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Les éléments transposables (TE) sont des séquences répétitives représentant environ 45% des génomes humain et murin. Il est généralement assumé que leur expression est réprimée dans les cellules somatiques pour protéger l’intégrité du génome, et cette régulation épigénétique est fréquemment perdue dans les cancers, menant à la surexpression des TEs dans les tumeurs. Puisque l’expression aberrante des TEs est associée à l’infiltration de la tumeur par les cellules immunitaires, les TEs sont considérés comme des cibles prometteuses d’immunothérapies du cancer. Une meilleure description de l’expression des TEs dans les tissus somatiques ainsi que dans le thymus, l’organe responsable du développement de la tolérance au soi des lymphocytes T, est toutefois nécessaire pour évaluer la capacité des TEs d’induire des réponses immunitaires et déterminer si l’expression des TEs est belle et bien spécifique aux tumeurs. L’objectif de cette thèse est donc de brosser un portrait exhaustif de l’expression des TEs dans les tissus somatiques humains ainsi que dans le thymus. Pour ce faire, des données transcriptomiques et immunopeptidomiques ont été analysées pour mieux comprendre les interactions entre les TEs et les lymphocytes T à l’état basal. Nos résultats ont montré que l’expression des TEs est répandue dans les tissus somatiques humains, bien que leur niveau d’expression varie d’un tissu à l’autre et que plusieurs TEs sont exprimés de façon tissu-spécifique. De plus, les TEs peuvent être traduits et présentés par le CMH-I à la surface de cellules non-cancéreuses. Nous avons aussi déterminé que les TEs ont trois fonctions potentielles dans le thymus : ils pourraient fournir des sites de liaison à un grand nombre de facteurs de transcription dans toutes les populations cellulaires du thymus, ils stimuleraient la sécrétion d’IFN ɑ/β par les pDCs thymiques, et ils contribuent aux sélections positive et négative des thymocytes. Nos travaux illustrent la complexité des interactions entre les TEs et le système immunitaire adaptatif. Finalement, étant donnée l’expression répandue des TEs dans les tissus somatiques, nos travaux soulignent l’importance d’établir la tolérance des lymphocytes T à l’égard des TEs pour éviter des réactions auto-immunes. / Transposable elements are repetitive sequences representing around 45% of the human and murine genomes. It is generally assumed that their expression is repressed in somatic cells to preserve genomic integrity, but this epigenetic regulation is frequently lost in cancer cells, leading to the aberrant expression of TEs in tumors. As aberrant TE expression is associated with tumor infiltration by immune cells, TEs are considered as promising cancer immunotherapy targets. However, a better description of TE expression in somatic tissues and in the thymus, the organ responsible of T cell self-tolerance induction, is required to evaluate the potential of TEs to induce immune responses as well as the tumor specificity of TE expression. Thus, this thesis’ objective is to draw an exhaustive profile of TE expression in human somatic tissues and in the thymus. To do so, we analyzed transcriptomic and immunopeptidomic data to better understand interactions between TEs and T cells at steady state. Our work shows that TE expression is widespread in human somatic tissues, even though their expression level varies between tissues and many TEs are expressed in a tissue-specific manner. Additionally, TEs are translated and presented by the MHC-I on the surface of non-malignant cells. We also determined that TEs have three potential functions in the thymus: they could provide transcription factor binding sites in all cell populations of the thymus, they might induce the constitutive IFN ɑ/β secretion of thymic pDCs, and they contribute to both positive and negative selections of thymocytes. Altogether, our work illustrates the complexity of the interactions between TEs and the vertebrate adaptive immune system. Given the widespread expression of TEs in somatic tissues, this thesis highlights the importance of establishing T cell tolerance towards TE sequences to avoid autoimmune reactions in peripheral tissues.

