Faculty Bibliography

BACKGROUND:Xenotransplantation of genetically engineered porcine organs has the potential to address the challenge of organ donor shortage. Two cases of porcine-to-human kidney xenotransplantation were performed, yet the physiological effects on the xenografts and the recipients' immune responses remain largely uncharacterized. METHODS:We performed single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) and longitudinal RNA-seq analyses of the porcine kidneys to dissect xenotransplantation-associated cellular dynamics and xenograft-recipient interactions. We additionally performed longitudinal scRNA-seq of the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) to detect recipient immune responses across time. FINDINGS/RESULTS:Although no hyperacute rejection signals were detected, scRNA-seq analyses of the xenografts found evidence of endothelial cell and immune response activation, indicating early signs of antibody-mediated rejection. Tracing the cells' species origin, we found human immune cell infiltration in both xenografts. Human transcripts in the longitudinal bulk RNA-seq revealed that human immune cell infiltration and the activation of interferon-gamma-induced chemokine expression occurred by 12 and 48 h post-xenotransplantation, respectively. Concordantly, longitudinal scRNA-seq of PBMCs also revealed two phases of the recipients' immune responses at 12 and 48-53 h. Lastly, we observed global expression signatures of xenotransplantation-associated kidney tissue damage in the xenografts. Surprisingly, we detected a rapid increase of proliferative cells in both xenografts, indicating the activation of the porcine tissue repair program. CONCLUSIONS:Longitudinal and single-cell transcriptomic analyses of porcine kidneys and the recipient's PBMCs revealed time-resolved cellular dynamics of xenograft-recipient interactions during xenotransplantation. These cues can be leveraged for designing gene edits and immunosuppression regimens to optimize xenotransplantation outcomes. FUNDING/BACKGROUND:This work was supported by NIH RM1HG009491 and DP5OD033430.

Genomic context critically modulates regulatory function but is difficult to manipulate systematically. The murine insulin-like growth factor 2 (Igf2)/H19 locus is a paradigmatic model of enhancer selectivity, whereby CTCF occupancy at an imprinting control region directs downstream enhancers to activate either H19 or Igf2. We used synthetic regulatory genomics to repeatedly replace the native locus with 157-kb payloads, and we systematically dissected its architecture. Enhancer deletion and ectopic delivery revealed previously uncharacterized long-range regulatory dependencies at the native locus. Exchanging the H19 enhancer cluster with the Sox2 locus control region (LCR) showed that the H19 enhancers relied on their native surroundings while the Sox2 LCR functioned autonomously. Analysis of regulatory DNA actuation across cell types revealed that these enhancer clusters typify broader classes of context sensitivity genome wide. These results show that unexpected dependencies influence even well-studied loci, and our approach permits large-scale manipulation of complete loci to investigate the relationship between regulatory architecture and function.

In a previous study, heart xenografts from 10-gene-edited pigs transplanted into two human decedents did not show evidence of acute-onset cellular- or antibody-mediated rejection. Here, to better understand the detailed molecular landscape following xenotransplantation, we carried out bulk and single-cell transcriptomics, lipidomics, proteomics and metabolomics on blood samples obtained from the transplanted decedents every 6 h, as well as histological and transcriptomic tissue profiling. We observed substantial early immune responses in peripheral blood mononuclear cells and xenograft tissue obtained from decedent 1 (male), associated with downstream T cell and natural killer cell activity. Longitudinal analyses indicated the presence of ischemia reperfusion injury, exacerbated by inadequate immunosuppression of T cells, consistent with previous findings of perioperative cardiac xenograft dysfunction in pig-to-nonhuman primate studies. Moreover, at 42 h after transplantation, substantial alterations in cellular metabolism and liver-damage pathways occurred, correlating with profound organ-wide physiological dysfunction. By contrast, relatively minor changes in RNA, protein, lipid and metabolism profiles were observed in decedent 2 (female) as compared to decedent 1. Overall, these multi-omics analyses delineate distinct responses to cardiac xenotransplantation in the two human decedents and reveal new insights into early molecular and immune responses after xenotransplantation. These findings may aid in the development of targeted therapeutic approaches to limit ischemia reperfusion injury-related phenotypes and improve outcomes.

The loss of the tail is among the most notable anatomical changes to have occurred along the evolutionary lineage leading to humans and to the 'anthropomorphous apes'^1-3, with a proposed role in contributing to human bipedalism^4-6. Yet, the genetic mechanism that facilitated tail-loss evolution in hominoids remains unknown. Here we present evidence that an individual insertion of an Alu element in the genome of the hominoid ancestor may have contributed to tail-loss evolution. We demonstrate that this Alu element-inserted into an intron of the TBXT gene^7-9-pairs with a neighbouring ancestral Alu element encoded in the reverse genomic orientation and leads to a hominoid-specific alternative splicing event. To study the effect of this splicing event, we generated multiple mouse models that express both full-length and exon-skipped isoforms of Tbxt, mimicking the expression pattern of its hominoid orthologue TBXT. Mice expressing both Tbxt isoforms exhibit a complete absence of the tail or a shortened tail depending on the relative abundance of Tbxt isoforms expressed at the embryonic tail bud. These results support the notion that the exon-skipped transcript is sufficient to induce a tail-loss phenotype. Moreover, mice expressing the exon-skipped Tbxt isoform develop neural tube defects, a condition that affects approximately 1 in 1,000 neonates in humans¹⁰. Thus, tail-loss evolution may have been associated with an adaptive cost of the potential for neural tube defects, which continue to affect human health today.

