Howard Hughes Medical Institute

About: Howard Hughes Medical Institute is a nonprofit organization based out in Chevy Chase, Maryland, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Gene & RNA. The organization has 20371 authors who have published 34677 publications receiving 5247143 citations. The organization is also known as: HHMI & hhmi.org.

Highly efficient Cas9-mediated transcriptional programming

Abstract: The RNA-guided nuclease Cas9 can be reengineered as a programmable transcription factor. However, modest levels of gene activation have limited potential applications. We describe an improved transcriptional regulator obtained through the rational design of a tripartite activator, VP64-p65-Rta (VPR), fused to nuclease-null Cas9. We demonstrate its utility in activating endogenous coding and noncoding genes, targeting several genes simultaneously and stimulating neuronal differentiation of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs).

The Genome Sequence of Taurine Cattle: A Window to Ruminant Biology and Evolution

Abstract: To understand the biology and evolution of ruminants, the cattle genome was sequenced to about sevenfold coverage. The cattle genome contains a minimum of 22,000 genes, with a core set of 14,345 orthologs shared among seven mammalian species of which 1217 are absent or undetected in noneutherian (marsupial or monotreme) genomes. Cattle-specific evolutionary breakpoint regions in chromosomes have a higher density of segmental duplications, enrichment of repetitive elements, and species-specific variations in genes associated with lactation and immune responsiveness. Genes involved in metabolism are generally highly conserved, although five metabolic genes are deleted or extensively diverged from their human orthologs. The cattle genome sequence thus provides a resource for understanding mammalian evolution and accelerating livestock genetic improvement for milk and meat production.

The crystal structure of the asymmetric GroEL–GroES–(ADP) 7 chaperonin complex

Abstract: Chaperonins assist protein folding with the consumption of ATP. They exist as multi-subunit protein assemblies comprising rings of subunits stacked back to back. In Escherichia coli, asymmetric intermediates of GroEL are formed with the co-chaperonin GroES and nucleotides bound only to one of the seven-subunit rings (the cis ring) and not to the opposing ring (the trans ring). The structure of the GroEL-GroES-(ADP)7 complex reveals how large en bloc movements of the cis ring's intermediate and apical domains enable bound GroES to stabilize a folding chamber with ADP confined to the cis ring. Elevation and twist of the apical domains double the volume of the central cavity and bury hydrophobic peptide-binding residues in the interface with GroES, as well as between GroEL subunits, leaving a hydrophilic cavity lining that is conducive to protein folding. An inward tilt of the cis equatorial domain causes an outward tilt in the trans ring that opposes the binding of a second GroES. When combined with new functional results, this negative allosteric mechanism suggests a model for an ATP-driven folding cycle that requires a double toroid.

Impaired Long-Term Potentiation, Spatial Learning, and Hippocampal Development in fyn Mutant Mice

Abstract: Mice with mutations in four nonreceptor tyrosine kinase genes, fyn, src, yes, and abl, were used to study the role of these kinases in long-term potentiation (LTP) and in the relation of LTP to spatial learning and memory. All four kinases were expressed in the hippocampus. Mutations in src, yes, and abl did not interfere with either the induction or the maintenance of LTP. However, in fyn mutants, LTP was blunted even though synaptic transmission and two short-term forms of synaptic plasticity, paired-pulse facilitation and post-tetanic potentiation, were normal. In parallel with the blunting of LTP, fyn mutants showed impaired spatial learning, consistent with a functional link between LTP and learning. Although fyn is expressed at mature synapses, its lack of expression during development resulted in an increased number of granule cells in the dentate gyrus and of pyramidal cells in the CA3 region. Thus, a common tyrosine kinase pathway may regulate the growth of neurons in the developing hippocampus and the strength of synaptic plasticity in the mature hippocampus.

Evolved Cas9 variants with broad PAM compatibility and high DNA specificity

Abstract: A key limitation of the use of the CRISPR-Cas9 system for genome editing and other applications is the requirement that a protospacer adjacent motif (PAM) be present at the target site. For the most commonly used Cas9 from Streptococcus pyogenes (SpCas9), the required PAM sequence is NGG. No natural or engineered Cas9 variants that have been shown to function efficiently in mammalian cells offer a PAM less restrictive than NGG. Here we use phage-assisted continuous evolution to evolve an expanded PAM SpCas9 variant (xCas9) that can recognize a broad range of PAM sequences including NG, GAA and GAT. The PAM compatibility of xCas9 is the broadest reported, to our knowledge, among Cas9 proteins that are active in mammalian cells, and supports applications in human cells including targeted transcriptional activation, nuclease-mediated gene disruption, and cytidine and adenine base editing. Notably, despite its broadened PAM compatibility, xCas9 has much greater DNA specificity than SpCas9, with substantially lower genome-wide off-target activity at all NGG target sites tested, as well as minimal off-target activity when targeting genomic sites with non-NGG PAMs. These findings expand the DNA targeting scope of CRISPR systems and establish that there is no necessary trade-off between Cas9 editing efficiency, PAM compatibility and DNA specificity.