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Sister chromatid cohesion (SCC) is an important process in chromosome segregation. ESCO2 is essential for establishment of SCC and is often deleted/altered in human cancers. We demonstrate that esco2 haploinsufficiency results in reduced SCC and accelerates the timing of tumor onset in both zebrafish and mouse p53 heterozygous null models, but not in p53 homozygous mutant or wild-type animals. These data indicate that esco2 haploinsufficiency accelerates tumor onset in a loss of heterozygosity (LOH) sensitive background. Analysis of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) confirmed ESCO2 deficient tumors have elevated number of LOH events throughout the genome. Further, we demonstrated heterozygous loss of sgo1, important in maintaining SCC, also results in reduced SCC and accelerated tumor formation in a p53 heterozygous background. Surprisingly, while we did observe elevated levels of chromosome missegregation and micronuclei formation in esco2 heterozygous mutant animals, this chromosomal instability did not contribute to the accelerated tumor onset in a p53 heterozygous background. Interestingly, SCC also plays a role in homologous recombination, and we did observe elevated levels of mitotic recombination derived p53 LOH in tumors from esco2 haploinsufficient animals; as well as elevated levels of mitotic recombination throughout the genome of human ESCO2 deficient tumors. Together these data suggest that reduced SCC contributes to accelerated tumor penetrance through elevated mitotic recombination.

Primary cilia are sensory and signaling hubs with a protein composition that is distinct from the rest of the cell due to the barrier function of the transition zone (TZ) at the base of the cilium. Protein transport across the TZ is mediated in part by the BBSome, and mutations disrupting TZ and BBSome proteins cause human ciliopathy syndromes. Ciliopathies have phenotypic variability even among patients with identical genetic variants, suggesting a role for modifier loci. To identify potential ciliopathy modifiers, we performed a mutagenesis screen on nphp-4 mutant Caenorhabditis elegans and uncovered a novel allele of bbs-5. Nphp-4;bbs-5 double mutant worms have phenotypes not observed in either individual mutant strain. To test whether this genetic interaction is conserved, we also analyzed zebrafish and mouse mutants. While Nphp4 mutant zebrafish appeared overtly normal, Bbs5 mutants exhibited scoliosis. When combined, Nphp4;Bbs5 double mutant zebrafish did not exhibit synergistic effects, but the lack of a phenotype in Nphp4 mutants makes interpreting these data difficult. In contrast, Nphp4;Bbs5 double mutant mice were not viable and there were fewer mice than expected carrying three mutant alleles. In addition, postnatal loss of Bbs5 in mice using a conditional allele compromised survival when combined with an Nphp4 allele. As cilia are still formed in the double mutant mice, the exacerbated phenotype is likely a consequence of disrupted ciliary signaling. Collectively, these data support an evolutionarily conserved genetic interaction between Bbs5 and Nphp4 alleles that may contribute to the variability in ciliopathy phenotypes.

Primary cilia are sensory and signaling hubs with a protein composition that is distinct from the rest of the cell due to the barrier function of the transition zone (TZ) at the base of the cilium. Protein transport across the TZ is mediated in part by the BBSome, and mutations disrupting TZ and BBSome proteins cause human ciliopathy syndromes. Ciliopathies have phenotypic variability even among patients with identical genetic variants, suggesting a role for modifier loci. To identify potential ciliopathy modifiers, we performed a mutagenesis screen on nphp-4 mutant C. elegans and uncovered a novel allele of bbs-5. Nphp-4;bbs-5 double mutant worms have phenotypes not observed in either individual mutant strain. To test whether this genetic interaction is conserved, we also analyzed zebrafish and mice mutants. While Nphp4 mutant zebrafish appeared overtly normal, Bbs5 mutants exhibited scoliosis. When combined, Nphp4;Bbs5 double mutant zebrafish did not exhibit synergistic effects, but the lack of a phenotype in Nphp4 mutants makes interpreting these data difficult. In contrast, viable Nphp4;Bbs5 double mutant mice were not obtained and there were fewer mice than expected carrying three mutant alleles. Additionally, postnatal loss of Bbs5 in mice using a conditional allele compromised survival when combined with a Nphp4 allele. As cilia are formed in the double mutant mice, the exacerbated phenotype is likely a consequence of disrupted ciliary signaling. Collectively, these data support an evolutionarily conserved genetic interaction between Bbs5 and Nphp4 alleles that may contribute to the variability in ciliopathy phenotypes.

