A tandem repeat in DNA is two or more contiguous, approximate copies of a pattern of nucleotides. Tandem repeats have been shown to cause human disease, may play a variety of regulatory and evolutionary roles and are important laboratory and analytic tools. Extensive knowledge about pattern size, copy number, mutational history, etc. for tandem repeats has been limited by the inability to easily detect them in genomic sequence data. In this paper, we present a new algorithm for finding tandem repeats which works without the need to specify either the pattern or pattern size. We model tandem repeats by percent identity and frequency of indels between adjacent pattern copies and use statistically based recognition criteria. We demonstrate the algorithm’s speed and its ability to detect tandem repeats that have undergone extensive mutational change by analyzing four sequences: the human frataxin gene, the human β T cell receptor locus sequence and two yeast chromosomes. These sequences range in size from 3 kb up to 700 kb. A World Wide Web server interface at c3.biomath.mssm.edu/trf.html has been established for automated use of the program.

/pdf/tandem-repeats-finder-a-program-to-analyze-dna-sequences-1oo3g6vnch.pdf

Tandem repeats finder: a program to analyze DNA sequences

The distinct protein aggregates that are found in Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's and prion diseases seem to cause these disorders. Small intermediates - soluble oligomers - in the aggregation process can confer synaptic dysfunction, whereas large, insoluble deposits might function as reservoirs of the bioactive oligomers. These emerging concepts are exemplified by Alzheimer's disease, in which amyloid beta-protein oligomers adversely affect synaptic structure and plasticity. Findings in other neurodegenerative diseases indicate that a broadly similar process of neuronal dysfunction is induced by diffusible oligomers of misfolded proteins.

Soluble protein oligomers in neurodegeneration: lessons from the Alzheimer's amyloid beta-peptide.

Some cases of Alzheimer's disease are inherited as an autosomal dominant trait. Genetic linkage studies have mapped a locus (AD3) associated with susceptibility to a very aggressive form of Alzheimer's disease to chromosome 14q24.3. We have defined a minimal cosegregating region containing the AD3 gene, and isolated at least 19 different transcripts encoded within this region. One of these transcripts (S182) corresponds to a novel gene whose product is predicted to contain multiple transmembrane domains and resembles an integral membrane protein. Five different missense mutations have been found that cosegregate with early-onset familial Alzheimer's disease. Because these changes occurred in conserved domains of this gene, and are not present in normal controls, they are likely to be causative of AD3.

Cloning of a gene bearing missense mutations in early-onset familial Alzheimer's disease

There is an increasing amount of experimental evidence that oxidative stress is a causal, or at least an ancillary, factor in the neuropathology of several adult neurodegenerative disorders, as well as in stroke, trauma, and seizures. At the same time, excessive or persistent activation of glutamate-gated ion channels may cause neuronal degeneration in these same conditions. Glutamate and related acidic amino acids are thought to be the major excitatory neurotransmitters in brain and may be utilized by 40 percent of the synapses. Thus, two broad mechanisms--oxidative stress and excessive activation of glutamate receptors--are converging and represent sequential as well as interacting processes that provide a final common pathway for cell vulnerability in the brain. The broad distribution in brain of the processes regulating oxidative stress and mediating glutamatergic neurotransmission may explain the wide range of disorders in which both have been implicated. Yet differential expression of components of the processes in particular neuronal systems may account for selective neurodegeneration in certain disorders.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/262/5134/689.full.pdf

Oxidative stress, glutamate, and neurodegenerative disorders

IN Western Europe and the United States approximately 1 in 12 women develop breast cancer. A small proportion of breast cancer cases, in particular those arising at a young age, are attributable to a highly penetrant, autosomal dominant predisposition to the disease. The breast cancer susceptibility gene, BRCA2, was recently localized to chromosome 13q12-q13. Here we report the identification of a gene in which we have detected six different germline mutations in breast cancer families that are likely to be due to BRCA2. Each mutation causes serious disruption to the open reading frame of the transcriptional unit. The results indicate that this is the BRCA2 gene.

