MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNAs, about 21 nucleotides in length, that can regulate gene expression by base-pairing to partially complementary mRNAs. Regulation by miRNAs can play essential roles in embryonic development. We determined the temporal and spatial expression patterns of 115 conserved vertebrate miRNAs in zebrafish embryos by microarrays and by in situ hybridizations, using locked-nucleic acid-modified oligonucleotide probes. Most miRNAs were expressed in a highly tissue-specific manner during segmentation and later stages, but not early in development, which suggests that their role is not in tissue fate establishment but in differentiation or maintenance of tissue identity.

Metastatic cancer is a major cause of death and is associated with poor treatment efficacy. A better understanding of the characteristics of late-stage cancer is required to help adapt personalized treatments, reduce overtreatment and improve outcomes. Here we describe the largest, to our knowledge, pan-cancer study of metastatic solid tumour genomes, including whole-genome sequencing data for 2,520 pairs of tumour and normal tissue, analysed at median depths of 106× and 38×, respectively, and surveying more than 70 million somatic variants. The characteristic mutations of metastatic lesions varied widely, with mutations that reflect those of the primary tumour types, and with high rates of whole-genome duplication events (56%). Individual metastatic lesions were relatively homogeneous, with the vast majority (96%) of driver mutations being clonal and up to 80% of tumour-suppressor genes being inactivated bi-allelically by different mutational mechanisms. Although metastatic tumour genomes showed similar mutational landscape and driver genes to primary tumours, we find characteristics that could contribute to responsiveness to therapy or resistance in individual patients. We implement an approach for the review of clinically relevant associations and their potential for actionability. For 62% of patients, we identify genetic variants that may be used to stratify patients towards therapies that either have been approved or are in clinical trials. This demonstrates the importance of comprehensive genomic tumour profiling for precision medicine in cancer.In recent years, several large-scale whole-genome sequencing (WGS) analysis efforts have yielded valuable insights into the diversity of the molecular processes that drive different types of adult 1,2 and paediatric 3,4 cancer and have fuelled the promises of genome-driven oncology care 5 . However, most analyses were done on primary tumour material, whereas metastatic cancers-which cause the bulk of the disease burden and 90% of all cancer deaths-have been less comprehensively studied at the whole-genome level, with previous efforts focusing on tumourspecific cohorts 6-8 or at a targeted gene panel 9 or exome level 10 . As cancer genomes evolve over time, both in the highly heterogeneous primary tumour mass and as disseminated metastatic cells 11,12 , a better understanding of metastatic cancer genomes will be highly valuable to improve on adapting treatments for late-stage cancers.Here we describe the pan-cancer whole-genome landscape of metastatic cancers based on 2,520 paired tumour (106× average depth) and normal (blood, 38×) genomes from 2,399 patients ( Supplementary Tables 1 and 2, Extended Data Fig. 1). The sample distribution over age and primary tumour types broadly reflects the incidence of solid cancers in the Western world, including rare cancers (Fig. 1a). Sequencing data were analysed using an optimized bioinformatic pipeline based on open source tools (Methods, Supplementary Information) and identified a total of 59,472,629 single nucleotide varian...

