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Kim N, Ma J, Kim W, Kim J, Belenky P, Lee I. Genome-resolved metagenomics: a game changer for microbiome medicine. Exp Mol Med 2024:10.1038/s12276-024-01262-7. [PMID: 38945961 DOI: 10.1038/s12276-024-01262-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2023] [Revised: 03/06/2024] [Accepted: 03/25/2024] [Indexed: 07/02/2024] Open
Abstract
Recent substantial evidence implicating commensal bacteria in human diseases has given rise to a new domain in biomedical research: microbiome medicine. This emerging field aims to understand and leverage the human microbiota and derivative molecules for disease prevention and treatment. Despite the complex and hierarchical organization of this ecosystem, most research over the years has relied on 16S amplicon sequencing, a legacy of bacterial phylogeny and taxonomy. Although advanced sequencing technologies have enabled cost-effective analysis of entire microbiota, translating the relatively short nucleotide information into the functional and taxonomic organization of the microbiome has posed challenges until recently. In the last decade, genome-resolved metagenomics, which aims to reconstruct microbial genomes directly from whole-metagenome sequencing data, has made significant strides and continues to unveil the mysteries of various human-associated microbial communities. There has been a rapid increase in the volume of whole metagenome sequencing data and in the compilation of novel metagenome-assembled genomes and protein sequences in public depositories. This review provides an overview of the capabilities and methods of genome-resolved metagenomics for studying the human microbiome, with a focus on investigating the prokaryotic microbiota of the human gut. Just as decoding the human genome and its variations marked the beginning of the genomic medicine era, unraveling the genomes of commensal microbes and their sequence variations is ushering us into the era of microbiome medicine. Genome-resolved metagenomics stands as a pivotal tool in this transition and can accelerate our journey toward achieving these scientific and medical milestones.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nayeon Kim
- Department of Biotechnology, College of Life Science and Biotechnology, Yonsei University, Seoul, 03722, Republic of Korea
| | - Junyeong Ma
- Department of Biotechnology, College of Life Science and Biotechnology, Yonsei University, Seoul, 03722, Republic of Korea
| | - Wonjong Kim
- Department of Biotechnology, College of Life Science and Biotechnology, Yonsei University, Seoul, 03722, Republic of Korea
| | - Jungyeon Kim
- Department of Biotechnology, College of Life Science and Biotechnology, Yonsei University, Seoul, 03722, Republic of Korea
| | - Peter Belenky
- Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Brown University, Providence, RI, 02912, USA.
| | - Insuk Lee
- Department of Biotechnology, College of Life Science and Biotechnology, Yonsei University, Seoul, 03722, Republic of Korea.
- POSTECH Biotech Center, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang, 37673, Republic of Korea.
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Liu M, Xu N, Chen B, Zhang Z, Chen X, Zhu Y, Hong W, Wang T, Zhang Q, Ye Y, Lu T, Qian H. Effects of different assembly strategies on gene annotation in activated sludge. ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH 2024; 252:119116. [PMID: 38734289 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2024.119116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2024] [Revised: 04/27/2024] [Accepted: 05/08/2024] [Indexed: 05/13/2024]
Abstract
Activated sludge comprises diverse bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms, featuring a rich repertoire of genes involved in antibiotic resistance, pollutant degradation, and elemental cycling. In this regard, hybrid assembly technology can revolutionize metagenomics by detecting greater gene diversity in environmental samples. Nonetheless, the optimal utilization and comparability of genomic information between hybrid assembly and short- or long-read technology remain unclear. To address this gap, we compared the performance of the hybrid assembly, short- and long-read technologies, abundance and diversity of annotated genes, and taxonomic diversity by analysing 46, 161, and 45 activated sludge metagenomic datasets, respectively. The results revealed that hybrid assembly technology exhibited the best performance, generating the most contiguous and longest contigs but with a lower proportion of high-quality metagenome-assembled genomes than short-read technology. Compared with short- or long-read technologies, hybrid assembly technology can detect a greater diversity of microbiota and antibiotic resistance genes, as well as a wider range of potential hosts. However, this approach may yield lower gene abundance and pathogen detection. Our study revealed the specific advantages and disadvantages of hybrid assembly and short- and long-read applications in wastewater treatment plants, and our approach could serve as a blueprint to be extended to terrestrial environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Meng Liu
- College of Environment, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310032, PR China
| | - Nuohan Xu
- College of Environment, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310032, PR China
| | - Bingfeng Chen
- College of Environment, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310032, PR China
| | - Zhenyan Zhang
- College of Environment, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310032, PR China
| | - Xinyu Chen
- College of Environment, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310032, PR China
| | - Yuke Zhu
- College of Environment, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310032, PR China
| | - Wenjie Hong
- Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology and Bioinformatics of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, 310012, PR China
| | - Tingzhang Wang
- Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology and Bioinformatics of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, 310012, PR China
| | - Qi Zhang
- College of Environment, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310032, PR China
| | - Yangqing Ye
- College of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310032, PR China
| | - Tao Lu
- College of Environment, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310032, PR China
| | - Haifeng Qian
- College of Environment, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310032, PR China.
