Genome-wide association scan identifies a colorectal cancer susceptibility locus on chromosome 8q24

Using a multistage genetic association approach comprising 7,480 affected individuals and 7,779 controls, we identified markers in chromosomal region 8q24 associated with colorectal cancer. In stage 1, we genotyped 99,632 SNPs in 1,257 affected individuals and 1,336 controls from Ontario. In stages 2-4, we performed serial replication studies using 4,024 affected individuals and 4,042 controls from Seattle, Newfoundland and Scotland. We identified one locus on chromosome 8q24 and another on 9p24 having combined odds ratios (OR) for stages 1-4 of 1.18 (trend; P = 1.41 x 10(-8)) and 1.14 (trend; P = 1.32 x 10(-5)), respectively. Additional analyses in 2,199 affected individuals and 2,401 controls from France and Europe supported the association at the 8q24 locus (OR = 1.16, trend; 95% confidence interval (c.i.): 1.07-1.26; P = 5.05 x 10(-4)). A summary across all seven studies at the 8q24 locus was highly significant (OR = 1.17, c.i.: 1.12-1.23; P = 3.16 x 10(-11)). This locus has also been implicated in prostate cancer.     

Homozygous mutation of AURKC yields large-headed polyploid spermatozoa and causes male infertility

The World Health Organization conservatively estimates that 80 million people suffer from infertility worldwide. Male factors are believed to be responsible for 20-50% of all infertility cases, but microdeletions of the Y chromosome are the only genetic defects altering human spermatogenesis that have been reported repeatedly. We focused our work on infertile men with a normal somatic karyotype but typical spermatozoa mainly characterized by large heads, a variable number of tails and an increased chromosomal content (OMIM 243060). We performed a genome-wide microsatellite scan on ten infertile men presenting this characteristic phenotype. In all of these men, we identified a common region of homozygosity harboring the aurora kinase C gene (AURKC) with a single nucleotide deletion in the AURKC coding sequence. In addition, we show that this founder mutation results in premature termination of translation, yielding a truncated protein that lacks the kinase domain. We conclude that the absence of AURKC causes male infertility owing to the production of large-headed multiflagellar polyploid spermatozoa.     

Lipid packing sensed by ArfGAP1 couples COPI coat disassembly to membrane bilayer curvature

Protein coats deform flat lipid membranes into buds and capture membrane proteins to form transport vesicles. The assembly/disassembly cycle of the COPI coat on Golgi membranes is coupled to the GTP/GDP cycle of the small G protein Arf1. At the heart of this coupling is the specific interaction of membrane-bound Arf1-GTP with coatomer, a complex of seven proteins that forms the building unit of the COPI coat. Although COPI coat disassembly requires the catalysis of GTP hydrolysis in Arf1 by a specific GTPase-activating protein (ArfGAP1), the precise timing of this reaction during COPI vesicle formation is not known. Using time-resolved assays for COPI dynamics on liposomes of controlled size, we show that the rate of ArfGAP1-catalysed GTP hydrolysis in Arf1 and the rate of COPI disassembly increase over two orders of magnitude as the curvature of the lipid bilayer increases and approaches that of a typical transport vesicle. This leads to a model for COPI dynamics in which GTP hydrolysis in Arf1 is organized temporally and spatially according to the changes in lipid packing induced by the coat.