Retroviral elements and their hosts: insertional mutagenesis in the mouse germ line.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Maksakova IA
PROVIDER: S-EPMC1331978 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:A codon-optimized mouse LINE-1 element, ORFeus, exhibits dramatically higher retrotransposition frequencies compared with its native long interspersed element 1 counterpart. To establish a retrotransposon-mediated mouse model with regulatable and potent mutagenic capabilities, we generated a tetracycline (tet)-regulated ORFeus element harboring a gene-trap cassette. Here, we show that mice expressing tet-ORFeus broadly exhibit robust retrotransposition in somatic tissues when treated with doxycycline. Consistent with a significant mutagenic burden, we observed a reduced number of double transgenic animals when treated with high-level doxycycline during embryogenesis. Transgene induction in skin resulted in a white spotting phenotype due to somatic ORFeus-mediated mutations that likely disrupt melanocyte development. The data suggest a high level of transposition in melanocyte precursors and consequent mutation of genes important for melanoblast proliferation, differentiation, or migration. These findings reveal the utility of a retrotransposon-based mutagenesis system as an alternative to existing DNA transposon systems. Moreover, breeding these mice to different tet-transactivator/reversible tet-transactivator lines supports broad functionality of tet-ORFeus because of the potential for dose-dependent, tissue-specific, and temporal-specific mutagenesis.
| S-EPMC3718180 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Retroviral insertional mutagenesis screens, which identify genes involved in tumor development in mice, have yielded a substantial number of retroviral integration sites, and this number is expected to grow substantially due to the introduction of high-throughput screening techniques. The data of various retroviral insertional mutagenesis screens are compiled in the publicly available Retroviral Tagged Cancer Gene Database (RTCGD). Integrally analyzing these screens for the presence of common insertion sites (CISs, i.e., regions in the genome that have been hit by viral insertions in multiple independent tumors significantly more than expected by chance) requires an approach that corrects for the increased probability of finding false CISs as the amount of available data increases. Moreover, significance estimates of CISs should be established taking into account both the noise, arising from the random nature of the insertion process, as well as the bias, stemming from preferential insertion sites present in the genome and the data retrieval methodology. We introduce a framework, the kernel convolution (KC) framework, to find CISs in a noisy and biased environment using a predefined significance level while controlling the family-wise error (FWE) (the probability of detecting false CISs). Where previous methods use one, two, or three predetermined fixed scales, our method is capable of operating at any biologically relevant scale. This creates the possibility to analyze the CISs in a scale space by varying the width of the CISs, providing new insights in the behavior of CISs across multiple scales. Our method also features the possibility of including models for background bias. Using simulated data, we evaluate the KC framework using three kernel functions, the Gaussian, triangular, and rectangular kernel function. We applied the Gaussian KC to the data from the combined set of screens in the RTCGD and found that 53% of the CISs do not reach the significance threshold in this combined setting. Still, with the FWE under control, application of our method resulted in the discovery of eight novel CISs, which each have a probability less than 5% of being false detections.
| S-EPMC1676030 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Retroviral insertional mutagenesis preferentially identifies oncogenes rather than tumor suppressor (TS) genes, presumably because a single retroviral-induced mutation is sufficient to activate an oncogene and initiate a tumor, whereas two mutations are needed to inactivate a TS gene. Here we show that TS genes can be identified by insertional mutagenesis when the screens are performed in Blm-deficient backgrounds. Blm-deficient mice, like Bloom syndrome patients, have increased frequencies of mitotic recombination owing to a mutation in the RecQ protein-like-3 helicase gene. This increased mitotic recombination increases the likelihood that an insertional mutation in one allele of a TS gene will become homozygoused by non-sister chromatid exchange and the homozygosity of the insertion provides a marker for identifying the TS gene. We also show that known as well as novel TS genes can be identified by insertional mutagenesis in Blm-deficient mice and identify two JmjC family proteins that contribute to genome stability in species as evolutionarily diverse as mammals and Caenorhabditis elegans.
