Synergistic Coding of Human Odorants in the Mosquito Brain

The yellow fever mosquito Aedes aegypti employs olfaction to locate humans. We applied CRISPR-Cas9 genome engineering and neural activity mapping to define the molecular and cellular logic of how the mosquito brain is wired to detect human odorants. We determined that the breath volatile carbon dioxide (CO2) is detected by the largest unit of olfactory coding in the primary olfactory processing center of the mosquito brain, the antennal lobe. Synergistically, CO2 detection gates synaptic transmission from defined populations of olfactory sensory neurons, innervating unique antennal lobe regions tuned to the human sweat odorant L-(+)-lactic acid. Our data suggests that simultaneous detection of signature human volatiles rapidly disinhibits a multimodal olfactory network for hunting humans in the mosquito brain.

A genome-wide screen for ER autophagy highlights key roles of mitochondrial metabolism and ER-resident UFMylation

SummarySelective degradation of organelles via autophagy is critical for cellular differentiation, homeostasis, and organismal health. Autophagy of the ER (ER-phagy) is implicated in human neuropathy but is poorly understood beyond a few specialized autophagosomal receptors and remodelers. Using an ER-phagy reporter and genome-wide CRISPRi screening, we identified 200 high-confidence factors involved in human ER-phagy. We mechanistically investigated two pathways unexpectedly required for ER-phagy. First, reduced mitochondrial metabolism represses ER-phagy, which reverses the logic of general autophagy. Mitochondrial crosstalk with ER-phagy bypasses the energy sensor AMPK, instead directly impacting ULK1. Second, ER-localized UFMylation is required for ER-phagy that represses the unfolded protein response. The UFL1 ligase is brought to the ER surface by DDRGK1, analogous to PINK1-Parkin regulation during mitophagy. Our data provide insight into the unique cellular logic of ER-phagy, reveal parallels between organelle autophagies, and provide an entry point to the relatively unexplored process of degrading the ER network.

De-Novo-Designed Translational Repressors for Multi-Input Cellular Logic

ABSTRACTSynthetic biology aims to apply engineering principles toward the development of novel biological systems for biotechnology and medicine. Despite efforts to expand the set of high-performing parts for genetic circuits, achieving more complex circuit functions has often been limited by the idiosyncratic nature and crosstalk of commonly utilized parts. Here, we present a molecular programming strategy that implements RNA-based repression of translation usingde-novo-designed RNAs to realize high-performance orthogonal parts with mRNA detection and multi-input logic capabilities. These synthetic post-transcriptional regulators, termed toehold repressors and three-way junction (3WJ) repressors, efficiently suppress translation in response to cognate trigger RNAs with nearly arbitrary sequences using thermodynamically and kinetically favorable linear-linear RNA interactions. Automatedin silicooptimization of thermodynamic parameters yields improved toehold repressors with up to 300-fold repression, while in-cell SHAPE-Seq measurements of 3WJ repressors confirm their designed switching mechanism in living cells. Leveraging the absence of sequence constraints, we identify eight- and 15-component sets of toehold and 3WJ repressors, respectively, that provide high orthogonality. The modularity, wide dynamic range, and low crosstalk of the repressors enable their direct integration into ribocomputing devices that provide universal NAND and NOR logic capabilities and can perform multi-input RNA-based logic. We demonstrate these capabilities by implementing a four-input NAND gate and the expression NOT((A1 AND A2) OR (B1 AND B2)) inEscherichia coli. These features make toehold and 3WJ repressors important new classes of translational regulators for biotechnological applications.

Universal Microfluidic System for Analysis and Control of Cell Dynamics

SUMMARYDynamical control of the cellular microenvironment is highly desired for quantitative studies of stem cells and immune signaling. Here, we present an automated microfluidic system for high-throughput culture, differentiation and analysis of a wide range of cells in precisely defined dynamic microenvironments recapitulating cellular niches. This system delivers complex, time-varying biochemical signals to 1,500 independently programmable cultures containing either single cells, 2-D populations, or 3-D organoids, and dynamically stimulates adherent or non-adherent cells while tracking and retrieving them for end-point analysis. Using this system, we investigated the signaling landscape of neural stem cell differentiation under combinatorial and dynamic stimulation with growth factors. Experimental and computational analyses identified “cellular logic rules” for stem cell differentiation, and demonstrated the importance of signaling sequence and timing in brain development. This universal platform greatly enhances capabilities of microfluidic cell culture, allows dissection of previously hidden aspects of cellular dynamics, and enables accelerated biological discovery.