Nonmyeloablative, HLA-haploidentical bone marrow transplantation with high dose, post-transplantation cyclophosphamide

Allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT) from an HLA-haploidentical relative provides a potentially curative treatment option for hematologic malignancies patients who lack a suitably HLA-matched donor. The greatest challenge to performing HLA-haploidentical SCT has been high rates of graft failure and severe graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Our group has been exploring high dose, post-transplantation cyclophosphamide (Cy) as prophylaxis of GVHD after nonmyeloablative, HLA-haploidentical bone marrow transplantation, or mini-haploBMT. Among 210 recipients of mini-haploBMT, 87% of patients have experienced sustained donor cell engraftment. The cumulative incidences of grades II-IV acute GVHD and chronic GVHD are 27% and 13%, respectively. Five-year cumulative incidence of non-relapse mortality is 18%, relapse is 55%, and actuarial overall survival and event-free survivals are 35% and 27%, respectively. These outcomes suggest that mini-haploBMT with post-transplantation Cy is associated with acceptably low toxicities and can provide longterm survival, if not cure, for many patients with advanced hematologic malignancies

The DExD/H box ATPase Dhh1 functions in translational repression, mRNA decay, and processing body dynamics

Dhh1 is a critical determinant in whether mRNAs are translated, stored, or decayed

Kinetic CRAC uncovers a role for Nab3 in determining gene expression profiles during stress

RNA-binding proteins play a key role in shaping gene expression profiles during stress, however, little is known about the dynamic nature of these interactions and how this influences the kinetics of gene expression. To address this, we developed kinetic cross-linking and analysis of cDNAs (\u3c7CRAC), an ultraviolet cross-linking method that enabled us to quantitatively measure the dynamics of protein\u2013RNA interactions in vivo on a minute time-scale. Here, using \u3c7CRAC we measure the global RNA-binding dynamics of the yeast transcription termination factor Nab3 in response to glucose starvation. These measurements reveal rapid changes in protein\u2013RNA interactions within 1\u2009min following stress imposition. Changes in Nab3 binding are largely independent of alterations in transcription rate during the early stages of stress response, indicating orthogonal transcriptional control mechanisms. We also uncover a function for Nab3 in dampening expression of stress-responsive genes. \u3c7CRAC has the potential to greatly enhance our understanding of in vivo dynamics of protein\u2013RNA interactions

Integrated multi-omics analyses reveal the pleiotropic nature of the control of gene expression by Puf3p

The PUF family of RNA-binding proteins regulate gene expression post-transcriptionally. Saccharomyces cerevisiae Puf3p is characterised as binding nuclear-encoded mRNAs specifying mitochondrial proteins. Extensive studies of its regulation of COX17 demonstrate its role in mRNA decay. Using integrated genome-wide approaches we define an expanded set of Puf3p target mRNAs and quantitatively assessed the global impact of loss of PUF3 on gene expression using mRNA and polysome profiling and quantitative proteomics. In agreement with prior studies, our sequencing of affinity-purified Puf3-TAP associated mRNAs (RIP-seq) identified mRNAs encoding mitochondrially-targeted proteins. Additionally, we also found 720  new mRNA targets that predominantly encode proteins that enter the nucleus. Comparing transcript levels in wild-type and puf3∆ cells revealed that only a small fraction of mRNA levels alter, suggesting Puf3p determines mRNA stability for only a limited subset of its target mRNAs. Finally, proteomic and translatomic studies suggest that loss of Puf3p has widespread, but modest, impact on mRNA translation. Taken together our integrated multi-omics data point to multiple classes of Puf3p targets, which display coherent post-transcriptional regulatory properties and suggest Puf3p plays a broad, but nuanced, role in the fine-tuning of gene expression

Transcriptome-wide analysis of trypanosome mRNA decay reveals complex degradation kinetics and suggests a role for co-transcriptional degradation in determining mRNA levels

African trypanosomes are an excellent system for quantitative modelling of post-transcriptional mRNA control. Transcription is constitutive and polycistronic; individual mRNAs are excised by trans splicing and polyadenylation. We here measure mRNA decay kinetics in two life cycle stages, bloodstream and procyclic forms, by transcription inhibition and RNASeq. Messenger RNAs with short half-lives tend to show initial fast degradation, followed by a slower phase; they are often stabilized by depletion of the 5′-3′ exoribonuclease XRNA. Many longer-lived mRNAs show initial slow degradation followed by rapid destruction: we suggest that the slow phase reflects gradual deadenylation. Developmentally regulated mRNAs often show regulated decay, and switch their decay pattern. Rates of mRNA decay are good predictors of steady state levels for short mRNAs, but mRNAs longer than 3kb show unexpectedly low abundances. Modelling shows that variations in splicing and polyadenylation rates can contribute to steady-state mRNA levels, but this is completely dependent on competition between processing and co-transcriptional mRNA precursor destruction

Successful application of ancient DNA extraction and library construction protocols to museum wet collection specimens

Millions of scientific specimens are housed in museum collections, a large part of which are fluid preserved. The use of formaldehyde as fixative and subsequent storage in ethanol is especially common in ichthyology and herpetology. This type of preservation damages DNA and reduces the chance of successful retrieval of genetic data. We applied ancient DNA extraction and single stranded library construction protocols to a variety of vertebrate samples obtained from wet collections and of different ages. Our results show that almost all samples tested yielded endogenous DNA. Archival DNA extraction was successful across different tissue types as well as using small amounts of tissue. Conversion of archival DNA fragments into single-stranded libraries resulted in usable data even for samples with initially undetectable DNA amounts. Subsequent target capture approaches for mitochondrial DNA using homemade baits on a subset of 30 samples resulted in almost complete mitochondrial genome sequences in several instances. Thus, application of ancient DNA methodology makes wet collection specimens, including type material as well as rare, old or extinct species, accessible for genetic and genomic analyses. Our results, accompanied by detailed step-by-step protocols, are a large step forward to open the DNA archive of museum wet collections for scientific studies