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SWI/SNF-type chromatin remodelers, such as BRAHMA (BRM), and H3K27 demethylases both have active roles in regulating gene expression at the chromatin level, but how they are recruited to specific genomic sites remains largely unknown. Here we show that RELATIVE OF EARLY FLOWERING 6 (REF6), a plant-unique H3K27 demethylase, targets genomic loci containing a CTCTGYTY motif via its zinc-finger (ZnF) domains and facilitates the recruitment of BRM. Genome-wide analyses showed that REF6 colocalizes with BRM at many genomic sites with the CTCTGYTY motif. Loss of REF6 results in decreased BRM occupancy at BRM-REF6 co-targets. Furthermore, REF6 directly binds to the CTCTGYTY motif in vitro, and deletion of the motif from a target gene renders it inaccessible to REF6 in vivo. Finally, we show that, when its ZnF domains are deleted, REF6 loses its genomic targeting ability. Thus, our work identifies a new genomic targeting mechanism for an H3K27 demethylase and demonstrates its key role in recruiting the BRM chromatin remodeler.

Intensive efforts are focused on identifying regulators of human pancreatic islet cell growth and maturation to accelerate development of therapies for diabetes. After birth, islet cell growth and function are dynamically regulated; however, establishing these age-dependent changes in humans has been challenging. Here, we describe a multimodal strategy for isolating pancreatic endocrine and exocrine cells from children and adults to identify age-dependent gene expression and chromatin changes on a genomic scale. These profiles revealed distinct proliferative and functional states of islet α cells or β cells and histone modifications underlying age-dependent gene expression changes. Expression of SIX2 and SIX3, transcription factors without prior known functions in the pancreas and linked to fasting hyperglycemia risk, increased with age specifically in human islet β cells. SIX2 and SIX3 were sufficient to enhance insulin content or secretion in immature β cells. Our work provides a unique resource to study human-specific regulators of islet cell maturation and function.

The Out-of-Africa (OOA) dispersal ∼ 50,000 y ago is characterized by a series of founder events as modern humans expanded into multiple continents. Population genetics theory predicts an increase of mutational load in populations undergoing serial founder effects during range expansions. To test this hypothesis, we have sequenced full genomes and high-coverage exomes from seven geographically divergent human populations from Namibia, Congo, Algeria, Pakistan, Cambodia, Siberia, and Mexico. We find that individual genomes vary modestly in the overall number of predicted deleterious alleles. We show via spatially explicit simulations that the observed distribution of deleterious allele frequencies is consistent with the OOA dispersal, particularly under a model where deleterious mutations are recessive. We conclude that there is a strong signal of purifying selection at conserved genomic positions within Africa, but that many predicted deleterious mutations have evolved as if they were neutral during the expansion out of Africa. Under a model where selection is inversely related to dominance, we show that OOA populations are likely to have a higher mutation load due to increased allele frequencies of nearly neutral variants that are recessive or partially recessive.

Autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome type 1 (APS1) is a monogenic disorder that features multiple autoimmune disease manifestations. It is caused by mutations in the Autoimmune regulator (AIRE) gene, which promote thymic display of thousands of peripheral tissue antigens in a process critical for establishing central immune tolerance. We here used proteome arrays to perform a comprehensive study of autoimmune targets in APS1. Interrogation of established autoantigens revealed highly reliable detection of autoantibodies, and by exploring the full panel of more than 9000 proteins we further identified MAGEB2 and PDILT as novel major autoantigens in APS1. Our proteome-wide assessment revealed a marked enrichment for tissue-specific immune targets, mirroring AIRE's selectiveness for this category of genes. Our findings also suggest that only a very limited portion of the proteome becomes targeted by the immune system in APS1, which contrasts the broad defect of thymic presentation associated with AIRE-deficiency and raises novel questions what other factors are needed for break of tolerance.

