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Very Short Mitochondrial DNA Fragments and Heteroplasmy in Human Plasma

ABSTRACT: Background: Cell free DNA (cfDNA) in plasma has received increasing attention and has been studied in a broad range of clinical conditions implicating inflammation, cancer, and aging. However, few studies have focused on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in the cell free form. This study characterized the size distribution and sequence characteristics of plasma cell free mtDNA (cf mtDNA) in humans.Methods and Results: We optimized DNA isolation and next-generation sequencing library preparation protocols to better retain short DNA fragments from plasma, and applied these optimized methods to plasma samples from patients with sepsis. After massive parallel sequencing, we verified that our methods can retain substantially shorter DNA fragments than the standard isolation method, resulting in an average of 11.5 fold increase in short DNA fragments yield (DNA < 100bp). We report that cf mtDNA in plasma is highly enriched in short-size cfDNA (30 ~ 60 bp), which is much shorter than the value previously reported (~140 bp). Motivated by this unique size distribution, we size-selected short cfDNA fragments from the sequencing library, which further increased the mtDNA recovery rate by an average of 10.4 fold. Using this approach we detected mixtures of different mtDNA sequences, termed heteroplasmy, in plasma from 3 patients. In one patient who previously received bone marrow transplantation, different minor allele frequencies were observed between plasma and white blood cells (WBC) at heteroplasmic mtDNA sites, consistent with mixed-tissue origin for plasma DNA.Conclusion: mtDNA in plasma exists as very short fragments that exhibit mtDNA heteroplasmy distribution differences from that found in a single organ/tissue. This study is the first report of genome wide identification of mtDNA heteroplasmy in human plasma. Our optimized method can be used to investigate the potential utility of cf mtDNA fragments and heteroplasmy as biomarkers in various diseases.

ORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens

PROVIDER: GSE81178 | GEO | 2016/05/07

SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA320827

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Mitochondria generate signals of adaptation that regulate nuclear genes expression via retrograde signaling. But this phenomenon is complexified when qualitatively different mitochondria and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) coexist within cells. Although this cellular state of heteroplasmy leads to divergent phenotypes clinically, its consequences on cellular function and the cellular transcriptome are unknown. To interrogate this phenomenon, we generated somatic cell cybrids harboring increasing levels of a common mtDNA mutation (tRNALeu(UUR) 3243A>G) and mapped the resulting cellular phenotypes and transcriptional profiles across the complete range of heteroplasmy. Small increases in mutant mtDNAs caused relatively modest defect in mitochondrial oxidative capacity, but resulted in sharp transitions in mitochondrial ultrastructure and in the nuclear and mitochondrial transcriptomes, with the critical functional threshold corresponding to the induction of epigenetic regulatory systems. Principal component analysis underscores how each heteroplasmy level occupies a different "transcriptional space", with low levels heteroplasmy (20-30%) producing a dose-response linear progression in one direction, and mutationload of 50, 60 and 90% producing changes in the opposite direction. Hence, subtle changes in mitochondrial energetics can act through the epigenome to generate the phenotypes of the common “complex” diseases. Cells were generated by transferring the wildtype (3243A) and mutant (3243G) mtDNAs from a heteroplasmic 3243A>G patient’s lymphoblastoid cell line into 143B(TK-) mtDNA-deficient (ρo) cells and selected for transmitochondrial cybrids. Subsequent mtDNA depletion, reamplification, and cloning (Wiseman and Attardi, 1978) resulted in a series of stable cybrids harboring approximately 0, 20, 30, 50, 60, 90, and 100% 3243G mutant mtDNAs. Total RNA extracted from each cell line was then extracted, depleted of rRNA, and measured in sequenced in triplicates.

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Very Short Mitochondrial DNA Fragments and Heteroplasmy in Human Plasma

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