The rockefeller university

Background/Objectives: While single variants may have only small effects on common heritable traits like schizophrenia, methods for combining such effects over multiple variants have been proposed for more than 30 years. The currently favored approaches are polygenic risk scores. Their main aim is the genetic prediction of phenotypes. Methods: To accommodate the inherent genetic heterogeneity between males and females, we separated them into two independent datasets and in each developed allelic polygenic risk scores. We focused on variants with high predictability rather than high statistical significance and derived a statistical test to assess the significance of results obtained in one sex and replicated in the other sex. Results: As few as 5000 highly predictive variants achieved accuracy exceeding 95% in each of males and females, and only 2.8% and 3.3% of cases and controls were misclassified in females and males, respectively. Conclusions: Our allelic polygenic risk scores are based on individual genotypes rather than summary statistics and produce highly accurate, cross-validated phenotype predictions. Although variants were originally selected as being highly predictive rather than statistically significant, 544 disease-associated variants were shown to be significantly shared between males and females, which represents a replication in an independent dataset.

Restriction factors serve as innate host defenses against viruses and act as critical barriers to cross-species transmission. In response, viruses have evolved accessory proteins to counteract restriction factors, enabling evasion of innate immune responses. The interplay between primate APOBEC3G (A3G) and lentiviral virion infectivity factor (Vif) exemplifies a molecular arms race between a restriction factor and its viral antagonist. This review integrates evolutionary and functional analyses of this system, showing how genetic signatures of molecular arms races map onto high-resolution cryo-electron microscopy structures. However, A3G's interaction with Vif is not limited to the evolutionary dynamic interface, characterized by rapidly evolving residues under selective pressure, but also involves a conserved interface mediated by RNA binding that positions A3G for antagonism by Vif. These findings propose a model wherein Vif and potentially other viral antagonists target functional complexes using a dual strategy: leveraging both adaptive interfaces subject to evolutionary pressures and conserved interfaces that constrain host escape mechanisms.

Like the sensory organs of the human inner ear, the lateral-line neuromasts (NMs) of fish such as the zebrafish (Danio rerio) contain mechanosensory hair cells (HCs) that are surrounded by supporting cells (SCs). A damaged NM can quickly regenerate new HCs by expressing genes such as atoh1a, the master regulator of HC fate, in the SCs at the NM's center. We used the supervised learning algorithm DELAY to infer the early gene-regulatory network for regenerating central SCs and HCs and identified adaptations that promote the rapid regeneration of lateral-line HCs in larval zebrafish. The top hub in the network, Y-box binding protein 1 (ybx1), is highly expressed in HC progenitors and young HCs and its protein can recognize DNA-binding motifs in cyprinids' candidate regeneration-responsive promoter element for atoh1a. We showed that NMs from ybx1 mutant zebrafish larvae display consistent, regeneration-specific deficits in HC number and initiate both HC regeneration and atoh1a expression 20% slower than in wild-type siblings. By demonstrating that ybx1 promotes rapid HC regeneration through early atoh1a upregulation, the results support DELAY's ability to identify key temporal regulators of gene expression.

Background Inborn errors of immunity (IEI) are inherited defects of innate or adaptive immune system. Thrombocytopenia is a significant multifactorial complication in IEI patients leading to severe clinical consequences including coagulative disorders and vasculopathies. Methods In the present study, we assessed frequency of thrombocytopenia in the most common IEI including combined immunodeficiency (CID), common variable immunodeficiency (CVID), selective immunoglobulin A deficiency (SIgAD), agammaglobulinemia (AGA), hyper immunoglobulin M (HIGM) syndrome, chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) and congenital neutropenia (CN). Also, we compared demographic, clinical and laboratory data between IEI patients with and without thrombocytopenia. Results A total of 890 patients (37% female) were included in this study. The frequency of thrombocytopenia in total IEI was 26.6%. Patients with CID and SIgAD had the highest and lowest frequency of thrombocytopenia (50.9% and 8.7%), respectively. Although rare, thrombocytopenia was more severe (< 50000/ul) among patients with AGA compared to other IEI entities. Notably hepatosplenomegaly and autoimmunity were significantly associated with thrombocytopenia and higher mortality in patients with humoral immunodeficiencies. Conclusion The significant association between thrombocytopenia with lymphoproliferation and autoimmunity emphasizes the importance of paying attention to these clinical features for suspecting IEI disorders. Understanding the pathophysiology of thrombocytopenia in various genetic defects associated with IEI is required for the development of proper diagnostic and therapeutic techniques as well as improved quality of life of these patients.

