Name: measuring ran peptide toxicity in c. elegans
Uploaded: 2020-04-30T15:00:00
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Measuring RAN Peptide Toxicity in C. elegans at JoVE.com

NIH R21NS107797

1. Generating codon-varied RAN peptide expression constructs
<ol>
	<li>Design the individual RAN peptide coding sequence utilizing synonymous codons to eliminate the fundamental repetitive DNA/RNA structure but preserve the overlying amino acid sequence.</li>
	<li>Order the custom codon sequences commercially at the repeat lengths needed for the studies (typically 5&#8211;100 repeats). Include a HindIII restriction site at the 5&#39; end and a BamHI restriction site at the 3&#39; end to facilitate cloning into C. e...

<ol>
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F., Brignull, H. R., Weyers, J. J., Morimoto, R. I. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=The+threshold+for+polyglutamine-expansion+protein+aggregation+and+cellular+toxicity+is+dynamic+and+influenced+by+aging+in+Caenorhabditis+elegans.">The threshold for polyglutamine-expansion protein aggregation and cellular toxicity is dynamic and influenced by aging in Caenorhabditis elegans.</a> Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U S A. 99 (16), 10417-10422 (2002).</li><li>Genetic Modifiers of Huntington's Disease Consortium. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Electronic+address,+g.+h.+m.+h.+e.,+Genetic+Modifiers+of+Huntington's+Disease,+C.+CAG+Repeat+Not+Polyglutamine+Length+Determines+Timing+of+Huntington's+Disease+Onset.">Electronic address, g. h. m. h. e., Genetic Modifiers of Huntington's Disease, C. CAG Repeat Not Polyglutamine Length Determines Timing of Huntington's Disease Onset.</a> Cell. 178 (4), 887-900 (2019).</li><li>Wright, G. E. B., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Length+of+Uninterrupted+CAG,+Independent+of+Polyglutamine+Size,+Results+in+Increased+Somatic+Instability,+Hastening+Onset+of+Huntington+Disease.">Length of Uninterrupted CAG, Independent of Polyglutamine Size, Results in Increased Somatic Instability, Hastening Onset of Huntington Disease.</a> American Journal of Human Genetics. 104 (6), 1116-1126 (2019).</li><li>Cleary, J. D., Ranum, L. 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W. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Repeat-associated+non-AUG+(RAN)+translation:+insights+from+pathology.">Repeat-associated non-AUG (RAN) translation: insights from pathology.</a> Laboratory Investigation. 99 (7), 929-942 (2019).</li><li>Banez-Coronel, M., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=RAN+Translation+in+Huntington+Disease.">RAN Translation in Huntington Disease.</a> Neuron. 88 (4), 667-677 (2015).</li><li>Ash, P. E., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Unconventional+translation+of+C9ORF72+GGGGCC+expansion+generates+insoluble+polypeptides+specific+to+c9FTD/ALS.">Unconventional translation of C9ORF72 GGGGCC expansion generates insoluble polypeptides specific to c9FTD/ALS.</a> Neuron. 77 (4), 639-646 (2013).</li><li>Kramer, N. J., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=CRISPR-Cas9+screens+in+human+cells+and+primary+neurons+identify+modifiers+of+C9ORF72+dipeptide-repeat-protein+toxicity.">CRISPR-Cas9 screens in human cells and primary neurons identify modifiers of C9ORF72 dipeptide-repeat-protein toxicity.</a> Nature Genetics. 50 (4), 603-612 (2018).</li><li>Boeynaems, S., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Drosophila+screen+connects+nuclear+transport+genes+to+DPR+pathology+in+c9ALS/FTD.">Drosophila screen connects nuclear transport genes to DPR pathology in c9ALS/FTD.</a> Scientific Reports. 6, 20877 (2016).</li><li>Jovicic, A., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Modifiers+of+C9orf72+dipeptide+repeat+toxicity+connect+nucleocytoplasmic+transport+defects+to+FTD/ALS.">Modifiers of C9orf72 dipeptide repeat toxicity connect nucleocytoplasmic transport defects to FTD/ALS.</a> Nature Neuroscience. 18 (9), 1226-1229 (2015).</li><li>Boeynaems, S., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Phase+Separation+of+C9orf72+Dipeptide+Repeats+Perturbs+Stress+Granule+Dynamics.">Phase Separation of C9orf72 Dipeptide Repeats Perturbs Stress Granule Dynamics.</a> Molecular Cell. 65 (6), 1044-1055 (2017).</li><li>Lee, K. 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Here we report methods that can be used to assay RAN peptide toxicity modeled in the muscle or in the neurons of C. elegans. While neurodegenerative proteins have an age onset phenotype in human patients, they can also exhibit developmentally toxicity when overexpressed in model systems. Overexpression has significant interpretive limitations, but it also provides a powerful starting point for genetic or pharmacological screens aimed at identifying genes or drugs that can reverse toxic phenotypes. This is especi...

