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Zhou L, Feng T, Xu S, Gao F, Lam TT, Wang Q, Wu T, Huang H, Zhan L, Li L, Guan Y, Dai Z, Yu G. ggmsa: a visual exploration tool for multiple sequence alignment and associated data. Brief Bioinform 2022; 23:6603927. [PMID: 35671504 DOI: 10.1093/bib/bbac222] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 28.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2022] [Revised: 05/07/2022] [Accepted: 05/11/2022] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
The identification of the conserved and variable regions in the multiple sequence alignment (MSA) is critical to accelerating the process of understanding the function of genes. MSA visualizations allow us to transform sequence features into understandable visual representations. As the sequence-structure-function relationship gains increasing attention in molecular biology studies, the simple display of nucleotide or protein sequence alignment is not satisfied. A more scalable visualization is required to broaden the scope of sequence investigation. Here we present ggmsa, an R package for mining comprehensive sequence features and integrating the associated data of MSA by a variety of display methods. To uncover sequence conservation patterns, variations and recombination at the site level, sequence bundles, sequence logos, stacked sequence alignment and comparative plots are implemented. ggmsa supports integrating the correlation of MSA sequences and their phenotypes, as well as other traits such as ancestral sequences, molecular structures, molecular functions and expression levels. We also design a new visualization method for genome alignments in multiple alignment format to explore the pattern of within and between species variation. Combining these visual representations with prime knowledge, ggmsa assists researchers in discovering MSA and making decisions. The ggmsa package is open-source software released under the Artistic-2.0 license, and it is freely available on Bioconductor (https://bioconductor.org/packages/ggmsa) and Github (https://github.com/YuLab-SMU/ggmsa).
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Affiliation(s)
- Lang Zhou
- Department of Bioinformatics, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.,Division of Laboratory Medicine, Microbiome Medicine Center, Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Tingze Feng
- Department of Bioinformatics, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Shuangbin Xu
- Department of Bioinformatics, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Fangluan Gao
- Institute of Plant Virology, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, China
| | - Tommy T Lam
- State Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases, School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.,Laboratory of Data Discovery for Health Limited, 19W Hong Kong Science & Technology Parks, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Qianwen Wang
- Department of Bioinformatics, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.,Centre for Soybean Research of the State Key Laboratory of Agrobiotechnology and School of Life Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Tianzhi Wu
- Department of Bioinformatics, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Huina Huang
- Department of Bioinformatics, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.,Zhuhai International Travel Healthcare Center, Zhuhai, Guangdong, China
| | - Li Zhan
- Department of Bioinformatics, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Lin Li
- Department of Bioinformatics, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Yi Guan
- State Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases, School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.,Joint Institute of Virology (Shantou University - The University of Hong Kong), Shantou University, Shantou, China
| | - Zehan Dai
- Department of Bioinformatics, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Guangchuang Yu
- Department of Bioinformatics, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.,Division of Laboratory Medicine, Microbiome Medicine Center, Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
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Negahdaripour M, Rahbar MR, Mosalanejad Z, Gholami A. Theta-Defensins to Counter COVID-19 as Furin Inhibitors: In Silico Efficiency Prediction and Novel Compound Design. COMPUTATIONAL AND MATHEMATICAL METHODS IN MEDICINE 2022; 2022:9735626. [PMID: 35154362 PMCID: PMC8829439 DOI: 10.1155/2022/9735626] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2021] [Revised: 12/28/2021] [Accepted: 01/21/2022] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), was characterized as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) in Dec. 2019. SARS-CoV-2 binds to the cell membrane through spike proteins on its surface and infects the cell. Furin, a host-cell enzyme, possesses a binding site for the spike protein. Thus, molecules that block furin could potentially be a therapeutic solution. Defensins are antimicrobial peptides that can hypothetically inhibit furin because of their arginine-rich