84, 55425547 (2012). Szymborska, A. et al. Cell Biol. 37, 17991808 (2009). 1e). We modified Apt-1 for SR microscopy, which can be employed to achieve a resolution of 5nm (Fig. HOTAIRM1 regulates neuronal differentiation by modulating NEUROGENIN 2 and the downstream neurogenic cascade. PubMed PubMed Each system was simulated by MD, starting at room temperature and progressively increasing the temperature until the percentage of extended conformers corresponded to at least 10% of the total possible structures. In cells, Apt-1 interacts with both diffuse and condensed forms of TDP-43, indicating that Apt-1 can be exploited to follow TDP-43 phase transition. We found a significant increase in the number of GU repeats (Fig. E2EDNA: Simulation Protocol for DNA Aptamers with Ligands, Probing TDP-43 condensation using an in silico designed aptamer. Sander, J., Ester, M., Kriegel, H.-P. & Xu, X. Density-based clustering in spatial databases: the algorithm GDBSCAN and its applications. RNA as a key factor in driving or preventing self-assembly of the TAR DNA-binding protein 43. The iCLIP scores were ranked from low (100 transcriptomic regions with the highest iCLIP score vs 100 transcriptomic regions with the lowest iCLIP score) to high (20 transcriptomic regions with the highest iCLIP score vs 20 transcriptomic regions with the lowest iCLIP score). 6c) or the presence of cytosolic TDP-43 aggregates (Figs. However, this procedure requires considerable time and cost. In addition, it increases the advantage of the use of aptamers over other biologics, especially in terms of time consumption and costs. 7, 104 (2020). Mann, J. R. et al. b Binding response curve for the interaction between RRM1-2 and negative RNA (antisense Apt-1). Google Scholar. Ellington, A. D. & Szostak, J. W. In vitro selection of RNA molecules that bind specific ligands. Nature 583, 711719 (2020). The top iCLIP score regions (30 sequences) were divided into 10 nucleotide fragments (260 sequences). The experimental values are reported in Table1. CAS Source data are provided with this paper. After further washing in PBS, coverslips were placed faced down on glass slides using the mounting medium ProLong Diamond Antifade Mountant (Invitrogen). a Wide view of Hek293T cells co-transfected with the plasmid for the overexpression of full-length TDP-43 fused to eGFP and the aptamer Apt-1 conjugated to the fluorophore Atto590. Article To determine whether Apt-1 could interfere with already formed aggregates, we added the aptamer 24h after initiation of the aggregation. Cells with pathological TDP-43 showed either homogenous cytosolic distribution of the protein (Fig. The trajectories were generated using a leapfrog integration algorithm with a time step of integration of 2fs. As a measure of coordinated motion, we calculated the covariance among the amino acids of RRM1-2-binding site (BS), under the hypothesis that systems with higher binding affinity are characterized by strongly coordinated motions. This is a modular RNA-binding protein, whose architecture comprises an N-terminal domain, two RNA recognition motif (RRM) domains that preferentially bind single-stranded GU-rich RNA sequences16, and a low-complexity C-terminus. c The RNA Fitness score was employed to measure the strength of catRAPID interaction propensities upon mutation of the RNA fragment sequence. In our calculations, we selected an aptamer length of 10 nucleotides because the deposited PDB structure of TDP-43 in complex with a UG-rich RNA sequence shows contacts for 10 nucleotides (PDB code 4bs2, GUGUGAAUGAAU)22. CAS Thank you for visiting nature.com. 5d) (Fig. Source data are provided as a Source data file64. Basel Switz. Both the RNA and Protein Fitness scores ranged between 0 (low rank) and 1 (high rank) and were calculated for the interaction between each aptamer and full-length TDP-43 sequence. (University of Edinburgh), M.H.H. In a similar fashion to alpha-synuclein in Parkinsons disease34,35, amyloid-beta in Alzheimers disease36, and aggregation-prone proteins in prion diseases37, TDP-43 might have the potential to form aggregates with different morphologies and structures, the more mature one containing extended beta-sheet structure, as shown here imaging RRM1-2. We thank the RNA Initiative at IIT, all members of the M.H.H., A.P., and G.G.T. (University of Edinburgh), and A.P. Following a further affinity purification step with a nickel-coated resin, a HiTrap Heparin column was used to remove nucleic acids. 4ce). Sci. Predictions for the aptamer sequences were carried out by means of the software catRAPID omics, version 2.0, available at http://s.tartaglialab.com/page/catrapid_omics2_group (the RNA Fitness of Apt-1 is at https://tinyurl.com/y3578hr3 and the Protein Fitness of Apt-1 is at https://tinyurl.com/evmybn73). PubMedGoogle Scholar. a TDP-43 interaction propensity computed with catRAPID is used to discriminate between interacting (high iCLIP score) and non-interacting (low iCLIP scores) transcriptomic regions. This difference, while not surprising for an RBP52, is highly relevant to study aggregation. The role of glycation on the aggregation properties of IAPP. A. The color of the boxes follows the same as in panel (a). In this study, we review theoretical and joint theoretical-experimental studies dedicated to aptamer design and. Google Scholar. S13). J. Exp. Bioinforma. Chem. The binding assays were performed in 10mM potassium phosphate buffer (pH 7.2) with 150mM KCl and 0.01% Tween20. Neurodegener. 