Cell genomicsPub Date : 2025-05-14Epub Date: 2025-05-06DOI: 10.1016/j.xgen.2025.100874
Mauricio Castellano, Valentina Blanco, Marco Li Calzi, Bruno Costa, Kenneth Witwer, Marcelo Hill, Alfonso Cayota, Mercedes Segovia, Juan Pablo Tosar
{"title":"Ribonuclease activity undermines immune sensing of naked extracellular RNA.","authors":"Mauricio Castellano, Valentina Blanco, Marco Li Calzi, Bruno Costa, Kenneth Witwer, Marcelo Hill, Alfonso Cayota, Mercedes Segovia, Juan Pablo Tosar","doi":"10.1016/j.xgen.2025.100874","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.xgen.2025.100874","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Cell membranes are thought of as barriers to extracellular RNA (exRNA) uptake. While naked exRNAs can be spontaneously internalized by certain cells, functional cytosolic delivery has been rarely observed. Here, we show that extracellular ribonucleases (RNases)-primarily from cell culture supplements-have obscured the study of exRNA functionality. When ribonuclease inhibitor (RI) is added to cell cultures, naked exRNAs can trigger pro-inflammatory responses in dendritic cells and macrophages, largely via endosomal Toll-like receptors (TLRs). Moreover, naked exRNAs can escape endosomes, engaging cytosolic RNA sensors. In addition, naked extracellular mRNAs can be spontaneously internalized and translated by various cell types in an RI-dependent manner. In vivo, RI co-injection amplifies naked-RNA-induced activation of splenic lymphocytes and myeloid leukocytes. Furthermore, naked RNA is inherently pro-inflammatory in RNase-poor compartments like the peritoneal cavity. These findings demonstrate that naked RNA is bioactive without requiring vesicular encapsulation, making a case for nonvesicular-exRNA-mediated intercellular communication.</p>","PeriodicalId":72539,"journal":{"name":"Cell genomics","volume":" ","pages":"100874"},"PeriodicalIF":11.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144042230","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Cell genomicsPub Date : 2025-05-14Epub Date: 2025-04-14DOI: 10.1016/j.xgen.2025.100849
Eisa Mahyari, Gregory J Boggy, G W McElfresh, Maanasa Kaza, Sebastian Benjamin, Benjamin Varco-Merth, Sohita Ojha, Shana Feltham, William Goodwin, Candice Nkoy, Derick Duell, Andrea Selseth, Tyler Bennett, Aaron Barber-Axthelm, Jeremy V Smedley, Caralyn S Labriola, Michael K Axthelm, R Keith Reeves, Afam A Okoye, Scott G Hansen, Louis J Picker, Benjamin N Bimber
{"title":"Enhanced interpretation of immune cell phenotype and function through a rhesus macaque single-cell atlas.","authors":"Eisa Mahyari, Gregory J Boggy, G W McElfresh, Maanasa Kaza, Sebastian Benjamin, Benjamin Varco-Merth, Sohita Ojha, Shana Feltham, William Goodwin, Candice Nkoy, Derick Duell, Andrea Selseth, Tyler Bennett, Aaron Barber-Axthelm, Jeremy V Smedley, Caralyn S Labriola, Michael K Axthelm, R Keith Reeves, Afam A Okoye, Scott G Hansen, Louis J Picker, Benjamin N Bimber","doi":"10.1016/j.xgen.2025.100849","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.xgen.2025.100849","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) allows cell classification using genome-wide transcriptional state; however, high-dimensional transcriptomic profiles, and the unsupervised analyses employed to interpret them, provide a systematically different view of biology than well-established functional/lineage definitions of immunocytes. Understanding these differences and limits is essential for accurate interpretation of these rich data. We present the Rhesus Immune Reference Atlas (RIRA), the first immune-focused macaque single-cell multi-tissue atlas. We contrasted transcriptional profiles against immune lineages, using surface protein and marker genes as ground truth. While the pattern of clustering can align with cell type, this is not always true. Especially within T and natural killer (NK) cells, many functionally distinct subsets lack defining markers, and strong shared expression programs, such as cytotoxicity, result in systematic intermingling by unsupervised clustering. We identified gene programs with high discriminatory/diagnostic value, including multi-gene signatures that model T/NK cell maturation. Directly measuring these diagnostic programs complements unsupervised analyses.</p>","PeriodicalId":72539,"journal":{"name":"Cell genomics","volume":" ","pages":"100849"},"PeriodicalIF":11.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144043867","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Cell genomicsPub Date : 2025-05-14Epub Date: 2025-04-11DOI: 10.1016/j.xgen.2025.100847
