Constitutive and conditional suppression of exogenous and endogenous genes by anti-sense RNA

Science ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 229 (4711) ◽  
pp. 345-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Izant ◽  
H Weintraub
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 172-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ling-Yan Zhou ◽  
Zhou Qin ◽  
Yang-Hui Zhu ◽  
Zhi-Yao He ◽  
Ting Xu

Long-term research on various types of RNAs has led to further understanding of diverse mechanisms, which eventually resulted in the rapid development of RNA-based therapeutics as powerful tools in clinical disease treatment. Some of the developing RNA drugs obey the antisense mechanisms including antisense oligonucleotides, small interfering RNAs, microRNAs, small activating RNAs, and ribozymes. These types of RNAs could be utilized to inhibit/activate gene expression or change splicing to provide functional proteins. In the meantime, some others based on different mechanisms like modified messenger RNAs could replace the dysfunctional endogenous genes to manage some genetic diseases, and aptamers with special three-dimensional structures could bind to specific targets in a high-affinity manner. In addition, the recent most popular CRISPR-Cas technology, consisting of a crucial single guide RNA, could edit DNA directly to generate therapeutic effects. The desired results from recent clinical trials indicated the great potential of RNA-based drugs in the treatment of various diseases, but further studies on improving delivery materials and RNA modifications are required for the novel RNA-based drugs to translate to the clinic. This review focused on the advances and clinical studies of current RNA-based therapeutics, analyzed their challenges and prospects.


2002 ◽  
Vol 29 (10) ◽  
pp. 1217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris A. Helliwell ◽  
S. Varsha Wesley ◽  
Anna J. Wielopolska ◽  
Peter M. Waterhouse

A major challenge in the post-genome era of plant biology is to determine the functions of all genes in the plant genome. A straightforward approach to this problem is to reduce or knockout expression of a gene with the hope of seeing a phenotype that is suggestive of its function. Insertional mutagenesis is a useful tool for this type of study but is limited by gene redundancy, lethal knockouts, non-tagged mutants, and the inability to target the inserted element to a specific gene. The efficacy of gene silencing in plants using inverted-repeat transgene constructs that encode a hairpin RNA (hpRNA) has been demonstrated by a number of groups, and has several advantages over insertional mutagenesis. In this paper we describe two improved pHellsgate vectors that facilitate rapid generation of hpRNA-encoding constructs. pHellsgate 4 allows the production of an hpRNA construct in a single step from a single polymerase chain reaction product, while pHellsgate 8 requires a two-step process via an intermediate vector. We show that these vectors are effective at silencing three endogenous genes in Arabidopsis, FLOWERING LOCUS C, PHYTOENE DESATURASE and ETHYLENE INSENSITIVE 2. We also show that a construct of sequences from two genes silences both genes.


2007 ◽  
Vol 27 (16) ◽  
pp. 5630-5638 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Johns ◽  
Andrew Grimson ◽  
Sherry L. Kuchma ◽  
Carrie Loushin Newman ◽  
Philip Anderson

ABSTRACT Eukaryotic mRNAs containing premature translation termination codons (PTCs) are rapidly degraded by a process termed “nonsense-mediated mRNA decay” (NMD). We examined protein-protein and protein-RNA interactions among Caenorhabditis elegans proteins required for NMD. SMG-2, SMG-3, and SMG-4 are orthologs of yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and mammalian Upf1, Upf2, and Upf3, respectively. A combination of immunoprecipitation and yeast two-hybrid experiments indicated that SMG-2 interacts with SMG-3, SMG-3 interacts with SMG-4, and SMG-2 interacts indirectly with SMG-4 via shared interactions with SMG-3. Such interactions are similar to those observed in yeast and mammalian cells. SMG-2-SMG-3-SMG-4 interactions require neither SMG-2 phosphorylation, which is abolished in smg-1 mutants, nor SMG-2 dephosphorylation, which is reduced or eliminated in smg-5 mutants. SMG-2 preferentially associates with PTC-containing mRNAs. We monitored the association of SMG-2, SMG-3, and SMG-4 with mRNAs of five endogenous genes whose mRNAs are alternatively spliced to either contain or not contain PTCs. SMG-2 associates with both PTC-free and PTC-containing mRNPs, but it strongly and preferentially associates with (“marks”) those containing PTCs. SMG-2 marking of PTC-mRNPs is enhanced by SMG-3 and SMG-4, but SMG-3 and SMG-4 are not detectably associated with the same mRNPs. Neither SMG-2 phosphorylation nor dephosphorylation is required for selective association of SMG-2 with PTC-containing mRNPs, indicating that SMG-2 is phosphorylated only after premature terminations have been discriminated from normal terminations. We discuss these observations with regard to the functions of SMG-2 and its phosphorylation during NMD.


