Identification of a Novel Cleavage Site and Confirmation of the Effectiveness of NgAgo Gene Editing on RNA Targets.

Clusters of regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas systems have a powerful ability to edit DNA and RNA targets. However, the need for a specific recognition site, protospacer adjacent motif (PAM), of the CRISPR/Cas system limits its application in gene editing. Some Argonaute (Ago) proteins have endonuclease functions under the guidance of 5' phosphorylated or hydroxylated guide DNA (gDNA). The NgAgo protein might perform RNA gene editing at 37 °C, suggesting its application in mammalian cells; however, its mechanisms are unclear. In the present study, the target of NgAgo in RNA was confirmed in vitro and in vivo. Then, an in vitro RNA cleavage system was designed and the cleavage site was verified by sequencing. Furthermore, NgAgo and gDNA were transfected into cells to cleave an intracellular target sequence. We demonstrated targeted degradation of GFP, HCV, and AKR1B10 RNAs in a gDNA-dependent manner by NgAgo both in vitro and in vivo, but no effect on DNA was observed. Sequencing demonstrated that the cleavage sites are located at the 3' of the target RNA which is recognized by 5' sequence of the gDNA. These results confirmed that NgAgo-gDNA cleaves RNA not DNA. We observed that the cleavage site is located at the 3' of the target RNA, which is a new finding that has not been reported in the past.

A practical synthesis of amino limonin/deoxylimonin derivatives as effective mitigators against inflammation and nociception.

A practical synthetic route, consisting of 5 steps, has been developed and applied successfully for converting limonin/deoxylimonin into the corresponding amino derivatives I- 5a-I- 5e and II- 5a-II- 5e. Deoxylimonin analogs II- 5a and II- 5b bearing an open A ring structure underwent ring closure reaction by employing the Mitsunobu procedure to afford II- 6a and II- 6b. All of the 12 newly synthesized compounds were subjected to preliminary screening for evaluating their inflammation and nociception inhibition efficacy. The most promising compounds, I- 5b and II- 5d, were selected for further investigation by a carrageenan-induced mouse paw edema model, both of which displayed a dose-response dependent manner and demonstrated superior anti inflammation capacity to that of indomethacin in the first 2 hours.

Visual experience dependent regulation of neuronal structure and function by histone deacetylase 1 in developing Xenopus tectum in vivo.

Histone deacetylase 1 (HDAC1) is thought to play pivotal roles in neurogenesis and neurodegeneration. However, the role of HDAC1 in neuronal growth and structural plasticity in the developing brain in vivo remains unclear. Here, we show that in the optic tectum of Xenopus laevis, HDAC1 knockdown dramatically decreased the frequency of AMPAR-mediated synaptic currents and increased the frequency of GABAAR-mediated currents, whereas HDAC1 overexpression significantly decreased the frequency of GABAAR-mediated synaptic currents. Both HDAC1 knockdown and overexpression adversely affected dendritic arbor growth and visual experience-dependent structural plasticity. Furthermore, HDAC1 knockdown decreased BDNF expression via a mechanism that involves acetylation of specific histone H4 residues at lysine K5. In particular, the deficits in dendritic growth and visually guided avoidance behavior in HDAC1-knockdown tadpoles could be rescued by acute tectal infusion of BDNF. These results establish a relationship between HDAC1 expression, histone H4 modification and BDNF signaling in the visual-experience dependent regulation of dendritic growth, structural plasticity and function in intact animals in vivo. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Develop Neurobiol 77: 947-962, 2017.