Targeted genome editing is a continually evolving technology employing programmable nucleases to specifically change,insert,or remove a genomic sequence of interest.These advanced molecular tools include meganucleases...Targeted genome editing is a continually evolving technology employing programmable nucleases to specifically change,insert,or remove a genomic sequence of interest.These advanced molecular tools include meganucleases,zinc finger nucleases,transcription activator-like effector nucleases and RNA-guided engineered nucleases(RGENs),which create double-strand breaks at specific target sites in the genome,and repair DNA either by homologous recombination in the presence of donor DNA or via the error-prone non-homologous end-joining mechanism.A recently discovered group of RGENs known as CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing systems allowed precise genome manipulation revealing a causal association between disease genotype and phenotype,without the need for the reengineering of the specific enzyme when targeting different sequences.CRISPR/Cas9 has been successfully employed as an ex vivo gene-editing tool in embryonic stem cells and patient-derived stem cells to understand pancreatic beta-cell development and function.RNA-guided nucleases also open the way for the generation of novel animal models for diabetes and allow testing the efficiency of various therapeutic approaches in diabetes,as summarized and exemplified in this manuscript.展开更多
Nucleases are a super family of enzymes that hydrolyze phosphodiester bonds present in genomes.They widely vary in substrates,causing differentiation in cleavage patterns and having a diversified role in maintaining g...Nucleases are a super family of enzymes that hydrolyze phosphodiester bonds present in genomes.They widely vary in substrates,causing differentiation in cleavage patterns and having a diversified role in maintaining genetic material.Through cellular evolution of prokaryotic to eukaryotic,nucleases become structure-specific in recognizing its own or foreign genomic DNA/RNA configurations as its substrates,including flaps,bubbles,and Holliday junctions.These special structural configurations are commonly found as intermediates in processes like DNA replication,repair,and recombination.The structure-specific nature and diversified functions make them essential to maintaining genome integrity and evolution in normal and cancer cells.In this article,we review their roles in various pathways,including Okazaki fragment maturation during DNA replication,end resection in homology-directed recombination repair of DNA double-strand breaks,DNA excision repair and apoptosis DNA fragmentation in response to exogenous DNA damage,and HIV life cycle.As the nucleases serve as key points for the DNA dynamics,cellular apoptosis,and cancer cell survival pathways,we discuss the efforts in the field in developing the therapeutic regimens,taking advantage of recently available knowledge of their diversified structures and functions.展开更多
Zinc-finger nucleases and transcription activator-like effector nucleases are novel gene-editing platformscontributing to redefine the boundaries of modern biological research. They are composed of a non-specificcleav...Zinc-finger nucleases and transcription activator-like effector nucleases are novel gene-editing platformscontributing to redefine the boundaries of modern biological research. They are composed of a non-specificcleavage domain and a tailor made DNA-binding module, which enables a broad range of genetic modifications byinducing efficient DNA double-strand breaks at desired loci. Among other remarkable uses, these nucleases havebeen employed to produce gene knockouts in mid-size and large animals, such as rabbits and pigs, respectively.This approach is cost effective, relatively quick, and can produce invaluable models for human disease studies,biotechnology or agricultural purposes. Here we describe a protocol for the efficient generation of knockout rabbitsusing transcription activator-like effector nucleases, and a perspective of the field.展开更多
Nuclease effects on the cell internalization of single-walled carbon nanotubes(SWNTs)functionalized with fluorescent-labeled DNA in serum containing cell growth media were examined.When Cy3-labeled DNA-functionalized ...Nuclease effects on the cell internalization of single-walled carbon nanotubes(SWNTs)functionalized with fluorescent-labeled DNA in serum containing cell growth media were examined.When Cy3-labeled DNA-functionalized SWNT conjugates(Cy3DNA-SWNTs)were incubated with HeLa cells in a fatal bovine serum(FBS)medium,a high fl uorescence intensity was obtained from the cells,indicative for the high level inclusion of Cy3DNA-SWNTs.However,the fluorescence intensity was remarkably reduced if Cy3DNA-SWNTs were incubated with cells in the FBS-free medium.Further systematic control experiments revealed that Cy3 dye molecules were released from Cy3DNA-SWNT conjugates by nuclease,and the free Cy3 dyes penetrate into HeLa cell with high efficiency.Although the actual amounts of SWNTs internalized in the cells were almost identical for both cells incubated in the FBS-present and FBS-absent media according to the Raman measurements,one should be cautious to determine the degree of SWNT internalization based on the fl uorescence intensities especially when the coloring dye molecules were linked to oligonucleotides in nuclease containing media.展开更多