7). More in general, our in silico design method provides a unique tool to assist quite different applications and may become a standard technique to select RNA aptamers offering, for instance, a new perspective for drug design. Engl. Fluorescence profiles were defined by drawing a line across specific cells and calculating the fluorescence intensity of the three fluorophores (DAPI, eGFP, and Atto590) pixel by pixel. Calculations for sequences <50 nucleic acids are restricted in the webserver due to the filing of a patent (see also Data availability) but they can be provided upon reasonable request under non-disclosure agreement. In silico strategies for modeling RNA ap . Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing & Allied Health. 1e). Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab. S5). The aptamers were conjugated to either biotin or the fluorophore Atto590, according to the type of experiment. Full-length TDP-43 typically forms oligomers of 101000nm32, but, due to the diffraction-limit of light, their visualization is restricted to 250nm (Fig. Aggregation assays were processed and plotted on the Tecan Magellan Data Analysis software and their statistical analysis was perform with Microsoft Excel 16.6. 6c, Manders overlap was 0.85, while for the cell in Fig. In general, the aggregation process can easily be reproduced in vitro, but the determination of the details, such as the morphology of the aggregate and the size at a given time, is highly challenging. Lett. Pronk, S. et al. Aptamer design was carried out through a novel approach based on the catRAPID method to predict proteinRNA interactions1,2. ], H2020 [IASIS n. 727658 to G.G.T. (IIT), A.A. (IIT and CRG), G.G.T. Zacco, E., Kantelberg, O., Milanetti, E. et al. Molecular basis of UG-rich RNA recognition by the human splicing factor TDP-43. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41594-018-0143-4 (2018). M.H.H. 2, 169194 (1998). Improved in vitro aptamers screening of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) through optimization of the length sequences obtained from SELEX by minimizing the aptamer length for its easy manipulation. The result was confirmed by the fluorescence profile, in which intensities of DAPI, eGFP, and Atto590 correlated (Fig. The authors declare the following competing interests: E.Z. The SimRNA software was first used to generate an ensemble of initial conformers27, short MD trajectories were then run to generate structures for docking through HDOCK28 and full MD trajectories in the microsecond scale were produced (Online Methods). Nucleic Acids Res. It must also be noted that we focused on a single-domain aptamer and additional computational analysis is required to design appendages for inclusion of functional regions to interact with other parts of TDP-43 or proteins. 2a andS2). TDP-43 regulates its mRNA levels through a negative feedback loop. was funded via the BBSRCEastBIO doctoral training program (BB/M010996/1). However, these systems often interfere with the condensation process, therefore misrepresenting the results55. The predictions developed with these methods could be used for in silico design of RNA aptamers, through a simple and accessible methodology. SELEX methods on the road to protein targeting with nucleic acid aptamers. The catRAPID algorithm is exploited to generate aptamers targeting TAR DNA-binding protein 43, whose aggregation is associated with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, and it is demonstrated that they bind TDP-43 and used the tightest interactor, Apt-1, as a probe to visualize T DP-43 condensates with super-resolution microscopy. S10S12 for localization number, length, and area histograms for each time-point). A size of 10 nucleotides also ensures that most of the fragments are single-stranded, which is a requirement for TDP-43 binding23,24. The algorithm, named catRAPID, predicts interactions between protein and RNA pairs based on the physico-chemical properties encoded in their sequences7,8. We note that the Protein Fitness scores calculated on full-length TDP-43 have a Pearson correlation of 0.88 with Protein Fitness scores calculated for the two RRM domains (amino acids 102269, hereafter named RRM1-2) and a correlation of 0.81 with the Protein Fitness scores calculated on the RRM1 alone (negligible correlation with RRM2; Fig. We calculated the distribution of the H-bond distances between RRM1-2 and the aptamer. Nuclear pore scaffold structure analyzed by super-resolution microscopy and particle averaging. CAS We first calculated the number of contacts made by RRM1-2 amino acids of the binding site (BS) with the different RNA structures (Fig. Vandelli, A. et al. Human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293T cells were cultured in Dulbeccos modified eagle medium (DMEM) enriched with L-glutamine and kept at 37C with 5% CO2. (University of Edinburgh), M.H.H. Protein identity and purity were assessed by PAGE. : Conceptualization, catRAPID calculations, data analysis, funding acquisition, supervision, and writing. Stronger enrichment was found when ordering all the transcriptomic regions according to the catRAPID score (Fig. Z-stacks for selected cells were composed acquiring scans every 0.5m for 6m above and below the median plane. Nucleic Acids 18, 99109 (2019). PubMed Central Publ. The limitations and notable advances of aptamer selection are presented, and the different methods used in the kinetic characterization of aptamers are compared, to comprehensively review the current shortage and achievement ofaptamer-related technology. Starting from 1s, we prolonged the simulation of 1s to confirm that the RMSD had small fluctuations (<1) in at least the 60% of the trajectory. Fluorescence profiling and Manders overlap