Cis-regulatory changes in e.g. promoters or enhancers that affect the expression of a linked focal gene have long been thought to be important for adaptation. In this thesis, I investigate the selective importance and genomic correlates of cis-regulatory variation and divergence in the genus Capsella, using massively parallel sequencing data. This genus provides an opportunity to investigate cis-regulatory changes in response to polyploidization and mating system shifts, as it harbors three diploid species, the outcrosser Capsella grandiflora and the selfers Capsella orientalis and Capsella rubella, as well as the tetraploid Capsella bursa-pastoris. We first identify cis-regulatory changes associated with adaptive floral evolution in connection with the recent switch to self-fertilization in C. rubella and show that cis-regulatory changes between C. rubella and its outcrossing close relative C. grandiflora are associated with differences in transposable element content. Second, we show that variation in positive and purifying selection is important for the distribution of cis-regulatory variation across the genome of C. grandiflora. Interestingly, the presence of polymorphic transposable elements is strongly associated with cis-regulatory variation in C. grandiflora. Third, we show that the tetraploid C. bursa-pastoris is of hybrid origin and investigate the contribution of both parental species to gene expression. We show that gene expression in the tetraploid is partly explained by cis-regulatory divergence between the parental species. Nonetheless, within C. bursa-pastoris there is a great deal of variation in homeolog expression. In summary, this thesis explores the role of cis-regulatory changes for adaptive morphological changes in connection to a shift in mating system, the role of cis-regulatory divergence between progenitor species for an allopolyploid as well as the impact of positive and purifying selection on cis-regulatory variation within a species.

La méthylation de l’ADN et les modifications post-traductionnelles des histones sont desmodifications épigénétiques qui interviennent dans la régulation des éléments transposables(ET) chez de nombreuses espèces. La proportion des ET dans les génomes varie selon lesespèces considérées et pose la question des mécanismes de régulation de ces ET. Au sein del’espèce Drosophila simulans, les populations naturelles présentent un polymorphisme uniquedans le nombre de copies des ET, ce qui en fait un excellent modèle pour étudier cettequestion. L’étude de la méthylation d’ADN et des modifications post-traductionnelles deshistones associées au rétrotransposon à LTR tirant dans la lignée germinale des populationsnaturelles a permis de montrer l’influence d’une copie d’ET sur la structure de la chromatineau site d’insertion. Dans un second volet, nous avons cherché à caractériser la méthylation del’ADN chez la drosophile, chez laquelle la fonction est encore mal connue. Nous avons, pardes approches spécifiques et globales, mesuré l’abondance de cette marque épigénétique chezla drosophile. Nous concluons que les taux de méthylation de l’ADN sont très faibles maisvariables entre espèces. Notre travail n’a pas permis de mettre en évidence un rôle de laméthylation de l’ADN dans le contrôle des ET, toutefois, nous ne pouvons pas exclure cesystème de régulation. / Epigenetic modifications such as DNA methylation and post-translational histonemodifications are involved in transposable elements (TE) silencing in many species. Theirrelative abundance in genomes ask the question of differences in regulation mecanismbetween species. Within the Drosophila simulans species, natural populations exibits a uniquepolymorphism in TE copy number, providing a powerfull tool for the analysis of TEregulation in population from the same specie. We analyzed DNA methylation and posttranslationalhistone modifications associated with the LTR retrotransposon tirant in thegermline of natural populations and report the influence of this element on chromatinestructure. DNA methylation is a wide-conserved epigenetic modification involved in generegulation and TE silencing but its function in drosophila remains missunderstood. Usingdifferent methods, we determined the abundance of methylated cytosines in drosophila, andshowed that methylation level are low and variable between species. Our results show lowevidence for a TE regulation system involving DNA methylation but this cannot be so farexcluded.

Salmonids are a diverse group of fishes whose common ancestor experienced an evolutionarily important whole genome duplication (WGD) event approximately 90 MYA. This event has shaped the evolutionary trajectory of salmonids, and may have contributed to a proliferation of the repeated DNA sequences known as transposable elements (TEs). In this work I characterized repeated DNA in five salmonid genomes. I found that over half of the DNA within each of these genomes was derived from repeats, a value which is amongst the highest of all vertebrates. I investigated repeats of the most abundant TE superfamily, Tc1-Mariner, and found that large proliferative bursts of this element occurred shortly after the WGD and continued during salmonid speciation, where they have produced dramatic differences in TE content among extant salmonid lineages. This work provides important resources for future studies of salmonids, and advances the understanding of two important evolutionary forces: TEs and WGDs. / Graduate / 2019-04-19

Ray-finned fishes (Actinopterygii) exhibit the greatest biodiversity among vertebrates. The vast majority of extant actinopterygian fish species belong to clade Teleostei - a lineage whose significant evolutionary success might have resulted from a teleost specific whole- genome duplication (TSGD) that occurred at the onset of this group, subsequent to its divergence from the rest of actinopterygian lineages. Despite the growing body of sequenced fish genomes and analyses of their transcriptomes, the largest contribution to understanding fish genomes comes from analyses of DNA content and from cytogenetics. Genomes of ray-finned fishes and especially those of Teleostei exhibit vast diversity and rapid dynamics of repetitive DNA sequences whose variability is reflected in a wide range of fish genome sizes and in the dynamics behind karyotype differentiation. Therefore, ray-finned fishes offer a unique opportunity to study genome variability as a driving force underlying morphological and ecological diversification, evolution and adaptation. Particularly, the mapping of repetitive DNA sequences by means of fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) has proven to be a very useful and informative approach during the last two decades and contributed greatly to our understanding of the fish genome...