The design of artificial nucleases and nuclease mimics has attracted extensive attention and made great progress due to their significant scientific meanings and potential application in the field of gene medicine and...The design of artificial nucleases and nuclease mimics has attracted extensive attention and made great progress due to their significant scientific meanings and potential application in the field of gene medicine and molecular biology. This paper reviews recent progress in the investigation of artificial nuclease,including "bifunctional cooperative catalysis","dinuclear synergistic catalysis","metal-free catalysis" ,and especially,the studies of aza-crown ethers as artificial nucleases and their interaction with DNA.展开更多
Engineered sequence-specific zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs) make the highly efficient modification of eukaryotic genomes possible.However,most current strategies for developing zinc finger nucleases with customized sequ...Engineered sequence-specific zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs) make the highly efficient modification of eukaryotic genomes possible.However,most current strategies for developing zinc finger nucleases with customized sequence specificities require the construction of numerous tandem arrays of zinc finger proteins (ZFPs),and subsequent largescale in vitro validation of their DNA binding affinities and specificities via bacterial selection.The labor and expertise required in this complex process limits the broad adoption of ZFN technology.An effective computational assisted design strategy will lower the complexity of the production of a pair of functional ZFNs.Here we used the FoldX force field to build 3D models of 420 ZFP-DNA complexes based on zinc finger arrays developed by the Zinc Finger Consortium using OPEN (oligomerized pool engineering).Using nonlinear and linear regression analysis,we found that the calculated protein-DNA binding energy in a modeled ZFP-DNA complex strongly correlates to the failure rate of the zinc finger array to show significant ZFN activity in human cells.In our models,less than 5% of the three-finger arrays with calculated protein-DNA binding energies lower than 13.132 kcal mol 1 fail to form active ZFNs in human cells.By contrast,for arrays with calculated protein-DNA binding energies higher than 5 kcal mol 1,as many as 40% lacked ZFN activity in human cells.Therefore,we suggest that the FoldX force field can be useful in reducing the failure rate and increasing efficiency in the design of ZFNs.展开更多
Well-established targeted technologies to engi- neer genomes such as zinc-finger nuclease-based editing （ZFN）, transcription activator-like effector nuclease-based editing （TALEN）, and clustered regularly interspa...Well-established targeted technologies to engi- neer genomes such as zinc-finger nuclease-based editing （ZFN）, transcription activator-like effector nuclease-based editing （TALEN）, and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats and associated protein system-based editing （CRISPR/Cas） are proving to advance basic and applied research in numerous plant species. Compared with systems using ZFNs and TALENs, the most recently developed CRISPR/Cas system is more efficient due to its use of an RNA-guided nuclease to generate double-strand DNA breaks. To accelerate the applications of these technologies, we provide here a detailed overview of these systems, highlight the strengths and weaknesses of each, summarize research advances made with these technologies in model and crop plants, and discuss their applications in plant functional genomics. Such targeted approaches for genetically modifying plants will benefit agricultural production in the future.展开更多
The present work revealed that the praseodymium()complex of 2carboxyethylgermanium sesquioxide(Ge132)promotes the hydrolysis of the phosphodiester linkages of 3,5cyclic adenosine monophosphate(cAMP),3,5cyclic deoxyade...The present work revealed that the praseodymium()complex of 2carboxyethylgermanium sesquioxide(Ge132)promotes the hydrolysis of the phosphodiester linkages of 3,5cyclic adenosine monophosphate(cAMP),3,5cyclic deoxyadenosine monophosphate(dcAMP),5adenosine monophosphate(5AMP)and 5deoxyadenosine monophosphate(5dAMP)under mild conditions.Both cAMP and dcAMP were hydrolyzed sitespecifically,yielding predominantly 3monophosphates,the main products of the cleavage of 5AMP and 5dAMP included adenosine(Ado),deoxyadenosine(dAdo)and free phosphates respectively.A hydrolytic mechanism was proposed for cAMP,dcAMP,5AMP and 5dAMP.展开更多