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Shaw J, Gounot JS, Chen H, Nagarajan N, Yu YW. Floria: fast and accurate strain haplotyping in metagenomes. Bioinformatics 2024; 40:i30-i38. [PMID: 38940183 PMCID: PMC11211831 DOI: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btae252] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/29/2024] Open
Abstract
SUMMARY Shotgun metagenomics allows for direct analysis of microbial community genetics, but scalable computational methods for the recovery of bacterial strain genomes from microbiomes remains a key challenge. We introduce Floria, a novel method designed for rapid and accurate recovery of strain haplotypes from short and long-read metagenome sequencing data, based on minimum error correction (MEC) read clustering and a strain-preserving network flow model. Floria can function as a standalone haplotyping method, outputting alleles and reads that co-occur on the same strain, as well as an end-to-end read-to-assembly pipeline (Floria-PL) for strain-level assembly. Benchmarking evaluations on synthetic metagenomes show that Floria is > 3× faster and recovers 21% more strain content than base-level assembly methods (Strainberry) while being over an order of magnitude faster when only phasing is required. Applying Floria to a set of 109 deeply sequenced nanopore metagenomes took <20 min on average per sample and identified several species that have consistent strain heterogeneity. Applying Floria's short-read haplotyping to a longitudinal gut metagenomics dataset revealed a dynamic multi-strain Anaerostipes hadrus community with frequent strain loss and emergence events over 636 days. With Floria, accurate haplotyping of metagenomic datasets takes mere minutes on standard workstations, paving the way for extensive strain-level metagenomic analyses. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION Floria is available at https://github.com/bluenote-1577/floria, and the Floria-PL pipeline is available at https://github.com/jsgounot/Floria_analysis_workflow along with code for reproducing the benchmarks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jim Shaw
- Department of Mathematics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 2E4, Canada
| | - Jean-Sebastien Gounot
- Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), 60 Biopolis Street, Singapore, 138672, Republic of Singapore
| | - Hanrong Chen
- Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), 60 Biopolis Street, Singapore, 138672, Republic of Singapore
| | - Niranjan Nagarajan
- Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), 60 Biopolis Street, Singapore, 138672, Republic of Singapore
- Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117597, Republic of Singapore
| | - Yun William Yu
- Department of Mathematics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 2E4, Canada
- Ray and Stephanie Lane Computational Biology Department, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, United States
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4
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Warren A, Nyavor Y, Zarabian N, Mahoney A, Frame LA. The microbiota-gut-brain-immune interface in the pathogenesis of neuroinflammatory diseases: a narrative review of the emerging literature. Front Immunol 2024; 15:1365673. [PMID: 38817603 PMCID: PMC11137262 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1365673] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2024] [Accepted: 04/29/2024] [Indexed: 06/01/2024] Open
Abstract
Importance Research is beginning to elucidate the sophisticated mechanisms underlying the microbiota-gut-brain-immune interface, moving from primarily animal models to human studies. Findings support the dynamic relationships between the gut microbiota as an ecosystem (microbiome) within an ecosystem (host) and its intersection with the host immune and nervous systems. Adding this to the effects on epigenetic regulation of gene expression further complicates and strengthens the response. At the heart is inflammation, which manifests in a variety of pathologies including neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Observations Generally, the research to date is limited and has focused on