Yuan Gao

Digital information is accumulating at an astounding rate, straining our ability to store and archive it. DNA is among the most dense and stable information media known. The development of new technologies in both DNA synthesis and sequencing make DNA an increasingly feasible digital storage medium. We developed a strategy to encode arbitrary digital information in DNA, wrote a 5.27-megabit book using DNA microchips, and read the book by using next-generation DNA sequencing.

The signaling pathways mediated by Rho family GTPases have been implicated in many aspects of cell biology. The specificity of the pathways is achieved in part by the selective interaction between Dbl family guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs) and their Rho GTPase substrates. Here, we report a first-generation small-molecule inhibitor of Rac GTPase targeting Rac activation by GEF. The chemical compound NSC23766 was identified by a structure-based virtual screening of compounds that fit into a surface groove of Rac1 known to be critical for GEF specification. In vitro it could effectively inhibit Rac1 binding and activation by the Rac-specific GEF Trio or Tiam1 in a dose-dependent manner without interfering with the closely related Cdc42 or RhoA binding or activation by their respective GEFs or with Rac1 interaction with BcrGAP or effector PAK1. In cells, it potently blocked serum or platelet-derived growth factor-induced Rac1 activation and lamellipodia formation without affecting the activity of endogenous Cdc42 or RhoA. Moreover, this compound reduced Trio or Tiam1 but not Vav, Lbc, Intersectin, or a constitutively active Rac1 mutant-stimulated cell growth and suppressed Trio, Tiam1, or Ras-induced cell transformation. When applied to human prostate cancer PC-3 cells, it was able to inhibit the proliferation, anchorage-independent growth and invasion phenotypes that require the endogenous Rac1 activity. Thus, NSC23766 constitutes a Rac-specific small-molecule inhibitor that could be useful to study the role of Rac in various cellular functions and to reverse tumor cell phenotypes associated with Rac deregulation.

Chromosomal aneuploidy is the major reason why couples opt for prenatal diagnosis. Current methods for definitive diagnosis rely on invasive procedures, such as chorionic villus sampling and amniocentesis, and are associated with a risk of fetal miscarriage. Fetal DNA has been found in maternal plasma but exists as a minor fraction among a high background of maternal DNA. Hence, quantitative perturbations caused by an aneuploid chromosome in the fetal genome to the overall representation of sequences from that chromosome in maternal plasma would be small. Even with highly precise single molecule counting methods such as digital PCR, a large number of DNA molecules and hence maternal plasma volume would need to be analyzed to achieve the necessary analytical precision. Here we reasoned that instead of using approaches that target specific gene loci, the use of a locus-independent method would greatly increase the number of target molecules from the aneuploid chromosome that could be analyzed within the same fixed volume of plasma. Hence, we used massively parallel genomic sequencing to quantify maternal plasma DNA sequences for the noninvasive prenatal detection of fetal trisomy 21. Twenty-eight first and second trimester maternal plasma samples were tested. All 14 trisomy 21 fetuses and 14 euploid fetuses were correctly identified. Massively parallel plasma DNA sequencing represents a new approach that is potentially applicable to all pregnancies for the noninvasive prenatal diagnosis of fetal chromosomal aneuploidies.