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A homozygous mutation in growth hormone 1 (GH1) was recently identified in an individual with growth failure. This mutation, c.705G&gt;C causes the replacement of cysteine at position 53 of the 191 amino acid sequence of 22 kDa human GH (hGH) with serine (p.Cys53Ser). This hGH molecule (further referred to as GH-C53S) lacks the disulfide bond between p.Cys53 and p.Cys165, which is highly conserved among species. It has been previously reported that monomeric GH-C53S has reduced bioactivity compared with wild-type GH (GH-wt) because of its decreased ability to bind and activate the GH receptor in vitro. In this study, we discovered that the substitution of p.Cys53 in hGH significantly increased formation of hGH-dimers in pituitary cells. We expressed his-tagged hGH variants in the cytoplasm of genetically modified Rosetta gami B DE3 Escherichia coli cells, facilitating high yield production. We observed that the bioactivity of monomeric GH-C53S is 25.2% of that of wild-type GH and that dimeric GH-C53S-his has no significant bioactivity in cell proliferation assays. We also found that the expression of GH-C53S in pituitary cells deviates from that of GH-wt. GH-C53S was exclusively stained in the Golgi apparatus, and no secretory granules formed for this variant, impairing its stimulated release. In summary, the unpaired cysteine C165 in GH-C53S forms a disulfide bond linking two hGH molecules in pituitary cells. We conclude that the GH-C53S dimer is inactive and responsible for the growth failure in the affected individual. Published under license by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.Analysis of patient-derived DNA samples has identified hundreds of variants that are likely involved in neuropsychiatric diseases such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and schizophrenia (SCZ). While these studies couple behavioral phenotypes to individual genotypes, the sheer number and diversity of candidate genes implicated in these disorders highlights the fact that the mechanistic underpinnings of these disorders remain to be discovered. Here, we describe a RNAi-based screening platform that uses the Caenorhabditis elegans model to screen candidate neuropsychiatric risk genes (NRGs) for roles in controlling dendritic arborization. To benchmark this approach, we queried published lists of NRGs whose variants in ASD and SCZ are predicted to result in complete or partial loss of gene function. We found that a significant fraction (&gt;16%) of these candidate NRGs are essential for proper dendritic development. Furthermore, these gene sets are enriched for defects in dendritic arbor phenotypes (&gt;14 fold) when compared to control RNAi datasets of over 500 human orthologs. The diversity of PVD structural abnormalities elicited by depleting candidate ASD and SCZ risk genes suggests that the functions of diverse NRGs (encoding transcription factors, chromatin remodelers, molecular chaperones and cytoskeleton-related proteins) converge to regulate neuronal morphology and that individual NRGs may play distinct roles in dendritic branching. We also demonstrate that the experimental value of this platform by using it to provide additional insights into the molecular frameworks of candidate NRGs. Specifically, we show that ANK2 (UNC-44) function is directly integrated with known regulators of dendritic arborization and suggest that altering the dosage of ARID1B (LET-526) expression during development affects neuronal morphology without diminishing aspects of neuronal cell fate specification. Copyright © The Author(s) 2020. Published by the Genetics Society of America.Long interspersed element-1 retrotransposons (LINE-1 or L1) are ~6 kb mobile DNA elements implicated in the origins of many Mendelian and complex diseases. The actively retrotransposing L1s are mostly limited to the L1 human specific (L1Hs) transcriptional active (Ta) subfamily. In this manuscript, we present REBELseq as a method for the construction of Ta subfamily L1Hs-enriched next-generation sequencing libraries and bioinformatic identification. REBELseq was performed on DNA isolated from NeuN+ neuronal nuclei from postmortem brain samples of 177 individuals and empirically-driven bioinformatic and experimental cutoffs were established. Putative L1Hs insertions passing bioinformatics cutoffs were experimentally validated. REBELseq reliably identified both known and novel Ta subfamily L1Hs insertions distributed throughout the genome. Differences in the proportion of individuals possessing a given reference or non-reference retrotransposon insertion were identified. We conclude that REBELseq is an unbiased, whole genome approach to the amplification and detection of Ta subfamily L1Hs retrotransposons. Copyright © The Author(s) 2020. Published by the Genetics Society of America.Simple sugars are the essential foundation to plant life, and thus, their production, utilization, and storage are highly regulated processes with many complex genetic controls. Despite their importance, many of the genetic and biochemical mechanisms remain unknown or uncharacterized. Sorghum, a highly productive, diverse C4 grass important for both industrial and subsistence agricultural systems, has considerable phenotypic diversity in the accumulation of nonstructural sugars in the stem. We use this crop species to examine the genetic controls of high levels of sugar accumulation, identify genetic mechanisms for the accumulation of nonstructural sugars, and link carbon allocation with iron transport. We identify a species-specific tandem duplication event controlling sugar accumulation using genome-wide association analysis, characterize multiple allelic variants causing increased sugar content, and provide further evidence of a putative neofunctionalization event conferring adaptability in Sorghum bicolor Comparative genomics indicate that this event is unique to sorghum which may further elucidate evolutionary mechanisms for adaptation and divergence within the Poaceae. Furthermore, the identification and characterization of this event was only possible with the continued