Despite relative effectiveness of current hepatitis B therapies,there is still no curative agents available.The new emerging approaches hold promise to achieve cure and loss of hepatitis B surface antigen.Studies or c...Despite relative effectiveness of current hepatitis B therapies,there is still no curative agents available.The new emerging approaches hold promise to achieve cure and loss of hepatitis B surface antigen.Studies or clinical trials investigating new therapies remain small and either focus on patients with low viral load and without hepatotoxic injury or patients with hepatitis D co-infection,which makes it challenging to assess their effectiveness and side effect profile in hepatitis B population.展开更多
Transcription activator-like effector nucleases （TALENs） and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats （CRISPR）/ CRISPR-associated （Cas） systems have emerged as powerful tools for genome editing ...Transcription activator-like effector nucleases （TALENs） and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats （CRISPR）/ CRISPR-associated （Cas） systems have emerged as powerful tools for genome editing in a variety of species. Here, we report, for the first time, targeted mutagenesis in Zea mays using TALENs and the CRISPR/Cas system. We designed five TALENs targeting 4 genes, namely ZmPDS, ZmlPKIA, ZmlPK, ZmMRP4, and obtained targeting efficiencies of up to 23.1% in protoplasts, and about 13.3% to 39.1% of the transgenic plants were somatic mutations. Also, we constructed two gRNAs targeting the ZmlPK gene in maize protoplasts, at frequencies of 16.4% and 19.1%, respectively. In addition, the CRISPR/Cas system induced targeted mutations in Z. mays protoplasts with efficiencies （13.1%） similar to those obtained with TALENs （9.1%）. Our results show that both TALENs and the CRISPR/Cas system can be used for genome modification in maize.展开更多
RNA interference has been widely used for gene therapy of various infectious diseases and malignant tumors. However, its poor stability in serum has limited further clinic application. Here, we found that stability of...RNA interference has been widely used for gene therapy of various infectious diseases and malignant tumors. However, its poor stability in serum has limited further clinic application. Here, we found that stability of siRNA in serum enhanced obviously when 3′-terminus of sense strand （siRNA-pS） was conjugated with peptide, while same conjugation at 3′-terminus of antisense strand brought no such effects. And it was also found that only the peptide residue in siRNA-pS could be cut off by RNase A. All these results indicated that nucleases in serum prefer to invade siRNA duplex through the 3′-end of sense strand.展开更多
Chronic hepatitis B infection is caused by hepatitis B virus(HBV) and a total cure is yet to be achieved. The viral covalently closed circular DNA(ccc DNA) is the key to establish a persistent infection within hepatoc...Chronic hepatitis B infection is caused by hepatitis B virus(HBV) and a total cure is yet to be achieved. The viral covalently closed circular DNA(ccc DNA) is the key to establish a persistent infection within hepatocytes. Current antiviral strategies have no effect on the pre-existing ccc DNA reservoir. Therefore, the study of the molecular mechanism of ccc DNA formation is becoming a major focus of HBV research. This review summarizes the current advances in ccc DNA molecular biology and the latest studies on the elimination or inactivation of ccc DNA, including three major areas:(1) epigenetic regulation of ccc DNA by HBV X protein,(2) immune-mediated degradation,and(3) genome-editing nucleases. All these aspects provide clues on how to finally attain a cure for chronic hepatitis B infection.展开更多
Alzheimer’s disease （AD） is an increasingly pressing worldwide public-health, social, political and economic concern. Despite significant investment in multiple traditional therapeutic strategies that have achieved...Alzheimer’s disease （AD） is an increasingly pressing worldwide public-health, social, political and economic concern. Despite significant investment in multiple traditional therapeutic strategies that have achieved success in preclinical models addressing the pathological hallmarks of the disease, these efforts have not translated into any effective disease-modifying therapies. This could be because interventions are being tested too late in the disease process. While existing therapies provide symptomatic and clinical benefit, they do not fully address the molecular abnormalities that occur in AD neurons. The pathophysiology of AD is complex; mitochondrial