were calculated for at least 25 cells per sample. B. Science 341, 655658 (2013). We have previously used AD-PAINT to visualize aggregates of A42 and -synuclein20, exploiting an aptamer that did not bind to a specific protein, but recognized instead the structural motif of the extended beta-sheet found in amyloid aggregates. These authors contributed equally: Elsa Zacco, Owen Kantelberg. We demonstrated that our aptamers bind TDP-43 and used the tightest interactor, Apt-1, as a probe to visualize TDP-43 condensates with super-resolution microscopy. Following TDP-43 distribution, cells were found in a mixed population composed of elements with nuclear distribution of TDP-43, and cells with mislocalized and/or condensed cytosolic TDP-43 (Fig. Pixel size was 103nm. 6bd and S15af) and fluorescence profiling (Figs. In silico approach for Post-SELEX DNA aptamers: A mini-review. Rev. Did you know that with a free Taylor & Francis Online account you can gain access to the following benefits? S16gi. In silico approaches to RNA aptamer design. Buglak, A. Discovering the 3 UTR-mediated regulation of alpha-synuclein. Article Data shown are meanSD of three independent aggregation reactions. Recently, numerous techniques, grouped under the umbrella term of super-resolution (SR) microscopy19, have been developed to surpass this limit, enabling imaging at a resolution as high as 5nm. Quantitative predictions of protein interactions with long noncoding RNAs. Agostini, F., Cirillo, D., Bolognesi, B. We confidently predict that the aptamers generated for TDP-43 will provide new detailed insights into the aggregation process of TDP-43. We built a covariance matrix by measuring how much each amino acid has a motion correlated with the other amino acids withing the BS. Suk, T. R. & Rousseaux, M. W. C. The role of TDP-43 mislocalization in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article. Bell, D. R. et al. 6). SAMMSON fosters cancer cell fitness by concertedly enhancing mitochondrial and cytosolic translation. S4). 6d was 0.89 (these values indicate a co-localization of the fluorescence associated with TDP-43 and Apt-1 of 85% and 89%, respectively). Methods 11, 313318 (2014). c Structural representation of residues with stable contacts in complex with Apt-1 (RRM1-2 representative configuration at equilibrium shown; colors correspond to panels (a) and (b). Our aptamers will provide a valuable tool for various detection methods and accelerate our understanding of TDP-43 aggregation in ALS, FTLD, and other neurodegenerative diseases. To determine the length and areas of each cluster, the localizations were plotted with widths equal to the precision FWHM and were then analyzed using measure module (skimage v0.18.1). RNA structure drives interaction with proteins. 400, 579588 (2010). Transfection and images acquisitions were repeated 3 times, each time in duplicates. S16af). (University of Edinburgh), and A.P. e Summary of Protein Fitness scores for TDP-43 full-length, RRM1, RRM2, RRM1-2 sequences (the colors match the Protein Fitness reported in panel d). Oxf. Data Min. Olzscha, H. et al. They also demonstrate that we can confidently rely on catRAPID predictions. Neurosci. Article Interestingly, only 6% of the aggregates detected using Apt-1 were ThT-active, also at later time points, demonstrating the aptamers ability to identify less mature oligomers that may be important in the disease pathology of TDP-43 and overcoming the limitations of current methods, such as the identification of oligomers of different size and structure. eg Fluorescence profiles of DAPI, eGFP, and Atto590 along a diagonal line drew across the isolated correspondent cells on the left, showing how nApt-1_Atto590 mostly localized in the peri-cytoplasmatic regions, irrespective of the distribution of eGFP_TDP-43. In this study, we developed a computational pipeline for de novo design of RNA aptamers in silico. To quantify this phenomenon, we studied the fluorescence profiles as above described and confirmed a lack of co-distribution of the two fluorophores relative to TDP-43 and nApt-1 (Fig. Mol. The final protein concentration was assessed by absorbance at 280nm and adjusted to 15M. Mol. In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles Google Scholar. In vitro production and selection of aptamers can be performed using the SELEX method. Kd values were estimated by fitting the response intensity (shift in the wavelength upon binding) as a function of the protein concentration, at the steady state. TDP-43 wild-type gene was cloned downstream to the eGFP gene in a pEGFP C1 mammalian transfection vector; Apt-1 was purchased with the fluorophore Atto590 at its 3 end and with the cytosines on positions 1 and 9 chemically modified with 2-Fluoro modification, to increase in-cell stability against nuclease degradation (Supplementary TableS4). Kuo, P.-H., Doudeva, L. G., Wang, Y.-T., Shen, C.-K. J. Data from 3 independent experiments. Knowl. and MND [840-791 to G.G.T. More in general, the method or its sub-parts (i.e., aptamer design and aptamer-based SR spectroscopy) may also have an important impact on drug development as well as on basic research. If material is not included in the articles Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. Nucleic Acids Res. This process is repeated to generate a SR image of each aggregate. E.M.: MD calculations, analysis, and writing. The reported binding curves are examples of the output of one experiment. & Trojanowski, J. Q. TDP-43 proteinopathy: the neuropathology underlying major forms of sporadic and familial frontotemporal lobar degeneration and motor neuron disease.