AUTHOR=Ipe Joseph, Collins Kimberly S., Hao Yangyang, Gao Hongyu, Bhatia Puja, Gaedigk Andrea, Liu Yunlong, Skaar Todd C. TITLE=PASSPORT-seq: A Novel High-Throughput Bioassay to Functionally Test Polymorphisms in Micro-RNA Target Sites JOURNAL=Frontiers in Genetics VOLUME=9 YEAR=2018 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgene.2018.00219 DOI=10.3389/fgene.2018.00219 ISSN=1664-8021 ABSTRACT=Next-generation sequencing (NGS) studies have identified large numbers of genetic variants that are predicted to alter miRNA–mRNA interactions. We developed a novel high-throughput bioassay, PASSPORT-seq, that can functionally test in parallel 100s of these variants in miRNA binding sites (mirSNPs). The results are highly reproducible across both technical and biological replicates. The utility of the bioassay was demonstrated by testing 100 mirSNPs in HEK293, HepG2, and HeLa cells. The results of several of the variants were validated in all three cell lines using traditional individual luciferase assays. Fifty-five mirSNPs were functional in at least one of three cell lines (FDR ≤ 0.05); 11, 36, and 27 of them were functional in HEK293, HepG2, and HeLa cells, respectively. Only four of the variants were functional in all three cell lines, which demonstrates the cell-type specific effects of mirSNPs and the importance of testing the mirSNPs in multiple cell lines. Using PASSPORT-seq, we functionally tested 111 variants in the 3′ UTR of 17 pharmacogenes that are predicted to alter miRNA regulation. Thirty-three of the variants tested were functional in at least one cell line.