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Sternberg PW, Van Auken K, Wang Q, Wright A, Yook K, Zarowiecki M, Arnaboldi V, Becerra A, Brown S, Cain S, Chan J, Chen WJ, Cho J, Davis P, Diamantakis S, Dyer S, Grigoriadis D, Grove CA, Harris T, Howe K, Kishore R, Lee R, Longden I, Luypaert M, Müller HM, Nuin P, Quinton-Tulloch M, Raciti D, Schedl T, Schindelman G, Stein L. WormBase 2024: status and transitioning to Alliance infrastructure. Genetics 2024; 227:iyae050. [PMID: 38573366 PMCID: PMC11075546 DOI: 10.1093/genetics/iyae050] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2023] [Revised: 03/19/2024] [Accepted: 03/20/2024] [Indexed: 04/05/2024] Open
Abstract
WormBase has been the major repository and knowledgebase of information about the genome and genetics of Caenorhabditis elegans and other nematodes of experimental interest for over 2 decades. We have 3 goals: to keep current with the fast-paced C. elegans research, to provide better integration with other resources, and to be sustainable. Here, we discuss the current state of WormBase as well as progress and plans for moving core WormBase infrastructure to the Alliance of Genome Resources (the Alliance). As an Alliance member, WormBase will continue to interact with the C. elegans community, develop new features as needed, and curate key information from the literature and large-scale projects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul W Sternberg
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering 140-18, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
| | - Kimberly Van Auken
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering 140-18, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
| | - Qinghua Wang
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering 140-18, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
| | - Adam Wright
- Informatics and Bio-computing Platform, Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, Toronto, ON M5G0A3, Canada
| | - Karen Yook
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering 140-18, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
| | - Magdalena Zarowiecki
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK
| | - Valerio Arnaboldi
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering 140-18, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
| | - Andrés Becerra
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK
| | - Stephanie Brown
- School of Infection and Immunity, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8TA, UK
| | - Scott Cain
- Informatics and Bio-computing Platform, Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, Toronto, ON M5G0A3, Canada
| | - Juancarlos Chan
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering 140-18, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
| | - Wen J Chen
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering 140-18, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
| | - Jaehyoung Cho
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering 140-18, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
| | - Paul Davis
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK
| | - Stavros Diamantakis
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK
| | - Sarah Dyer
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK
| | | | - Christian A Grove
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering 140-18, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
| | - Todd Harris
- Informatics and Bio-computing Platform, Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, Toronto, ON M5G0A3, Canada
| | - Kevin Howe
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK
| | - Ranjana Kishore
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering 140-18, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
| | - Raymond Lee
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering 140-18, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
| | - Ian Longden
- Informatics and Bio-computing Platform, Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, Toronto, ON M5G0A3, Canada
| | - Manuel Luypaert
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK
| | - Hans-Michael Müller
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering 140-18, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
| | - Paulo Nuin
- Informatics and Bio-computing Platform, Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, Toronto, ON M5G0A3, Canada
| | - Mark Quinton-Tulloch
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK
| | - Daniela Raciti
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering 140-18, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
| | - Tim Schedl
- Department of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
| | - Gary Schindelman
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering 140-18, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
| | - Lincoln Stein
- Informatics and Bio-computing Platform, Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, Toronto, ON M5G0A3, Canada
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Wilson CG, Pieszko T, Nowell RW, Barraclough TG. Recombination in bdelloid rotifer genomes: asexuality, transfer and stress. Trends Genet 2024; 40:422-436. [PMID: 38458877 DOI: 10.1016/j.tig.2024.02.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2023] [Revised: 01/31/2024] [Accepted: 02/01/2024] [Indexed: 03/10/2024]
Abstract
Bdelloid rotifers constitute a class of microscopic animals living in freshwater habitats worldwide. Several strange features of bdelloids have drawn attention: their ability to tolerate desiccation and other stresses, a lack of reported males across the clade despite centuries of study, and unusually high numbers of horizontally acquired, non-metazoan genes. Genome sequencing is transforming our understanding of their lifestyle and its consequences, while in turn providing wider insights about recombination and genome organisation in animals. Many questions remain, not least how to reconcile apparent genomic signatures of sex with the continued absence of reported males, why bdelloids have so many horizontally acquired genes, and how their remarkable ability to survive stress interacts with recombination and other genomic processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher G Wilson
- Department of Biology, University of Oxford, 11a Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3SZ, UK.