bioenergetic deficits and brain hypometabolism coupled with increased mitochondrial oxidative stress are antecedent and potentially play a causal role in the disease pathogenesis. Dysfunctional mitochondria accumulate from the combination of impaired mitophagy, which can also induce injurious inflammatory responses, and inadequate neuronal mitochondrial biogenesis. Altering the metabolic capacity of the brain by modulating/potentiating its mitochondrial bioenergetics may be a strategy for disease prevention and treatment. We present insights into the mechanisms of mitochondrial dysfunction in AD brain as well as an overview of emerging treatments with the potential to prevent, delay or reverse the neurodegenerative process by targeting mitochondria.展开更多
Transcription activator-like effector （TALE） nucleases （TALENs） are increasingly used as a powerful tool for genome edit- ing in a variety of organisms. We have previously cloned the TALE-coding gene avrXa23 from ...Transcription activator-like effector （TALE） nucleases （TALENs） are increasingly used as a powerful tool for genome edit- ing in a variety of organisms. We have previously cloned the TALE-coding gene avrXa23 from Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae and developed an AvrXa23-based assembly system for designer TALEs or TALENs. Here, we exploit TALENs to induce mutagenesis of the rice ethylene response factor （ERF） transcription factor OsERF922 for testing the gene-editing efficiency of AvrXa23-based TALENs system. A pair of TALENs （T-KJ9/KJ 10） was assembled and their nuclease activities were first confirmed in rice protoplast transient assay. The TALENs-expressing construct pT-KJ9/KJ10 was then used for rice transformation. We observed targeting somatic mutagenesis frequency of 15.0% in positive transgenic rice calli and obtained two mutant plants with nucleotide deletion or insertion at the designer target region. Our work demonstrates that the AvrXa23-based TALENs system can be used for site-specific genome editing in rice.展开更多
Gene editing has recently emerged as a promising technology to engineer genetic modifications precisely in the genome to achieve long-term relief from corneal disorders.Recent advances in the molecular biology leading...Gene editing has recently emerged as a promising technology to engineer genetic modifications precisely in the genome to achieve long-term relief from corneal disorders.Recent advances in the molecular biology leading to the development of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats(CRISPRs) and CRISPR-associated systems,zinc finger nucleases and transcription activator like effector nucleases have ushered in a new era for high throughput in vitro and in vivo genome engineering.Genome editing can be successfully used to decipher complex molecular mechanisms underlying disease pathophysiology,develop innovative next generation gene therapy,stem cell-based regenerative therapy,and personalized medicine for corneal and other ocular diseases.In this review we describe latest developments in the field of genome editing,current challenges,and future prospects for the development of personalized genebased medicine for corneal diseases.The gene editing approach is expected to revolutionize current diagnostic and treatment practices for curing blindness.展开更多
Double-stranded RNA-mediated interference (RNAi), antisense oligonucleotides (ASO), and ribozymes have excellent specificity to their target oncogenic mRNA. They also seem to show great promise when it comes to treati...Double-stranded RNA-mediated interference (RNAi), antisense oligonucleotides (ASO), and ribozymes have excellent specificity to their target oncogenic mRNA. They also seem to show great promise when it comes to treating cancer. The problem is that RNAi, ASO, and ribozymes have poor stability and are constantly being degraded by nucleases. Researchers have made some efforts to increase antisense oligonucleotides’ stability by creating phospharimidate and Phosphorothioate. Currently, ribozymes, antisense oligonucleotides, and (RNAi) are the three main methods used to target RNA. These methods are currently undergoing clinical trials for the purpose of focusing on specific RNAs involved in disorders like cancer and neurodegeneration. In fact, ASOs that target amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and spinal muscular atrophy have produced promising results in clinical trials. The formation of chemical alterations that boost affinity and selectivity while reducing noxiousness owing to off-target impacts are two benefits of ASOs. Another benefit is increased affinity. With a focus on RNAi and ASOs, this review illustrated the main therapeutic strategies of RNA therapy now in use.展开更多
基金the Akdeniz University Scientific Research Commission and the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey,No.TUBITAK-215S820.
