans.

Age-related microangiopathy, also known as small vessel disease (SVD), causes damage to the brain, retina, liver, and kidney. Based on the DNA damage theory of aging, we reasoned that genomic instability may underlie an SVD caused by dominant C-terminal variants in TREX1, the most abundant 3'-5' DNA exonuclease in mammals. C-terminal TREX1 variants cause an adult-onset SVD known as retinal vasculopathy with cerebral leukoencephalopathy (RVCL or RVCL-S). In RVCL, an aberrant, C-terminally truncated TREX1 mislocalizes to the nucleus due to deletion of its ER-anchoring domain. Since RVCL pathology mimics that of radiation injury, we reasoned that nuclear TREX1 would cause DNA damage. Here, we show that RVCL-associated TREX1 variants trigger DNA damage in humans, mice, and Drosophila, and that cells expressing RVCL mutant TREX1 are more vulnerable to DNA damage induced by chemotherapy and cytokines that up-regulate TREX1, leading to depletion of TREX1-high cells in RVCL mice. RVCL-associated TREX1 mutants inhibit homology-directed repair (HDR), causing DNA deletions and vulnerablility to PARP inhibitors. In women with RVCL, we observe early-onset breast cancer, similar to patients with BRCA1/2 variants. Our results provide a mechanistic basis linking aberrant TREX1 activity to the DNA damage theory of aging, premature senescence, and microvascular disease.

Positive-strand RNA viruses-a Keystone Symposia report.

Positive-strand RNA viruses have been the cause of several recent outbreaks and epidemics, including the Zika virus epidemic in 2015, the SARS outbreak in 2003, and the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. On June 18-22, 2022, researchers focusing on positive-strand RNA viruses met for the Keystone Symposium "Positive-Strand RNA Viruses" to share the latest research in molecular and cell biology, virology, immunology, vaccinology, and antiviral drug development. This report presents concise summaries of the scientific discussions at the symposium.

Endogenous retroviruses promote homeostatic and inflammatory responses to the microbiota.

The microbiota plays a fundamental role in regulating host immunity. However, the processes involved in the initiation and regulation of immunity to the microbiota remain largely unknown. Here, we show that the skin microbiota promotes the discrete expression of defined endogenous retroviruses (ERVs). Keratinocyte-intrinsic responses to ERVs depended on cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS)/stimulator of interferon genes protein (STING) signaling and promoted the induction of commensal-specific T cells. Inhibition of ERV reverse transcription significantly impacted these responses, resulting in impaired immunity to the microbiota and its associated tissue repair function. Conversely, a lipid-enriched diet primed the skin for heightened ERV- expression in response to commensal colonization, leading to increased immune responses and tissue inflammation. Together, our results support the idea that the host may have co-opted its endogenous virome as a means to communicate with the exogenous microbiota, resulting in a multi-kingdom dialog that controls both tissue homeostasis and inflammation.

Discovery of several thousand highly diverse circular DNA viruses.

Although millions of distinct virus species likely exist, only approximately 9000 are catalogued in GenBank's RefSeq database. We selectively enriched for the genomes of circular DNA viruses in over 70 animal samples, ranging from nematodes to human tissue specimens. A bioinformatics pipeline, Cenote-Taker, was developed to automatically annotate over 2500 complete genomes in a GenBank-compliant format. The new genomes belong to dozens of established and emerging viral families. Some appear to be the result of previously undescribed recombination events between ssDNA and ssRNA viruses. In addition, hundreds of circular DNA elements that do not encode any discernable similarities to previously characterized sequences were identified. To characterize these 'dark matter' sequences, we used an artificial neural network to identify candidate viral capsid proteins, several of which formed virus-like particles when expressed in culture. These data further the understanding of viral sequence diversity and allow for high throughput documentation of the virosphere.

MAIT cells are imprinted by the microbiota in early life and promote tissue repair.