bacteria, likely due to the simplicity and cost-effectiveness of 16s rRNA sequencing, despite its lower resolution and inability to determine functional ability/alterations. However, this omits all other microbiota including fungi, viruses, and phages, which are emerging as key members of the human microbiome. Much of the research has been done in pre-clinical models and/or in small human studies in more developed parts of the world. The relationships observed are promising but cannot be considered reliable or generalizable at this time. Specifically, causal relationships cannot be determined currently. More research has been done in Alzheimer's disease, followed by Parkinson's disease, and then little in MS. The data for MS is encouraging despite this. Conclusions and relevance While the research is still nascent, the microbiota-gut-brain-immune interface may be a missing link, which has hampered our progress on understanding, let alone preventing, managing, or putting into remission neurodegenerative diseases. Relationships must first be established in humans, as animal models have been shown to poorly translate to complex human physiology and environments, especially when investigating the human gut microbiome and its relationships where animal models are often overly simplistic. Only then can robust research be conducted in humans and using mechanistic model systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alison Warren
- The Frame-Corr Laboratory, Department of Clinical Research and Leadership, The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, DC, United States
| | - Yvonne Nyavor
- Department of Biotechnology, Harrisburg University of Science and Technology, Harrisburg, PA, United States
| | - Nikkia Zarabian
- The Frame-Corr Laboratory, Department of Clinical Research and Leadership, The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, DC, United States
| | - Aidan Mahoney
- The Frame-Corr Laboratory, Department of Clinical Research and Leadership, The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, DC, United States
- Undergraduate College, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, United States
| | - Leigh A. Frame
- The Frame-Corr Laboratory, Department of Clinical Research and Leadership, The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, DC, United States
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Kirsch JM, Hryckowian AJ, Duerkop BA. A metagenomics pipeline reveals insertion sequence-driven evolution of the microbiota. Cell Host Microbe 2024; 32:739-754.e4. [PMID: 38565143 PMCID: PMC11081829 DOI: 10.1016/j.chom.2024.03.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2023] [Revised: 02/06/2024] [Accepted: 03/08/2024] [Indexed: 04/04/2024]
Abstract
Insertion sequence (IS) elements are mobile genetic elements in bacterial genomes that support adaptation. We developed a database of IS elements coupled to a computational pipeline that identifies IS element insertions in the microbiota. We discovered that diverse IS elements insert into the genomes of intestinal bacteria regardless of human host lifestyle. These insertions target bacterial accessory genes that aid in their adaptation to unique environmental conditions. Using IS expansion in Bacteroides, we show that IS activity leads to the insertion of "hot spots" in accessory genes. We show that IS insertions are stable and can be transferred between humans. Extreme environmental perturbations force IS elements to fall out of the microbiota, and many fail to rebound following homeostasis. Our work shows that IS elements drive bacterial genome diversification within the microbiota and establishes a framework for understanding how strain-level variation within the microbiota impacts human health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joshua M Kirsch
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, School of Medicine, Aurora, CO 80045, USA
| | - Andrew J Hryckowian
- Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI 53706, USA; Department of Medical Microbiology & Immunology, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI 53706, USA
| | - Breck A Duerkop
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, School of Medicine, Aurora, CO 80045, USA.
