CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims priority to and benefit from US Provisional Patent Application No. 62/483,261, filed April 7, 2017, and entitled "Systems and Methods for Detection of Genetic Structural Variation Using Integrated Electrophoretic DNA Purification." The present application incorporates herein by reference the disclosure of the above-referenced application in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

[0002] Many inherited genetic diseases are caused by length expansions of chromosomal regions containing simple DNA sequence repeats. For instance, the mental retardation syndrome, fragile X, is caused by and expansion of a (CGG) _n sequence near the 5' end of the gene FMR1 from <50 CGG copies in most unaffected individuals to more than 200 copies in most affected individuals (Nolin et al., 2003). Similarly, in the most commonly mutated gene associated with ALS, C9orf72, expansion of a (G4C2)n repeat in the first intron from <8 repeats to >300 repeats, is associated with the disease state (Suh, et al, 2015). At least twenty -two inherited neurological diseases are caused by such repeat expansion mutations (La Spada and Taylor, 2010).

[0003] Detection and analysis of such repeat expansion mutations can be complicated by several factors. First, PCR amplification of regions containing simple sequence repeat 2-10 bp in length is error-prone, usually producing a family of amplicon products that differs in the number of repeat units. Many repeat expansions are also extremely GC-rich, which makes development of PCR assays even more difficult. With careful optimization for specific genome loci, these problems can be minimized so that useful diagnostic assays can be obtained, but such optimization of assays is laborious and time-consuming, and the conditions for one repeat expansion type are frequently not transferable to other assays.

[0004] Another difficulty with PCR assays is that some repeat expansions can be >20 kb in size (Nolin et al, 2003), beyond the typical size range of PCR assays which generally found to be somewhere between 5-10 kb. This means that alleles with very large expansions might go undetected in PCR assays. [0005] To avoid these complications, Southern blot analyses are still used in many cases, particularly where repeat expansions can be many kb in size. However, routine use of Southern blots is extremely laborious and time consuming, and time to result can be two-to-four days, including blot analysis time.

SUMMARY OF SOME OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[0006] Various apparatuses, systems, and methods are described herein. In some embodiments, an electrophoresis cassette may be provided. The electrophoresis cassette may comprise at least one sample well, at least one gel column that contains a separation gel, and a plurality of elution modules arranged next to the at least one gel column. A sample may be provided in the electrophoresis cassette. High-molecular weight DNA may be isolated from the same, and single-copy DNA sequences may be cleaved on both sides of a repeat region of the DNA, thereby producing a cleaved sample. The cleaved sample may be fractionated using gel electrophoresis, and DNA fractions may be isolated from consecutive sections of the separation gel. The DNA fractions may be subjected to PCR assays to detect single-copy sequences within the DNA fraction, said single-copy sequence containing repeat expansion sequences, and the subjected DNA fractions may be electroeluted into the plurality of elution modules. The size of DNA fractions having the repeat expansion sequences may be determined. It may be determined whether the size of the DNA fractions with the repeat expansion sequences is above a normal repeat size range.

[0007] The cleaving may be performed by restriction enzymes, and these enzymes may be configured not to cut within a repeat-containing fragment of DNA. Alternatively and/or additionally, the cleaving may be performed with customizable RNA or DNA directed cleavases, which may comprise Cas9, Cpfl, and NgAgo.

[0008] In some embodiments, liquid electrophoresis buffer may be provided in the plurality of elution modules of the electrophoresis cassette, such that the DNA fractions subjected to PCR assays are electroeluted into the plurality of elution modules are disposed in the electrophoresis buffer. The electrophoresis buffer with the DNA fractions may be added to a PCR reaction, and this may be assayed for single-copy sequence targets within the repeat expansion sequences.

[0009] Changing the conditions of electrophoresis, such as gel concentration, voltage, voltage waveform, buffer composition, and run time, may change the mobility of the DNA fractions. The conditions may be changed to slow DNA fragments over a predetermined length from electrophoresing far into the at least one gel column.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0010] Figure 1A shows expansion of a sequence repeat region, according to some embodiments.

[0011] Figure IB shows insertion of a sequence, according to some embodiments.

[0012] Figure 1C shows inversion of a sequence, according to some embodiments.

[0013] Figures 2A-2B show length of an unexpanded repeat and single copy flanking sequence, according to some embodiments.

[0014] Figure 2C shows length of an expanded repeat and single copy flanking sequence, according to some embodiments.

[0015] Figure 3 shows an exemplary flow diagram, according to some embodiments.