How early-life colonization and subsequent exposure to the microbiota affect long-term tissue immunity remains poorly understood. Here, we show that the development of mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells relies on a specific temporal window, after which MAIT cell development is permanently impaired. This imprinting depends on early-life exposure to defined microbes that synthesize riboflavin-derived antigens. In adults, cutaneous MAIT cells are a dominant population of interleukin-17A (IL-17A)-producing lymphocytes, which display a distinct transcriptional signature and can subsequently respond to skin commensals in an IL-1-, IL-18-, and antigen-dependent manner. Consequently, local activation of cutaneous MAIT cells promotes wound healing. Together, our work uncovers a privileged interaction between defined members of the microbiota and MAIT cells, which sequentially controls both tissue-imprinting and subsequent responses to injury.

Extensive conservation of prokaryotic ribosomal binding sites in known and novel picobirnaviruses.

Currently, the Leviviridae and Cystoviridae are the only two recognized families of prokaryotic RNA viruses. Picobirnaviruses, which are bisegmented double-stranded RNA viruses commonly found in animal stool samples, are currently thought to be animal viruses, but have not been propagated in cell culture or in an animal model. We hypothesize that picobirnaviruses are prokaryotic RNA viruses. We identified and analyzed the genomes of 38 novel picobirnaviruses and determined that a classical bacterial sequence motif, the ribosomal binding site (RBS), is present in the 5' untranslated regions (5' UTRs) of all of the novel as well as all previously published picobirnavirus sequences. Among all viruses, enrichment of the RBS motif is only observed in viral families that infect prokaryotes and not in eukaryotic infecting viral families. These results will enable future studies to more accurately understand the biology of picobirnaviruses.

Cellular microRNA networks regulate host dependency of hepatitis C virus infection.

Cellular microRNAs (miRNAs) have been shown to regulate hepatitis C virus (HCV) replication, yet a systematic interrogation of the repertoire of miRNAs impacting HCV life cycle is lacking. Here we apply integrative functional genomics strategies to elucidate global HCV-miRNA interactions. Through genome-wide miRNA mimic and hairpin inhibitor phenotypic screens, and miRNA-mRNA transcriptomics analyses, we identify three proviral and nine antiviral miRNAs that interact with HCV. These miRNAs are functionally linked to particular steps of HCV life cycle and related viral host dependencies. Further mechanistic studies demonstrate that miR-25, let-7, and miR-130 families repress essential HCV co-factors, thus restricting viral infection at multiple stages. HCV subverts the antiviral actions of these miRNAs by dampening their expression in cell culture models and HCV-infected human livers. This comprehensive HCV-miRNA interaction map provides fundamental insights into HCV-mediated pathogenesis and unveils molecular pathways linking RNA biology to viral infections.

On the Origin of Reverse Transcriptase-Using CRISPR-Cas Systems and Their Hyperdiverse, Enigmatic Spacer Repertoires.