Synthetic Chromosome Rearrangement and Modification by LoxP-mediated Evolution (SCRaMbLE) is a promising tool to study genomic rearrangements. However, the potential of SCRaMbLE to study genomic rearrangements is currently hindered, because a strain containing all 16 synthetic chromosomes is not yet available. Here, we construct SparLox83R, a yeast strain containing 83 loxPsym sites distributed across all 16 chromosomes. SCRaMbLE of SparLox83R produces versatile genome-wide genomic rearrangements, including inter-chromosomal events. Moreover, when combined with synthetic chromosomes, SCRaMbLE of hetero-diploids with SparLox83R leads to increased diversity of genomic rearrangements and relatively faster evolution of traits compared to hetero-diploids only with wild-type chromosomes. Analysis of the SCRaMbLEd strain with increased tolerance to nocodazole demonstrates that genomic rearrangements can perturb the transcriptome and 3D genome structure and consequently impact phenotypes. In summary, a genome with sparsely distributed loxPsym sites can serve as a powerful tool for studying the consequence of genomic rearrangements and accelerating strain engineering in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Whether synthetic genomes can power life has attracted broad interest in the synthetic biology field. Here, we report de novo synthesis of the largest eukaryotic chromosome thus far, synIV, a 1,454,621-bp yeast chromosome resulting from extensive genome streamlining and modification. We developed megachunk assembly combined with a hierarchical integration strategy, which significantly increased the accuracy and flexibility of synthetic chromosome construction. Besides the drastic sequence changes, we further manipulated the 3D structure of synIV to explore spatial gene regulation. Surprisingly, we found few gene expression changes, suggesting that positioning inside the yeast nucleoplasm plays a minor role in gene regulation. Lastly, we tethered synIV to the inner nuclear membrane via its hundreds of loxPsym sites and observed transcriptional repression of the entire chromosome, demonstrating chromosome-wide transcription manipulation without changing the DNA sequences. Our manipulation of the spatial structure of synIV sheds light on higher-order architectural design of the synthetic genomes.

The genome of an organism is inherited from its ancestor and continues to evolve over time, however, the extent to which the current version could be altered remains unknown. To probe the genome plasticity of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, here we replace the native left arm of chromosome XII (chrXIIL) with a linear artificial chromosome harboring small sets of reconstructed genes. We find that as few as 12 genes are sufficient for cell viability, whereas 25 genes are required to recover the partial fitness defects observed in the 12-gene strain. Next, we demonstrate that these genes can be reconstructed individually using synthetic regulatory sequences and recoded open-reading frames with a "one-amino-acid-one-codon" strategy to remain functional. Finally, a synthetic neochromsome with the reconstructed genes is assembled which could substitute chrXIIL for viability. Together, our work not only highlights the high plasticity of yeast genome, but also illustrates the possibility of making functional eukaryotic chromosomes from entirely artificial sequences.

The Sc2.0 project is building a eukaryotic synthetic genome from scratch. A major milestone has been achieved with all individual Sc2.0 chromosomes assembled. Here, we describe the consolidation of multiple synthetic chromosomes using advanced endoreduplication intercrossing with tRNA expression cassettes to generate a strain with 6.5 synthetic chromosomes. The 3D chromosome organization and transcript isoform profiles were evaluated using Hi-C and long-read direct RNA sequencing. We developed CRISPR Directed Biallelic URA3-assisted Genome Scan, or "CRISPR D-BUGS," to map phenotypic variants caused by specific designer modifications, known as "bugs." We first fine-mapped a bug in synthetic chromosome II (synII) and then discovered a combinatorial interaction associated with synIII and synX, revealing an unexpected genetic interaction that links transcriptional regulation, inositol metabolism, and tRNA_Ser

Pioneering advances in genome engineering, and specifically in genome writing, have revolutionized the field of synthetic biology, propelling us toward the creation of synthetic genomes. The Sc2.0 project aims to build the first fully synthetic eukaryotic organism by assembling the genome of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. With the completion of synthetic chromosome VIII (synVIII) described here, this goal is within reach. In addition to writing the yeast genome, we sought to manipulate an essential functional element: the point centromere. By relocating the native centromere sequence to various positions along chromosome VIII, we discovered that the minimal 118-bp CEN8 sequence is insufficient for conferring chromosomal stability at ectopic locations. Expanding the transplanted sequence to include a small segment (∼500 bp) of the CDEIII-proximal pericentromere improved chromosome stability, demonstrating that minimal centromeres display context-dependent functionality.

We designed and synthesized synI, which is ∼21.6% shorter than native chrI, the smallest chromosome in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. SynI was designed for attachment to another synthetic chromosome due to concerns surrounding potential instability and karyotype imbalance and is now attached to synIII, yielding the first synthetic yeast fusion chromosome. Additional fusion chromosomes were constructed to study nuclear function. ChrIII-I and chrIX-III-I fusion chromosomes have twisted structures, which depend on silencing protein Sir3. As a smaller chromosome, chrI also faces special challenges in assuring meiotic crossovers required for efficient homolog disjunction. Centromere deletions into fusion chromosomes revealed opposing effects of core centromeres and pericentromeres in modulating deposition of the crossover-promoting protein Red1. These effects extend over 100 kb and promote disproportionate Red1 enrichment, and thus crossover potential, on small chromosomes like chrI. These findings reveal the power of synthetic genomics to uncover new biology and deconvolute complex biological systems.