The inappropriate expansion of DNA repeat sequences is the genetic basis for several neurodegenerative diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), frontotemporal dementia (FTD), and Huntington&#8217;s disease (HD)1. While there are established cellular and animal models for these diseases, mechanisms underlying these conditions are not well defined. For example, HD is caused by the expansions of a CAG repeat sequence in the coding sequence for the Huntingtin protein Htt2. Because CAG encodes the amino acid glutamine, the CAG repeat expansion results in the insertion of a polyGlutamine, or polyQ, sequence within Htt. Expanded polyQ proteins form length- and age-dependent protein aggregates that are associated with toxicity3,4. Surprisingly, two recent studies suggest that the length of the polyQ sequence is not the main driver of HD disease onset, suggesting that polyQ-independent factors may also contribute to the disease5,6.
One possible polyQ-independent mechanism involves a newly discovered type of protein translation termed Repeat Associated Non-AUG-dependent (RAN) translation7. As its name implies, RAN translation only occurs when an expanded repeat sequence is present and does not require a canonical start codon. Therefore, RAN translation occurs in all three reading frames of the repeat to produce three distinct polypeptides. In addition, because many genes also produce an antisense transcript that contains the reverse complement of the expanded repeat sequence, RAN translation also occurs in all three reading frames of the antisense transcript. Together, RAN translation expands the number of proteins produced from an expanded repeat-containing DNA sequence from one peptide to six peptides. To date, RAN translation has been observed in at least eight different repeat expansion disorders8. RAN peptides are observed in postmortem patient samples and only in cases where the patient carries an expanded repeat9,10. While these peptides are clearly present in patient cells, their contribution to disease pathophysiology is unclear.
To better define the potential toxicity associated with RAN peptides, several groups have expressed each peptide in various model systems, such as yeast, flies, mice, and tissue culture cells11,12,13,14,15,16. Rather than utilizing the repeat sequence for expression, these models employ a codon-variation approach in which the repeat sequence is eliminated but the amino acid sequence is preserved. Translation initiation occurs through a canonical ATG and the peptide is typically fused to a fluorescent protein at either the N- or C-terminus, neither of which appears to interfere with RAN peptide toxicity. Therefore, each construct overexpresses a single RAN peptide. Modeling the different RAN products in a multicellular organism with simple assays to measure RAN peptide toxicity is vitally important to understand how the different RAN products from each disease-causing repeat expansion contribute to cellular dysfunction and neurodegeneration.
Like other model systems, C. elegans provides a flexible and efficient experimental platform that enables studies of new disease mechanisms, such as RAN peptide toxicity. Worms offer several unique experimental attributes that are not currently available in other models of RAN peptide toxicity. First, C. elegans are optically transparent from birth until death. This allows for simple visualization of RAN peptide expression and localization, as well as in vivo analysis of neurodegeneration in live animals. Second, transgenic methods for generating RAN peptide expression models are inexpensive and fast. Given the short three-day life cycle of C. elegans, stable transgenic lines expressing any given RAN peptide in a cell-type specific manner can be produced in under a week. Third, simple phenotypic outputs can be combined with genetic screening methods, such as chemical mutagenesis or RNAi screening, to rapidly identify genes essential for RAN peptide toxicity. Finally, the short lifespan of C. elegans (~20 days) allows investigators to determine how aging, which is the greatest risk factor for most repeat expansion diseases, influences RAN peptide toxicity. Together, this combination of experimental attributes is unmatched in any other model system and offers a powerful platform for the study of RAN peptide toxicity.
Here we describe several assays that leverage the experimental advantages of C. elegans to measure the toxicity of RAN peptides and to identify genetic modifiers of this toxicity. The codon-varied ATG-initiated RAN peptides are tagged with GFP and expressed individually in either muscle cells under the myo-3 promoter or in GABAergic motor neurons under the unc-47 promoter. For expression in muscle cells, it is important that toxic RAN peptides are tagged with green fluorescent protein (GFP), or other fluorescent protein (FP) tag that can be targeted with an RNAi feeding vector. This is because toxic RAN peptide expression usually blocks growth, rendering such strains nonviable. The use of gfp(RNAi) conditionally inactivates RAN peptide expression and allows strain maintenance, genetic crosses, etc. For assays, these animals are removed from gfp(RNAi), which allows expression of the RAN peptide and the resulting phenotypes. In addition to the molecular strategy for designing codon-varied RAN peptide expression constructs, we describe assays for measuring developmental toxicity (larval motility and growth assay), post-developmental age-associated toxicity (paralysis assay), and neuron morphological defects (commissure assay).