文摘Targeted genome editing is a continually evolving technology employing programmable nucleases to specifically change,insert,or remove a genomic sequence of interest.These advanced molecular tools include meganucleases,zinc finger nucleases,transcription activator-like effector nucleases and RNA-guided engineered nucleases(RGENs),which create double-strand breaks at specific target sites in the genome,and repair DNA either by homologous recombination in the presence of donor DNA or via the error-prone non-homologous end-joining mechanism.A recently discovered group of RGENs known as CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing systems allowed precise genome manipulation revealing a causal association between disease genotype and phenotype,without the need for the reengineering of the specific enzyme when targeting different sequences.CRISPR/Cas9 has been successfully employed as an ex vivo gene-editing tool in embryonic stem cells and patient-derived stem cells to understand pancreatic beta-cell development and function.RNA-guided nucleases also open the way for the generation of novel animal models for diabetes and allow testing the efficiency of various therapeutic approaches in diabetes,as summarized and exemplified in this manuscript.
基金This work was supported by National Institutes of Health(NIH)/National Cancer Institute(NCI)grants(R01CA073764,R01CA085344,and R01CA233664 to B.S.and R50CA211397 to L.Z.)Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences Innovation Fund for Medical Sciences(CIFMS,2023-I2M-3-006 to H.S.).
文摘Nucleases are a super family of enzymes that hydrolyze phosphodiester bonds present in genomes.They widely vary in substrates,causing differentiation in cleavage patterns and having a diversified role in maintaining genetic material.Through cellular evolution of prokaryotic to eukaryotic,nucleases become structure-specific in recognizing its own or foreign genomic DNA/RNA configurations as its substrates,including flaps,bubbles,and Holliday junctions.These special structural configurations are commonly found as intermediates in processes like DNA replication,repair,and recombination.The structure-specific nature and diversified functions make them essential to maintaining genome integrity and evolution in normal and cancer cells.In this article,we review their roles in various pathways,including Okazaki fragment maturation during DNA replication,end resection in homology-directed recombination repair of DNA double-strand breaks,DNA excision repair and apoptosis DNA fragmentation in response to exogenous DNA damage,and HIV life cycle.As the nucleases serve as key points for the DNA dynamics,cellular apoptosis,and cancer cell survival pathways,we discuss the efforts in the field in developing the therapeutic regimens,taking advantage of recently available knowledge of their diversified structures and functions.
基金Work on this topic in the authors’laboratories is supported by grants from:the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(number XDA01020106)the Ministry of Science and Technology of China 973 program(2011CB965200)+2 种基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China(81261130317)to MAEthe Bureau of Science,Technology and Information of Guangzhou Municipality(2012 J5100040)to MAE and JFgrants 2010U1-E00811-5 and ZNGI-2011-010 from the Guangzhou Municipality and the Chinese Academy of Sciences,respectively,to LL.
文摘Zinc-finger nucleases and transcription activator-like effector nucleases are novel gene-editing platformscontributing to redefine the boundaries of modern biological research. They are composed of a non-specificcleavage domain and a tailor made DNA-binding module, which enables a broad range of genetic modifications byinducing efficient DNA double-strand breaks at desired loci. Among other remarkable uses, these nucleases havebeen employed to produce gene knockouts in mid-size and large animals, such as rabbits and pigs, respectively.This approach is cost effective, relatively quick, and can produce invaluable models for human disease studies,biotechnology or agricultural purposes. Here we describe a protocol for the efficient generation of knockout rabbitsusing transcription activator-like effector nucleases, and a perspective of the field.