Feng Zhou, William J Astle, Adam S Butterworth, Jennifer L Asimit
{"title":"Improved genetic discovery and fine-mapping resolution through multivariate latent factor analysis of high-dimensional traits.","authors":"Feng Zhou, William J Astle, Adam S Butterworth, Jennifer L Asimit","doi":"10.1016/j.xgen.2025.100847","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.xgen.2025.100847","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) of high-dimensional traits, such as blood cell or metabolic traits, often use univariate approaches, ignoring trait relationships. Biological mechanisms generating variation in high-dimensional traits can be captured parsimoniously through a GWAS of latent factors. Here, we introduce flashfmZero, a zero-correlation latent-factor-based multi-trait fine-mapping approach. In an application to 25 latent factors derived from 99 blood cell traits in the INTERVAL cohort, we show that latent factor GWASs enable the detection of signals generating sub-threshold associations with several blood cell traits. The 99% credible sets (CS99) from flashfmZero were equal to or smaller in size than those from univariate fine-mapping of blood cell traits in 87% of our comparisons. In all cases univariate latent factor CS99 contained those from flashfmZero. Our latent factor approaches can be applied to GWAS summary statistics and will enhance power for the discovery and fine-mapping of associations for many traits.</p>","PeriodicalId":72539,"journal":{"name":"Cell genomics","volume":" ","pages":"100847"},"PeriodicalIF":11.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144051121","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Cell genomicsPub Date : 2025-05-14DOI: 10.1016/j.xgen.2025.100875
Yichao Zhou, Temidayo Adeluwa, Lisha Zhu, Sofia Salazar-Magaña, Sarah Sumner, Hyunki Kim, Saideep Gona, Festus Nyasimi, Rohit Kulkarni, Joseph E Powell, Ravi Madduri, Boxiang Liu, Mengjie Chen, Hae Kyung Im
{"title":"scPrediXcan integrates deep learning methods and single-cell data into a cell-type-specific transcriptome-wide association study framework.","authors":"Yichao Zhou, Temidayo Adeluwa, Lisha Zhu, Sofia Salazar-Magaña, Sarah Sumner, Hyunki Kim, Saideep Gona, Festus Nyasimi, Rohit Kulkarni, Joseph E Powell, Ravi Madduri, Boxiang Liu, Mengjie Chen, Hae Kyung Im","doi":"10.1016/j.xgen.2025.100875","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.xgen.2025.100875","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Transcriptome-wide association studies (TWASs) help identify disease-causing genes but often fail to pinpoint disease mechanisms at the cellular level because of the limited sample sizes and sparsity of cell-type-specific expression data. Here, we propose scPrediXcan, which integrates state-of-the-art deep learning approaches that predict epigenetic features from DNA sequences with the canonical TWAS framework. Our prediction approach, ctPred, predicts cell-type-specific expression with high accuracy and captures complex gene-regulatory grammar that linear models overlook. Applied to type 2 diabetes (T2D) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), scPrediXcan outperformed the canonical TWAS framework by identifying more candidate causal genes, explaining more genome-wide association study (GWAS) loci and providing insights into the cellular specificity of TWAS hits. Overall, our results demonstrate that scPrediXcan represents a significant advance, promising to deepen our understanding of the cellular mechanisms underlying complex diseases.</p>","PeriodicalId":72539,"journal":{"name":"Cell genomics","volume":"5 5","pages":"100875"},"PeriodicalIF":11.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144082295","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Cell genomicsPub Date : 2025-05-14DOI: 10.1016/j.xgen.2025.100841
Jonathan E LoTempio, Christopher R Donohue, Jonathan D Moreno, Robert Cook-Deegan
