Genetics and Genomics Commons^™

Tracking Updates In Clinical Databases Increases Efficiency For Variant Reanalysis, Lele Li, Xia Tian, Vaughan Woodzell, Richard A Gibbs, Bo Yuan, Eric Venner

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

PURPOSE: Variant interpretation, guided by American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics guidelines, can inform clinical decision-making. However, interpretations may change over time for a variety of reasons. Periodic reanalysis of previous variant interpretations is important to ensure that reported genetic findings remain accurate according to current knowledge.

METHODS: We performed automated filtering by comparing ClinVar variants available in August 2020 with those from August 2021 to screen for potential reanalysis candidates from 3 projects. These variants were subsequently interpreted based on the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics/Association for Molecular Pathology variant interpretation guideline or ClinGen revised gene-specific …

The Challenges And Opportunities Of Offering And Integrating Training In Clinical Molecular Genetics And Clinical Cytogenetics: A Survey Of Lgg Fellowship Program Directors, Joshua L Deignan, Vimla Aggarwal, Allen E Bale, Daniel B Bellissimo, Jessica K Booker, Yang Cao, Kristy R Crooks, Kristen L Deak, Daniela Del Gaudio, Birgit Funke, Nicole L Hoppman, Vanessa Horner, Robert B Hufnagel, Colleen Jackson-Cook, Prasad Koduru, Marco L Leung, Shibo Li, Pengfei Liu, Minjie Luo, Rong Mao, Heather Mason-Suares, Fady M Mikhail, Stephen R Moore, Rizwan C Naeem, Laura M Pollard, Elena A Repnikova, Lina Shao, Brandon M Shaw, Shashirekha Shetty, Teresa A Smolarek, Elizabeth Spiteri, Jessica Van Ziffle, Gail H Vance, Cindy L Vnencak-Jones, Eli S Williams

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

PURPOSE: The specialty of Laboratory Genetics and Genomics (LGG) was created in 2017 in an effort to reflect the increasing convergence in technologies and approaches between clinical molecular genetics and clinical cytogenetics. However, there has not yet been any formal evaluation of the merging of these disciplines and the challenges faced by Program Directors (PDs) tasked with ensuring the successful training of laboratory geneticists under the new model.

METHODS: An electronic multi-question Qualtrics survey was created and was sent to the PD for each of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-accredited LGG fellowship programs at the time. The data …

Comparative Exploration Of Mammalian Deafness Gene Homologues In The Drosophila Auditory Organ Shows Genetic Correlation Between Insect And Vertebrate Hearing, Daniel C Sutton, Jonathan C Andrews, Dylan M Dolezal, Ye Jin Park, Hongjie Li, Daniel F Eberl, Shinya Yamamoto, Andrew K Groves

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Johnston's organ, the Drosophila auditory organ, is anatomically very different from the mammalian organ of Corti. However, recent evidence indicates significant cellular and molecular similarities exist between vertebrate and invertebrate hearing, suggesting that Drosophila may be a useful platform to determine the function of the many mammalian deafness genes whose underlying biological mechanisms are poorly characterized. Our goal was a comprehensive screen of all known orthologues of mammalian deafness genes in the fruit fly to better understand conservation of hearing mechanisms between the insect and the fly and ultimately gain insight into human hereditary deafness. We used bioinformatic comparisons to …

Case Report: P40phox Deficiency Underlying Pediatric-Onset Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, Alejandro Nieto-Patlán, Natalia S Fernández Dávila, Yuqing Wang, Michelle Zelnick, Eyal Muscal, Martha Curry, James R Lupski, Steven M Holland, Bo Yuan, Douglas B Kuhns, Tiphanie P Vogel, Ivan K Chinn

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Introduction

Systemic lupus erythematosus is a multi-faceted autoimmune disorder of complex etiology. Pre-pubertal onset of pediatric systemic lupus erythematosus (pSLE) is uncommon and should raise suspicion for a genetic driver of disease. Autosomal recessive p40^phox deficiency is a rare immunologic disorder characterized by defective but not abolished NADPH oxidase activity with residual production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) by phagocytic cells.

