Cellular nucleic acid-binding protein restricts SARS-CoV-2 by regulating interferon and disrupting RNA-protein condensates.

A detailed understanding of the innate immune mechanisms involved in restricting SARS-CoV-2 infection and how the virus disrupts these processes could reveal new strategies to boost antiviral mechanisms and develop therapeutics for COVID-19. Here, we identify cellular nucleic acid-binding protein (CNBP) as a key host factor controlling SARS-CoV-2 infection. In response to RNA-sensing pathways, CNBP is phosphorylated and translocates from the cytosol to the nucleus where it binds to the interferon-ß enhancer to initiate transcription. Because SARS-CoV-2 evades immune detection by the host's RNA-sensing pathways, CNBP is largely retained in the cytosol where it restricts SARS-CoV-2 directly, leading to a battle between the host and SARS-CoV-2 that extends beyond antiviral immune signaling pathways. We further demonstrated that CNBP binds SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA directly and competes with the viral nucleocapsid protein to prevent viral RNA and nucleocapsid protein from forming liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) condensates critical for viral replication. Consequently, cells and animals lacking CNBP have higher viral loads, and CNBP-deficient mice succumb rapidly to infection. Altogether, these findings identify CNBP as a key antiviral factor for SARS-CoV-2, functioning both as a regulator of antiviral IFN gene expression and a cell-intrinsic restriction factor that disrupts LLPS to limit viral replication and spread. In addition, our studies also highlight viral condensates as important targets and strategies for the development of drugs to combat COVID-19.

Divalent siRNAs are bioavailable in the lung and efficiently block SARS-CoV-2 infection.

The continuous evolution of SARS-CoV-2 variants complicates efforts to combat the ongoing pandemic, underscoring the need for a dynamic platform for the rapid development of pan-viral variant therapeutics. Oligonucleotide therapeutics are enhancing the treatment of numerous diseases with unprecedented potency, duration of effect, and safety. Through the systematic screening of hundreds of oligonucleotide sequences, we identified fully chemically stabilized siRNAs and ASOs that target regions of the SARS-CoV-2 genome conserved in all variants of concern, including delta and omicron. We successively evaluated candidates in cellular reporter assays, followed by viral inhibition in cell culture, with eventual testing of leads for in vivo antiviral activity in the lung. Previous attempts to deliver therapeutic oligonucleotides to the lung have met with only modest success. Here, we report the development of a platform for identifying and generating potent, chemically modified multimeric siRNAs bioavailable in the lung after local intranasal and intratracheal delivery. The optimized divalent siRNAs showed robust antiviral activity in human cells and mouse models of SARS-CoV-2 infection and represent a new paradigm for antiviral therapeutic development for current and future pandemics.

T-REX17 is a transiently expressed non-coding RNA essential for human endoderm formation.

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have emerged as fundamental regulators in various biological processes, including embryonic development and cellular differentiation. Despite much progress over the past decade, the genome-wide annotation of lncRNAs remains incomplete and many known non-coding loci are still poorly characterized. Here, we report the discovery of a previously unannotated lncRNA that is transcribed 230 kb upstream of the SOX17 gene and located within the same topologically associating domain. We termed it T-REX17 (Transcript Regulating Endoderm and activated by soX17) and show that it is induced following SOX17 activation but its expression is more tightly restricted to early definitive endoderm. Loss of T-REX17 affects crucial functions independent of SOX17 and leads to an aberrant endodermal transcriptome, signaling pathway deregulation and epithelial to mesenchymal transition defects. Consequently, cells lacking the lncRNA cannot further differentiate into more mature endodermal cell types. Taken together, our study identified and characterized T-REX17 as a transiently expressed and essential non-coding regulator in early human endoderm differentiation.

A Newly Engineered A549 Cell Line Expressing ACE2 and TMPRSS2 Is Highly Permissive to SARS-CoV-2, Including the Delta and Omicron Variants.

New variants of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) continue to emerge, causing surges, breakthrough infections, and devastating losses-underscoring the importance of identifying SARS-CoV-2 antivirals. A simple, accessible human cell culture model permissive to SARS-CoV-2 variants is critical for identifying and assessing antivirals in a high-throughput manner. Although human alveolar A549 cells are a valuable model for studying respiratory virus infections, they lack two essential host factors for SARS-CoV-2 infection: angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and transmembrane serine protease 2 (TMPRSS2). SARS-CoV-2 uses the ACE2 receptor for viral entry and TMPRSS2 to prime the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, both of which are negligibly expressed in A549 cells. Here, we report the generation of a suitable human cell line for SARS-CoV-2 studies by transducing human ACE2 and TMPRSS2 into A549 cells. We show that subclones highly expressing ACE2 and TMPRSS2 ("ACE2plus" and the subclone "ACE2plusC3") are susceptible to infection with SARS-CoV-2, including the delta and omicron variants. These subclones express more ACE2 and TMPRSS2 transcripts than existing commercial A549 cells engineered to express ACE2 and TMPRSS2. Additionally, the antiviral drugs EIDD-1931, remdesivir, nirmatrelvir, and nelfinavir strongly inhibit SARS-CoV-2 variants in our infection model. Our data show that ACE2plusC3 cells are highly permissive to SARS-CoV-2 infection and can be used to identify anti-SARS-CoV-2 drugs.

Systematic evaluation of chromosome conformation capture assays.