Identification of the breast cancer susceptibility gene BRCA2

Mdm2 (murine double minute 2) is an oncogene, first identified in BALB/c 3T3 cells. Over-expression and gene amplification of Mdm2 were found in a variety of human cancers. Recently, Mdm2 was found to be an E3 ubiquitin ligase that promotes degradation of p53, which contributes significantly to its oncogenic activity. In this study, we test a hypothesis that Mdm2 ligase dead mutants, which retained p53 binding activity but lost degradation activity, would act in a dominant negative manner to re-activate p53, especially upon stressed conditions. Five Mdm2 constructs expressing wild-type and E3 ligase-dead Mdm2 proteins were generated in a Tet-Off system and transfected into MCF-7 breast cancer cells (p53+/+ with Mdm2 overexpression) as well as MCF10A immortalized breast cells (p53+/+ without Mdm2 overexpression) as a normal control. We found that expression of Mdm2 mutants were tightly regulated by doxycycline. Withdrawal of doxycycline in culture medium triggered over-expression of Mdm2 mutants. However, expression of ligase dead mutants in MCF7 and MCF10A cells did not reactivate p53 as shown by a luciferase-reporter transcription assay and Western blot of p53 and its downstream target p21 under either unstressed condition or after exposure to DNA damaging agents. Biologically, over-expression of Mdm2 mutants had no effect on p53-induced apoptosis following DNA damage. Interestingly, over-expression of Mdm2 mutants promoted growth of MCF7 tumor cells probably via a p53-independent mechanism. Over-expression of Mdm2 mutants, however, had no effect on the growth of normal MCF10A cells and did not cause their transformation. Thus, ligase dead mutants of Mdm2 did not act in a dominant negative manner to re-activate p53 and they are not oncogenes in MCF10A cells.

Mdm2 ligase dead mutants did not act in a dominant negative manner to re-activate p53, but promoted tumor cell growth.

The invention provides for methods of treating lysosomal storage disorders and/or reduction of non-cholesterol lipids, using cyclodextrin compounds, including in combination with other therapeutics, including vitamin E.

Cyclodextrin for the treatment of lysosomal storage diseases

Disease modeling for Mucopolysaccharidosis type IIIB using patient derived induced pluripotent stem cells.

iPS-derived neural stem cells for disease modeling and evaluation of therapeutics for mucopolysaccharidosis type II.

Ciliopathies manifest from sensory abnormalities to syndromic disorders with multiorgan pathologies, with retinal degeneration a highly penetrant phenotype. Photoreceptor cell death is a major cause of incurable blindness in retinal ciliopathies. To identify drug candidates to maintain photoreceptor survival, we performed an unbiased, high-throughput screening of over 6,000 bioactive small molecules using retinal organoids differentiated from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) of rd16 mouse, which is a model of Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA)10 caused by mutations in the cilia-centrosomal gene CEP290. We identified five non-toxic positive hits, including the lead molecule reserpine, which improved photoreceptor survival in rd16 organoids. Reserpine also maintained photoreceptors in retinal organoids derived from induced pluripotent stem cells of LCA10 patients and in rd16 mouse retina in vivo. Reserpine-treated patient organoids revealed modulation of signaling pathways related to cell survival/death, metabolism, and proteostasis. Further investigation uncovered misregulation of autophagy associated with compromised primary cilium biogenesis in patient organoids and rd16 mouse retina. Reserpine partially restored the balance between autophagy and the ubiquitin-proteasome system, at least in part by increasing the cargo adaptor p62 and improving primary cilium assembly. Our study identifies effective drug candidates in preclinical studies of CEP290 retinal ciliopathies through cross-species drug discovery using iPSC-derived organoids, highlights the impact of proteostasis in the pathogenesis of ciliopathies, and provides new insights for treatments of retinal neurodegeneration.

Manju Swaroop

Papers

Mdm2 ligase dead mutants did not act in a dominant negative manner to re-activate p53, but promoted tumor cell growth.

Cyclodextrin for the treatment of lysosomal storage diseases

Disease modeling for Mucopolysaccharidosis type IIIB using patient derived induced pluripotent stem cells.

iPS-derived neural stem cells for disease modeling and evaluation of therapeutics for mucopolysaccharidosis type II.

Reserpine maintains photoreceptor survival in retinal ciliopathy by resolving proteostasis imbalance and ciliogenesis defects