Case presentation

We report the case of a now 18-year-old female with pSLE onset at 7 years of age. She presented with recurrent fever and malar rash. Aspects of her immune dysregulation over time have included typical pSLE …

International Society For Extracellular Vesicles Workshop Quantitatevs: Multiscale Analyses, From Bulk To Single Extracellular Vesicle, Manuela Basso, Alessandro Gori, Caterina Nardella, Mari Palviainen, Marija Holcar, Ioannis Sotiropoulos, Sylwia Bobis-Wozowicz, Vito G D'Agostino, Elena Casarotto, Yari Ciani, Shiro Suetsugu, Alice Gualerzi, Lorena Martin-Jaular, Daniela Boselli, Anna Kashkanova, Pietro Parisse, Lien Lippens, Martina Pagliuca, Martin Blessing, Roberto Frigerio, Thibaut Fourniols, Ana Meliciano, Anna Fietta, Paolo Vincenzo Fioretti, Karolina Soroczyńska, Silvia Picciolini, Amanda Salviano-Silva, Paolo Bergese, Davide Zocco, Marcella Chiari, Guido Jenster, Levi Waldron, Aleksandar Milosavljevic, John Nolan, Marco P Monopoli, Kenneth W Witwer, Benedetta Bussolati, Dolores Di Vizio, Juan Falcon Perez, Metka Lenassi, Marina Cretich, Francesca Demichelis

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The “QuantitatEVs: multiscale analyses, from bulk to single vesicle” workshop aimed to discuss quantitative strategies and harmonized wet and computational approaches toward the comprehensive analysis of extracellular vesicles (EVs) from bulk to single vesicle analyses with a special focus on emerging technologies. The workshop covered the key issues in the quantitative analysis of different EV‐associated molecular components and EV biophysical features, which are considered the core of EV‐associated biomarker discovery and validation for their clinical translation. The in‐person‐only workshop was held in Trento, Italy, from January 31st to February 2nd, 2023, and continued in Milan on February 3rd with “Next …

Parkinson's Disease And Other Alzheimer's Disease And Related Dementia Pathologies And The Progression Of Parkinsonism In Older Adults, Aron S Buchman, Lei Yu, Shahram Oveisgharan, Andrea R Zammit, Tianhao Wang, Joshua M Shulman, Veronique Vanderhorst, Sukrit Nag, David A Bennett

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: The interrelationship of parkinsonism, Parkinson's disease (PD) and other Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) pathologies is unclear.

OBJECTIVE: We examined the progression of parkinsonian signs in adults with and without parkinsonism, and their underlying brain pathologies.

METHODS: Annual parkinsonian signs were based on a modified Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale. We used linear mixed effects models to compare the progression of parkinsonian signs in 3 groups categorized based on all available clinical evaluations: Group1 (never parkinsonism or clinical PD), Group2 (ever parkinsonism, but never clinical PD), Group3 (ever clinical PD). In decedents, we examined …

Inference Of Phylogenetic Trees Directly From Raw Sequencing Reads Using Read2tree, David Dylus, Adrian Altenhoff, Sina Majidian, Fritz J Sedlazeck, Christophe Dessimoz

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Current methods for inference of phylogenetic trees require running complex pipelines at substantial computational and labor costs, with additional constraints in sequencing coverage, assembly and annotation quality, especially for large datasets. To overcome these challenges, we present Read2Tree, which directly processes raw sequencing reads into groups of corresponding genes and bypasses traditional steps in phylogeny inference, such as genome assembly, annotation and all-versus-all sequence comparisons, while retaining accuracy. In a benchmark encompassing a broad variety of datasets, Read2Tree is 10-100 times faster than assembly-based approaches and in most cases more accurate-the exception being when sequencing coverage is high and reference …

Neuronal Ablation Of Ghsr Mitigates Diet-Induced Depression And Memory Impairment Via Ampk-Autophagy Signaling-Mediated Inflammation, Hongying Wang, Zheng Shen, Chia-Shan Wu, Pengfei Ji, Ji Yeon Noh, Cédric G Geoffroy, Sunja Kim, David Threadgill, Jianrong Li, Yu Zhou, Xiaoqiu Xiao, Hui Zheng, Yuxiang Sun

