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Cystic fibrosis is a monogenic lung disease caused by dysfunction of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator anion channel, resulting in significant morbidity and mortality. The progress in elucidating the role of CFTR using established animal and cell-based models led to the recent discovery of effective modulators for most individuals with CF. However, a subset of individuals with CF do not respond to these modulators and there is an urgent need to develop novel therapeutic strategies. In this study, we generate a panel of airway epithelial cells using induced pluripotent stem cells from individuals with common or rare CFTR variants representative of three distinct classes of CFTR dysfunction. To measure CFTR function we adapt two established in vitro assays for use in induced pluripotent stem cell-derived airway cells. In both a 3-D spheroid assay using forskolin-induced swelling as well as planar cultures composed of polarized mucociliary airway epithelial cells, we detect genotype-specific differences in CFTR baseline function and response to CFTR modulators. These results demonstrate the potential of the human induced pluripotent stem cell platform as a research tool to study CF and in particular accelerate therapeutic development for CF caused by rare variants. Hundreds of mutations in the gene CFTR lead to cystic fibrosis and represent a challenge to developing therapeutics. Here, authors demonstrate the ability of airway cells derived from human iPSCs to model genotype-specific CFTR function as well as pharmacologic rescue of disease causing mutations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arginine methyltransferases (RMTs) catalyze the methylation of arginine residues on proteins. We examined the effects of log-phase growth, stationary-phase growth, and heat shock on the formation of methylarginines on yeast proteins to determine if the conditions favor a particular type of methylation. Utilizing linear ion trap mass spectrometry, we identify methylarginines in wild-type and RMT deletion yeast strains using secondary product ion scans (MS), and quantify the methylarginines using multiple reaction monitoring (MRM). Employing MS and isotopic incorporation, we demonstrate for the first time that Nη1, Nη2-dimethylarginine (sDMA) is present on yeast proteins, and make a detailed structural determination of the fragment ions from the spectra. Nη-monomethylarginine (ηMMA), Nδ-monomethylarginine (δMMA), Nη1, Nη1-dimethylarginine (aDMA), and sDMA were detected in RMT deletion yeast using MS and MRM with and without isotopic incorporation, suggesting that additional RMT enzymes remain to be discovered in yeast. The concentrations of ηMMA and δMMA decreased by half during heat shock and stationary phase compared to log-phase growth of wild-type yeast, whereas sDMA increased by as much as sevenfold and aDMA decreased by 11-fold. Therefore, upon entering stressful conditions like heat shock or stationary-phase growth, there is a net increase in sDMA and decreases in aDMA, ηMMA, and δMMA on yeast proteins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]