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measuring ran peptide toxicity in c. elegans

C. elegans is commonly used to model age-related neurodegenerative diseases caused by repeat expansion mutations, such as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Huntington&#8217;s disease. Recently, repeat expansion-containing RNA was shown to be the substrate for a novel type of protein translation called repeat-associated non-AUG-dependent (RAN) translation. Unlike canonical translation, RAN translation does not require a start codon and only occurs when repeats exceed a threshold length. Because there is no start codon to determine the reading frame, RAN translation occurs in all reading frames from both sense and antisense RNA templates that contain a repeat expansion sequence. Therefore, RAN translation expands the number of possible disease-associated toxic peptides from one to six. Thus far, RAN translation has been documented in eight different repeat expansion-based neurodegenerative and neuromuscular diseases. In each case, deciphering which RAN products are toxic, as well as their mechanisms of toxicity, is a critical step towards understanding how these peptides contribute to disease pathophysiology. In this paper, we present strategies to measure the toxicity of RAN peptides in the model system C. elegans. First, we describe procedures for measuring RAN peptide toxicity on the growth and motility of developing C. elegans. Second, we detail an assay for measuring postdevelopmental, age-dependent effects of RAN peptides on motility. Finally, we describe a neurotoxicity assay for evaluating the effects of RAN peptides on neuron morphology. These assays provide a broad assessment of RAN peptide toxicity and may be useful for performing large-scale genetic or small molecule screens to identify disease mechanisms or therapies.

We used the assays described here to evaluate the effect of different gene inhibitions on the toxicity of RAN dipeptides that are found in ALS patients with a G4C2 repeat expansion. Using the growth assay to measure developmental toxicity, we analyzed the effects of several genetic knockout mutants identified in a genome-wide RNAi screen suppressors of muscle-expressed PR50-GFP toxicity. While expression of PR50-GFP alone resulted in a completely penetrant growth arrest, loss of function mutations i...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Measuring RAN Peptide Toxicity in C. elegans at JoVE.com

Measuring RAN Peptide Toxicity in C. elegans

Repeat-associated non-ATG-dependent translational products are emerging pathogenic features of several repeat expansion-based diseases. The goal of the protocol described is to evaluate toxicity caused by these peptides using behavioral and cellular assays in the model system C. elegans.

Measuring RAN Peptide Toxicity in C. elegans

C. elegans is commonly used to model age-related neurodegenerative diseases caused by repeat expansion mutations, such as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis ...

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Measuring the Effects of Bacteria on C. Elegans Behavior Using an Egg Retention Assay

Measuring the Effects of Bacteria on C. Elegans Behavior Using an Egg Retention Assay

C. elegans egg-laying behavior is  affected by environmental cues such as osmolarity1 and  vibration2. In the total absence of food C. elegans also cease ...

An Anoxia-starvation Model for Ischemia/Reperfusion in C. elegans

An Anoxia-starvation Model for Ischemia/Reperfusion in C. elegans

Protocols for anoxia/starvation in the genetic model organism C. elegans simulate ischemia/reperfusion. Worms are separated from bacterial food and placed ...

Methods for Skin Wounding and Assays for Wound Responses in C. elegans

Methods for Skin Wounding and Assays for Wound Responses in C. elegans

The C. elegans epidermis and cuticle form a simple yet sophisticated skin layer that can repair localized damage resulting from wounding. Studies of wound ...