Positional cloning of quantitative trait nucleotides for blood pressure and cardiac QT-interval by targeted CRISPR/Cas9 editing of a novel long non-coding RNA

PLoS Genet. 2017 Aug 21;13(8):e1006961. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1006961. eCollection 2017 Aug.

Abstract

Multiple GWAS studies have reported strong association of cardiac QT-interval to a region on HSA17. Interestingly, a rat locus homologous to this region is also linked to QT-intervals. The high resolution positional mapping study located the rat QT-interval locus to a <42.5kb region on RNO10. This region contained no variants in protein-coding sequences, but a prominent contiguous 19bp indel polymorphism was noted within a novel predicted long non-coding RNA (lncRNA), which we named as Rffl-lnc1. To assess the candidacy of this novel lncRNA on QT-interval, targeted CRISPR/Cas9 based genome-engineering approaches were applied on the rat strains used to map this locus. Targeted disruption of the rat Rffl-lnc1 locus caused aberrant, short QT-intervals and elevated blood pressure. Further, to specifically examine the significance of the 19bp polymorphism within the Rffl-lnc1 locus, a CRISPR/Cas9 based targeted knock-in rescue model was constructed by inserting the 19bp into the strain which contained the deletion polymorphism. The knock-in alleles successfully rescued the aberrant QT-interval and blood pressure phenotypes. Further studies revealed that the 19bp polymorphism was necessary and sufficient to recapitulate the phenotypic effect of the previously mapped <42.5kb rat locus. To our knowledge, this study is the first demonstration of a combination of both CRISPR/Cas9 based targeted disruption as well as CRISPR/Cas9 based targeted knock-in rescue approaches applied for a mammalian positional cloning study, which defines the quantitative trait nucleotides (QTNs) within a rat long non-coding RNA as being important for the pleiotropic regulation of both cardiac QT-intervals and blood pressure.

MeSH terms

  • Alleles
  • Animals
  • Blood Pressure / genetics*
  • CRISPR-Cas Systems / genetics
  • Cloning, Molecular
  • Electrocardiography
  • Gene Knock-In Techniques
  • Heart / physiopathology
  • Humans
  • Hypertension / genetics*
  • Hypertension / physiopathology
  • INDEL Mutation / genetics
  • Nerve Tissue Proteins / genetics*
  • Nucleotides / genetics
  • Quantitative Trait Loci / genetics
  • RNA, Long Noncoding / genetics*
  • RNA, Long Noncoding / isolation & purification
  • Rats

Substances

  • CA11 protein, human
  • Nerve Tissue Proteins
  • Nucleotides
  • RNA, Long Noncoding
  • long non-coding RNA Rffl-lnc1, rat