基金This work was supported by the Nano/Bio Science&Technology Program of MOST(2008-00759)Korean Research Foundation(MOEHRD,KRF-2005-005-J13103 and KRF-2007-313-C00386)KOSEF(2007-8-1158).
文摘Nuclease effects on the cell internalization of single-walled carbon nanotubes(SWNTs)functionalized with fluorescent-labeled DNA in serum containing cell growth media were examined.When Cy3-labeled DNA-functionalized SWNT conjugates(Cy3DNA-SWNTs)were incubated with HeLa cells in a fatal bovine serum(FBS)medium,a high fl uorescence intensity was obtained from the cells,indicative for the high level inclusion of Cy3DNA-SWNTs.However,the fluorescence intensity was remarkably reduced if Cy3DNA-SWNTs were incubated with cells in the FBS-free medium.Further systematic control experiments revealed that Cy3 dye molecules were released from Cy3DNA-SWNT conjugates by nuclease,and the free Cy3 dyes penetrate into HeLa cell with high efficiency.Although the actual amounts of SWNTs internalized in the cells were almost identical for both cells incubated in the FBS-present and FBS-absent media according to the Raman measurements,one should be cautious to determine the degree of SWNT internalization based on the fl uorescence intensities especially when the coloring dye molecules were linked to oligonucleotides in nuclease containing media.
基金Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 20872061 & 20372032)the National Basic Research of China (Grant No. 2007CB925103)
文摘The design of artificial nucleases and nuclease mimics has attracted extensive attention and made great progress due to their significant scientific meanings and potential application in the field of gene medicine and molecular biology. This paper reviews recent progress in the investigation of artificial nuclease,including "bifunctional cooperative catalysis","dinuclear synergistic catalysis","metal-free catalysis" ,and especially,the studies of aza-crown ethers as artificial nucleases and their interaction with DNA.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.30901018)the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No.201003388)
文摘Engineered sequence-specific zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs) make the highly efficient modification of eukaryotic genomes possible.However,most current strategies for developing zinc finger nucleases with customized sequence specificities require the construction of numerous tandem arrays of zinc finger proteins (ZFPs),and subsequent largescale in vitro validation of their DNA binding affinities and specificities via bacterial selection.The labor and expertise required in this complex process limits the broad adoption of ZFN technology.An effective computational assisted design strategy will lower the complexity of the production of a pair of functional ZFNs.Here we used the FoldX force field to build 3D models of 420 ZFP-DNA complexes based on zinc finger arrays developed by the Zinc Finger Consortium using OPEN (oligomerized pool engineering).Using nonlinear and linear regression analysis,we found that the calculated protein-DNA binding energy in a modeled ZFP-DNA complex strongly correlates to the failure rate of the zinc finger array to show significant ZFN activity in human cells.In our models,less than 5% of the three-finger arrays with calculated protein-DNA binding energies lower than 13.132 kcal mol 1 fail to form active ZFNs in human cells.By contrast,for arrays with calculated protein-DNA binding energies higher than 5 kcal mol 1,as many as 40% lacked ZFN activity in human cells.Therefore,we suggest that the FoldX force field can be useful in reducing the failure rate and increasing efficiency in the design of ZFNs.
文摘Well-established targeted technologies to engi- neer genomes such as zinc-finger nuclease-based editing （ZFN）, transcription activator-like effector nuclease-based editing （TALEN）, and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats and associated protein system-based editing （CRISPR/Cas） are proving to advance basic and applied research in numerous plant species. Compared with systems using ZFNs and TALENs, the most recently developed CRISPR/Cas system is more efficient due to its use of an RNA-guided nuclease to generate double-strand DNA breaks. To accelerate the applications of these technologies, we provide here a detailed overview of these systems, highlight the strengths and weaknesses of each, summarize research advances made with these technologies in model and crop plants, and discuss their applications in plant functional genomics. Such targeted approaches for genetically modifying plants will benefit agricultural production in the future.