structure. Theta-defensins, a subclass of defensins, have attracted attention as drug candidates due to their small size, unique structure, and involvement in several defense mechanisms. Theta-defensins could be a potential treatment for COVID-19 through furin inhibition and an anti-inflammatory mechanism. Note that inflammatory events are a significant and deadly condition that could happen at the later stages of COVID-19 infection. Here, the potential of theta-defensins against SARS-CoV-2 infection was investigated through in silico approaches. Based on docking analysis results, theta-defensins can function as furin inhibitors. Additionally, a novel candidate peptide against COVID-19 with optimal properties regarding antigenicity, stability, electrostatic potential, and binding strength was proposed. Further in vitro/in vivo investigations could verify the efficiency of the designed novel peptide.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manica Negahdaripour
- Pharmaceutical Sciences Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
- Department of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, School of Pharmacy, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
| | - Mohammad Reza Rahbar
- Pharmaceutical Sciences Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
| | - Zahra Mosalanejad
- Department of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, School of Pharmacy, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
| | - Ahmad Gholami
- Biotechnology Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
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Rahbar MR, Jahangiri A, Khalili S, Zarei M, Mehrabani-Zeinabad K, Khalesi B, Pourzardosht N, Hessami A, Nezafat N, Sadraei S, Negahdaripour M. Hotspots for mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein: a correspondence analysis. Sci Rep 2021; 11:23622. [PMID: 34880279 PMCID: PMC8654821 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-01655-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2021] [Accepted: 11/01/2021] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Spike glycoprotein (Sgp) is liable for binding of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) to the host receptors. Since Sgp is the main target for vaccine and drug designing, elucidating its mutation pattern could help in this regard. This study is aimed at investigating the correspondence of specific residues to the SgpSARS-CoV-2 functionality by explorative interpretation of sequence alignments. Centrality analysis of the Sgp dissects the importance of these residues in the interaction network of the RBD-ACE2 (receptor-binding domain) complex and furin cleavage site. Correspondence of RBD to threonine500 and asparagine501 and furin cleavage site to glutamine675, glutamine677, threonine678, and alanine684 was observed; all residues are exactly located at the interaction interfaces. The harmonious location of residues dictates the RBD binding property and the flexibility, hydrophobicity, and accessibility of the furin cleavage site. These species-specific residues can be assumed as real targets of evolution, while other substitutions tend to support them. Moreover, all these residues are parts of experimentally identified epitopes. Therefore, their substitution may affect vaccine efficacy. Higher rate of RBD maintenance than furin cleavage site was predicted. The accumulation of substitutions reinforces the probability of the multi-host circulation of the virus and emphasizes the enduring evolutionary events.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohammad Reza Rahbar
- Pharmaceutical Sciences Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
| | - Abolfazl Jahangiri
- Applied Microbiology Research Center, Systems Biology and Poisonings Institute, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Saeed Khalili
- Department of Biology Sciences, Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University, Tehran, Iran
| | - Mahboubeh Zarei
- Pharmaceutical Sciences Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
| | - Kamran Mehrabani-Zeinabad
- Department of Biostatistics, Faculty of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
| | - Bahman Khalesi
- Department of Research and Production of Poultry Viral Vaccine, Razi Vaccine, and Serum Research Institute, Agricultural Research Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Karaj, Iran
| | - Navid Pourzardosht
- Cellular and Molecular Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran
- Biochemistry Department, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran
| | - Anahita Hessami
- School of Pharmacy, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
| | - Navid Nezafat
- Pharmaceutical Sciences Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
| | - Saman Sadraei
- Pharmaceutical Sciences Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
| | - Manica Negahdaripour
- Pharmaceutical Sciences Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
- Department of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, School of Pharmacy, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, P.O. Box 71345-1583, Shiraz, Iran.