Profiling of body fluids is crucial for monitoring and discovering metabolic markers of health and disease and for providing insights into human physiology. Since human urine and plasma each contain an extreme diversity of metabolites, a single liquid chromatographic system when coupled to mass spectrometry (MS) is not sufficient to achieve reasonable metabolome coverage. Hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) offers complementary information to reverse-phase liquid chromatography (RPLC) by retaining polar metabolites. With the objective of finding the optimal combined chromatographic solution to profile urine and plasma, we systematically investigated the performance of five HILIC columns with different chemistries operated at three different pH (acidic, neutral, basic) and five C18-silica RPLC columns. The zwitterionic column ZIC-HILIC operated at neutral pH provided optimal performance on a large set of hydrophilic metabolites. The RPLC columns Hypersil GOLD and Zorbax SB aq were proven to be best suited for the metabolic profiling of urine and plasma, respectively. Importantly, the optimized HILIC-MS method showed excellent intrabatch peak area reproducibility (CV < 12%) and good long-term interbatch (40 days) peak area reproducibility (CV < 22%) that were similar to those of RPLC-MS procedures. Finally, combining the optimal HILIC- and RPLC-MS approaches greatly expanded metabolome coverage with 44% and 108% new metabolic features detected compared with RPLC-MS alone for urine and plasma, respectively. The proposed combined LC-MS approaches improve the comprehensiveness of global metabolic profiling of body fluids and thus are valuable for monitoring and discovering metabolic changes associated with health and disease in clinical research studies.

In this study we identified two 3'-coterminal RNA molecules in the pseudorabies virus. The highly abundant short transcript (CTO-S) proved to be encoded between the ul21 and ul22 genes in close vicinity of the replication origin (OriL) of the virus. The less abundant long RNA molecule (CTO-L) is a transcriptional readthrough product of the ul21 gene and overlaps OriL. These polyadenylated RNAs were characterized by ascertaining their nucleotide sequences with the Illumina HiScanSQ and Pacific Biosciences Real-Time (PacBio RSII) sequencing platforms and by analyzing their transcription kinetics through use of multi-time-point Real-Time RT-PCR and the PacBio RSII system. It emerged that transcription of the CTOs is fully dependent on the viral transactivator protein IE180 and CTO-S is not a microRNA precursor. We propose an interaction between the transcription and replication machineries at this genomic location, which might play an important role in the regulation of DNA synthesis.

BackgroundAlthough interest in sphincter-sparing treatments for anal fistulas is increasing, few large prospective studies of these approaches have been conducted.ObjectiveThe study assessed outcomes after implantation of a synthetic bioabsorbable anal fistula plug.DesignA prospective, multicenter investigation was performed.SettingThe study was conducted at 11 colon and rectal centers.PatientsNinety-three patients (71 men; mean age, 47 years) with complex cryptoglandular transsphincteric anal fistulas were enrolled. Exclusion criteria included Crohn's disease, an active infection, a multitract fistula, and an immunocompromised status.InterventionDraining setons were used at the surgeon's discretion. Patients had follow-up evaluations at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months postoperatively.Main outcome measuresThe primary end point was healing of the fistula, defined as drainage cessation plus closure of the external opening, at 6 and 12 months. Secondary end points were fecal continence, duration of drainage from the fistula, pain, and adverse events during follow-up.ResultsThirteen patients were lost to follow-up and 21 were withdrawn, primarily to undergo an alternative treatment. The fistula healing rates at 6 and 12 months were 41% (95% CI, 30%-52%; total n = 74) and 49% (95% CI, 38%-61%; total n = 73). Half the patients in whom a previous treatment failed had healing. By 6 months, the mean Wexner score had improved significantly (p = 0.0003). By 12 months, 93% of patients had no or minimal pain. Adverse events included 11 infections/abscesses, 2 new fistulas, and 8 total and 5 partial plug extrusions. The fistula healed in 3 patients with a partial extrusion.LimitationsThe study was nonrandomized and had relatively high rates of loss to follow-up.ConclusionImplantation of a synthetic bioabsorbable fistula plug is a reasonably efficacious treatment for complex transsphincteric anal fistulas, especially given the simplicity and low morbidity of the procedure.

