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Biology subjects

Soens, R. W.

Publications and source records attributed to Soens, R. W..

2 recordsLinked to original sources

Atlas of lysine acetylation in the mouse

Lysine acetylation has widespread ramifications from genetic regulatory effects to modulation of enzymatic function. With improved acetyl-lysine enrichment technologies and advances in mass spectrometer speed and sensitivity, we present a comprehensive atlas of the mouse acetylome comprising 17,952 unique lysine acetylation sites across 4,340 proteins and 15 tissues. This resource, which nearly doubles the known mouse acetyl-lysine catalog, shows at least 14% of the acetylome is shared across tissues. We focus our investigation on several acetylated proteins, including ribosomal acetylation and its potential to extend ribosomal half-life in the liver and pancreas. Additionally, we identify a novel acetylation event in the active site of carnitine O-acetyltransferase (Crat) that also mirrors tissue-specific Crat activity. By integrating these data with human pathogenic variants, we identify acetyl-lysine residues on cardiac troponin and homogentisate dioxygenase that likely mimic disease-causing mutations. This resource provides a foundational framework for investigating protein acetylation in metabolic health and disease.

biochemistry↗

CRISPR screens in physiologic medium reveal conditionally essential genes in human cells

Forward genetic screens across hundreds of diverse cancer cell lines have started to define the genetic dependencies of proliferating human cells and how these vary by genotype and lineage. Most screens, however, have been carried out in culture media that poorly resemble metabolite availability in human blood. To explore how medium composition influences gene essentiality, we performed CRISPR-based screens of human cancer cell lines cultured in traditional versus human plasma-like medium (HPLM). Sets of medium-dependent fitness genes span several cellular processes and can vary with both natural cell-intrinsic diversity and the specific combination of basal and serum components that comprise typical culture media. Notably, we traced the causes for each of three conditional growth phenotypes to the availability of metabolites uniquely defined in HPLM versus traditional media. Our findings reveal the profound impact of medium composition on gene essentiality in human cells, and also suggest general strategies for using genetic screens in HPLM to uncover new cancer vulnerabilities and gene-nutrient interactions.

cancer biology↗