Small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), microRNAs (miRNAs), and piRNAs (piRNA) are conserved classes of small single-stranded ~21-30 nucleotide (nt) RNA guides that repress eukaryotic gene expression using distinct RNA Induced Silencing Complexes (RISCs). At its core, RISC is composed of a single-stranded small RNA guide bound to a member of the Argonaute protein family, which together bind and repress complementary target RNA. miRNAs target protein coding mRNAs—a function essential for normal development and broadly involved in pathways of human disease; small interfering RNAs (siRNA) defend against viruses, but can also be engineered to direct experimental or therapeutic gene silencing; piwi associated RNAs (piRNAs) protect germline genomes from expansion of parasitic nucleic acids such as transposons. Using the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, as a model organism we seek to understand how small silencing RNAs are made and how they function. In Drosophila, miRNAs and siRNAs are proposed to have parallel, but separate biogenesis and effector machinery. miRNA duplexes are excised from imperfectly paired hairpin precursors by Dicer1 and loaded into Ago1; siRNA duplexes are hewn from perfectly paired long dsRNA by Dicer2 and loaded into Ago2. Contrary to this model we found one miRNA, miR-277, is made by Dicer1, but partitions between Ago1 and Ago2 RISCs. These two RISCs are functionally distinct—Ago2 could silence a perfectly paired target, but not a centrally bulged target; Ago1 could silence a bulged target, but not a perfect target. This was surprising since both Ago1 and Ago2 have endonucleolytic cleavage activity necessary for perfect target cleavage in vitro. Our detailed kinetic studies suggested why—Ago2 is a robust multiple turnover enzyme, but Ago1 is not. Along with a complementary in vitro study our data supports a duplex sorting mechanism in which Diced duplexes are released, and rebind to Ago1 or Ago2 loading machinery, regardless of which Dicer produced them. This allows structural information embedded in small RNA duplexes to direct small RNA loading into Ago1 and/or Ago2, resulting in distinct regulatory outputs. Small RNA sorting also has chemical consequences for the small RNA guide. Although siRNAs were presumed to have the signature 2′, 3′ hydroxyl ends left by Dicer, we found that small RNAs loaded into Ago2 or Piwi proteins, but not Ago1, are modified at their 3´ ends by the RNA 2´-O-methyltransferase DmHen1. In plants Hen1 modifies the 3´ ends all small RNAs duplexs, protecting and stabilizing them. Implying a similar function in flies, piRNAs are smaller, less abundant, and their function is perturbed in hen1 mutants. But unlike plants, small RNAs are modified as single-strands in RISC rather than as duplexes. This nicely explains why the dsRNA binding domain in plant Hen1 was discarded in animals, and why both dsRNA derived siRNAs and ssRNA derived piRNAs are modified. The recent discovery that both piRNAs and siRNAs target transposons links terminal modification and transposon silencing, suggesting that it is specialized for this purpose.