Replication of cellular chromosomes requires a primase to generate short RNA primers to initiate genomic replication. While bacterial and archaeal primase generate short RNA primers, the eukaryotic primase, Polc-primase, contains both RNA primase and DNA polymerase (Pol) subunits that function together to form a >20 base hybrid RNA-DNA primer. Interestingly, the DNA Pol1 subunit of Polc lacks a 3'- 5' proofreading exonuclease, contrary to the high-fidelity normally associated with DNA replication. However, Polo and Pol epsilon synthesize the majority of the eukaryotic genome, and both contain 3'- 5' exonuclease activity for high fidelity. Nonetheless, even the small amount of DNA produced by Pol1 in each of the many RNA/DNA primers during chromosome replication adds up to tens of millions of nucleotides in a human genome. Thus, it has been a longstanding question why Pol1 lacks a proofreading exonuclease. We show here that Polc is uniquely capable of traversing common oxidized or hydrolyzed template nucleotides and propose that Polc evolved to bypass these common template lesions when they are encountered during chromosome replication. Additionally, we show a unique ability of replication factor C (RFC) to stimulate Polo lesion bypass, independent of its sliding clamp. This suggests that there may be a coordination between Polo and RFC that does not involve RFC loading of PCNA.

Cell types are fundamental functional units that can be traced across the tree of life. Rapid advances in single-cell technologies, coupled with the phylogenetic expansion in genome sequencing, present opportunities for the molecular characterization of cells across a broad range of organisms. Despite these developments, our understanding of eukaryotic cell diversity remains limited and we are far from decoding this diversity from genome sequences. Here we introduce the Biodiversity Cell Atlas initiative, which aims to create comprehensive single-cell molecular atlases across the eukaryotic tree of life. This community effort will be phylogenetically informed, rely on high-quality genomes and use shared standards to facilitate comparisons across species. The Biodiversity Cell Atlas aspires to deepen our understanding of the evolution and diversity of life at the cellular level, encompassing gene regulatory programs, differentiation trajectories, cell-type-specific molecular profiles and inter-organismal interactions.

Caloric restriction (CR) is a well-studied intervention that extends lifespan and slows cognitive decline across species, yet the specific cell populations and molecular pathways involved remain elusive. In this study, we profiled >500,000 cells from 36 control and CR mouse brains across three age groups with EasySci single-nucleus transcriptomics and performed imaging-free IRISeq spatial transcriptomics on twelve brain sections from CR and control aged mice. We thereby explored the impact of CR in >300 cellular states and 11 brain regions. CR delayed expansion of inflammatory cell populations, preserved neural precursor cells, and broadly reduced the expression of aging-associated genes involved in cellular stress, senescence, inflammation, and DNA damage. CR restored the expression of region-specific genes linked to cognitive function, myelin maintenance, and circadian rhythm. In summary, we provide a high-resolution spatiotemporal map of the aging mouse brain's response to CR, detailing precise cellular and molecular mechanisms behind its neuroprotective effects.

Fluorescence imaging enables visualization of the specific molecules of interest with high contrast, and the use of multiple fluorophores in a single tissue sample allows visualization of complex relationships between biological molecules, cell types, and anatomy. The utility of fluorescence imaging in human tissue has been limited by endogenous pigments that can block the light path or emit an autofluorescence, thereby interfering with the specific imaging of target molecules. Although photobleachers have been developed to quench endogenous pigments, the lack of customizability limits their utility for a broad range of applications. Here, we present a high luminous-intensity photobleacher that is based on rigorous simulations of illumination patterns, along with the framework to maximize bleaching efficiency. This open-source project is designed to help scientists customize and scale the device according to their research goals. The photobleacher is applicable to both thin tissue slices and large-volume cleared tissue samples to enable serial three-dimensional imaging of postmortem human brain using multiplexed antibody or oligonucleotide probes.

Measurements of the production yields of charm baryons (Lambda(+)(c)) and charm mesons (D-0) in proton-lead collisions at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 8.16 TeV are presented. The data were collected in 2016 with the CMS experiment and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 186 nb(-1). The Lambda(+)(c) baryon is reconstructed from the decay channel Lambda(+)(c) -> K(S)(0)p, while the D-0 meson is reconstructed via D-0 -> K- pi(+). The Lambda(+)(c) baryon and D-0 meson yields are extracted in several charged-particle multiplicity classes. No strong multiplicity dependence of the Lambda(+)(c) -to-D-0 yield ratio is observed, unlike the observed strange baryon to strange meson yield ratio of Lambda/(Lambda) over bar to K-S(0), which shows a strong multiplicity dependence. This observation indicates different mechanisms for the multiplicity evolution of hadronization processes for charm and strange quarks and provides new constraints to the understanding of heavy flavor production and collectivity in small collision systems.

Human monogenic traits can confer resistance to viral disease in infected individuals. Enhanced susceptibility can be driven directly by mutations in genes essential for control of the virus or indirectly via the production of autoantibodies against components of host defense. While the impact of viruses on individuals carrying these genotypes permitted their identification and has been amply studied, little is known about the impact of these human genotypes on the natural history of viruses, including not only persisting but also emerging viruses. We envisage several scenarios, including the possibility that genetically susceptible individuals serve as patient zeros, superspreaders, or mutation incubators, or that genetically resistant individuals even permit the selection of new viral mutants. Viruses are continually shared between individuals and even host species, where they can benefit from adaption to new environments. Current human viruses, as well as novel viruses from animal reservoirs, will continue to threaten the human population. Improvements in the scale of human genomic sequencing and analysis will permit testing hypotheses about the impact of human genetics on the origin and trajectory of viral infections, including future pandemics, which may ultimately help to prevent or curtail impending outbreaks.