[0016] Figures 4A-4C show the location of a single copy qPCR detection amplicon, according to some embodiments.

[0017] Figure 5A shows a SageELF cassette for DNA size separation followed by electroelution, according to some embodiments.

[0018] Figure 5B shows an exemplary SageELF workflow from separation electrophoresis to fractionation/electroelution, according to some embodiments.

[0019] Figure 6 shows an exemplary SageHLS cassette, according to some embodiments.

[0020] Figures 7A-10B show exemplary workflows, according to various embodiments.

[0021] Figures 11A-11B shows electrophoresis conditions on the SageHLS cassette, according to some embodiments.

[0022] Figure 12 shows an exemplary schematic diagram, according to some embodiments.

[0023] Figures 13A-13B shows graphs of results achieved in Example 1, according to some embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF SOME OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[0024] A procedure is disclosed herein for characterizing repeat expansion mutations that combines the broad size flexibility Southern blotting assays with detection by PCR. For many assay applications, the workflow can be completed in less than one day. [0025] Figure 1A shows genomic DNA before expansion 105, which has a single copy sequence A 110, a chromosomal region containing simple sequence repeat 115, and single copy sequence B 120. The genomic DNA before expansion 105 has length 125. When the chromosomal region containing simple sequence repeat 115 is expanded, a disease condition may result 130. The expanded simple sequence repeat region 130 is surrounded by single copy sequence A 110' on one side and single copy sequence B 120' on the other. The length of the expanded A-B fragment 125' is longer than the length of A-B fragment 125.

[0026] As shown in the drawing, '>' symbolizes a simple sequence repeat unit. For example, this may be G4C2 in the ALS gene, C9orf72. In C9orf72, the threshold for the number of G4C2 repeats associated with disease phenotype is estimated to be somewhere between 30 and 70, although many affected individuals can have repeat expansions as large as tens of kilobases (many thousands of repeat units).

[0027] Figure IB shows insertion of a sequence according to some embodiments. Here, the genomic DNA before insertion 135 has single copy sequence A 140, a chromosomal target site for insertion event 145, and single copy sequence B 150. The A-B fragment has length 155. A sequence is then inserted at the target site 160. After insertion, single copy sequence A 140' is on one side of the inserted sequence 160, and single copy sequence B 150' is on the other side. The resulting length of the A-B fragment 155' after insertion is longer than then length of A-B fragment 155.

[0028] Figure 1C shows inversion of a sequence according to some embodiments. As shown, genomic DNA 165 has single copy sequence A 170 and single copy sequence B 175. Single copy sequence A 170 may be configured between a left end of an inversion breakpoint 180 and a right end of the inversion breakpoint 185. Single copy sequence B 175 may be configured outside of the inversion breakpoints 180, 185. The A-B fragment may have a length 190. A section between the left end of inversion breakpoint 180 and right end of inversion breakpoint 185 may be inverted 195. The resulting genomic DNA 165' may have single copy sequence A 170' and single copy sequence B 175'conifgured such that the length of the A-B fragment after inversion 190' is different from the length of A-B fragment 190. In some embodiments, such as the one shown in Figure 1C, the length of the A-B fragment after inversion 190' may be longer than the length of the A-B fragment before inversion 190. In some embodiments, the length of the A-B fragment after inversion 190' may be shorter than the length of the A-B fragment before inversion 190. [0029] Figure 2A shows genomic DNA 200 having specific cleavage site A 205 and specific cleavage site B 210 before cleavage. A chromosomal region containing a repeat 215 is configured between cleavage site A 205 and cleavage site B 210. The length of the unexpanded repeat and single copy flanking sequence is shown 220. In Figure 2B, the genomic DNA 200 has been cleaved at cleavage site A 205 and cleavage site B 210 such that the cleaved section has length 220. Figure 2C shows the specific cleavage site A 205' and specific cleavage site B 210' with the expanded repeat region 225. The expanded repeat and single copy flanking sequence has length 220'.

[0030] An exemplary embodiment is shown in Figure 3. A sample may be provided 305 and HMW DNA may be isolated from the sample 310. Specific cleavage may be performed at single-copy sequences on both sides of the repeat regions of the HMW DNA 315. The cleaved sample may be fractionated. In some embodiments, the cleaved sample is fractionated using gel electrophoresis. Electrophoretic size selection may be performed using conditions that efficiently resolve genomic fragments that carry unexpanded repeats from fragments that carry the expanded repeats 320. DNA may be isolated from sequential/consecutive sections of the separation gel and/or gel lane 325. DNA fractions may be subjected to PCR 330. The PCR may be assays for amplicon in single-copy sequences within the excised repeat region, flanking the repeat sequences. The size of DNA in elution fractions scoring positive for repeat expansion regions from position within elution fractions may be determined 335, and it may be determined whether any amplicons are detected in genomic fragments greater than the normal repeat size range 340.