Transposon silencing is required to maintain genome stability. The non-coding piRNAs effectively suppress of transposon activity during germline development. In the Drosophila female germline, long precursors of piRNAs are transcribed from discrete heterochromatic clusters and then processed into primary piRNAs in the perinuclear nuage. However, the detailed mechanism of piRNA biogenesis, specifically how the nuclear and cytoplasmic processes are connected, is not well understood. The nuclear DEAD box protein UAP56 has been previously implicated in protein-coding gene transcript splicing and export. I have identified a novel function of UAP56 in piRNA biogenesis. In Drosophila egg chambers, UAP56 co-localizes with the cluster-associated HP1 variant Rhino. Nuage is a germline-specific perinuclear structure rich in piRNA biogenesis proteins, including Vasa, a DEAD box with an established role in piRNA production. Vasa-containing nuage granules localize directly across the nuclear envelope from cluster foci containing UAP56 and Rhino, and cluster transcripts immunoprecipitate with both Vasa and UAP56. Significantly, a charge-substitution mutation that alters a conserved surface residue in UAP56 disrupts co-localization with Rhino, germline piRNA production, transposon silencing, and perinuclear localization of Vasa. I therefore propose that UAP56 and Vasa function in a piRNA-processing compartment that spans the nuclear envelope.

PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNA) are a group of 23–35 nucleotide (nt) short RNAs that protect animal gonads from transposon activities. In Drosophila germ line, piRNAs can be categorized into two different categories— primary and secondary piRNAs— based on their origins. Primary piRNAs, generated from transcripts of specific genomic regions called piRNA clusters, which are enriched in transposon fragments that are unlikely to retain transposition activity. The transcription and maturation of primary piRNAs from those cluster transcripts are poorly understood. After being produced, a group of primary piRNAs associates Piwi proteins and directs them to repress transposons at the transcriptional level in the nucleus. Other than their direct role in repressing transposons, primary piRNAs can also initiate the production of secondary piRNA. piRNAs with such function are loaded in a second PIWI protein named Aubergine (Aub). Similar to Piwi, Aub is guided by piRNAs to identify its targets through base-pairing. Differently, Aub functions in the cytoplasm by cleaving transposon mRNAs. The 5' cleavage products are not degraded but loaded into the third PIWI protein Argonaute3 (Ago3). It is believed that an unidentified nuclease trims the 3' ends of those cleavage products to 23–29 nt, becoming mature piRNAs remained in Ago3. Such piRNAs whose 5' ends are generated by another PIWI protein are named secondary piRNAs. Intriguingly, secondary piRNAs loaded into Ago3 also cleave transposon mRNA or piRNA cluster transcripts and produce more secondary piRNAs loaded into Aub. This reciprocal feed-forward loop, named the “Ping-Pong cycle”, amplified piRNA abundance. By dissecting and analyzing data from large-scale deep sequencing of piRNAs and transposon transcripts, my dissertation research elucidates the biogenesis of germline piRNAs in Drosophila. How primary piRNAs are processed into mature piRNAs remains enigmatic. I discover that primary piRNA signal on the genome display a fixed periodicity of ~26 nt. Such phasing depends on Zucchini, Armitage and some other primary piRNA pathway components. Further analysis suggests that secondary piRNAs bound to Ago3 can initiate phased primary piRNA production from cleaved transposon RNAs. The first ~26 nt becomes a secondary piRNA that bind Aub while the subsequent piRNAs bind Piwi, allowing piRNAs to spread beyond the site of RNA cleavage. This discovery adds sequence diversity to the piRNA pool, allowing adaptation to changes in transposon sequence. We further find that most Piwi-associated piRNAs are generated from the cleavage products of Ago3, instead of being processed from piRNA cluster transcripts as the previous model suggests. The cardinal function of Ago3 is to produce antisense piRNAs that direct transcriptional silencing by Piwi, rather to make piRNAs that guide post-transcriptional silencing by Aub. Although Ago3 slicing is required to efficiently trigger phased piRNA production, an alternative, slicing-independent pathway suffices to generate Piwi-bound piRNAs that repress transcription of a subset of transposon families. The alternative pathway may help flies silence newly acquired transposons for which they lack extensively complementary piRNAs. The Ping-Pong model depicts that first ten nucleotides of Aub-bound piRNAs are complementary to the first ten nt of Ago3-bound piRNAs. Supporting this view, piRNAs bound to Aub typically begin with Uridine (1U), while piRNAs bound to Ago3 often have adenine at position 10 (10A). Furthermore, the majority of Ping-Pong piRNAs form this 1U:10A pair. The Ping-Pong model proposes that the 10A is a consequence of 1U. By statistically quantifying those target piRNAs not paired to g1U, we discover that 10A is not directly caused by 1U. Instead, fly Aub as well as its homologs, Siwi in silkmoth and MILI in mice, have an intrinsic preference for adenine at the t1 position of their target RNAs. On the other hand, this t1A (and g10A after loading) piRNA directly give rise to 1U piRNA in the next Ping-Pong cycle, maximizing the affinity between piRNAs and PIWI proteins.