| S-EPMC1523184 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The CCAAT enhancer binding protein alpha (C/EBPalpha) transcription factor plays a key role in the regulation of growth and differentiation of the granulocytic lineage in the hematopoietic system and CEBPA (encoding C/EBPalpha) is often mutated or deregulated in AML patients. Consistently, mice lacking C/EBPalpha have no mature neutrophils and die within a few hours. However, homozygous knockin mice in which wild type Cebpa has been replaced with a mutant allele (BRM2), which abolish the growth-repressing ability of C/EBPalpha, are viable, but at 8 weeks of age they display myeloid dysplasia with absence of neutrophil granulocytes. Strikingly, in older CebpaBRM2/BRM2 knockin mice the myeloid dysplastic phenotype progress into other myeloid malignancies such as myeloid proliferative syndrome and acute myeloid leukemia-like malignancy. This strongly suggests that secondary mutations in other loci must occur when developing leukemia in the CebpaBRM2/BRM2. In order to identify genes that cooperate with Cebpa mutations in the development of leukemia in CebpaBRM2/BRM2 mice a so-called retroviral insertion mutagenesis screen was performed. Inbred newborn CebpaBRM2/BRM2 and wildtype mice were injected with SRS19-6 retrovirus, which incorporated into the genome and resulted in activation of oncogenes and leukemic progression. When leukemia was evident the mice were euthanized and analyzed. As expected the CebpaBRM2/BRM2 mice had a shorter latency than wildtype mice (186 vs. 276 days). The mice had enlarged spleen, thymus, and/or lymph nodes and were thoroughly investigated by histology, flow cytometry and southern in order to determine the leukemic phenotypes. Most of the CebpaBRM2/BRM2 mice developed an AML-like phenotype, whereas T cell leukemias were most prominent in wildtype mice, showing that mutating Cebpa specifically directs leukemic progression towards a myeloid direction. Genomic instability was analyzed by CGH. Finally, the retroviral insertion loci were identified through a splinkerette-aided PCR strategy. This led to the identification of several novel putative and previously unexplored oncogenes, which might collaborate with mutated Cebpa in the development of AML. Keywords: Disease state analysis
2008-06-01 | GSE8032 | GEO
Project description:The t(2;11)(q31;p15) chromosomal translocation results in a fusion between the NUP98 and HOXD13 genes and has been observed in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) or acute myelogenous leukemia. We previously showed that expression of the NUP98-HOXD13 (NHD13) fusion gene in transgenic mice results in an invariably fatal MDS; approximately one third of mice die due to complications of severe pancytopenia, and about two thirds progress to a fatal acute leukemia. In the present study, we used retroviral insertional mutagenesis to identify genes that might collaborate with NHD13 as the MDS transformed to an acute leukemia. Newborn NHD13 transgenic mice and littermate controls were infected with the MOL4070LTR retrovirus. The onset of leukemia was accelerated, suggesting a synergistic effect between the NHD13 transgene and the genes neighboring retroviral insertion events. We identified numerous common insertion sites located near protein-coding genes and confirmed dysregulation of a subset of these by expression analyses. Among these genes were Meis1, a known collaborator of HOX and NUP98-HOX fusion genes, and Mn1, a transcriptional coactivator involved in human leukemia through fusion with the TEL gene. Other putative collaborators included Gata2, Erg, and Epor. Of note, we identified a common insertion site that was >100 kb from the nearest coding gene, but within 20 kb of the miR29a/miR29b1 microRNA locus. Both of these miRNA were up-regulated, demonstrating that retroviral insertional mutagenesis can target miRNA loci as well as protein-coding loci. Our data provide new insights into NHD13-mediated leukemogenesis as well as retroviral insertional mutagenesis mechanisms.
| S-EPMC1950322 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Retrovirus (RV) is efficient for gene transfer and integration in dividing cells of diverse organisms. RV provides a powerful tool for insertional mutagenesis (IM) to identify and functionally analyze genes essential for normal and pathological processes. Here we report RV-mediated gene transfer and genome-wide IM in fish stem cells from medaka and zebrafish. Three RVs were produced for fish cell transduction: rvLegfp and rvLcherry produce green fluorescent protein (GFP) and mCherry fluorescent protein respectively under control of human cytomegalovirus immediate early promoter upon any chromosomal integration, whereas rvGTgfp contains a splicing acceptor and expresses GFP only upon gene trapping (GT) via intronic in-frame integration and spliced to endogenous active genes. We show that rvLegfp and rvLcherry produce a transduction efficiency of 11~23% in medaka and zebrafish stem cell lines, which is as 30~67% efficient as the positive control in NIH/3T3. Upon co-infection with rvGTgfp and rvLcherry, GFP-positive cells were much fewer than Cherry-positive cells, consistent with rareness of productive gene trapping events versus random integration. Importantly, rvGTgfp infection in the medaka haploid embryonic stem (ES) cell line HX1 generated GTgfp insertion on all 24 chromosomes of the haploid genome. Similar to the mammalian haploid cells, these insertion events were presented predominantly in intergenic regions and introns but rarely in exons. RV-transduced HX1 retained the ES cell properties such as stable growth, embryoid body formation and pluripotency gene expression. Therefore, RV is proficient for gene transfer and IM in fish stem cells. Our results open new avenue for genome-wide IM in medaka haploid ES cells in culture.
| S-EPMC4451014 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The goal of this study is to derive a mouse model of human Down Syndrome (DS) megakaryocytic leukemia involving mutations in the hematopoietic transcription factor, GATA1 (called GATA1s mutation). We achieved this through transduction of Gata1s mutant fetal progenitors by MSCV-based retrovirus expressing a GFP marker, followed by in vitro selection (for immortalized cell lines), and then in vivo selection (for transformed cell lines) through transplantation. Here we report one such cell line [T6(6)] that gives rise to megakaryocytic leukemia (M7 leukemia) upon transplantation.