Autism is a complex disease whose etiology remains elusive. We integrated previously and newly generated data and developed a systems framework involving the interactome, gene expression and genome sequencing to identify a protein interaction module with members strongly enriched for autism candidate genes. Sequencing of 25 patients confirmed the involvement of this module in autism, which was subsequently validated using an independent cohort of over 500 patients. Expression of this module was dichotomized with a ubiquitously expressed subcomponent and another subcomponent preferentially expressed in the corpus callosum, which was significantly affected by our identified mutations in the network center. RNA-sequencing of the corpus callosum from patients with autism exhibited extensive gene mis-expression in this module, and our immunochemical analysis showed that the human corpus callosum is predominantly populated by oligodendrocyte cells. Analysis of functional genomic data further revealed a significant involvement of this module in the development of oligodendrocyte cells in mouse brain. Our analysis delineates a natural network involved in autism, helps uncover novel candidate genes for this disease and improves our understanding of its molecular pathology.

To broaden our understanding of the evolution of gene regulation mechanisms, we generated occupancy profiles for 34 orthologous transcription factors (TFs) in human-mouse erythroid progenitor, lymphoblast and embryonic stem-cell lines. By combining the genome-wide transcription factor occupancy repertoires, associated epigenetic signals, and co-association patterns, here we deduce several evolutionary principles of gene regulatory features operating since the mouse and human lineages diverged. The genomic distribution profiles, primary binding motifs, chromatin states, and DNA methylation preferences are well conserved for TF-occupied sequences. However, the extent to which orthologous DNA segments are bound by orthologous TFs varies both among TFs and with genomic location: binding at promoters is more highly conserved than binding at distal elements. Notably, occupancy-conserved TF-occupied sequences tend to be pleiotropic; they function in several tissues and also co-associate with many TFs. Single nucleotide variants at sites with potential regulatory functions are enriched in occupancy-conserved TF-occupied sequences.

PurposeThe endoplasmic reticulum-associated degradation pathway is responsible for the translocation of misfolded proteins across the endoplasmic reticulum membrane into the cytosol for subsequent degradation by the proteasome. To define the phenotype associated with a novel inherited disorder of cytosolic endoplasmic reticulum-associated degradation pathway dysfunction, we studied a series of eight patients with deficiency of N-glycanase 1.MethodsWhole-genome, whole-exome, or standard Sanger sequencing techniques were employed. Retrospective chart reviews were performed in order to obtain clinical data.ResultsAll patients had global developmental delay, a movement disorder, and hypotonia. Other common findings included hypolacrima or alacrima (7/8), elevated liver transaminases (6/7), microcephaly (6/8), diminished reflexes (6/8), hepatocyte cytoplasmic storage material or vacuolization (5/6), and seizures (4/8). The nonsense mutation c.1201A>T (p.R401X) was the most common deleterious allele.ConclusionNGLY1 deficiency is a novel autosomal recessive disorder of the endoplasmic reticulum-associated degradation pathway associated with neurological dysfunction, abnormal tear production, and liver disease. The majority of patients detected to date carry a specific nonsense mutation that appears to be associated with severe disease. The phenotypic spectrum is likely to enlarge as cases with a broader range of mutations are detected.

Despite the large evolutionary distances between metazoan species, they can show remarkable commonalities in their biology, and this has helped to establish fly and worm as model organisms for human biology. Although studies of individual elements and factors have explored similarities in gene regulation, a large-scale comparative analysis of basic principles of transcriptional regulatory features is lacking. Here we map the genome-wide binding locations of 165 human, 93 worm and 52 fly transcription regulatory factors, generating a total of 1,019 data sets from diverse cell types, developmental stages, or conditions in the three species, of which 498 (48.9%) are presented here for the first time. We find that structural properties of regulatory networks are remarkably conserved and that orthologous regulatory factor families recognize similar binding motifs in vivo and show some similar co-associations. Our results suggest that gene-regulatory properties previously observed for individual factors are general principles of metazoan regulation that are remarkably well-preserved despite extensive functional divergence of individual network connections. The comparative maps of regulatory circuitry provided here will drive an improved understanding of the regulatory underpinnings of model organism biology and how these relate to human biology, development and disease.

