Project description:A systematic approach allowing the identification of the molecular way-of-action of novel potential drugs represents the golden-tool for drug-discovery. While high-throughput screening technologies of large libraries is now well established, the assessment of the drug targets and mechanism of action is still under development. Taking advantage of the yeast model Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we herein applied BarSeq, a Next Generation Sequencing-based method to the analysis of both haploinsufficiency and homozygous fitness effects of a novel antifungal drug ('089') compared to the well-known antifungal ketoconazole. '089' was a novel compound identified in during a screen for antifungal drugs, as it was showing fungicidal effects, and able to affect the yeast fitness at the mitochondrial level (Stefanini et al., 2010. (Dissection of the Effects of Small Bicyclic Peptidomimetics on a Panel of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Mutants;.J Biol Chem, 285: 23477-23485.) Integrative bioinformatic analysis of BarSeq, whole genome expression analysis and classical biological assays identified the target and cell pathways affected by the novel antifungal. Confirmation of the effects observed in the yeast model and in pathogenic fungi further demonstrated the reliability of the multi-sided approach and the novelty of the targets and way-of-action of the new class of molecules studied representing a valuable source of novel antifungals.
Project description:We introduce the Promoter-ENhancer-GUided Interaction Networks (PENGUIN) approach to identify protein-protein interactions (PPI) within enhancer-promoter (E-P) interactions. By integrating high-coverage H3K27ac-HiChIP data and tissue-specific PPI networks, PENGUIN identifies functional clusters in E-P networks. Here, we applied PENGUIN to E-P networks of prostate cancer (PrCa) cell line LNCaP. We validated PENGUIN's structural classification by observing clear differential enrichment of the architectural protein CTCF. One of our 8 main clusters, comprising 273 promoters, showed significant enrichment for PrCa-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and oncogenes. Our approach provides a mechanistic explanation for 208 PrCa SNPs located within DNA-binding protein (DBP) binding sites or intermediate protein-encoding genes involved in E-P contacts. CRISPR analysis in the LNCaP cell line confirmed the relevance of these SNPs in PrCa. PENGUIN confirms the importance of key regulators in PrCa and identifies new intervention candidates, offering new directions for identifying molecular targets in disease treatment. Data was generated in the Matthew L. Freedman lab.
Project description:Identification of the sex of fossil and archaeological animal remains offers many insights into their demography, mortality profiles and domestication pathways. However, due to manifold factors, sex determination of fossils is often impossible. To overcome this, we have developed an innovative protocol to determine animal’s sex applying label-free quantification (LFQ) of two unique AmelY peptides