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Obesity is associated with chronic inflammation in the central nervous system (CNS), and neuroinflammation has been shown to have detrimental effects on mood and cognition. The growth hormone secretagogue receptor (GHSR), the biologically relevant receptor of the orexigenic hormone ghrelin, is primarily expressed in the brain. Our previous study showed that neuronal GHSR deletion prevents high-fat diet-induced obesity (DIO). Here, we investigated the effect of neuronal GHSR deletion on emotional and cognitive functions in DIO. The neuron-specific GHSR-deficient mice exhibited reduced depression and improved spatial memory compared to littermate controls under DIO. We further examined the cortex and hippocampus, the …

A Comprehensive Analysis Of Neuroblastoma Incidence, Survival, And Racial And Ethnic Disparities From 2001 To 2019, Kevin Campbell, David A Siegel, Puja J Umaretiya, Shifan Dai, Andras Heczey, Philip J Lupo, Jeremy M Schraw, Trevor D Thompson, Michael E Scheurer, Jennifer H Foster

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: We characterize the incidence and 5-year survival of children and adolescents with neuroblastoma stratified by demographic and clinical factors based on the comprehensive data from United States Cancer Statistics (USCS) and the National Program of Cancer Registries (NPCR).

METHODS: We analyzed the incidence of neuroblastoma from USCS (2003-2019) and survival data from NPCR (2001-2018) for patients less than 20 years old. Incidence trends were calculated by average annual percent change (AAPC) using joinpoint regression. Differences in relative survival were estimated comparing non-overlapping confidence intervals (CI).

RESULTS: We identified 11,543 primary neuroblastoma cases in USCS. Age-adjusted incidence was 8.3 per …

Abnormal Patterns Of Sleep And Waking Behaviors Are Accompanied By Neocortical Oscillation Disturbances In An Ank3 Mouse Model Of Epilepsy-Bipolar Disorder Comorbidity, Juan E Villacres, Nicholas Riveira, Sohmee Kim, Laura L Colgin, Jeffrey L Noebels, Angel Y Lopez

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

ANK3 is a leading bipolar disorder (BD) candidate gene in humans and provides a unique opportunity for studying epilepsy-BD comorbidity. Previous studies showed that deletion of Ank3-1b, a BD-associated variant of Ank3 in mice leads to increased firing threshold and diminished action potential dynamic range of parvalbumin (PV) interneurons and absence epilepsy, thus providing a biological mechanism linking epilepsy and BD. To explore the behavioral overlap of these disorders, we characterized behavioral patterns of Ank3-1b KO mice during overnight home-cage activity and examined network activity during these behaviors using paired video and EEG recordings. Since PV interneurons contribute to the …

Life, The Genome And Everything, Susan M Rosenberg

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

In this issue of the Journal of Bacteriology, N. J. Bonde, E. A. Wood, K. S. Myers, M. Place, J. L. Keck, and M. M. Cox (J Bacteriol 205:e00184-23, 2023, https://doi.org/10.1128/jb.00184-23) used an unbiased transposon-sequencing (Tn-seq) screen to identify proteins required for life when cells lose the RecG branched-DNA helicase (synthetic lethality). The proteins’ identities indicate pathways that prevent endogenous DNA damage, pathways that prevent its homology-directed repair (HDR) “strand-exchange” intermediates between sister chromosomes, and pathways that resolve those intermediates. All avoid intermediate pile-up, which blocks chromosome segregation, causing “death-by-recombination.” DNA damage is managed to regulate crucial but …

Genetic Determinants Underlying The Progressive Phenotype Of Β-Lactam/Β-Lactamase Inhibitor Resistance In Escherichia Coli, William C Shropshire, Hatim Amiji, Jordan Bremer, Selvalakshmi Selvaraj Anand, Benjamin Strope, Pranoti Sahasrabhojane, Marc Gohel, Samuel Aitken, Sarah Spitznogle, Xiaowei Zhan, Jiwoong Kim, David E Greenberg, Samuel A Shelburne

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Currently, whole-genome sequencing (WGS) data have not shown strong concordance with Escherichia coli susceptibility profiles to the commonly used β-lactam/β-lactamase inhibitor (BL/BLI) combinations: ampicillin-sulbactam (SAM), amoxicillin-clavulanate (AMC), and piperacillin-tazobactam (TZP). Progressive resistance to these BL/BLIs in the absence of cephalosporin resistance, also known as extended-spectrum resistance to BL/BLI (ESRI), has been suggested to primarily result from increased copy numbers of bla TEM variants, which is not routinely assessed in WGS data. We sought to determine whether addition of gene amplification could improve genotype-phenotype associations through WGS analysis of 147 E. coli bacteremia isolates with increasing categories of BL/BLI non-susceptibility ranging …