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Abstract
Engineering nitrogenase in plants may help alleviate economic and environmental issues due to the use of nitrogen fertilizer. Mitochondria have shown promise in supporting the function of nitrogenase, including electron donation and metallocluster assembly. Despite these successes, formation of the catalytic unit, NifDK, has proven difficult. Here, we find that when relocated to plant mitochondria, NifD is subject to errant peptidase-based cleavage and is insoluble. Guided by NifD sequence variation amongst bacteria and structural modeling, we designed NifD variants that avoided cleavage and retained function in bacterial assays. Fusion of NifK to degradation-resistant NifD also improved solubility, and the polyprotein retained function in bacterial assays. This work advances efforts to produce crops less reliant on nitrogen fertilizer. To engineer Mo-dependent nitrogenase function in plants, expression of the structural proteins NifD and NifK will be an absolute requirement. Although mitochondria have been established as a suitable eukaryotic environment for biosynthesis of oxygen-sensitive enzymes such as NifH, expression of NifD in this organelle has proven difficult due to cryptic NifD degradation. Here, we describe a solution to this problem. Using molecular and proteomic methods, we found NifD degradation to be a consequence of mitochondrial endoprotease activity at a specific motif within NifD. Focusing on this functionally sensitive region, we designed NifD variants comprising between one and three amino acid substitutions and distinguished several that were resistant to degradation when expressed in both plant and yeast mitochondria. Nitrogenase activity assays of these resistant variants in Escherichia coli identified a subset that retained function, including a single amino acid variant (Y100Q). We found that other naturally occurring NifD proteins containing alternate amino acids at the Y100 position were also less susceptible to degradation. The Y100Q variant also enabled expression of a NifD(Y100Q)–linker–NifK translational polyprotein in plant mitochondria, confirmed by identification of the polyprotein in the soluble fraction of plant extracts. The NifD(Y100Q)–linker–NifK retained function in bacterial nitrogenase assays, demonstrating that this polyprotein permits expression of NifD and NifK in a defined stoichiometry supportive of activity. Our results exemplify how protein design can overcome impediments encountered when expressing synthetic proteins in novel environments. Specifically, these findings outline our progress toward the assembly of the catalytic unit of nitrogenase within mitochondria.
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Nusrat S, Harbig T, Gehlenborg N. Tasks, Techniques, and Tools for Genomic Data Visualization. COMPUTER GRAPHICS FORUM : JOURNAL OF THE EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION FOR COMPUTER GRAPHICS 2019; 38:781-805. [PMID: 31768085 PMCID: PMC6876635 DOI: 10.1111/cgf.13727] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
Genomic data visualization is essential for interpretation and hypothesis generation as well as a valuable aid in communicating discoveries. Visual tools bridge the gap between algorithmic approaches and the cognitive skills of investigators. Addressing this need has become crucial in genomics, as biomedical research is increasingly data-driven and many studies lack well-defined hypotheses. A key challenge in data-driven research is to discover unexpected patterns and to formulate hypotheses in an unbiased manner in vast amounts of genomic and other associated data. Over the past two decades, this has driven the development of numerous data visualization techniques and tools for visualizing genomic data. Based on a comprehensive literature survey, we propose taxonomies for data, visualization, and tasks involved in genomic data visualization. Furthermore, we provide a comprehensive review of published genomic visualization tools in the context of the proposed taxonomies.
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Affiliation(s)
- S Nusrat
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - T Harbig
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - N Gehlenborg
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
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Handling FMRP and its molecular partners: Structural insights into Fragile X Syndrome. PROGRESS IN BIOPHYSICS AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 2018; 141:3-14. [PMID: 30905341 DOI: 10.1016/j.pbiomolbio.2018.07.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2018] [Accepted: 07/01/2018] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
Fragile X Mental Retardation Protein (FMRP) is a RNA-binding protein (RBP) known to control different steps of mRNA metabolism, even though its complete function is not fully understood yet. Lack or mutations of FMRP lead to Fragile X Syndrome (FXS), the most common form of inherited intellectual disability and a leading monogenic cause of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It is well established that FMRP has a multi-domain architecture, a feature that allows this RBP to be engaged in a large interaction network with numerous proteins and mRNAs or non-coding RNAs. Insights into the three-dimensional (3D) structure of parts of its three domains (N-terminus, central domain and C-terminus) were obtained using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and X-ray diffraction, but the complete 3D arrangement of each domain with respect to the others is still missing. Here, we review the structural features of FMRP and of the network of its protein and RNA interactions. Understanding these aspects is the first necessary step towards the design of novel compounds for new therapeutic interventions in FXS.
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