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Ding Y, Er S, Tan A, Gounot JS, Saw WY, Tan LWL, Teo YY, Nagarajan N, Seedorf H. Comparison of tet(X4)-containing contigs assembled from metagenomic sequencing data with plasmid sequences of isolates from a cohort of healthy subjects. Microbiol Spectr 2024; 12:e0396923. [PMID: 38441466 PMCID: PMC10986321 DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.03969-23] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2023] [Accepted: 02/12/2024] [Indexed: 04/06/2024] Open
Abstract
Recently discovered tet(X) gene variants have provided new insights into microbial antibiotic resistance mechanisms and their potential consequences for public health. This study focused on detection, analysis, and characterization of Tet(X4)-positive Enterobacterales from the gut microbiota of a healthy cohort of individuals in Singapore using cultivation-dependent and cultivation-independent approaches. Twelve Tet(X4)-positive Enterobacterales strains that were previously obtained from the cohort were fully genome-sequenced and comparatively analyzed. A metagenomic sequencing (MS) data set of the same samples was mined for contigs that harbored the tet(X4) resistance gene. The sequences of tet(X4)-containing contigs and plasmids sequences were compared. The presence of the resistance genes floR and estT (previously annotated as catD) was detected in the same cassette in 10 and 12 out of the 12 tet(X4)-carrying plasmids, respectively. MS detected tet(X4)-containing contigs in 2 out of the 109 subjects, while cultivation-dependent analysis previously reported a prevalence of 10.1%. The tet(X4)-containing sequences assembled from MS data are relatively short (~14 to 33 kb) but show high similarity to the respective plasmid sequences of the isolates. Our findings show that MS can complement efforts in the surveillance of antibiotic resistance genes for clinical samples, while it has a lower sensitivity than a cultivation-based method when the target organism has a low abundance. Further optimization is required if MS is to be utilized in antibiotic resistance surveillance.IMPORTANCEThe global rise in antibiotic resistance makes it necessary to develop and apply new approaches to detect and monitor the prevalence of antibiotic resistance genes in human populations. In this regard, of particular interest are resistances against last-resort antibiotics, such as tigecycline. In this study, we show that metagenomic sequencing can help to detect high abundance of the tigecycline resistance gene tet(X4) in fecal samples from a cohort of healthy human subjects. However, cultivation-based approaches currently remain the most reliable and cost-effective method for detection of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yichen Ding
- Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, 1 Research Link, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Shuan Er
- Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, 1 Research Link, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Abel Tan
- Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, 1 Research Link, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Jean-Sebastien Gounot
- Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore, Singapore
| | - Woei-Yuh Saw
- Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Singapore
| | - Linda Wei Lin Tan
- Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Yik Ying Teo
- Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore, Singapore
- Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
- NUS Graduate School for Integrative Science and Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
- Department of Statistics and Applied Probability, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
- Life Sciences Institute, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Niranjan Nagarajan
- Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore, Singapore
- NUS Graduate School for Integrative Science and Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Henning Seedorf
- Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, 1 Research Link, Singapore, Singapore
- Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
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Liu X, Liu Y, Liu J, Zhang H, Shan C, Guo Y, Gong X, Cui M, Li X, Tang M. Correlation between the gut microbiome and neurodegenerative diseases: a review of metagenomics evidence. Neural Regen Res 2024; 19:833-845. [PMID: 37843219 PMCID: PMC10664138 DOI: 10.4103/1673-5374.382223] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2023] [Revised: 04/19/2023] [Accepted: 06/17/2023] [Indexed: 10/17/2023] Open
Abstract
A growing body of evidence suggests that the gut microbiota contributes to the development of neurodegenerative diseases via the microbiota-gut-brain axis. As a contributing factor, microbiota dysbiosis always occurs in pathological changes of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. High-throughput sequencing technology has helped to reveal that the bidirectional communication between the central nervous system and the enteric nervous system is facilitated by the microbiota's diverse microorganisms, and for both neuroimmune and neuroendocrine systems. Here, we summarize the bioinformatics analysis and wet-biology validation for the gut metagenomics in neurodegenerative diseases, with an emphasis on multi-omics studies and the gut virome. The pathogen-associated signaling biomarkers for identifying brain disorders and potential therapeutic targets are also elucidated. Finally, we discuss the role of diet, prebiotics, probiotics, postbiotics and exercise interventions in remodeling the microbiome and reducing the symptoms of neurodegenerative diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoyan Liu