文摘The present work revealed that the praseodymium()complex of 2carboxyethylgermanium sesquioxide(Ge132)promotes the hydrolysis of the phosphodiester linkages of 3,5cyclic adenosine monophosphate(cAMP),3,5cyclic deoxyadenosine monophosphate(dcAMP),5adenosine monophosphate(5AMP)and 5deoxyadenosine monophosphate(5dAMP)under mild conditions.Both cAMP and dcAMP were hydrolyzed sitespecifically,yielding predominantly 3monophosphates,the main products of the cleavage of 5AMP and 5dAMP included adenosine(Ado),deoxyadenosine(dAdo)and free phosphates respectively.A hydrolytic mechanism was proposed for cAMP,dcAMP,5AMP and 5dAMP.
文摘Despite relative effectiveness of current hepatitis B therapies,there is still no curative agents available.The new emerging approaches hold promise to achieve cure and loss of hepatitis B surface antigen.Studies or clinical trials investigating new therapies remain small and either focus on patients with low viral load and without hepatotoxic injury or patients with hepatitis D co-infection,which makes it challenging to assess their effectiveness and side effect profile in hepatitis B population.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 31271795 and 31200273)
文摘Transcription activator-like effector nucleases （TALENs） and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats （CRISPR）/ CRISPR-associated （Cas） systems have emerged as powerful tools for genome editing in a variety of species. Here, we report, for the first time, targeted mutagenesis in Zea mays using TALENs and the CRISPR/Cas system. We designed five TALENs targeting 4 genes, namely ZmPDS, ZmlPKIA, ZmlPK, ZmMRP4, and obtained targeting efficiencies of up to 23.1% in protoplasts, and about 13.3% to 39.1% of the transgenic plants were somatic mutations. Also, we constructed two gRNAs targeting the ZmlPK gene in maize protoplasts, at frequencies of 16.4% and 19.1%, respectively. In addition, the CRISPR/Cas system induced targeted mutations in Z. mays protoplasts with efficiencies （13.1%） similar to those obtained with TALENs （9.1%）. Our results show that both TALENs and the CRISPR/Cas system can be used for genome modification in maize.
基金Ministry of Science and Technology of China(Grant No.2012CB720604)National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.20932001)
文摘RNA interference has been widely used for gene therapy of various infectious diseases and malignant tumors. However, its poor stability in serum has limited further clinic application. Here, we found that stability of siRNA in serum enhanced obviously when 3′-terminus of sense strand （siRNA-pS） was conjugated with peptide, while same conjugation at 3′-terminus of antisense strand brought no such effects. And it was also found that only the peptide residue in siRNA-pS could be cut off by RNase A. All these results indicated that nucleases in serum prefer to invade siRNA duplex through the 3′-end of sense strand.
基金supported by the Key Project of Hubei Province Natural Science Foundation(2014CFA075)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(31400153)the Applied Basic Research Program(2015060101010033),Wuhan,China
文摘Chronic hepatitis B infection is caused by hepatitis B virus(HBV) and a total cure is yet to be achieved. The viral covalently closed circular DNA(ccc DNA) is the key to establish a persistent infection within hepatocytes. Current antiviral strategies have no effect on the pre-existing ccc DNA reservoir. Therefore, the study of the molecular mechanism of ccc DNA formation is becoming a major focus of HBV research. This review summarizes the current advances in ccc DNA molecular biology and the latest studies on the elimination or inactivation of ccc DNA, including three major areas:(1) epigenetic regulation of ccc DNA by HBV X protein,(2) immune-mediated degradation,and(3) genome-editing nucleases. All these aspects provide clues on how to finally attain a cure for chronic hepatitis B infection.