Allelic Strengths Of Encephalopathy-Associated Uba5 Variants Correlate Between In Vivo And In Vitro Assays, Xueyang Pan, Albert N Alvarez, Mengqi Ma, Shenzhao Lu, Michael W Crawford, Lauren C Briere, Oguz Kanca, Shinya Yamamoto, David A Sweetser, Jenny L Wilson, Ruth J Napier, Jonathan N Pruneda, Hugo J Bellen

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Protein UFMylation downstream of the E1 enzyme UBA5 plays essential roles in development and endoplasmic reticulum stress. Variants in the UBA5 gene are associated with developmental and epileptic encephalopathy 44 (DEE44), an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by early-onset encephalopathy, movement abnormalities, global developmental delay, intellectual disability, and seizures. DEE44 is caused by at least 12 different missense variants described as loss of function (LoF), but the relationships between genotypes and molecular or clinical phenotypes remain to be established. We developed a humanized UBA5 fly model and biochemical activity assays in order to describe in vivo and in vitro genotype–phenotype relationships …

Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Signaling Maintains Epithelial Barrier Integrity, Nadja S Katheder, Kristen C Browder, Diana Chang, Ann De Maziere, Pekka Kujala, Suzanne Van Dijk, Judith Klumperman, Tzu-Chiao Lu, Hongjie Li, Zijuan Lai, Dewakar Sangaraju, Heinrich Jasper

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Disruption of epithelial barriers is a common disease manifestation in chronic degenerative diseases of the airways, lung, and intestine. Extensive human genetic studies have identified risk loci in such diseases, including in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and inflammatory bowel diseases. The genes associated with these loci have not fully been determined, and functional characterization of such genes requires extensive studies in model organisms. Here, we report the results of a screen in

Rab1a Haploinsufficiency Phenocopies The 2p14-P15 Microdeletion And Is Associated With Impaired Neuronal Differentiation, Jonathan J Rios, Yang Li, Nandina Paria, Ryan J Bohlender, Chad Huff, Jill A Rosenfeld, Pengfei Liu, Weimin Bi, Kentaro Haga, Mitsunori Fukuda, Shayal Vashisth, Kiran Kaur, Maria H Chahrour, Michael B Bober, Angela L Duker, Farah A Ladha, Neil A Hanchard, Kristhen Atala, Anas M Khanshour, Linsley Smith, Carol A Wise, Mauricio R Delgado

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Hereditary spastic parapareses (HSPs) are clinically heterogeneous motor neuron diseases with variable age of onset and severity. Although variants in dozens of genes are implicated in HSPs, much of the genetic basis for pediatric-onset HSP remains unexplained. Here, we re-analyzed clinical exome-sequencing data from siblings with HSP of unknown genetic etiology and identified an inherited nonsense mutation (c.523C>T [p.Arg175Ter]) in the highly conserved RAB1A. The mutation is predicted to produce a truncated protein with an intact RAB GTPase domain but without two C-terminal cysteine residues required for proper subcellular protein localization. Additional RAB1A mutations, including two frameshift mutations and …

Whole Genome Analysis Of Snv And Indel Polymorphism In Common Marmosets (Callithrix Jacchus), R Alan Harris, Muthuswamy Raveendran, Wes Warren, Hillier W Ladeana, Chad Tomlinson, Tina Graves-Lindsay, Richard E Green, Jenna K Schmidt, Julia C Colwell, Allison T Makulec, Shelley A Cole, Ian H Cheeseman, Corinna N Ross, Saverio Capuano, Evan E Eichler, Jon E Levine, Jeffrey Rogers

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) is one of the most widely used nonhuman primate models of human disease. Owing to limitations in sequencing technology, early genome assemblies of this species using short-read sequencing suffered from gaps. In addition, the genetic diversity of the species has not yet been adequately explored. Using long-read genome sequencing and expert annotation, we generated a high-quality genome resource creating a 2.898 Gb marmoset genome in which most of the euchromatin portion is assembled contiguously (contig N50 = 25.23 Mbp, scaffold N50 = 98.2 Mbp). We then performed whole genome sequencing on 84 marmosets …