{"title":"Ethics choices during the Human Genome Project reflected their policy world, not ours.","authors":"Jonathan E LoTempio, Christopher R Donohue, Jonathan D Moreno, Robert Cook-Deegan","doi":"10.1016/j.xgen.2025.100841","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xgen.2025.100841","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Since human genomic data produced in the 1990s are still a significant part of the reference genome, decades-old decisions pertinent to the creation of these data persist. Here, we discuss how historical documents illustrate the 1990s policy and legal environment and how they affected ethical choices in the Human Genome Project (HGP). These documents inform current controversies about informed consent and how IRBs review similar protocols today. Finally, we discuss how this informs active work in large reference pangenome efforts.</p>","PeriodicalId":72539,"journal":{"name":"Cell genomics","volume":"5 5","pages":"100841"},"PeriodicalIF":11.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144082633","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Cell genomicsPub Date : 2025-05-14Epub Date: 2025-04-03DOI: 10.1016/j.xgen.2025.100844
Sophia Metz, Jonathan Robert Belanich, Melina Claussnitzer, Tuomas Oskari Kilpeläinen
{"title":"Variant-to-function approaches for adipose tissue: Insights into cardiometabolic disorders.","authors":"Sophia Metz, Jonathan Robert Belanich, Melina Claussnitzer, Tuomas Oskari Kilpeläinen","doi":"10.1016/j.xgen.2025.100844","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.xgen.2025.100844","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified thousands of genetic loci associated with cardiometabolic disorders. However, the functional interpretation of these loci remains a daunting challenge. This is particularly true for adipose tissue, a critical organ in systemic metabolism and the pathogenesis of various cardiometabolic diseases. We discuss how variant-to-function (V2F) approaches are used to elucidate the mechanisms by which GWAS loci increase the risk of cardiometabolic disorders by directly influencing adipose tissue. We outline GWAS traits most likely to harbor adipose-related variants and summarize tools to pinpoint the putative causal variants, genes, and cell types for the associated loci. We explain how large-scale perturbation experiments, coupled with imaging and multi-omics, can be used to screen variants' effects on cellular phenotypes and how these phenotypes can be tied to physiological mechanisms. Lastly, we discuss the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for V2F research and propose a roadmap for future studies.</p>","PeriodicalId":72539,"journal":{"name":"Cell genomics","volume":" ","pages":"100844"},"PeriodicalIF":11.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143789480","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Cell genomicsPub Date : 2025-05-14Epub Date: 2025-04-04DOI: 10.1016/j.xgen.2025.100823
Ramesh Ramasamy, Muthuswamy Raveendran, R Alan Harris, Hiep D Le, Ludovic S Mure, Giorgia Benegiamo, Ouria Dkhissi-Benyahya, Howard Cooper, Jeffrey Rogers, Satchidananda Panda
{"title":"Genome-wide allele-specific expression in multi-tissue samples from healthy male baboons reveals the transcriptional complexity of mammals.","authors":"Ramesh Ramasamy, Muthuswamy Raveendran, R Alan Harris, Hiep D Le, Ludovic S Mure, Giorgia Benegiamo, Ouria Dkhissi-Benyahya, Howard Cooper, Jeffrey Rogers, Satchidananda Panda","doi":"10.1016/j.xgen.2025.100823","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.xgen.2025.100823","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Allele-specific expression (ASE) is pivotal in understanding the genetic underpinnings of phenotypic variation within species, differences in disease susceptibility, and responses to environmental factors. We processed 11 different tissue types collected from 12 age-matched healthy olive baboons (Papio anubis) for genome-wide ASE analysis. By sequencing their genomes at a minimum depth of 30×, we identified over 16 million single-nucleotide variants (SNVs). We also generated long-read sequencing data, enabling the phasing of all variants present within the coding regions of 96.5% of assayable protein-coding genes as a single haplotype block. Given the extensive heterozygosity of baboons relative to humans, we could quantify ASE across 72% of the total annotated protein-coding gene set. We identified genes that exhibit ASE and affect specific tissues and genotypes. We discovered ASE SNVs that also exist in human populations with identical alleles and that are designated as pathogenic by both the PrimateAI-3D and AlphaMissense models.