Präeklampsie (PE) ist eine Komplikation, die während der Schwangerschaft auftritt, fast 2-8% aller Schwangerschaften betrifft und human spezifisch ist. PE ist eine der Hauptursachen für den Tod von Mutter und Kind. Eine abnormale Plazentaentwicklung aufgrund einer verminderten Trophoblasteninvasion und einem gestörten Umbau der Spiralarterien trägt zur Pathogenese der PE bei. Klinisch wird die PE durch Bluthochdruck und Proteinurie, auftretendnach der 20. Schwangerschaftswoche, diagnostiziert und kann durch eine Funktionsstörung von Organen begleitet werden. Bei besonders schweren Verläufen ist die frühzeitige Endbindung die letzte Möglichkeit das Überleben der Mutter zu gewährleisten. Das Ziel dieser Studie ist es, weitere Gene zu identifizieren, die durch ERVs in der menschlichen Plazenta spezifisch reguliert werden und in PE dysreguliert sind. Um dieses Ziel zu erreichen, wurde das Transkriptom von primären menschlichen Trophoblastenzellen von 5 gesunden und 5 früh einsetzenden PE-Plazenten mittels RNA-Sequenzierung analysiert. Es wurden 335 Gene identifiziert, welche eine höhere Expression in den Trophoblastenzellen im Vergleich zu anderen Geweben aufwiesen. Zusätzlich zeigten einige der Gene (n=88) eine Co-Regulation der Expression durch retrovirale LTRs (10-kb 5‘ des transcription start side (TSS) des Gens). Hauptinteresse lag hierbei auf den Genen, welche ebenfalls eine Dysregulation in der PE aufwiesen (n = 16). Diese Studie identifizierte EPS8L1, das durch primaten-spezifisches ERV-LTR (MLT1G1) in Trophoblastenzellen reguliert wird, als einen wichtigen Faktor in der Entwicklung der menschlichen Plazenta. EPS8L1 ist in der PE Plazenta dysreguliert und involviert in mehrere Signalwege und die Funktionalität von Trophoblasten wie Invasion, Angiogenese und Redoxhomöostase. Hierdurch führt diese Arbeit zu einem besseren Verständnis der PE und deren human-spezifischer Natur. / Preeclampsia (PE) is a complication that occurs during pregnancy and affects almost 2-8% of all pregnancies and is often regarded as a human-specific disorder.1,2 PE is one of the major causes of maternal and fetal death.1 Failure of the trophoblast cells to invade into the maternal decidua results in the improper remodeling of spiral arteries leading to PE pathogenesis. Clinically, it is diagnosed as a maternal syndrome, diagnosed by the new-onset of hypertension and proteinuria or other end-organ dysfunction after the 20th week of pregnancy. So far, the only effective treatment of the disorder is the removal of the placenta tissue and delivery of the infant. The aim of this study is to identify additional genes that are regulated by the human ERV-LTRs in the human placenta specifically, and are dysregulated in PE. To achieve this aim, the transcriptome of primary human trophoblast cells of 5 healthy and 5 early-onset PE placentas were analyzed by RNA sequencing (RNA-seq). RNA-seq analysis identified genes (n=335) with stronger expression in the trophoblast cells as compared to other human body tissues. Additionally, some of the genes (n=88) showed co-regulation of expression by the human ERV-LTRs in their vicinity (10-kb upstream of transcription start side (TSS) of the gene). Since my interest was to identify the new targets of PE pathogenesis, so I focused on genes (n=16) with dysregulated expression in women presented with PE. This study identified a new gene EPS8L1, regulated by primate-specific ERV-LTR in trophoblast cells that has a predominant role in the human placenta development and demonstrated that its dysregulation affected multiple pathways involved in trophoblast function like invasion, angiogenesis and maintenance of cell redox homeostasis. Furthermore, this study leads to the better understanding of the disease by explaining certain aspects of human-specific nature of PE.