[0031] In some embodiments, the basis of the assay is to measure the length of a DNA fragment that is produced by cleaving at unique single-copy DNA sequences on both sides of the repeat expansion region (Figure 1A, Figures 2A-B). Fragments derived from unexpanded repeats will be smaller than fragments derived from expanded repeats. The cleaved sample is size fractionated by gel electrophoresis, and DNA is isolated from consecutive sections of the separation gel, including all gel regions occupied by the sample DNA. The purified DNA fractions are subjected to PCR assays that are designed to detect single-copy sequences within specifically released fragment that contains the repeat expansion sequences (Figures 4A-4C).

[0032] As shown in Figure 4A, genomic DNA 400 is shown with specific cleavage site A 405 and specific cleavage site B 410. A chromosomal region containing repeat 140 is configured between specific cleavage site A 405 and specific cleavage site B 410. Figure 4B shows cleavage at specific cleavage site A 405 and specific cleavage site B 410. Between specific cleavage site A 405 and the chromosomal region containing repeat 415 is a location of single copy qPCR detection amplicon 420. Figure 4C shows the expanded repeat region 425 between specific cleavage site A 405' and specific cleavage site B 410'. The location of single copy qPCR detection amplicon 420' is shown.

[0033] The cleavages discussed throughout the disclosure (including in flanking single-copy sequence (Figures 2A-2C)) can be achieved by restriction enzymes, provided that they do not cut elsewhere within the repeat-containing fragment. These cleavages can also be accomplished with customizable RNA or DNA directed cleavases such as Cas9, Cpfl, or NgAgo.

[0034] In some embodiments, the digested genomic DNA fragments are size-separated and electroeluted in electrophoresis cassettes shown in Figure 5A, Figure 5B, also described in US Patent No. 9,599,590 (which is incorporated herein by reference) or Figure 6, also described in PCT Application No. PCT/US2015/055833 (which is incorporated herein by reference). After size fractionation, the entire DNA content of the separation gel is electroeluted laterally in to a contiguous series of elution modules arranged on one side of the separation gel column. The fractionated DNA is electroeluted into liquid electrophoresis buffer in the elution modules and can be directly added to PCR reactions and assayed for single-copy sequence targets within the excised repeat expansion fragment. Since the size of DNA in each elution fraction is determined by electrophoresis conditions (such as, for example, gel percentage, buffer, run time, voltage), the location of positive PCR signals within the elution fractions can be related directly to the size of the repeat region allele detected.

[0035] In some embodiments, the apparatuses, methods, and systems described in PCT/US2015/055833 are employed to accomplish all pre-PCR steps. Exemplary workflows are illustrated in schematic form in Figures 7A-10B. As described in PCT Application No. PCT/US2015/055833, high molecular weight genomic DNA may be extracted and digested in one integrated workflow with minimal user intervention. Specific cleavage to produce the detectable repeat expansion fragments can be accomplished with DNA restriction enzymes, such as traditional DNA restriction enzymes, (Figures 7A-7E and Figures 8A-8B), or with RNA-directed cleavases such as Streptococcus pyogenes Cas9 (Figures 9A-9E and Figures 10A-10B). Input materials such as purified white blood cells, unfractionated whole blood, and cell suspensions (or nuclei) obtained from dissociated tissue samples, can be used. [0036] As shown in Figure IB and Figure 1C, systems and methods disclosed herein are also useful for detection of insertion and inversion rearrangements. In both cases, the rearrangements change the distance between unique cleavage sites that flank one break point of the rearrangement (i.e., the insertion point, Figure IB, or one break point of the inversion, Figure 1C)

[0037] As described in the Introduction, in some repeat expansion diseases, the expansions can be quite long and highly variable. To address this issue, electrophoresis conditions (including, for example, gel concentration, voltage, voltage waveform, buffer composition, run time) can be tailored so that all DNA molecules greater than a certain length will migrate together as a limiting low mobility fraction. This occurs when the increase in electrophoretic mobility caused by length (that is, increased charge from the phosphate backbone) is cancelled by the decrease in electrophoretic mobility caused by increased drag of the larger molecule. The size of molecules at this limiting low mobility point is a complex function of gel percentage, voltage, and buffer composition. However, for a given buffer and gel concentration, limiting low mobilities for DNA may be adjusted in agarose gels in the range of 1000 bp up to many 10,000s of bp. Figures 11A-11B show electrophoresis conditions on the SageHLS cassette (as described in PCT/US2015/055833) where a limiting low mobility band beginning at 10,000 bp can be eluted in elution module number 2.