| | - Tymoteusz Pieszko
- Department of Biology, University of Oxford, 11a Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3SZ, UK
| | - Reuben W Nowell
- Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Ashworth Laboratories, Charlotte Auerbach Road, Edinburgh EH9 3FL, UK; Biological and Environmental Sciences, School of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, UK
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Gandasegui J, Power RI, Curry E, Lau DCW, O'Neill CM, Wolstenholme A, Prichard R, Šlapeta J, Doyle SR. Genome structure and population genomics of the canine heartworm Dirofilaria immitis. Int J Parasitol 2024; 54:89-98. [PMID: 37652224 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpara.2023.07.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2023] [Revised: 07/24/2023] [Accepted: 07/28/2023] [Indexed: 09/02/2023]
Abstract
The heartworm, Dirofilaria immitis, is a filarial parasitic nematode responsible for significant morbidity and mortality in wild and domesticated canids. Resistance to macrocyclic lactone drug prevention represents a significant threat to parasite control and has prompted investigations to understand the genetic determinants of resistance. This study aimed to improve the genomic resources of D. immitis to enable a more precise understanding of how genetic variation is distributed within and between parasite populations worldwide, which will inform the likelihood and rate by which parasites, and in turn, resistant alleles, might spread. We have guided the scaffolding of a recently published genome assembly for D. immitis (ICBAS_JMDir_1.0) using the chromosomal-scale reference genomes of Brugia malayi and Onchocerca volvulus, resulting in an 89.5 Mb assembly composed of four autosomal- and one sex-linked chromosomal-scale scaffolds representing 99.7% of the genome. Publicly available and new whole-genome sequencing data from 32 D. immitis samples from Australia, Italy and the USA were assessed using principal component analysis, nucleotide diversity (Pi) and absolute genetic divergence (Dxy) to characterise the global genetic structure and measure within- and between-population diversity. These population genetic analyses revealed broad-scale genetic structure among globally diverse samples and differences in genetic diversity between populations; however, fine-scale subpopulation analysis was limited and biased by differences between sample types. Finally, we mapped single nucleotide polymorphisms previously associated with macrocyclic lactone resistance in the new genome assembly, revealing the physical linkage of high-priority variants on chromosome 3, and determined their frequency in the studied populations. This new chromosomal assembly for D. immitis now allows for a more precise investigation of selection on genome-wide genetic variation and will enhance our understanding of parasite transmission and the spread of genetic variants responsible for resistance to treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Javier Gandasegui
- Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), Hospital Clínic - University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
| | - Rosemonde I Power
- Sydney School of Veterinary Science, Faculty of Science, The University of Sydney, NSW, Australia.
| | - Emily Curry
- Institute of Parasitology, McGill University, Sainte Anne-de-Bellevue, QC, Canada.
| | - Daisy Ching-Wai Lau
- Sydney School of Veterinary Science, Faculty of Science, The University of Sydney, NSW, Australia.
| | - Connor M O'Neill
- Department of Infectious Diseases, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA.
| | - Adrian Wolstenholme
- Department of Infectious Diseases, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA.
| | - Roger Prichard
- Institute of Parasitology, McGill University, Sainte Anne-de-Bellevue, QC, Canada.
| | - Jan Šlapeta
- Sydney School of Veterinary Science, Faculty of Science, The University of Sydney, NSW, Australia.
| | - Stephen R Doyle
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Cambridgeshire CB10 1SA, United Kingdom.