Development ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 121 (9) ◽  
pp. 2853-2859 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Weng ◽  
T. Magnuson ◽  
U. Storb

A murine transgene, HRD, is methylated only when carried in certain inbred strain backgrounds. A locus on distal chromosome 4, Ssm1 (strain-specific modifier), controls this phenomenon. In order to characterize the activity of Ssm1, we have investigated developmental acquisition of methylation over the transgene. Analysis of postimplantation embryos revealed that strain-specific methylation is initiated prior to embryonic day (E) 6.5. Strain-specific transgene methylation is all-or-none in pattern and occurs exclusively in the primitive ectoderm lineage. A strain-independent pattern of partial methylation occurs in the primitive endoderm and trophectoderm lineages. To examine earlier stages, embryonic stem (ES) cells were derived from E3.5 blastocysts and examined for transgene methylation before and after differentiation. Though the transgene had already acquired some methylation in undifferentiated ES cells, differentiation induced further, de novo methylation in a strain-dependent manner. Analysis of methylation in ES cultures suggests that the transgene and endogenous genes (such as immunoglobulin genes) are synchronously methylated during early development. These results are interpreted in the context of a model in which Ssm1-like modifier genes produce alterations in chromatin structure during and/or shortly after implantation, thereby marking target loci for de novo methylation with the rest of the genome during gastrulation.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jens P. Magnusson ◽  
Antonio R. Rios ◽  
Lingling Wu ◽  
Lei S. Qi

AbstractThe type V-A Cas12a protein can process its CRISPR array, a feature useful for multiplexed gene editing and regulation. However, CRISPR arrays often exhibit unpredictable performance due to interference between multiple crRNAs. Here, we report that Cas12a array performance is hypersensitive to the GC content of crRNA spacers, as high-GC spacers can impair activity of the downstream crRNA. We analyzed naturally occurring CRISPR arrays and observed that repeats always contain an AT-rich fragment that separates crRNAs; we term this fragment a CRISPR separator. Inspired by this observation, we designed short, AT-rich synthetic separators (synSeparators) that successfully removed the disruptive effects between crRNAs. We demonstrate enhanced simultaneous activation of seven endogenous genes in human cells using an array containing the synSeparator. These results elucidate a previously unknown feature of natural CRISPR arrays and demonstrate how nature-inspired engineering solutions can improve multi-gene control in mammalian cells.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rabea Dettmer ◽  
Isabell Niwolik ◽  
Ilir Mehmeti ◽  
Anne Jörns ◽  
Ortwin Naujok

AbstractDifferentiation of human pluripotent stem cells into insulin-producing stem cell-derived beta cells harbors great potential for research and therapy of diabetes. The SOX9 gene plays a crucial role during development of the pancreas and particularly in the development of insulin-producing cells as SOX9+ cells form the source for NEUROG3+ endocrine progenitor cells. For the purpose of easy monitoring of differentiation efficiencies into pancreatic progenitors and insulin-producing cells, we generated new reporter lines by knocking in a P2A-H-2Kk-F2A-GFP2 reporter genes into the SOX9 locus and a P2A-mCherry reporter gene into the INS locus mediated by CRISPR/CAS9-technology. The knock-ins enable co-expression of the endogenous genes and reporter genes, report the endogenous gene expression and enable the purification of pancreatic progenitors and insulin-producing cells using FACS or MACS. Using these cell lines we established a new differentiation protocol geared towards SOX9+ cells to efficiently drive human pluripotent stem cells into glucose-responsive beta cells.


Author(s):  
Gerard Terradas ◽  
Anita Hermann ◽  
Anthony A James ◽  
William McGinnis ◽  
Ethan Bier

Abstract Gene drives are programmable genetic elements that can spread beneficial traits into wild populations to aid in vector-borne pathogen control. Two different drives have been developed for population modification of mosquito vectors. The Reckh drive (vasa-Cas9) in Anopheles stephensi displays efficient allelic conversion through males but generates frequent drive-resistant mutant alleles when passed through females. In contrast, the AgNos-Cd1 drive (nos-Cas9) in An. gambiae achieves almost complete allelic conversion through both genders. Here, we examined the subcellular localization of RNA transcripts in the mosquito germline. In both transgenic lines, Cas9 is strictly co-expressed with endogenous genes in stem and pre-meiotic cells of the testes, where both drives display highly efficient conversion. However, we observed distinct co-localization patterns for the two drives in female reproductive tissues. These studies suggest potential determinants underlying efficient drive through the female germline. We also evaluated expression patterns of alternative germline genes for future gene-drive designs.


2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 581-610 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Rosa ◽  
Yen-Wen Kuo ◽  
Hada Wuriyanghan ◽  
Bryce W. Falk

The origin of RNA interference (RNAi), the cell sentinel system widely shared among eukaryotes that recognizes RNAs and specifically degrades or prevents their translation in cells, is suggested to predate the last eukaryote common ancestor ( 138 ). Of particular relevance to plant pathology is that in plants, but also in some fungi, insects, and lower eukaryotes, RNAi is a primary and effective antiviral defense, and recent studies have revealed that small RNAs (sRNAs) involved in RNAi play important roles in other plant diseases, including those caused by cellular plant pathogens. Because of this, and because RNAi can be manipulated to interfere with the expression of endogenous genes in an intra- or interspecific manner, RNAi has been used as a tool in studies of gene function but also for plant protection. Here, we review the discovery of RNAi, canonical mechanisms, experimental and translational applications, and new RNA-based technologies of importance to plant pathology.


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