[0038] In some embodiments, electrophoresis conditions for a specific repeat expansion locus may be tailored so that unexpanded repeat fragments are eluted near the bottom of the gel column, moderately expanded repeat fragments will be resolved in fractions above the unexpanded fractions in the middle range of the elution fractions, and fragments with extremely large expansions will elute in the limiting low mobility compression band near the top of the gel column (Figures 8A-8B and Figures 10A-10B).

[0039] Example 1. Demonstration of SageHLS workflow for integrated extraction, Cas9 digestion, electroelution, and qPCR assay for a specific chromosomal locus

[0040] This example illustrates use of SageHLS to purify high molecular weight genomic DNA from an input cell samples, selectively excise the a specific 198 kb genomic DNA fragment from the BRCA1 locus using Cas9 cleavases, and finally, size-select and elute the BRCA1 -containing fragment in one integrated workflow. The HLS elution fractions were then assayed for BRCA1 fragment by pPCR.

[0041] Buffer definitions: Electrophoresis Buffer, also known as 0.5xKBB (51 niM Tris (base), 29 mM TAPS (acid), 0.1 mM EDTA (acid), pH 8.7)

FSE Buffer: 15% w/v Ficoll 400, 0.25xKBB buffer, 80 mg/mL sucrose, 10 mM EDTA

ERB Buffer: 0.5xKBB with addition of 32 mg/ml beta-cyclodextrin, 10 mM MgCh, 50 μg/ml BSA

HLS Lysis Buffer: lxKBB, 2% glycerol, 3% SDS, 2.5 μg/ml bromophenol blue, 2.5 μg/ml phenol red

[0042] Human cultured cells (Raji cell line) were washed several times by low speed centrifugation and resuspension in phosphate buffered saline. After the final wash, the cells were resuspended in FSE buffer at a concentration of 1.5X10 ⁶ cells per 70 microliters. Two 70 microliter samples of the resuspended cells in FSE were loaded into each of two sample wells of a SageHLS cassette (0.75% agarose). The reagent wells of both lanes were emptied and refilled with HLS Lysis buffer (approximately 230 microliters) and electrophoresis was carried out at 30 °C, 55 V, for 1 hour.

[0043] After the purification electrophoresis, the sample wells and reagent wells were emptied. The reagent wells were refilled with ERB buffer (without enzyme). In one of the two lanes, the sample wells were refilled with 80 ul of ERB containing 1 micromolar wt S. pyogenes Cas9 enzyme (New England Biolabs) that had been assembled with a equimolar mixture of 5 two part guide RNAs, each at 5 micromolar concentration. In the other lane, ERB without enzyme was loaded in the sample well as a mock digestion control. The sample well heater of the HLS instrument was adjusted to 37 °C, and the Cas9 mixture was electrophoresed into the gel at 55V for 1 minute. After the 1 minute electrophoresis, the sample well was emptied and refilled with ERB buffer without enzyme. The cassette was incubated without electrophoresis for 30 minutes, with the sample well at 37 °C, to allow Cas9 digestion of the purified DNA.

[0044] After digestion, the reagent wells were emptied and refilled with HLS lysis buffer, and size separation electrophoresis was carried out using a 4 hour pulsed field program designed to move the 200 kb BRCAl digestion product to elution module 3 (Stage 3 program for HLS- CATCH 100-400 kb, SageHLS User Manual, Sage Science, Inc.). After size separation, electroelution was carried out using a continuous field voltage of 50 V for 1.5 hours.