Since the publication of the human reference genome, the identities of specific genes associated with human diseases are being discovered at an enormous rate. A central problem is that the biological activity of these genes is often unclear. Detailed investigations in vertebrate model organisms, typically mice, have been essential for understanding the activities of many orthologues of these disease-associated genes. Although gene-targeting approaches1-3 and phenotype analysis have led to a detailed understanding of nearly 6,000 protein-coding genes3,4, this number falls significantly short of all >22,000 mouse protein-coding genes5. Similarly, in zebrafish genetics, one-by-one gene studies using positional cloning6, insertional mutagenesis7-9, antisense morpholino oligonucleotides10, targeted re-sequencing11-13 and zinc finger and TAL endonucleases14-17 have made significant contributions to our understanding of the biological activity of vertebrate genes, but the number of genes studied again falls well short of the >26,000 zebrafish protein-coding genes18. Importantly, for both mice and zebrafish, none of these strategies is particularly suited to the rapid generation of knockouts in thousands of genes and the assessment of their biological activity. Enabled by a well-annotated zebrafish reference genome sequence18,19, high-throughput sequencing and efficient chemical mutagenesis, we describe an active project that aims to identify and phenotype disruptive mutations in every zebrafish protein-coding gene. Thus far we have identified potentially disruptive mutations in more than 38% of all known protein coding genes. We have developed a multi-allelic phenotyping scheme to efficiently assess the effects of each allele during embryogenesis and have analysed the phenotypic consequences of over 1000 alleles. All mutant alleles and data are available to the community and our phenotyping scheme is adaptable to phenotypic analysis beyond embryogenesis.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are 20-23 nucleotide (nt) RNA molecules that regulate gene expression post-transcriptionally. A key step toward understanding the function of the hundreds of miRNAs identified in animals is to determine their expression during development. Here we performed a detailed analysis of conditions for in situ detection of miRNAs in the zebrafish embryo using locked nucleic acid (LNA)-modified DNA probes and report expression patterns for 15 miRNAs in the mouse embryo.

A variety of mutational mechanisms shape the dynamic architecture of human genomes and occasionally result in congenital defects and disease. Here, we used genome-wide long mate-pair sequencing to systematically screen for inherited and de novo structural variation in a trio including a child with severe congenital abnormalities. We identified 4321 inherited structural variants and 17 de novo rearrangements. We characterized the de novo structural changes to the base-pair level revealing a complex series of balanced inter- and intra-chromosomal rearrangements consisting of 12 breakpoints involving chromosomes 1, 4 and 10. Detailed inspection of breakpoint regions indicated that a series of simultaneous double-stranded DNA breaks caused local shattering of chromosomes. Fusion of the resulting chromosomal fragments involved non-homologous end joining, since junction points displayed limited or no homology and small insertions and deletions. The pattern of random joining of chromosomal fragments that we observe here strongly resembles the somatic rearrangement patterns--termed chromothripsis--that have recently been described in deranged cancer cells. We conclude that a similar mechanism may also drive the formation of de novo structural variation in the germline.

Background: MicroRNA (miRNA) encoding genes are abundant in vertebrate genomes but very few have been studied in any detail. Bioinformatic tools allow prediction of miRNA targets and this information coupled with knowledge of miRNA expression profiles facilitates formulation of hypotheses of miRNA function. Although the central nervous system (CNS) is a prominent site of miRNA expression, virtually nothing is known about the spatial and temporal expression profiles of miRNAs in the brain. To provide an overview of the breadth of miRNA expression in the CNS, we performed a comprehensive analysis of the neuroanatomical expression profiles of 38 abundant conserved miRNAs in developing and adult zebrafish brain.

BackgroundLong noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) form an abundant class of transcripts, but the function of the majority of them remains elusive. While it has been shown that some lncRNAs are bound by ribosomes, it has also been convincingly demonstrated that these transcripts do not code for proteins. To obtain a comprehensive understanding of the extent to which lncRNAs bind ribosomes, we performed systematic RNA sequencing on ribosome-associated RNA pools obtained through ribosomal fractionation and compared the RNA content with nuclear and (non-ribosome bound) cytosolic RNA pools.ResultsThe RNA composition of the subcellular fractions differs significantly from each other, but lncRNAs are found in all locations. A subset of specific lncRNAs is enriched in the nucleus but surprisingly the majority is enriched in the cytosol and in ribosomal fractions. The ribosomal enriched lncRNAs include H19 and TUG1.ConclusionsMost studies on lncRNAs have focused on the regulatory function of these transcripts in the nucleus. We demonstrate that only a minority of all lncRNAs are nuclear enriched. Our findings suggest that many lncRNAs may have a function in cytoplasmic processes, and in particular in ribosome complexes.

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