Cas1 integrase is the key enzyme of the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)-Cas adaptation module that mediates acquisition of spacers derived from foreign DNA by CRISPR arrays. In diverse bacteria, the cas1 gene is fused (or adjacent) to a gene encoding a reverse transcriptase (RT) related to group II intron RTs. An RT-Cas1 fusion protein has been recently shown to enable acquisition of CRISPR spacers from RNA. Phylogenetic analysis of the CRISPR-associated RTs demonstrates monophyly of the RT-Cas1 fusion, and coevolution of the RT and Cas1 domains. Nearly all such RTs are present within type III CRISPR-Cas loci, but their phylogeny does not parallel the CRISPR-Cas type classification, indicating that RT-Cas1 is an autonomous functional module that is disseminated by horizontal gene transfer and can function with diverse type III systems. To compare the sequence pools sampled by RT-Cas1-associated and RT-lacking CRISPR-Cas systems, we obtained samples of a commercially grown cyanobacterium-Arthrospira platensis Sequencing of the CRISPR arrays uncovered a highly diverse population of spacers. Spacer diversity was particularly striking for the RT-Cas1-containing type III-B system, where no saturation was evident even with millions of sequences analyzed. In contrast, analysis of the RT-lacking type III-D system yielded a highly diverse pool but reached a point where fewer novel spacers were recovered as sequencing depth was increased. Matches could be identified for a small fraction of the non-RT-Cas1-associated spacers, and for only a single RT-Cas1-associated spacer. Thus, the principal source(s) of the spacers, particularly the hypervariable spacer repertoire of the RT-associated arrays, remains unknown.IMPORTANCE While the majority of CRISPR-Cas immune systems adapt to foreign genetic elements by capturing segments of invasive DNA, some systems carry reverse transcriptases (RTs) that enable adaptation to RNA molecules. From analysis of available bacterial sequence data, we find evidence that RT-based RNA adaptation machinery has been able to join with CRISPR-Cas immune systems in many, diverse bacterial species. To investigate whether the abilities to adapt to DNA and RNA molecules are utilized for defense against distinct classes of invaders in nature, we sequenced CRISPR arrays from samples of commercial-scale open-air cultures of Arthrospira platensis, a cyanobacterium that contains both RT-lacking and RT-containing CRISPR-Cas systems. We uncovered a diverse pool of naturally occurring immune memories, with the RT-lacking locus acquiring a number of segments matching known viral or bacterial genes, while the RT-containing locus has acquired spacers from a distinct sequence pool for which the source remains enigmatic.

Origins and challenges of viral dark matter.

The accurate classification of viral dark matter - metagenomic sequences that originate from viruses but do not align to any reference virus sequences - is one of the major obstacles in comprehensively defining the virome. Depending on the sample, viral dark matter can make up from anywhere between 40 and 90% of sequences. This review focuses on the specific nature of dark matter as it relates to viral sequences. We identify three factors that contribute to the existence of viral dark matter: the divergence and length of virus sequences, the limitations of alignment based classification, and limited representation of viruses in reference sequence databases. We then discuss current methods that have been developed to at least partially circumvent these limitations and thereby reduce the extent of viral dark matter.

Statoviruses, A novel taxon of RNA viruses present in the gastrointestinal tracts of diverse mammals.

Next-generation sequencing has expanded our understanding of the viral populations that constitute the mammalian virome. We describe a novel taxon of viruses named Statoviruses, for Stool associated Tombus-like viruses, present in multiple metagenomic datasets. These viruses define a novel clade that is phylogenetically related to the RNA virus families Tombusviridae and Flaviviridae. Five distinct statovirus types were identified in human, macaque, mouse, and cow gastrointestinal tract samples. The prototype genome, statovirus A, was frequently identified in macaque stool samples from multiple geographically distinct cohorts. Another genome, statovirus C1, was discovered in a stool sample from a human child with fever, cough, and rash. Further experimental data will clarify whether these viruses are infectious to mammals or if they originate from another source present in the mammalian gastrointestinal tract.

VirusSeeker, a computational pipeline for virus discovery and virome composition analysis.

The advent of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) has vastly increased our ability to discover novel viruses and to systematically define the spectrum of viruses present in a given specimen. Such studies have led to the discovery of novel viral pathogens as well as broader associations of the virome with diverse diseases including inflammatory bowel disease, severe acute malnutrition and HIV/AIDS. Critical to the success of these efforts are robust bioinformatic pipelines for rapid classification of microbial sequences. Existing computational tools are typically focused on either eukaryotic virus discovery or virome composition analysis but not both. Here we present VirusSeeker, a BLAST-based NGS data analysis pipeline designed for both purposes. VirusSeeker has been successfully applied in several previously published virome studies. Here we demonstrate the functionality of VirusSeeker in both novel virus discovery and virome composition analysis.

Hyperexpansion of RNA Bacteriophage Diversity.