Chromosome conformation capture (3C) assays are used to map chromatin interactions genome-wide. Chromatin interaction maps provide insights into the spatial organization of chromosomes and the mechanisms by which they fold. Hi-C and Micro-C are widely used 3C protocols that differ in key experimental parameters including cross-linking chemistry and chromatin fragmentation strategy. To understand how the choice of experimental protocol determines the ability to detect and quantify aspects of chromosome folding we have performed a systematic evaluation of 3C experimental parameters. We identified optimal protocol variants for either loop or compartment detection, optimizing fragment size and cross-linking chemistry. We used this knowledge to develop a greatly improved Hi-C protocol (Hi-C 3.0) that can detect both loops and compartments relatively effectively. In addition to providing benchmarked protocols, this work produced ultra-deep chromatin interaction maps using Micro-C, conventional Hi-C and Hi-C 3.0 for key cell lines used by the 4D Nucleome project.

SARS-CoV-2 Initiates Programmed Cell Death in Platelets.

[Figure: see text].

Ultrastructural Details of Mammalian Chromosome Architecture.

Over the past decade, 3C-related methods have provided remarkable insights into chromosome folding in vivo. To overcome the limited resolution of prior studies, we extend a recently developed Hi-C variant, Micro-C, to map chromosome architecture at nucleosome resolution in human ESCs and fibroblasts. Micro-C robustly captures known features of chromosome folding including compartment organization, topologically associating domains, and interactions between CTCF binding sites. In addition, Micro-C provides a detailed map of nucleosome positions and localizes contact domain boundaries with nucleosomal precision. Compared to Hi-C, Micro-C exhibits an order of magnitude greater dynamic range, allowing the identification of ∼20,000 additional loops in each cell type. Many newly identified peaks are localized along extrusion stripes and form transitive grids, consistent with their anchors being pause sites impeding cohesin-dependent loop extrusion. Our analyses comprise the highest-resolution maps of chromosome folding in human cells to date, providing a valuable resource for studies of chromosome organization.

Nuclear AGO1 Regulates Gene Expression by Affecting Chromatin Architecture in Human Cells.

The impact of mammalian RNA interference components, particularly, Argonaute proteins, on chromatin organization is unexplored. Recent reports indicate that AGO1 association with chromatin appears to influence gene expression. To uncover the role of AGO1 in the nucleus, we used a combination of genome-wide approaches in control and AGO1-depleted HepG2 cells. We found that AGO1 strongly associates with active enhancers and RNA being produced at those sites. Hi-C analysis revealed AGO1 enrichment at the boundaries of topologically associated domains (TADs). By Hi-C in AGO1 knockdown cells, we observed changes in chromatin organization, including TADs and A/B compartment mixing, specifically in AGO1-bound regions. Distinct groups of genes and especially eRNA transcripts located within differentially interacting loci showed altered expression upon AGO1 depletion. Moreover, AGO1 association with enhancers is dependent on eRNA transcription. Collectively, our data suggest that enhancer-associated AGO1 contributes to the fine-tuning of chromatin architecture and gene expression in human cells.

Using an Inducible CRISPR-dCas9-KRAB Effector System to Dissect Transcriptional Regulation in Human Embryonic Stem Cells.

CRISPR-Cas9 effector systems have wide applications for the stem cell and regenerative medicine field. The ability to dissect the functional gene regulatory networks in pluripotency and potentially in differentiation intermediates of all three germ layers makes this a valuable tool for the stem cell community. Catalytically inactive Cas9 fused to transcriptional/chromatin effector domains allows for silencing or activation of a genomic region of interest. Here, we describe the application of an inducible, RNA-guided, nuclease-deficient (d) Cas9-KRAB system (adapted from Streptococcus pyogenes) to silence target gene expression in human embryonic stem cells, via KRAB repression at the promoter region. This chapter outlines a detailed protocol for generation of a stable human embryonic stem cell line containing both Sp-dCas9-KRAB and sgRNA, followed by inducible expression of Sp-dCas9-KRAB to analyze functional effects of dCas9-KRAB at target loci in human embryonic stem cells.

Chromatin-associated RNA interference components contribute to transcriptional regulation in Drosophila.

RNA interference (RNAi) pathways have evolved as important modulators of gene expression that operate in the cytoplasm by degrading RNA target molecules through the activity of short (21-30 nucleotide) RNAs. RNAi components have been reported to have a role in the nucleus, as they are involved in epigenetic regulation and heterochromatin formation. However, although RNAi-mediated post-transcriptional gene silencing is well documented, the mechanisms of RNAi-mediated transcriptional gene silencing and, in particular, the role of RNAi components in chromatin dynamics, especially in animal multicellular organisms, are elusive. Here we show that the key RNAi components Dicer 2 (DCR2) and Argonaute 2 (AGO2) associate with chromatin (with a strong preference for euchromatic, transcriptionally active, loci) and interact with the core transcription machinery. Notably, loss of function of DCR2 or AGO2 showed that transcriptional defects are accompanied by the perturbation of RNA polymerase II positioning on promoters. Furthermore, after heat shock, both Dcr2 and Ago2 null mutations, as well as missense mutations that compromise the RNAi activity, impaired the global dynamics of RNA polymerase II. Finally, the deep sequencing of the AGO2-associated small RNAs (AGO2 RIP-seq) revealed that AGO2 is strongly enriched in small RNAs that encompass the promoter regions and other regions of heat-shock and other genetic loci on both the sense and antisense DNA strands, but with a strong bias for the antisense strand, particularly after heat shock. Taken together, our results show that DCR2 and AGO2 are globally associated with transcriptionally active loci and may have a pivotal role in shaping the transcriptome by controlling the processivity of RNA polymerase II.