Hnf4Α Isoforms Regulate The Circadian Balance Between Carbohydrate And Lipid Metabolism In The Liver, Jonathan R Deans, Poonamjot Deol, Nina Titova, Sarah H Radi, Linh M Vuong, Jane R Evans, Songqin Pan, Johannes Fahrmann, Jun Yang, Bruce D Hammock, Oliver Fiehn, Baharan Fekry, Kristin Eckel-Mahan, Frances M Sladek

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Hepatocyte Nuclear Factor 4α (HNF4α), a master regulator of hepatocyte differentiation, is regulated by two promoters (P1 and P2) which drive the expression of different isoforms. P1-HNF4α is the major isoform in the adult liver while P2-HNF4α is thought to be expressed only in fetal liver and liver cancer. Here, we show that P2-HNF4α is indeed expressed in the normal adult liver at Zeitgeber time (ZT)9 and ZT21. Using exon swap mice that express only P2-HNF4α we show that this isoform orchestrates a distinct transcriptome and metabolome via unique chromatin and protein-protein interactions, including with different clock proteins at different …

Multi-Ancestry Genome-Wide Association Study Of Cannabis Use Disorder Yields Insight Into Disease Biology And Public Health Implications, Daniel F Levey, Marco Galimberti, Joseph D Deak, Frank R Wendt, Arjun Bhattacharya, Dora Koller, Kelly M Harrington, Rachel Quaden, Emma C Johnson, Priya Gupta, Mahantesh Biradar, Max Lam, Megan Cooke, Veera M Rajagopal, Stefany L L Empke, Hang Zhou, Yaira Z Nunez, Henry R Kranzler, Howard J Edenberg, Arpana Agrawal, Jordan W Smoller, Todd Lencz, David M Hougaard, Anders D Børglum, Ditte Demontis, Veterans Affairs Million Veteran Program, J Michael Gaziano, Michael J Gandal, Renato Polimanti, Murray B Stein, Joel Gelernter

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

As recreational use of cannabis is being decriminalized in many places and medical use widely sanctioned, there are growing concerns about increases in cannabis use disorder (CanUD), which is associated with numerous medical comorbidities. Here we performed a genome-wide association study of CanUD in the Million Veteran Program (MVP), followed by meta-analysis in 1,054,365 individuals (ncases = 64,314) from four broad ancestries designated by the reference panel used for assignment (European n = 886,025, African n = 123,208, admixed American n = 38,289 and East Asian n = 6,843). Population-specific methods were applied to calculate single nucleotide polymorphism-based heritability within …

The Application Of Simultaneous Mainstem Bronchus Dilation With Pulmonary Artery Stenting In The Context Of Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, Sylwia Hasterok, Thomas G Scott, Devin G Roller, Adam Spencer, Arun B Dutta, Kizhakke M Sathyan, Daniel E Frigo, Michael J Guertin, Daniel Gioeli

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The clinical success of combined androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) and radiotherapy (RT) in prostate cancer created interest in understanding the mechanistic links between androgen receptor (AR) signaling and the DNA damage response (DDR). Convergent data have led to a model where AR both regulates, and is regulated by, the DDR. Integral to this model is that the AR regulates the transcription of DDR genes both at a steady state and in response to ionizing radiation (IR). In this study, we sought to determine which immediate transcriptional changes are induced by IR in an AR-dependent manner. Using PRO-seq to quantify changes …

Clinical Exome Sequencing Efficacy And Phenotypic Expansions Involving Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Return, Emily A Huth, Xiaonan Zhao, Nichole Owen, Pamela N Luna, Ida Vogel, Inger L H Dorf, Shelagh Joss, Jill Clayton-Smith, Michael J Parker, Jacoba J Louw, Marc Gewillig, Jeroen Breckpot, Alison Kraus, Erina Sasaki, Usha Kini, Trent Burgess, Tiong Y Tan, Ruth Armstrong, Katherine Neas, Giovanni B Ferrero, Alfredo Brusco, Wihelmina S Kerstjens-Frederikse, Julia Rankin, Lindsey R Helvaty, Benjamin J Landis, Gabrielle C Geddes, Kim L Mcbride, Stephanie M Ware, Chad A Shaw, Seema R Lalani, Jill A Rosenfeld, Daryl A Scott