文摘Alzheimer’s disease （AD） is an increasingly pressing worldwide public-health, social, political and economic concern. Despite significant investment in multiple traditional therapeutic strategies that have achieved success in preclinical models addressing the pathological hallmarks of the disease, these efforts have not translated into any effective disease-modifying therapies. This could be because interventions are being tested too late in the disease process. While existing therapies provide symptomatic and clinical benefit, they do not fully address the molecular abnormalities that occur in AD neurons. The pathophysiology of AD is complex; mitochondrial bioenergetic deficits and brain hypometabolism coupled with increased mitochondrial oxidative stress are antecedent and potentially play a causal role in the disease pathogenesis. Dysfunctional mitochondria accumulate from the combination of impaired mitophagy, which can also induce injurious inflammatory responses, and inadequate neuronal mitochondrial biogenesis. Altering the metabolic capacity of the brain by modulating/potentiating its mitochondrial bioenergetics may be a strategy for disease prevention and treatment. We present insights into the mechanisms of mitochondrial dysfunction in AD brain as well as an overview of emerging treatments with the potential to prevent, delay or reverse the neurodegenerative process by targeting mitochondria.
基金supported by the grant from the Major Science and Technology Project to Create New Crop Cultivars Using Gene Transfer Technology of China (2014ZX0801001B)the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31171812)
文摘Transcription activator-like effector （TALE） nucleases （TALENs） are increasingly used as a powerful tool for genome edit- ing in a variety of organisms. We have previously cloned the TALE-coding gene avrXa23 from Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae and developed an AvrXa23-based assembly system for designer TALEs or TALENs. Here, we exploit TALENs to induce mutagenesis of the rice ethylene response factor （ERF） transcription factor OsERF922 for testing the gene-editing efficiency of AvrXa23-based TALENs system. A pair of TALENs （T-KJ9/KJ 10） was assembled and their nuclease activities were first confirmed in rice protoplast transient assay. The TALENs-expressing construct pT-KJ9/KJ10 was then used for rice transformation. We observed targeting somatic mutagenesis frequency of 15.0% in positive transgenic rice calli and obtained two mutant plants with nucleotide deletion or insertion at the designer target region. Our work demonstrates that the AvrXa23-based TALENs system can be used for site-specific genome editing in rice.
文摘Gene editing has recently emerged as a promising technology to engineer genetic modifications precisely in the genome to achieve long-term relief from corneal disorders.Recent advances in the molecular biology leading to the development of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats(CRISPRs) and CRISPR-associated systems,zinc finger nucleases and transcription activator like effector nucleases have ushered in a new era for high throughput in vitro and in vivo genome engineering.Genome editing can be successfully used to decipher complex molecular mechanisms underlying disease pathophysiology,develop innovative next generation gene therapy,stem cell-based regenerative therapy,and personalized medicine for corneal and other ocular diseases.In this review we describe latest developments in the field of genome editing,current challenges,and future prospects for the development of personalized genebased medicine for corneal diseases.The gene editing approach is expected to revolutionize current diagnostic and treatment practices for curing blindness.
文摘Double-stranded RNA-mediated interference (RNAi), antisense oligonucleotides (ASO), and ribozymes have excellent specificity to their target oncogenic mRNA. They also seem to show great promise when it comes to treating cancer. The problem is that RNAi, ASO, and ribozymes have poor stability and are constantly being degraded by nucleases. Researchers have made some efforts to increase antisense oligonucleotides’ stability by creating phospharimidate and Phosphorothioate. Currently, ribozymes, antisense oligonucleotides, and (RNAi) are the three main methods used to target RNA. These methods are currently undergoing clinical trials for the purpose of focusing on specific RNAs involved in disorders like cancer and neurodegeneration. In fact, ASOs that target amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and spinal muscular atrophy have produced promising results in clinical trials. The formation of chemical alterations that boost affinity and selectivity while reducing noxiousness owing to off-target impacts are two benefits of ASOs. Another benefit is increased affinity. With a focus on RNAi and ASOs, this review illustrated the main therapeutic strategies of RNA therapy now in use.