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Zadesenets KS, Ershov NI, Bondar NP, Rubtsov NB. Unraveling the Unusual Subgenomic Organization in the Neopolyploid Free-Living Flatworm Macrostomum lignano. Mol Biol Evol 2023; 40:msad250. [PMID: 37979163 PMCID: PMC10733133 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msad250] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2023] [Revised: 09/21/2023] [Accepted: 11/14/2023] [Indexed: 11/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Whole genome duplication (WGD) is an evolutionary event resulting in a redundancy of genetic material. Different mechanisms of WGD, allo- or autopolyploidization, lead to distinct evolutionary trajectories of newly formed polyploids. Genome studies on such species are important for understanding the early stages of genome evolution. However, assembling neopolyploid is a challenging task due to the presence of 2 homologous (or homeologous) chromosome sets and therefore the existence of the extended paralogous regions in its genome. Post-WGD evolution of polyploids includes cytogenetic diploidization leading to the formation of species, whose polyploid origin might be hidden by disomic inheritance. Earlier we uncovered the hidden polyploid origin of the free-living flatworms of the genus Macrostomum (Macrostomum lignano, M. janickei, and M. mirumnovem). Cytogenetic diploidization in these species is accompanied by intensive chromosomal rearrangements including chromosomes fusions. In this study, we unravel the M. lignano genome organization through generation and sequencing of 2 sublines of the commonly used inbred line of M. lignano (called DV1) differing only in a copy number of the largest chromosome (MLI1). Using nontrivial assembly free comparative analysis of their genomes, we deciphered DNA sequences belonging to MLI1 and validated them by sequencing the pool of microdissected MLI1. Here we presented the uncommon mechanism of genome rediplodization of M. lignano, which consists of (i) presence of 3 subgenomes, which emerged via formation of large fused chromosomes and its variants, and (ii) sustaining their heterozygosity through inter- and intrachromosomal rearrangements.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kira S Zadesenets
- Department of Molecular Genetics, Cell Biology and Bionformatics, The Federal Research Center Institute of Cytology and Genetics SB RAS, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia
| | - Nikita I Ershov
- Department of Molecular Genetics, Cell Biology and Bionformatics, The Federal Research Center Institute of Cytology and Genetics SB RAS, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia
| | - Natalia P Bondar
- Department of Molecular Genetics, Cell Biology and Bionformatics, The Federal Research Center Institute of Cytology and Genetics SB RAS, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia
- Department of Natural Sciences, Novosibirsk State University, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia
| | - Nikolai B Rubtsov
- Department of Molecular Genetics, Cell Biology and Bionformatics, The Federal Research Center Institute of Cytology and Genetics SB RAS, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia
- Department of Natural Sciences, Novosibirsk State University, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia
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Nikolaeva OV, Beregova AM, Efeykin BD, Miroliubova TS, Zhuravlev AY, Ivantsov AY, Mikhailov KV, Spiridonov SE, Aleoshin VV. Expression of Hairpin-Enriched Mitochondrial DNA in Two Hairworm Species (Nematomorpha). Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:11411. [PMID: 37511167 PMCID: PMC10380579 DOI: 10.3390/ijms241411411] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2023] [Revised: 07/07/2023] [Accepted: 07/08/2023] [Indexed: 07/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Nematomorpha (hairworms) is a phylum of parasitic ecdysozoans, best known for infecting arthropods and guiding their hosts toward water, where the parasite can complete its life cycle. Over 350 species of nematomorphs have been described, yet molecular data for the group remain scarce. The few available mitochondrial genomes of nematomorphs are enriched with long inverted repeats, which are embedded in the coding sequences of their genes-a remarkably unusual feature exclusive to this phylum. Here, we obtain and annotate the repeats in the mitochondrial genome of another nematomorph species-Parachordodes pustulosus. Using genomic and transcriptomic libraries, we investigate the impact of inverted repeats on the read coverage of the mitochondrial genome. Pronounced drops in the read coverage coincide with regions containing long inverted repeats, denoting the 'blind spots' of short-fragment sequencing libraries. Phylogenetic inference with the novel data reveals multiple disagreements between the traditional system of Nematomorpha and molecular data, rendering several genera paraphyletic, including Parachordodes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olga V. Nikolaeva
- Belozersky Institute of Physicochemical Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskie Gory Str., 1, Bld. 40, Moscow 119991, Russia
| | - Aleksandra M. Beregova
- Belozersky Institute of Physicochemical Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskie Gory Str., 1, Bld. 40, Moscow 119991, Russia
- Faculty of Bioengineering and Bioinformatics, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskie Gory Str., 1, Bld. 73, Moscow 119991, Russia
| | - Boris D. Efeykin
- Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninskiy Ave., 33, Moscow 119071, Russia (S.E.S.)