- School of Life Sciences, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, China
| | - Yi Liu
- School of Life Sciences, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, China
- Institute of Animal Husbandry, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China
| | - Junlin Liu
- School of Life Sciences, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, China
| | - Hantao Zhang
- School of Life Sciences, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, China
| | - Chaofan Shan
- School of Life Sciences, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, China
| | - Yinglu Guo
- School of Life Sciences, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, China
| | - Xun Gong
- Department of Rheumatology & Immunology, Affiliated Hospital of Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, China
| | - Mengmeng Cui
- Department of Neurology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Shandong First Medical University, Taian, Shandong Province, China
| | - Xiubin Li
- Department of Neurology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Shandong First Medical University, Taian, Shandong Province, China
| | - Min Tang
- School of Life Sciences, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, China
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8
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Kirsch JM, Hryckowian AJ, Duerkop BA. A metagenomics pipeline reveals insertion sequence-driven evolution of the microbiota. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2023.10.06.561241. [PMID: 37873088 PMCID: PMC10592638 DOI: 10.1101/2023.10.06.561241] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2023]
Abstract
Insertion sequence (IS) elements are mobile genetic elements in bacterial genomes that support adaptation. We developed a database of IS elements coupled to a computational pipeline that identifies IS element insertions in the microbiota. We discovered that diverse IS elements insert into the genomes of intestinal bacteria regardless of human host lifestyle. These insertions target bacterial accessory genes that aid in their adaptation to unique environmental conditions. Using IS expansion in Bacteroides, we show that IS activity leads to insertion "hot spots" in accessory genes. We show that IS insertions are stable and can be transferred between humans. Extreme environmental perturbations force IS elements to fall out of the microbiota and many fail to rebound following homeostasis. Our work shows that IS elements drive bacterial genome diversification within the microbiota and establishes a framework for understanding how strain level variation within the microbiota impacts human health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joshua M. Kirsch
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, University of Colorado - Anschutz Medical Campus, School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado, 80045, USA
| | - Andrew J. Hryckowian
- Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin, 53706, USA
- Department of Medical Microbiology & Immunology, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin, 53706, USA
| | - Breck A. Duerkop
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, University of Colorado - Anschutz Medical Campus, School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado, 80045, USA
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9
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Rodriguez-R LM, Conrad RE, Viver T, Feistel DJ, Lindner BG, Venter SN, Orellana LH, Amann R, Rossello-Mora R, Konstantinidis KT. An ANI gap within bacterial species that advances the definitions of intra-species units. mBio 2024; 15:e0269623. [PMID: 38085031 PMCID: PMC10790751 DOI: 10.1128/mbio.02696-23] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2023] [Accepted: 11/03/2023] [Indexed: 01/17/2024] Open
Abstract
IMPORTANCE Bacterial strains and clonal complexes are two cornerstone concepts for microbiology that remain loosely defined, which confuses communication and research. Here we identify a natural gap in genome sequence comparisons among isolate genomes of all well-sequenced species that has gone unnoticed so far and could be used to more accurately and precisely define these and related concepts compared to current methods. These findings advance the molecular toolbox for accurately delineating and following the important units of diversity within prokaryotic species and thus should greatly facilitate future epidemiological and micro-diversity studies across clinical and environmental settings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luis M. Rodriguez-R
- Department of Microbiology, and Digital Science Center (DiSC), University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Roth E. Conrad
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| | - Tomeu Viver
- Department of Animal and Microbial Biodiversity, Marine Microbiology Group, Mediterranean Institutes for Advanced Studies (IMEDEA, CSIC-UIB), Esporles, Spain
| | - Dorian J. Feistel
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| | - Blake G. Lindner
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| | - Stephanus N. Venter
- Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology, and Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI), University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
| | - Luis H. Orellana
- Department of Molecular Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Bremen, Germany
| | - Rudolf Amann
- Department of Molecular Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Bremen, Germany
| | - Ramon Rossello-Mora
- Department of Animal and Microbial Biodiversity, Marine Microbiology Group, Mediterranean Institutes for Advanced Studies (IMEDEA, CSIC-UIB), Esporles, Spain
| | - Konstantinos T. Konstantinidis