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Anomalous pulmonary venous return (APVR) frequently occurs with other congenital heart defects (CHDs) or extra-cardiac anomalies. While some genetic causes have been identified, the optimal approach to genetic testing in individuals with APVR remains uncertain, and the etiology of most cases of APVR is unclear. Here, we analyzed molecular data from 49 individuals to determine the diagnostic yield of clinical exome sequencing (ES) for non-isolated APVR. A definitive or probable diagnosis was made for 8 of those individuals yielding a diagnostic efficacy rate of 16.3%. We then analyzed molecular data from 62 individuals with APVR accrued from three databases to …

Complex Evolutionary History With Extensive Ancestral Gene Flow In An African Primate Radiation, Axel Jensen, Frances Swift, Dorien De Vries, Robin M D Beck, Lukas F K Kuderna, Sascha Knauf, Idrissa S Chuma, Julius D Keyyu, Andrew C Kitchener, Kyle Farh, Jeffrey Rogers, Tomas Marques-Bonet, Kate M Detwiler, Christian Roos, Katerina Guschanski

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Understanding the drivers of speciation is fundamental in evolutionary biology, and recent studies highlight hybridization as an important evolutionary force. Using whole-genome sequencing data from 22 species of guenons (tribe Cercopithecini), one of the world's largest primate radiations, we show that rampant gene flow characterizes their evolutionary history and identify ancient hybridization across deeply divergent lineages that differ in ecology, morphology, and karyotypes. Some hybridization events resulted in mitochondrial introgression between distant lineages, likely facilitated by cointrogression of coadapted nuclear variants. Although the genomic landscapes of introgression were largely lineage specific, we found that genes with immune functions were overrepresented …

Biallelic Med27 Variants Lead To Variable Ponto-Cerebello-Lental Degeneration With Movement Disorders, Reza Maroofian, Rauan Kaiyrzhanov, Elisa Cali, Mina Zamani, Maha S Zaki, Matteo Ferla, Domenico Tortora, Saeid Sadeghian, Saadia Maryam Saadi, Uzma Abdullah, Ehsan Ghayoor Karimiani, Stephanie Efthymiou, Gözde Yeşil, Shahryar Alavi, Aisha M Al Shamsi, Homa Tajsharghi, Mohamed S Abdel-Hamid, Nebal Waill Saadi, Fuad Al Mutairi, Lama Alabdi, Christian Beetz, Zafar Ali, Mehran Beiraghi Toosi, Sabine Rudnik-Schöneborn, Meisam Babaei, Pirjo Isohanni, Jameel Muhammad, Sheraz Khan, Maha Al Shalan, Scott E Hickey, Daphna Marom, Emil Elhanan, Manju A Kurian, Dana Marafi, Alihossein Saberi, Mohammad Hamid, Robert Spaull, Linyan Meng, Seema Lalani, Shazia Maqbool, Fatima Rahman, Jürgen Seeger, Timothy Blake Palculict, Tracy Lau, David Murphy, Niccolo Emanuele Mencacci, Katharina Steindl, Anais Begemann, Anita Rauch, Sinan Akbas, Ayça Dilruba Aslanger, Vincenzo Salpietro, Hammad Yousaf, Shay Ben-Shachar, Katarina Ejeskär, Aida I Al Aqeel, Frances A High, Amy E Armstrong-Javors, Seyed Mohammadsaleh Zahraei, Tahereh Seifi, Jawaher Zeighami, Gholamreza Shariati, Alireza Sedaghat, Samaneh Noroozi Asl, Mohmmad Shahrooei, Giovanni Zifarelli, Lydie Burglen, Claudia Ravelli, Johannes Zschocke, Ulrich A Schatz, Maryam Ghavideldarestani, Walaa A Kamel, Hilde Van Esch, Annette Hackenberg, Jenny C Taylor, Lihadh Al-Gazali, Peter Bauer, Joseph J Gleeson, Fowzan Sami Alkuraya, James R Lupski, Hamid Galehdari, Reza Azizimalamiri, Wendy K Chung, Shahid Mahmood Baig, Henry Houlden, Mariasavina Severino

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

MED27 is a subunit of the Mediator multiprotein complex, which is involved in transcriptional regulation. Biallelic MED27 variants have recently been suggested to be responsible for an autosomal recessive neurodevelopmental disorder with spasticity, cataracts and cerebellar hypoplasia. We further delineate the clinical phenotype of MED27-related disease by characterizing the clinical and radiological features of 57 affected individuals from 30 unrelated families with biallelic MED27 variants. Using exome sequencing and extensive international genetic data sharing, 39 unpublished affected individuals from 18 independent families with biallelic missense variants in MED27 have been identified (29 females, mean age at last follow-up 17 ± …