[0045] Two-part guide RNAs were ordered from IDT (ALT-R™ crRNA and tracRNA). The gRNAs were chosen to excise a 198 kb fragment that includes the entire BRCAl locus with ample flanking sequence on 5' and 3' sides (see Figure 12). Three crRNAs were designed for the right side of the gene ~ BRCAlgR67:GCTTATTACATTCTCGGCCA; BRCAlgR68: CTTATTACATTCTCGGCCAT; and BRCAlgR69: ATTACATTCTCGGCCATGGG. Two crRNAs were designed for the left side of the gene ~ BRCAlgLLl: CCTCTGGGAGCCACAGGCCA; and BRCAlgLL3: GCCATGACAACAACCCAGAC (Figure 12). The crRNAs and tracRNA (IDT) were dissolved in IDT duplexing buffer and annealed by incubating a mixture containing 50 micromolar tracRNA and 10 micromolar of each of the 5 crRNAs (total 50 micromolar in crRNAs) for 5 minutes at 95 °C and 15 minutes of cooling at ambient lab temperature on the benchtop. Annealed gRNA and Cas9 enzyme were assembled by assembling the final reaction mixture in ERB buffer (see above) and incubating the mix at 37 °C for 10 minutes prior to addition to the HLS cassette.

[0046] After elution, eluted products were diluted 1 : 10 in 10 mM Tris-HCl, 1 mM EDTA, pH 8.0, and assayed by Taqman qPCR for BRCA1 gene DNA, using the RNaseP RNA gene as a reference locus for the non-target DNA. (ABI/Life Technologies part numbers : #4400291 - BRCA1 copy number assay (Hs00300666-cn amplicon, small); #4403326 - RNaseP copy number reference assay; #4371355 - Taqman GT Master Mix; qPCR instrument; ABI QuantStudio 3). The results in Figures 13A-13B show recovery of 1.5xl0 ⁶ copies of the BRCA1 fragment were recovered in fraction 3 of the Cas9-digested cassette lane, but only background signals were seen in the mock-digested cassette lane.

[0047] Example 2. Demonstration of gel compression useful for detection of high molecular structural variants.

[0048] Samples of DNA markers (1 kb Extend marker, New England Biolabs) was loaded into sample well of two lanes of a SageHLS cassette. The DNA was separated and electroeluted in using the following electrophoresis conditions : 0.75% agarose, 50 mM Tris, 29 mM TAPS, 0.1 mM EDTA, pH 8.7, 55 V continuous field (DC), 50 minutes, gel temperature 30 °C. Electroeluted fractions from all elution wells were analyzed on an analytical agarose slab gel (Figures 11A-11B). Evidence of electrophoretic mobility compression in the HLS separation run is seen in Fraction #2 (that is, fragments 10-48.5 kb comi grate and are found together in fraction #2, and no DNA is found in Fraction #1). Therefore, due to the compression phenomenon, under these conditions, all DNA greater than 10 kb will be found in fraction #2. Fractions #5 and #6 contain fragments ranging from 1-2 kb.

References La Spada A.R. and Taylor, J.P., Repeat expansion disease: progress and puzzles in disease pathogenesis. Nature Reviews Genetics 11 :247-258.

Nolin S.L., et al, Expansion of the Fragile X CGG Repeat in Females with Premutation or Intermediate Alleles. Am. J. Hum. Genet. 72:454-464, 2003.

6-50 unaffected 18-150 bp

60-200 "premutation' 180-600 bp

Full mutation >200 >600 bp

Suh, E.R., et al, Semi-automated quantification of C9orf72 expansion size reveals inverse correlation between hexanucleotide repeat number and disease duration in frontotemporal degeneration. Acta Neuropathol 130(3): 363-372, 2015.

Unaffected 2-8 (12-48bp) affected 300-3800 (1800-22800bp)

[0049] Any and all references to publications or other documents, including but not limited to, patents, patent applications, articles, webpages, books, etc., presented in the present application, are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.

[0050] Example embodiments of the devices, systems and methods have been described herein. As noted elsewhere, these embodiments have been described for illustrative purposes only and are not limiting. Other embodiments are possible and are covered by the disclosure, which will be apparent from the teachings contained herein. Thus, the breadth and scope of the disclosure should not be limited by any of the above-described embodiments but should be defined only in accordance with claims supported by the present disclosure and their equivalents. Moreover, embodiments of the subject disclosure may include methods, systems and devices which may further include any and all elements from any other disclosed methods, systems, and devices, including any and all elements corresponding to molecular processing. In other words, elements from one or another disclosed embodiments may be interchangeable with elements from other disclosed embodiments. In addition, one or more features/elements of disclosed embodiments may be removed and still result in patentable subject matter (and thus, resulting in yet more embodiments of the subject disclosure). Correspondingly, some embodiments of the present disclosure may be patentably distinct from one and/or another reference/prior art by specifically lacking one or more elements/features of a system, device and/or method disclosed in such prior art. In other words, claims to certain embodiments may contain negative limitation to specifically exclude one or more elements/features resulting in embodiments which are patentably distinct from the prior art which include such features/elements.