Bacteriophage modulation of microbial populations impacts critical processes in ocean, soil, and animal ecosystems. However, the role of bacteriophages with RNA genomes (RNA bacteriophages) in these processes is poorly understood, in part because of the limited number of known RNA bacteriophage species. Here, we identify partial genome sequences of 122 RNA bacteriophage phylotypes that are highly divergent from each other and from previously described RNA bacteriophages. These novel RNA bacteriophage sequences were present in samples collected from a range of ecological niches worldwide, including invertebrates and extreme microbial sediment, demonstrating that they are more widely distributed than previously recognized. Genomic analyses of these novel bacteriophages yielded multiple novel genome organizations. Furthermore, one RNA bacteriophage was detected in the transcriptome of a pure culture of Streptomyces avermitilis, suggesting for the first time that the known tropism of RNA bacteriophages may include gram-positive bacteria. Finally, reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR)-based screening for two specific RNA bacteriophages in stool samples from a longitudinal cohort of macaques suggested that they are generally acutely present rather than persistent.

Identification of novel viruses using VirusHunter--an automated data analysis pipeline.

Quick and accurate identification of microbial pathogens is essential for both diagnosis and response to emerging infectious diseases. The advent of next-generation sequencing technology offers an unprecedented platform for rapid sequencing-based identification of novel viruses. We have developed a customized bioinformatics data analysis pipeline, VirusHunter, for the analysis of Roche/454 and other long read Next generation sequencing platform data. To illustrate the utility of VirusHunter, we performed Roche/454 GS FLX titanium sequencing on two unclassified virus isolates from the World Reference Center for Emerging Viruses and Arboviruses (WRCEVA). VirusHunter identified sequences derived from a novel bunyavirus and a novel reovirus in the two samples respectively. Further sequence analysis demonstrated that the viruses were novel members of the Phlebovirus and Orbivirus genera. Both Phlebovirus and Orbivirus genera include many economic important viruses or serious human pathogens.

Hepatitis C virus infection activates an innate pathway involving IKK-α in lipogenesis and viral assembly.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) interacts extensively with host factors to not only establish productive infection but also trigger unique pathological processes. Our recent genome-wide siRNA screen demonstrated that IκB kinase-α (IKK-α) is a crucial host factor for HCV. Here we describe a new nuclear factor κB (NF-κB)-independent and kinase-mediated nuclear function of IKK-α in HCV assembly. HCV, through its 3' untranslated region, interacts with DEAD box polypeptide 3, X-linked (DDX3X) to activate IKK-α, which translocates to the nucleus and induces a CBP/p300-mediated transcriptional program involving sterol regulatory element-binding proteins (SREBPs). This innate pathway induces lipogenic genes and enhances core-associated lipid droplet formation to facilitate viral assembly. Chemical inhibitors of IKK-α suppress HCV infection and IKK-α-induced lipogenesis, offering a proof-of-concept approach for new HCV therapeutic development. Our results show that HCV uses a novel mechanism to exploit intrinsic innate responses and hijack lipid metabolism, which may contribute to high chronicity rates and the pathological hallmark of steatosis in HCV infection.

Cutting edge: down-regulation of MHC class I-related chain A on tumor cells by IFN-gamma-induced microRNA.

NKG2D is a receptor used by NK cells to detect virally infected and transformed cells. It recognizes ligands that are expressed constitutively on primary tumors and tumor cell lines. In this report, we have identified four microRNAs (miRNAs) that each was sufficient to reduce the expression of the NKG2D ligand MHC class I-related chain A (MICA). One of these miRNAs (miR-520b) was induced by IFN-gamma, leading to a reduction in MICA surface protein levels. Interestingly, miR-520b acted on both the MICA 3'-untranslated region and the promoter region and caused a decrease in the levels of MICA transcript. In contrast, an antisense oligonucleotide inhibitor of miR-520b increased the expression of a reporter construct containing the MICA 3'-untranslated region but not the MICA promoter region. These findings demonstrate the novel regulation of an NKG2D ligand by an endogenous microRNA that is itself induced by IFN-gamma.