2010-08-01 | GSE16682 | GEO
Project description:The CCAAT enhancer binding protein alpha (C/EBPalpha) transcription factor plays a key role in the regulation of growth and differentiation of the granulocytic lineage in the hematopoietic system and CEBPA (encoding C/EBPalpha) is often mutated or deregulated in AML patients. Consistently, mice lacking C/EBPalpha have no mature neutrophils and die within a few hours. However, homozygous knockin mice in which wild type Cebpa has been replaced with a mutant allele (BRM2), which abolish the growth-repressing ability of C/EBPalpha, are viable, but at 8 weeks of age they display myeloid dysplasia with absence of neutrophil granulocytes. Strikingly, in older CebpaBRM2/BRM2 knockin mice the myeloid dysplastic phenotype progress into other myeloid malignancies such as myeloid proliferative syndrome and acute myeloid leukemia-like malignancy. This strongly suggests that secondary mutations in other loci must occur when developing leukemia in the CebpaBRM2/BRM2. In order to identify genes that cooperate with Cebpa mutations in the development of leukemia in CebpaBRM2/BRM2 mice a so-called retroviral insertion mutagenesis screen was performed. Inbred newborn CebpaBRM2/BRM2 and wildtype mice were injected with SRS19-6 retrovirus, which incorporated into the genome and resulted in activation of oncogenes and leukemic progression. When leukemia was evident the mice were euthanized and analyzed. As expected the CebpaBRM2/BRM2 mice had a shorter latency than wildtype mice (186 vs. 276 days). The mice had enlarged spleen, thymus, and/or lymph nodes and were thoroughly investigated by histology, flow cytometry and southern in order to determine the leukemic phenotypes. Most of the CebpaBRM2/BRM2 mice developed an AML-like phenotype, whereas T cell leukemias were most prominent in wildtype mice, showing that mutating Cebpa specifically directs leukemic progression towards a myeloid direction. Genomic instability was analyzed by CGH. Finally, the retroviral insertion loci were identified through a splinkerette-aided PCR strategy. This led to the identification of several novel putative and previously unexplored oncogenes, which might collaborate with mutated Cebpa in the development of AML. Keywords: Disease state analysis In order to identify genes that cooperate with Cebpa mutations in the development of leukemia in CebpaBRM2/BRM2 mice a so-called retroviral insertion mutagenesis screen was performed. Inbred newborn CebpaBRM2/BRM2 and wildtype mice were injected with SRS19-6 retrovirus, which incorporated into the genome and resulted in activation of oncogenes and leukemic progression. When leukemia was evident the mice were euthanized and analyzed. GDNA from tumour tissues were analyzed by CGH using tail gDNA as reference.
2008-05-31 | E-GEOD-8032 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Background/aimsTo report the generation of a new mouse model for a genetically determined corneal abnormality that occurred in transgenesis experiments.MethodsTransgenic mice expressing mutant forms of Rab27a, a GTPase that has been implicated in the pathogenesis of choroideremia, were generated.ResultsOnly one transgenic line (T27aT15) exhibited an unexpected eye phenotype. T27aT15 mice developed corneal opacities, usually unilateral, and cataracts, resulting in some cases in phthisical eyes. Histologically, the corneal stroma was thickened and vacuolated, and both epithelium and endothelium were thinned. The posterior segment of the eye was also affected with abnormal pigmentation, vessel narrowing, and abnormal leakage of dye upon angiography but was histologically normal.ConclusionEye abnormality in T27aT15 mice results from random insertional mutagenesis of the transgene as it was only observed in one line. The corneal lesion observed in T27aT15 mice most closely resembles posterior polymorphous corneal dystrophy and might result from the disruption of the equivalent mouse locus.
| S-EPMC1772060 | biostudies-literature
Project description:We describe the construction of a large-scale, orderly assembly of mutant ES cells, generated with retroviral insertions and having mutational coverage in >90% of mouse genes. We also describe a method for isolating ES cell clones with mutations in specific genes of interest from this library. This approach, which combines saturating random mutagenesis with targeted selection of mutations in the genes of interest, was successfully applied to the gene families of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) and nuclear receptors. Mutant mouse strains in 60 different GPCRs were generated. Applicability of the technique for the GPCR genes, which on average represent fairly small targets for insertional mutagenesis, indicates the general utility of our approach for the rest of the genome. The method also allows for increased scale and automation for the large-scale production of mutant mice, which could substantially expedite the functional characterization of the mouse genome.
| S-EPMC1964832 | biostudies-literature