Birth Defects In Offspring Of Adolescent And Young Adults With A History Of Cancer: A Population-Based Study Of 27,000 Women, Caitlin C Murphy, Andrea C Betts, Sandi L Pruitt, Barbara A Cohn, L Aubree Shay, Marlyn A Allicock, Jennifer S Wang, Philip J Lupo

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: We examined birth defects in offspring of adolescent and young adult (AYA) women with a history of cancer (age 15-39 years at diagnosis).

METHODS: We identified AYA women diagnosed with cancer between January 1, 1999, and December 31, 2015 using population-based data from the Texas Cancer Registry; data were linked with live birth and fetal death certificates through December 31, 2016 to identify singleton births to AYA women after diagnosis. Birth defects in offspring through age 12 months were ascertained from the Texas Birth Defects Registry. We estimated risk of birth defects in offspring of AYA women and women …

Single-Cell Multiomics Of The Human Retina Reveals Hierarchical Transcription Factor Collaboration In Mediating Cell Type-Specific Effects Of Genetic Variants On Gene Regulation, Jun Wang, Xuesen Cheng, Qingnan Liang, Leah A Owen, Jiaxiong Lu, Yiqiao Zheng, Meng Wang, Shiming Chen, Margaret M Deangelis, Yumei Li, Rui Chen

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Systematic characterization of how genetic variation modulates gene regulation in a cell type-specific context is essential for understanding complex traits. To address this question, we profile gene expression and chromatin accessibility in cells from healthy retinae of 20 human donors through single-cell multiomics and genomic sequencing.

RESULTS: We map eQTL, caQTL, allelic-specific expression, and allelic-specific chromatin accessibility in major retinal cell types. By integrating these results, we identify and characterize regulatory elements and genetic variants effective on gene regulation in individual cell types. The majority of identified sc-eQTLs and sc-caQTLs display cell type-specific effects, while the cis-elements containing genetic …

Lactic Acid Bacterial Surface Display Of Scytovirin Inhibitors For Anti-Ebolavirus Infection, Joshua Wiggins, Ngan Nguyen, Wenzhong Wei, Leah Liu Wang, Haley Hollingsead Olson, Shi-Hua Xiang

Nebraska Center for Virology: Faculty Publications

Scytovirin (SVN) is a lectin from cyanobacteria which has a strong inhibitory activity against Ebola virus infection. We engineered scytovirin as the inhibitor for surface display of lactic acid bacteria to block Ebola virus infection. Two different bacterial strains (Lactobacillus casei and Lactococcus lactis) were successfully engineered for scytovirin expression on the bacterial surface. These bacteria were found to be effective at neutralizing pseudotyped Ebolavirus in a cell-based assay. This approach can be utilized for prophylactic prevention, as well as for treatment. Since lactic acid bacteria can colonize the human body, a long-term efficacy could be achieved. Furthermore, …

Clinical, Genetic And Structural Delineation Of Rpl13-Related Spondyloepimetaphyseal Dysplasia Suggest Extra-Ribosomal Functions Of El13, Prince Jacob, Hillevi Lindelöf, Cecilie F Rustad, Vernon Reid Sutton, Shahida Moosa, Prajna Udupa, Anna Hammarsjö, Gandham Srilakshmi Bhavani, Dominyka Batkovskyte, Kristian Tveten, Ashwin Dalal, Eva Horemuzova, Ann Nordgren, Emma Tham, Hitesh Shah, Else Merckoll, Laura Orellana, Gen Nishimura, Katta M Girisha, Giedre Grigelioniene

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Spondyloepimetaphyseal dysplasia with severe short stature, RPL13-related (SEMD-RPL13), MIM#618728), is a rare autosomal dominant disorder characterized by short stature and skeletal changes such as mild spondylar and epimetaphyseal dysplasia affecting primarily the lower limbs. The genetic cause was first reported in 2019 by Le Caignec et al., and six disease-causing variants in the gene coding for a ribosomal protein, RPL13 (NM_000977.3) have been identified to date. This study presents clinical and radiographic data from 12 affected individuals aged 2-64 years from seven unrelated families, showing highly variable manifestations. The affected individuals showed a range from mild to severe short stature, …