advancement and improvement of the reference genome. The characterization of this region and the process in which it was discovered serve as a reminder that any reference genome is imperfect and is in need of continual improvement. Copyright © The Author(s) 2020. Published by the Genetics Society of America.Epigenomic changes have been considered a potential missing link underlying phenotypic variation in quantitative traits but is potentially confounded with the underlying DNA sequence variation. Although the concept of epigenetic inheritance has been discussed in depth, there have been few studies attempting to directly dissect the amount of epigenomic variation within inbred natural populations while also accounting for genetic diversity. By using known genetic relationships between Brachypodium lines, multiple sets of nearly identical accession families were selected for phenotypic studies and DNA methylome profiling to investigate the dual role of (epi)genetics under simulated natural seasonal climate conditions. Despite reduced genetic diversity, appreciable phenotypic variation was still observable in the measured traits (height, leaf width and length, tiller count, flowering time, ear count) between as well as within the inbred accessions. However, with reduced genetic diversity there was diminished variation in DNA methylation within families. Mixed-effects linear modelling revealed large genetic differences between families and a minor contribution of DNA methylation variation on phenotypic variation in select traits. Taken together, this analysis suggests a limited but significant contribution of DNA methylation towards heritable phenotypic variation relative to genetic differences. Copyright © The Author(s) 2020. Published by the Genetics Society of America.Integrative mobilizable elements belonging to the SGI1-H, -K, and -L Salmonella genomic island 1 (SGI1) variant groups are distinguished by the presence of an alteration in the backbone (IS1359 replaces 2.8 kb of the backbone extending from within traN [S005] to within S009). Members of this SGI1-HKL group have been found in Salmonella enterica serovars and in Proteus mirabilis Two novel variants from this group, designated SGI1-LK1 and SGI1-LK2, were found in the draft genomes of antibiotic-resistant P. mirabilis isolates from two French hospitals. Both variants can be derived from SGI1-PmGUE, a configuration found previously in another P. mirabilis isolate from France. SGI1-LK1 could arise via an IS26-mediated inversion in the complex class 1 integron that duplicated the IS26 element and the target site in IS6100 SGI1-LK1 also has a larger 8.59-kb backbone deletion extending from traN to within S013 and removing traG and traH. However, SGI1-LK1 was mobilized by an IncC plasmid. SGI1-LK2 can be derived from ations in the original SGI1-LK group, found in other multiresistant S. enterica serovars and Proteus mirabilis isolates, have complex and highly plastic resistance regions due to the presence of IS26 However, how these complex forms arose and the relationships between them had not been analyzed. Here, a hypothetical progenitor, SGI1-LK0, that can be formed from the simpler SGI1-H is proposed, and the pathways to the formation of new variants, SGI1-LK1 and SGI1-LK2, found in P. mirabilis and other reported configurations via homologous recombination and IS26-mediated events are proposed. This led to a better understanding of the evolution of the SGI1-HKL group. Copyright © 2020 de Curraize et al.Ralstonia solanacearum is a bacterial plant pathogen causing important economic losses worldwide. In addition to the polar flagella responsible for swimming motility, this pathogen produces type IV pili (TFP) that govern twitching motility, a flagellum-independent movement on solid surfaces. The implication of chemotaxis in plant colonization, through the control flagellar rotation by the proteins CheW and CheA, has been previously reported in R. solanacearum In this work, we have identified in this bacterium homologues of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa pilI and chpA genes, suggested to play roles in TFP-associated motility analogous to those played by the cheW and cheA genes, respectively. We demonstrate that R. solanacearum strains with a deletion of the pilI or the chpA coding region show normal swimming and chemotaxis but altered biofilm formation and reduced twitching motility, transformation efficiency, and root attachment. Furthermore, these mutants displayed wild-type growth in planta and impaired virulenitching motility, natural transformation, and biofilm formation, and are also directly implicated in virulence, mainly during the first steps of the plant infection. Our results show that pili have a higher impact than flagella on the interaction of R. solanacearum with tomato plants and reveal new types of cross-talk between the swimming and twitching motility phenotypes enhanced swimming in bacteria lacking pili and a role for the flagellum in root attachment. Copyright © 2020 Corral et al.The wide distribution of colistin-resistant bacteria in developing countries has become a common phenomenon. To understand the mechanisms underlying their distribution, we studied the mcr genetic background of colistin-resistant Escherichia coli isolates from the fecal microbiota of healthy human residents from a community in Vietnam with a high prevalence of colistin-resistant E. coli with mcr Fifty-seven colistin-resistant isolates were obtained from 98 residents; one isolate was collected from each individual and analyzed for mcr We found that 36.8% of the isolates carried chromosomal mcr-1 Further, 63.2% and 1.8% of the isolates carried mcr-1 on the plasmid and the plasmid/chromosome, respectively. Whole-genome sequencing of genetically unrelated isolates showed that the majority (6 of 7) of the isolates had the chromosomal mcr-1 in a complete ancestral mcr-1 transposon Tn6330, ISApl1-mcr-1-PAP2-ISApl1, which was inserted at various positions on the chromosomes. In addition, the majority (87.5%) of Tn6330 of mcr-1-carrying plasmids (n = 8) lacked both upstream and downstream ISApl1 transposons.