- Institute for Information Transmission Problems (Kharkevich Institute), Russian Academy of Sciences, Bolshoy Karetny Per., 19, Bld. 1, Moscow 127051, Russia
| | - Tatiana S. Miroliubova
- Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninskiy Ave., 33, Moscow 119071, Russia (S.E.S.)
| | - Andrey Yu. Zhuravlev
- Faculty of Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskie Gory Str., 1, Bld. 12, Moscow 119991, Russia
| | - Andrey Yu. Ivantsov
- Borissiak Palaeontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Profsoyuznaya Str., 123, Moscow 117647, Russia
| | - Kirill V. Mikhailov
- Belozersky Institute of Physicochemical Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskie Gory Str., 1, Bld. 40, Moscow 119991, Russia
- Institute for Information Transmission Problems (Kharkevich Institute), Russian Academy of Sciences, Bolshoy Karetny Per., 19, Bld. 1, Moscow 127051, Russia
| | - Sergei E. Spiridonov
- Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninskiy Ave., 33, Moscow 119071, Russia (S.E.S.)
| | - Vladimir V. Aleoshin
- Belozersky Institute of Physicochemical Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskie Gory Str., 1, Bld. 40, Moscow 119991, Russia
- Institute for Information Transmission Problems (Kharkevich Institute), Russian Academy of Sciences, Bolshoy Karetny Per., 19, Bld. 1, Moscow 127051, Russia
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Ding X, Guo Y, Ye J, Wu X, Lin S, Chen F, Zhu L, Huang L, Song X, Zhang Y, Dai L, Xi X, Huang J, Wang K, Fan B, Li D. Population differentiation and epidemic tracking of Bursaphelenchus xylophilus in China based on chromosome-level assembly and whole-genome sequencing data. Pest Manag Sci 2022; 78:1213-1226. [PMID: 34839581 PMCID: PMC9300093 DOI: 10.1002/ps.6738] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2021] [Revised: 11/09/2021] [Accepted: 11/28/2021] [Indexed: 05/13/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, the pinewood nematode, kills millions of pine trees worldwide every year, and causes enormous economic and ecological losses. Despite extensive research on population variation, there is little understanding of the population-wide variation spectrum in China. RESULTS We sequenced an inbred B. xylophilus strain using Pacbio+Illumina+Bionano+Hi-C and generated a chromosome-level assembly (AH1) with six chromosomes of 77.1 Mb (chromosome N50: 12 Mb). The AH1 assembly shows very high continuity and completeness, and contains novel genes with potentially important functions compared with previous assemblies. Subsequently, we sequenced 181 strains from China and the USA and found ~7.8 million single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Analysis shows that the B. xylophilus population in China can be divided into geographically bounded subpopulations with severe cross-infection and potential migrations. In addition, distribution of B. xylophilus is dominated by temperature zones while geographically associated SNPs are mainly located on adaptation related GPCR gene families, suggesting the nematode has been evolving to adapt to different temperatures. A machine-learning based epidemic tracking method has been established to predict their geographical origins, which can be applied to any other species. CONCLUSION Our study provides the community with the first high-quality chromosome-level assembly which includes a comprehensive catalogue of genetic variations. It provides insights into population structure and effective tracking method for this invasive species, which facilitates future studies to address a variety of applied, genomic and evolutionary questions in B. xylophilus as well as related species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaolei Ding
- Co‐Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, College of ForestryNanjing Forestry UniversityNanjingChina
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Prevention and Management of Invasive SpeciesNanjingChina
- Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute, University of Southern CaliforniaLos AngelesCAUSA
| | - Yunfei Guo
- Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute, University of Southern CaliforniaLos AngelesCAUSA
- Department of Preventive MedicineUniversity of Southern CaliforniaLos AngelesCAUSA
| | - Jianren Ye
- Co‐Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, College of ForestryNanjing Forestry UniversityNanjingChina
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Prevention and Management of Invasive SpeciesNanjingChina
| | - Xiaoqin Wu
- Co‐Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, College of ForestryNanjing Forestry UniversityNanjingChina
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Prevention and Management of Invasive SpeciesNanjingChina
| | - Sixi Lin
- Co‐Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, College of ForestryNanjing Forestry UniversityNanjingChina
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Prevention and Management of Invasive SpeciesNanjingChina
| | - Fengmao Chen
- Co‐Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, College of ForestryNanjing Forestry UniversityNanjingChina
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Prevention and Management of Invasive SpeciesNanjingChina
| | - Lihua Zhu
- Co‐Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, College of ForestryNanjing Forestry UniversityNanjingChina