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
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10
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Kerkvliet JJ, Bossers A, Kers JG, Meneses R, Willems R, Schürch AC. Metagenomic assembly is the main bottleneck in the identification of mobile genetic elements. PeerJ 2024; 12:e16695. [PMID: 38188174 PMCID: PMC10771768 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.16695] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2023] [Accepted: 11/28/2023] [Indexed: 01/09/2024] Open
Abstract
Antimicrobial resistance genes (ARG) are commonly found on acquired mobile genetic elements (MGEs) such as plasmids or transposons. Understanding the spread of resistance genes associated with mobile elements (mARGs) across different hosts and environments requires linking ARGs to the existing mobile reservoir within bacterial communities. However, reconstructing mARGs in metagenomic data from diverse ecosystems poses computational challenges, including genome fragment reconstruction (assembly), high-throughput annotation of MGEs, and identification of their association with ARGs. Recently, several bioinformatics tools have been developed to identify assembled fragments of plasmids, phages, and insertion sequence (IS) elements in metagenomic data. These methods can help in understanding the dissemination of mARGs. To streamline the process of identifying mARGs in multiple samples, we combined these tools in an automated high-throughput open-source pipeline, MetaMobilePicker, that identifies ARGs associated with plasmids, IS elements and phages, starting from short metagenomic sequencing reads. This pipeline was used to identify these three elements on a simplified simulated metagenome dataset, comprising whole genome sequences from seven clinically relevant bacterial species containing 55 ARGs, nine plasmids and five phages. The results demonstrated moderate precision for the identification of plasmids (0.57) and phages (0.71), and moderate sensitivity of identification of IS elements (0.58) and ARGs (0.70). In this study, we aim to assess the main causes of this moderate performance of the MGE prediction tools in a comprehensive manner. We conducted a systematic benchmark, considering metagenomic read coverage, contig length cutoffs and investigating the performance of the classification algorithms. Our analysis revealed that the metagenomic assembly process is the primary bottleneck when linking ARGs to identified MGEs in short-read metagenomics sequencing experiments rather than ARGs and MGEs identification by the different tools.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jesse J. Kerkvliet
- Department of Medical Microbiology, UMC Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Alex Bossers
- Utrecht University, Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Utrecht, The Netherlands
- Wageningen University, Wageningen Bioveterinary Research, Lelystad, The Netherlands
| | - Jannigje G. Kers
- Utrecht University, Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Rodrigo Meneses
- Department of Medical Microbiology, UMC Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Rob Willems
- Department of Medical Microbiology, UMC Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Anita C. Schürch
- Department of Medical Microbiology, UMC Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
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11
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Qiu J, Chen Y, Zhang L, Wu J, Zeng X, Shi X, Liu L, Chen J. A comprehensive review on enzymatic biodegradation of polyethylene terephthalate. ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH 2024; 240:117427. [PMID: 37865324 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2023.117427] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2023] [Revised: 10/11/2023] [Accepted: 10/15/2023] [Indexed: 10/23/2023]
Abstract
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is a polymer synthesized via the dehydration and condensation reaction between ethylene glycol and terephthalic acid. PET has emerged as one of the most extensively employed plastic materials due to its exceptional plasticity and durability. Nevertheless, PET has a complex structure and is extremely difficult to degrade in nature, causing severe pollution to the global ecological environment and posing a threat to human health. Currently, the methods for PET processing mainly include physical, chemical, and biological methods. Biological enzyme degradation is considered the most promising PET degradation method. In recent years, an increasing number of enzymes that can degrade PET have been identified, and they primarily target the ester bond of PET. This review comprehensively introduced the latest research progress in PET enzymatic degradation from the aspects of PET-degrading enzymes, PET biodegradation pathways, the catalytic mechanism of PET-degrading enzymes, and biotechnological strategies for enhancing PET-degrading enzymes. On this basis, the current challenges within the enzymatic PET degradation process were summarized, and the directions that need to be worked on in the future were pointed out. This review provides a reference and basis for the subsequent effective research on PET biodegradation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiarong Qiu
- School of Advanced Manufacturing, Fuzhou University, Jinjiang 362251, China; Development Center of Science and Education Park of Fuzhou University, Jinjiang, 362251, China
| | - Yuxin Chen
- School of Advanced Manufacturing, Fuzhou University, Jinjiang 362251, China
| | - Liangqing Zhang
- School of Advanced Manufacturing, Fuzhou University, Jinjiang 362251, China; Development Center of Science and Education Park of Fuzhou University, Jinjiang, 362251, China.