Clinical, Genetic And Structural Delineation Of Rpl13-Related Spondyloepimetaphyseal Dysplasia Suggest Extra-Ribosomal Functions Of El1, Prince Jacob, Hillevi Lindelöf, Cecilie F Rustad, Vernon Reid Sutton, Shahida Moosa, Prajna Udupa, Anna Hammarsjö, Gandham Srilakshmi Bhavani, Dominyka Batkovskyte, Kristian Tveten, Ashwin Dalal, Eva Horemuzova, Ann Nordgren, Emma Tham, Hitesh Shah, Else Merckoll, Laura Orellana, Gen Nishimura, Katta M Girisha, Giedre Grigelioniene

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Spondyloepimetaphyseal dysplasia with severe short stature, RPL13-related (SEMD-RPL13), MIM#618728), is a rare autosomal dominant disorder characterized by short stature and skeletal changes such as mild spondylar and epimetaphyseal dysplasia affecting primarily the lower limbs. The genetic cause was first reported in 2019 by Le Caignec et al., and six disease-causing variants in the gene coding for a ribosomal protein, RPL13 (NM_000977.3) have been identified to date. This study presents clinical and radiographic data from 12 affected individuals aged 2-64 years from seven unrelated families, showing highly variable manifestations. The affected individuals showed a range from mild to severe short stature, …

Associations Between Birth Defects With Neural Crest Cell Origins And Pediatric Embryonal Tumors, Eugene C Wong, Philip J Lupo, Tania A Desrosiers, Hazel B Nichols, Susan M Smith, Charles Poole, Mark Canfield, Charles Shumate, Tiffany M Chambers, Jeremy M Schraw, Wendy N Nembhard, Mahsa M Yazdy, Eirini Nestoridi, Amanda E Janitz, Andrew F Olshan

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: There are few assessments evaluating associations between birth defects with neural crest cell developmental origins (BDNCOs) and embryonal tumors, which are characterized by undifferentiated cells having a molecular profile similar to neural crest cells. The effect of BDNCOs on embryonal tumors was estimated to explore potential shared etiologic pathways and genetic origins.

METHODS: With the use of a multistate, registry-linkage cohort study, BDNCO-embryonal tumor associations were evaluated by generating hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) with Cox regression models. BDNCOs consisted of ear, face, and neck defects, Hirschsprung disease, and a selection of congenital heart defects. Embryonal …

An Overview Of The Immune Modulatory Properties Of Long Non-Coding Rnas And Their Potential Use As Therapeutic Targets In Cancer, Moises Martinez-Castillo, Abdelrahman M Elsayed, Gabriel López-Berestein, Paola Amero, Cristian Rodríguez-Aguayo

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play pivotal roles in regulating immune responses, immune cell differentiation, activation, and inflammatory processes. In cancer, they are gaining prominence as potential therapeutic targets due to their ability to regulate immune checkpoint molecules and immune-related factors, suggesting avenues for bolstering anti-tumor immune responses. Here, we explore the mechanistic insights into lncRNA-mediated immune modulation, highlighting their impact on immunity. Additionally, we discuss their potential to enhance cancer immunotherapy, augmenting the effectiveness of immune checkpoint inhibitors and adoptive T cell therapies. LncRNAs as therapeutic targets hold the promise of revolutionizing cancer treatments, inspiring further research in this field …

A Single Cell Genomics Atlas Of The Drosophila Larval Eye Reveals Distinct Photoreceptor Developmental Timelines, Komal Kumar Bollepogu Raja, Kelvin Yeung, Yoon-Kyung Shim, Yumei Li, Rui Chen, Graeme Mardon

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The Drosophila eye is a powerful model system to study the dynamics of cell differentiation, cell state transitions, cell maturation, and pattern formation. However, a high-resolution single cell genomics resource that accurately profiles all major cell types of the larval eye disc and their spatiotemporal relationships is lacking. Here, we report transcriptomic and chromatin accessibility data for all known cell types in the developing eye. Photoreceptors appear as strands of cells that represent their dynamic developmental timelines. As photoreceptor subtypes mature, they appear to assume a common transcriptomic profile that is dominated by genes involved in axon function. We identify …