</p>","PeriodicalId":72539,"journal":{"name":"Cell genomics","volume":" ","pages":"100823"},"PeriodicalIF":11.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143789472","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Cell genomicsPub Date : 2025-05-14DOI: 10.1016/j.xgen.2025.100883
Ali H Eid
{"title":"Readdressing the role of ADRA2A in Raynaud's phenomenon: Methodological concerns and implications.","authors":"Ali H Eid","doi":"10.1016/j.xgen.2025.100883","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xgen.2025.100883","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":72539,"journal":{"name":"Cell genomics","volume":"5 5","pages":"100883"},"PeriodicalIF":11.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144081887","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Cell genomicsPub Date : 2025-05-14Epub Date: 2025-04-04DOI: 10.1016/j.xgen.2025.100842
Ofir Shorer, Asaf Pinhasi, Keren Yizhak
{"title":"Single-cell meta-analysis of T cells reveals clonal dynamics of response to checkpoint immunotherapy.","authors":"Ofir Shorer, Asaf Pinhasi, Keren Yizhak","doi":"10.1016/j.xgen.2025.100842","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.xgen.2025.100842","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Despite the crucial role of T cell clones in anti-tumor activity, their characterization and association with clinical outcomes following immune checkpoint inhibitors are lacking. Here, we analyzed paired single-cell RNA sequencing/T cell receptor sequencing of 767,606 T cells across 460 samples spanning 6 cancer types. We found a robust signature of response based on expanded CD8<sup>+</sup> clones that differentiates responders from non-responders. Analysis of persistent clones showed transcriptional changes that are differentially induced by therapy in the different response groups, suggesting an improved reinvigoration capacity in responding patients. Moreover, a gene trajectory analysis revealed changes in the pseudo-temporal state of de novo clones that are associated with clinical outcomes. Lastly, we found that clones shared between tumor and blood are more abundant in non-responders and execute distinct transcriptional programs. Overall, our results highlight differences in clonal transcriptional states that are linked to patient response, offering valuable insights into the mechanisms driving effective anti-tumor immunity.</p>","PeriodicalId":72539,"journal":{"name":"Cell genomics","volume":" ","pages":"100842"},"PeriodicalIF":11.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143789474","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Cell genomicsPub Date : 2025-05-14DOI: 10.1016/j.xgen.2025.100880
Hae Kyung Im
{"title":"Meet the author: Hae Kyung Im.","authors":"Hae Kyung Im","doi":"10.1016/j.xgen.2025.100880","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xgen.2025.100880","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Hae Kyung Im's research group focuses on quantitative computational and statistical methods to tackle genomic data analysis and provides methods to translate the vast amount of genomic data for health research. In collaboration with Mengjie Chen's group, also based at the University of Chicago, Im et al. have published their article \"scPrediXcan integrates deep learning methods and single-cell data into a cell-type-specific transcriptome-wide association study framework\" in Cell Genomics. This is a powerful deep learning approach to improve transcriptome-wide association study analysis, and researchers can apply this method to better understand complex disease genomics.</p>","PeriodicalId":72539,"journal":{"name":"Cell genomics","volume":"5 5","pages":"100880"},"PeriodicalIF":11.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144082635","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}