| | - Jinzhi Wu
- School of Advanced Manufacturing, Fuzhou University, Jinjiang 362251, China
| | - Xianhai Zeng
- College of Energy, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China
| | - Xinguo Shi
- School of Advanced Manufacturing, Fuzhou University, Jinjiang 362251, China
| | - Lemian Liu
- School of Advanced Manufacturing, Fuzhou University, Jinjiang 362251, China
| | - Jianfeng Chen
- School of Advanced Manufacturing, Fuzhou University, Jinjiang 362251, China
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12
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Low A, Sheludchenko M, Cheng HE, Koh XQ, Lee JWJ. Complete genome sequences of butyrate producing Anaerostipes hadrus strains BA1 and GIF7 isolated from the terminal ileum of a healthy lean male. Microbiol Resour Announc 2023; 12:e0070123. [PMID: 37772842 PMCID: PMC10586101 DOI: 10.1128/mra.00701-23] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2023] [Accepted: 08/24/2023] [Indexed: 09/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Anaerostipes hadrus strains BA1 and GIF7 were isolated from a healthy man. The complete genomes' sizes are 2,946,270 bp (BA1) and 2,907,308 bp (GIF7), with high average nucleotide identity (ANIb = 100%) and alignments ≥96.86% between strains. Conversely, both strains share 97.47% (ANIb) identity and ≤77.36% alignments to A. hadrus ATCC 29173T.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adrian Low
- Department of Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, MD6 Centre for Translational Medicine, Medical Drive, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Maxim Sheludchenko
- ASEAN Microbiome Nutrition Centre, National Neuroscience Institute, Jln Tan Tock Seng, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Huay Ee Cheng
- Institute for Health Innovation and Technology (iHealthtech), National University of Singapore, Kent Ridge Crescent, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Xiu Qi Koh
- Department of Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, MD6 Centre for Translational Medicine, Medical Drive, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Jonathan Wei Jie Lee
- Department of Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, MD6 Centre for Translational Medicine, Medical Drive, Singapore, Singapore
- Institute for Health Innovation and Technology (iHealthtech), National University of Singapore, Kent Ridge Crescent, Singapore, Singapore
- Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology & Hepatology, National University Hospital, Singapore, Singapore
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13
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Du Y, Sun F. MetaCC allows scalable and integrative analyses of both long-read and short-read metagenomic Hi-C data. Nat Commun 2023; 14:6231. [PMID: 37802989 PMCID: PMC10558524 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-41209-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2023] [Accepted: 08/25/2023] [Indexed: 10/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Metagenomic Hi-C (metaHi-C) can identify contig-to-contig relationships with respect to their proximity within the same physical cell. Shotgun libraries in metaHi-C experiments can be constructed by next-generation sequencing (short-read metaHi-C) or more recent third-generation sequencing (long-read metaHi-C). However, all existing metaHi-C analysis methods are developed and benchmarked on short-read metaHi-C datasets and there exists much room for improvement in terms of more scalable and stable analyses, especially for long-read metaHi-C data. Here we report MetaCC, an efficient and integrative framework for analyzing both short-read and long-read metaHi-C datasets. MetaCC outperforms existing methods on normalization and binning. In particular, the MetaCC normalization module, named NormCC, is more than 3000 times faster than the current state-of-the-art method HiCzin on a complex wastewater dataset. When applied to one sheep gut long-read metaHi-C dataset, MetaCC binning module can retrieve 709 high-quality genomes with the largest species diversity using one single sample, including an expansion of five uncultured members from the order Erysipelotrichales, and is the only binner that can recover the genome of one important species Bacteroides vulgatus. Further plasmid analyses reveal that MetaCC binning is able to capture multi-copy plasmids.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuxuan Du
- Department of Quantitative and Computational Biology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Fengzhu Sun
- Department of Quantitative and Computational Biology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
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14
