Reverse Chemical Genetics: Comprehensive Fitness Profiling Reveals the Spectrum of Drug Target Interactions

Lai H Wong, Sunita Sinha, Julien R Bergeron, Joseph C Mellor, Guri Giaever, Patrick Flaherty, Corey Nislow

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

12 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The emergence and prevalence of drug resistance demands streamlined strategies to identify drug resistant variants in a fast, systematic and cost-effective way. Methods commonly used to understand and predict drug resistance rely on limited clinical studies from patients who are refractory to drugs or on laborious evolution experiments with poor coverage of the gene variants. Here, we report an integrative functional variomics methodology combining deep sequencing and a Bayesian statistical model to provide a comprehensive list of drug resistance alleles from complex variant populations. Dihydrofolate reductase, the target of methotrexate chemotherapy drug, was used as a model to identify functional mutant alleles correlated with methotrexate resistance. This systematic approach identified previously reported resistance mutations, as well as novel point mutations that were validated in vivo. Use of this systematic strategy as a routine diagnostics tool widens the scope of successful drug research and development.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)e1006275
JournalPLoS Genetics
Volume12
Issue number9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sept 2016

Keywords

  • Alleles
  • Bayes Theorem
  • Drug Resistance, Neoplasm/genetics
  • Folic Acid Antagonists/therapeutic use
  • Humans
  • Methotrexate/therapeutic use
  • Mutation
  • Neoplasms/drug therapy
  • Tetrahydrofolate Dehydrogenase/genetics

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