Since its identification in 2000, sulfotransferase (SULT) 4A1 has presented an enigma to the field of cytosolic SULT biology. SULT4A1 is exclusively expressed in neural tissue, is highly conserved, and has been identified in every vertebrate studied to date. Despite this singular level of conservation, no substrate or function for SULT4A1 has been identified. Previous studies demonstrated that SULT4A1 does not bind the obligate sulfate donor, 3'-phosphoadenosine-5'-phosphosulfate, yet SULT4A1 is classified as a SULT superfamily member based on sequence and structural similarities to the other SULTs. In this study, transcription activator-like effector nucleases were used to generate heritable mutations in the SULT4A1 gene of zebrafish. The mutation (SULT4A1(Δ8)) consists of an 8-nucleotide deletion within the second exon of the gene, resulting in a frameshift mutation and premature stop codon after 132 AA. During early adulthood, casual observations were made that mutant zebrafish were exhibiting excessively sedentary behavior during the day. These observations were inconsistent with published reports on activity in zebrafish that are largely diurnal organisms and are highly active during the day. Thus, a decrease in activity during the day represents an abnormal behavior and warranted further systematic analysis. EthoVision video tracking software was used to monitor activity levels in wild-type (WT) and SULT4A1(Δ8/Δ8) fish over 48 hours of a normal light/dark cycle. SULT4A1(Δ8/Δ8) fish were shown to exhibit increased inactivity bout length and frequency as well as a general decrease in daytime activity levels when compared with their WT counterparts.

Objective Approximately 30–40% of grade III–IV toxicity to 5-FU has been associated with partial or profound deficiency in dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD), the first of three enzymes in the catabolic pathway of fluoropyrimidines. There remains, however, a subset of patients presenting with 5-FU-associated toxicity despite normal DPD activity, suggesting possible deficiencies in enzymes downstream of DPD: dihydropyrimidinase (DHP), encoded by the DPYS gene, and/or β-ureidopropionase (BUP-1), encoded by the UPB1 gene. Previously, we reported the identification of inactivating mutations in the DPYS gene that could potentially alter the uracil catabolic pathway in healthy individuals with normal DPD enzyme activity. This study investigates the possible role of UPB1 genetic variations in the regulation of the uracil catabolic pathway in individuals presenting with a deficient uracil breath test (13C-UraBT) despite normal DPD enzyme activity. Methods This study included 219 healthy asymptomatic volunteers with known DPD enzyme activity and [2-13C]-uracil breath test (UraBT). All samples were genotyped for sequence variations in the UPB1 gene using denaturing high performance liquid chromatography (DHPLC) and Surveyor enzyme digestion with confirmation of detected sequence variants by direct sequencing. Results Seven novel and six previously reported sequence variations were identified, including one nonconservative mutation, which demonstrated 97.3% reduction in BUP-1 activity when expressed in the RKO cell line. Conclusion Data presented in this study demonstrate that alterations of uracil catabolism are not limited to DPD and/or DHP deficiency and that inactivating mutations in the UPB1 gene might impair uracil catabolism.

Dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD) deficiency accounts for approximately 43% of grade 3-4 toxicity to 5-fluorouracil. There, however, remain a number of patients presenting with 5-fluorouracil-associated toxicity despite normal DPD enzyme activity, suggesting possible deficiencies in dihydropyrimidinase (DHP), encoded by the DPYS gene, and/or beta-ureidopropionase (BUP-1), encoded by the UPB1 gene. This study investigates the role of DPYS sequence variations in individuals with unexplained molecular basis of altered uracil catabolism.This study included 219 asymptomatic healthy volunteers with known DPD enzyme activity and [2-13C]-uracil breath test (UraBT) profiles. All samples were genotyped for sequence variations in the DPYS gene using denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography (DHPLC) and Surveyor enzyme digestion with confirmation by direct sequencing. Site-directed mutagenesis and expression analysis were performed to determine the effect of the identified nonconservative mutations on DHP enzyme activity.Seven previously reported and 11 novel sequence variations were identified, including three nonconservative mutations; two of which (L7V and 1635delC) demonstrated decreased DHP activity when expressed in the RKO cell line (P=0.25). The P values were not significant due to the small sample size (n=3); however, a modified [2-13C]-uracil breath test, the 13C-dihydrouracil breath test, was administered to four volunteers to confirm that the 1635delC mutation does in fact reduce in-vivo DHP activity.Data presented in this study demonstrate that alterations of uracil catabolism are not limited to DPD deficiency, and that inactivating mutations in DHP might impair uracil catabolism in cases of normal DPD activity.

Sulfotransferase (SULT) 4A1 is an orphan enzyme that shares distinct structure and sequence similarities with other cytosolic SULTs. SULT4A1 is primarily expressed in neuronal tissue and is also the most conserved SULT, having been identified in every vertebrate investigated to date. Certain haplotypes of the SULT4A1 gene are correlated with higher baseline psychopathology in schizophrenic patients, but no substrate or function for SULT4A1 has yet been identified despite its high level of sequence conservation. In this study, deep RNA sequencing was used to search for alterations in gene expression in 72-hour postfertilization zebrafish larvae following transient SULT4A1 knockdown (KD) utilizing splice blocking morpholino oligonucleotides. This study demonstrates that transient inhibition of SULT4A1 expression in developing zebrafish larvae results in the up-regulation of several genes involved in phototransduction. SULT4A1 KD was verified by immunoblot analysis and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Gene regulation changes identified by deep RNA sequencing were validated by qPCR. This study is the first identification of a cellular process whose regulation appears to be associated with SULT4A1 expression.

With the goal to generate and characterize the phenotypes of null alleles in all genes within an organism and the recent advances in custom nucleases, genome editing limitations have moved from mutation generation to mutation detection. We previously demonstrated that High Resolution Melting (HRM) analysis is a rapid and efficient means of genotyping known zebrafish mutants. Here we establish optimized conditions for HRM based detection of novel mutant alleles. Using these conditions, we demonstrate that HRM is highly efficient at mutation detection across multiple genome editing platforms (ZFNs, TALENs, and CRISPRs); we observed nuclease generated HRM positive targeting in 1 of 6 (16%) open pool derived ZFNs, 14 of 23 (60%) TALENs, and 58 of 77 (75%) CRISPR nucleases. Successful targeting, based on HRM of G0 embryos correlates well with successful germline transmission (46 of 47 nucleases); yet, surprisingly mutations in the somatic tail DNA weakly correlate with mutations in the germline F1 progeny DNA. This suggests that analysis of G0 tail DNA is a good indicator of the efficiency of the nuclease, but not necessarily a good indicator of germline alleles that will be present in the F1s. However, we demonstrate that small amplicon HRM curve profiles of F1 progeny DNA can be used to differentiate between specific mutant alleles, facilitating rare allele identification and isolation; and that HRM is a powerful technique for screening possible off-target mutations that may be generated by the nucleases. Our data suggest that micro-homology based alternative NHEJ repair is primarily utilized in the generation of CRISPR mutant alleles and allows us to predict likelihood of generating a null allele. Lastly, we demonstrate that HRM can be used to quickly distinguish genotype-phenotype correlations within F1 embryos derived from G0 intercrosses. Together these data indicate that custom nucleases, in conjunction with the ease and speed of HRM, will facilitate future high-throughput mutation generation and analysis needed to establish mutants in all genes of an organism.