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Nam NN, Do HDK, Loan Trinh KT, Lee NY. Metagenomics: An Effective Approach for Exploring Microbial Diversity and Functions. Foods 2023; 12:foods12112140. [PMID: 37297385 DOI: 10.3390/foods12112140] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2023] [Revised: 05/21/2023] [Accepted: 05/24/2023] [Indexed: 06/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Various fields have been identified in the "omics" era, such as genomics, proteomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics, phenomics, and metagenomics. Among these, metagenomics has enabled a significant increase in discoveries related to the microbial world. Newly discovered microbiomes in different ecologies provide meaningful information on the diversity and functions of microorganisms on the Earth. Therefore, the results of metagenomic studies have enabled new microbe-based applications in human health, agriculture, and the food industry, among others. This review summarizes the fundamental procedures on recent advances in bioinformatic tools. It also explores up-to-date applications of metagenomics in human health, food study, plant research, environmental sciences, and other fields. Finally, metagenomics is a powerful tool for studying the microbial world, and it still has numerous applications that are currently hidden and awaiting discovery. Therefore, this review also discusses the future perspectives of metagenomics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nguyen Nhat Nam
- Biotechnology Center, School of Agriculture and Aquaculture, Tra Vinh University, Tra Vinh City 87000, Vietnam
| | - Hoang Dang Khoa Do
- NTT Hi-Tech Institute, Nguyen Tat Thanh University, Ward 13, District 04, Ho Chi Minh City 72820, Vietnam
| | - Kieu The Loan Trinh
- Department of BioNano Technology, Gachon University 1342 Seongnam-daero, Sujeong-gu, Seongnam-si 13120, Republic of Korea
| | - Nae Yoon Lee
- Department of BioNano Technology, Gachon University 1342 Seongnam-daero, Sujeong-gu, Seongnam-si 13120, Republic of Korea
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15
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Jia L, Wu Y, Dong Y, Chen J, Chen WH, Zhao XM. A survey on computational strategies for genome-resolved gut metagenomics. Brief Bioinform 2023; 24:7145904. [PMID: 37114640 DOI: 10.1093/bib/bbad162] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2022] [Revised: 03/20/2023] [Accepted: 04/04/2023] [Indexed: 04/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Recovering high-quality metagenome-assembled genomes (HQ-MAGs) is critical for exploring microbial compositions and microbe-phenotype associations. However, multiple sequencing platforms and computational tools for this purpose may confuse researchers and thus call for extensive evaluation. Here, we systematically evaluated a total of 40 combinations of popular computational tools and sequencing platforms (i.e. strategies), involving eight assemblers, eight metagenomic binners and four sequencing technologies, including short-, long-read and metaHiC sequencing. We identified the best tools for the individual tasks (e.g. the assembly and binning) and combinations (e.g. generating more HQ-MAGs) depending on the availability of the sequencing data. We found that the combination of the hybrid assemblies and metaHiC-based binning performed best, followed by the hybrid and long-read assemblies. More importantly, both long-read and metaHiC sequencings link more mobile elements and antibiotic resistance genes to bacterial hosts and improve the quality of public human gut reference genomes with 32% (34/105) HQ-MAGs that were either of better quality than those in the Unified Human Gastrointestinal Genome catalog version 2 or novel.
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Affiliation(s)
- Longhao Jia
- Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-Inspired Intelligence, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
| | - Yingjian Wu
- Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of the Ministry of Education, Hubei Key Laboratory of Bioinformatics and Molecular-imaging, Center for Artificial Intelligence Biology, Department of Bioinformatics and Systems Biology, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, Hubei, China
| | - Yanqi Dong
- Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-Inspired Intelligence, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
| | - Jingchao Chen
- Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of the Ministry of Education, Hubei Key Laboratory of Bioinformatics and Molecular-imaging, Center for Artificial Intelligence Biology, Department of Bioinformatics and Systems Biology, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, Hubei, China
| | - Wei-Hua Chen
- Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of the Ministry of Education, Hubei Key Laboratory of Bioinformatics and Molecular-imaging, Center for Artificial Intelligence Biology, Department of Bioinformatics and Systems Biology, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, Hubei, China
- Institution of Medical Artificial Intelligence, Binzhou Medical University, Yantai 264003, China
| | - Xing-Ming Zhao
- Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-Inspired Intelligence, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
- Key Laboratory of Computational Neuroscience and Brain-Inspired Intelligence, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Education, Shanghai 200433, China
- MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
- State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, Institutes of Brain Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
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