Large-scale sequencing efforts have documented extensive genetic variation within the human genome. However, our understanding of the origins, global distribution, and functional consequences of this variation is far from complete. While regulatory variation influencing gene expression has been studied within a handful of populations, the breadth of transcriptome differences across diverse human populations has not been systematically analyzed. To better understand the spectrum of gene expression variation, alternative splicing, and the population genetics of regulatory variation in humans, we have sequenced the genomes, exomes, and transcriptomes of EBV transformed lymphoblastoid cell lines derived from 45 individuals in the Human Genome Diversity Panel (HGDP). The populations sampled span the geographic breadth of human migration history and include Namibian San, Mbuti Pygmies of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Algerian Mozabites, Pathan of Pakistan, Cambodians of East Asia, Yakut of Siberia, and Mayans of Mexico. We discover that approximately 25.0% of the variation in gene expression found amongst individuals can be attributed to population differences. However, we find few genes that are systematically differentially expressed among populations. Of this population-specific variation, 75.5% is due to expression rather than splicing variability, and we find few genes with strong evidence for differential splicing across populations. Allelic expression analyses indicate that previously mapped common regulatory variants identified in eight populations from the International Haplotype Map Phase 3 project have similar effects in our seven sampled HGDP populations, suggesting that the cellular effects of common variants are shared across diverse populations. Together, these results provide a resource for studies analyzing functional differences across populations by estimating the degree of shared gene expression, alternative splicing, and regulatory genetics across populations from the broadest points of human migration history yet sampled.

ImportanceWhole-genome sequencing (WGS) is increasingly applied in clinical medicine and is expected to uncover clinically significant findings regardless of sequencing indication.ObjectivesTo examine coverage and concordance of clinically relevant genetic variation provided by WGS technologies; to quantitate inherited disease risk and pharmacogenomic findings in WGS data and resources required for their discovery and interpretation; and to evaluate clinical action prompted by WGS findings.Design, setting, and participantsAn exploratory study of 12 adult participants recruited at Stanford University Medical Center who underwent WGS between November 2011 and March 2012. A multidisciplinary team reviewed all potentially reportable genetic findings. Five physicians proposed initial clinical follow-up based on the genetic findings.Main outcomes and measuresGenome coverage and sequencing platform concordance in different categories of genetic disease risk, person-hours spent curating candidate disease-risk variants, interpretation agreement between trained curators and disease genetics databases, burden of inherited disease risk and pharmacogenomic findings, and burden and interrater agreement of proposed clinical follow-up.ResultsDepending on sequencing platform, 10% to 19% of inherited disease genes were not covered to accepted standards for single nucleotide variant discovery. Genotype concordance was high for previously described single nucleotide genetic variants (99%-100%) but low for small insertion/deletion variants (53%-59%). Curation of 90 to 127 genetic variants in each participant required a median of 54 minutes (range, 5-223 minutes) per genetic variant, resulted in moderate classification agreement between professionals (Gross κ, 0.52; 95% CI, 0.40-0.64), and reclassified 69% of genetic variants cataloged as disease causing in mutation databases to variants of uncertain or lesser significance. Two to 6 personal disease-risk findings were discovered in each participant, including 1 frameshift deletion in the BRCA1 gene implicated in hereditary breast and ovarian cancer. Physician review of sequencing findings prompted consideration of a median of 1 to 3 initial diagnostic tests and referrals per participant, with fair interrater agreement about the suitability of WGS findings for clinical follow-up (Fleiss κ, 0.24; P

In parallel to the genetic code for protein synthesis, a second layer of information is embedded in all RNA transcripts in the form of RNA structure. RNA structure influences practically every step in the gene expression program. However, the nature of most RNA structures or effects of sequence variation on structure are not known. Here we report the initial landscape and variation of RNA secondary structures (RSSs) in a human family trio (mother, father and their child). This provides a comprehensive RSS map of human coding and non-coding RNAs. We identify unique RSS signatures that demarcate open reading frames and splicing junctions, and define authentic microRNA-binding sites. Comparison of native deproteinized RNA isolated from cells versus refolded purified RNA suggests that the majority of the RSS information is encoded within RNA sequence. Over 1,900 transcribed single nucleotide variants (approximately 15% of all transcribed single nucleotide variants) alter local RNA structure. We discover simple sequence and spacing rules that determine the ability of point mutations to impact RSSs. Selective depletion of 'riboSNitches' versus structurally synonymous variants at precise locations suggests selection for specific RNA shapes at thousands of sites, including 3' untranslated regions, binding sites of microRNAs and RNA-binding proteins genome-wide. These results highlight the potentially broad contribution of RNA structure and its variation to gene regulation.

Introduction: Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) presents substantial challenges in patient care due to its intricate multisystem nature, comorbidities, and global prevalence. The heterogeneity among patient populations, coupled with the absence of FDA-approved diagnostics and therapeutics, further complicates research into disease etiology and patient managment. Integrating longitudinal multi-omics data with clinical, health, textual, pharmaceutical, and nutraceutical data offers a promising avenue to address these complexities, aiding in the identification of underlying causes and providing insights into effective therapeutics and diagnostic strategies. Methods: This study focused on an exceptionally severe ME/CFS patient with hypermobility spectrum disorder (HSD) during a period of marginal symptom improvements. Longitudinal cytokine profiling was conducted alongside the collection of extensive multi-modal health data to explore the dynamic nature of symptoms, severity, triggers, and modifying factors. Additionally, an updated severity assessment platform and two applications, ME-CFSTrackerApp and LexiTime, were introduced to facilitate real-time symptom tracking and enhance patient-physician/researcher communication, and evaluate response to medical intervention. Results: Longitudinal cytokine profiling revealed the significance of Th2-type cytokines and highlighted synergistic activities between mast cells and eosinophils, skewing Th1 toward Th2 immune responses in ME/CFS pathogenesis, particularly in cognitive impairment and sensorial intolerance. This suggests a potentially shared underlying mechanism with major ME/CFS comorbidities such as HSD, Mast cell activation syndrome, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), and small fiber neuropathy. Additionally, the data identified potential roles of BCL6 and TP53 pathways in ME/CFS etiology and emphasized the importance of investigating adverse reactions to medication and supplements and drug interactions in ME/CFS severity and progression. Discussion: Our study advocates for the integration of longitudinal multi-omics with multi-modal health data and artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to better understand ME/CFS and its major comorbidities. These findings highlight the significance of dysregulated Th2-type cytokines in patient stratification and precision medicine strategies. Additionally, our results suggest exploring the use of low-dose drugs with partial agonist activity as a potential avenue for ME/CFS treatment. This comprehensive approach emphasizes the importance of adopting a patient-centered care approach to improve ME/CFS healthcare management, disease severity assessment, and personalized medicine. Overall, these findings contribute to our understanding of ME/CFS and offer avenues for future research and clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High blood pressure (BP) is more prevalent and contributes to more severe manifestations of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in African Americans than in any other United States ethnic group. Several small African-ancestry (AA) BP genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have been published, but their findings have failed to replicate to date. We report on a large AA BP GWAS meta-analysis that includes 29,378 individuals from 19 discovery cohorts and subsequent replication in additional samples of AA (n = 10,386), European ancestry (EA) (n = 69,395), and East Asian ancestry (n = 19,601). Five loci (EVX1-HOXA, ULK4, RSPO3, PLEKHG1, and SOX6) reached genome-wide significance (p < 1.0 × 10(-8)) for either systolic or diastolic BP in a transethnic meta-analysis after correction for multiple testing. Three of these BP loci (EVX1-HOXA, RSPO3, and PLEKHG1) lack previous associations with BP. We also identified one independent signal in a known BP locus (SOX6) and provide evidence for fine mapping in four additional validated BP loci. We also demonstrate that validated EA BP GWAS loci, considered jointly, show significant effects in AA samples. Consequently, these findings suggest that BP loci might have universal effects across studied populations, demonstrating that multiethnic samples are an essential component in identifying, fine mapping, and understanding their trait variability.

The Y chromosome and the mitochondrial genome have been used to estimate when the common patrilineal and matrilineal ancestors of humans lived. We sequenced the genomes of 69 males from nine populations, including two in which we find basal branches of the Y-chromosome tree. We identify ancient phylogenetic structure within African haplogroups and resolve a long-standing ambiguity deep within the tree. Applying equivalent methodologies to the Y chromosome and the mitochondrial genome, we estimate the time to the most recent common ancestor (T(MRCA)) of the Y chromosome to be 120 to 156 thousand years and the mitochondrial genome T(MRCA) to be 99 to 148 thousand years. Our findings suggest that, contrary to previous claims, male lineages do not coalesce significantly more recently than female lineages.