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Prevention and Management of Invasive SpeciesNanjingChina
| | - Lin Huang
- Co‐Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, College of ForestryNanjing Forestry UniversityNanjingChina
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Prevention and Management of Invasive SpeciesNanjingChina
| | - Xiaofeng Song
- Department of Biomedical EngineeringNanjing University of Aeronautics and AstronauticsNanjingChina
| | - Yi Zhang
- Co‐Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, College of ForestryNanjing Forestry UniversityNanjingChina
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Prevention and Management of Invasive SpeciesNanjingChina
| | - Ling Dai
- Co‐Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, College of ForestryNanjing Forestry UniversityNanjingChina
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Prevention and Management of Invasive SpeciesNanjingChina
| | - Xiaotong Xi
- Co‐Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, College of ForestryNanjing Forestry UniversityNanjingChina
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Prevention and Management of Invasive SpeciesNanjingChina
| | - Jinsi Huang
- Co‐Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, College of ForestryNanjing Forestry UniversityNanjingChina
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Prevention and Management of Invasive SpeciesNanjingChina
| | - Kai Wang
- Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute, University of Southern CaliforniaLos AngelesCAUSA
- Department of Preventive MedicineUniversity of Southern CaliforniaLos AngelesCAUSA
- Raymond G. Perelman Center for Cellular and Molecular Therapeutics, Children's Hospital of PhiladelphiaPhiladelphiaPAUSA
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory MedicineUniversity of PennsylvaniaPhiladelphiaPAUSA
| | - Ben Fan
- Co‐Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, College of ForestryNanjing Forestry UniversityNanjingChina
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Prevention and Management of Invasive SpeciesNanjingChina
| | - De‐Wei Li
- The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station Valley LaboratoryWindsorCTUSA
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Abstract
The clustered, regularly interspaced, short, palindromic repeat (CRISPR)-associated (CAS) nuclease Cas9 has been used in many organisms to generate specific mutations and transgene insertions. Here we describe our most up-to-date protocols using the S. pyogenes Cas9 in C. elegans that provides a convenient and effective approach for making heritable changes to the worm genome. We present several considerations when deciding which strategy best suits the needs of the experiment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charlotte J Martin
- Department of Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - John A Calarco
- Department of Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
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Mohammadi MA, Harandi MF, McManus DP, Mansouri M. Genome-wide transcriptome analysis of the early developmental stages of Echinococcus granulosus protoscoleces reveals extensive alternative splicing events in the spliceosome pathway. Parasit Vectors 2021; 14:574. [PMID: 34772444 PMCID: PMC8587495 DOI: 10.1186/s13071-021-05067-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2021] [Accepted: 10/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The complex life cycle of Echinococcus granulosus involves numerous environmental conditions within different intermediate and definitive hosts. This requires adaptation at different levels of transcript regulation. Alternative splicing (AS) and the related cellular functions as one of the major fields of post-genomics has been poorly studied in tapeworms. In the present study, we investigated AS events and their potential biological effects in E. granulosus. METHODS Whole transcriptome sequencing data of four groups of protoscoleces were prepared for RNA-seq library construction. Fresh protoscoleces were either used as non-induced controls (NT group) or incubated for 15 min with pepsin (PEP group) and cultivated in a biphasic medium for 12 and 24 h (12 and 24 h groups). The frequency and different types of AS events were identified using rMATS software. Functional annotations and gene ontology of differential AS (DAS) genes were performed using Blast2GO software. AS events were experimentally validated by PCR on the protoscolex cDNAs using specific primers for each gene. RESULTS At least one AS event was found in 38.1% of the genes (3904 out of 10,245) in the protoscoleces during early strobilar development. The genes were associated primarily with cellular and metabolic processes and binding and catalytic activity. KEGG pathway analysis of DAS events revealed a number of genes belonging to different components of the spliceosome complex. These genes tended to belong to common SR proteins, U1-related factors, U2-related factors, complex A-specific factors and other splicing-related proteins. CONCLUSIONS The high number of AS events in the transcriptome regulatory mechanisms indicates the essential rapid molecular processes required by the parasite for adaptation in different environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohammad Ali Mohammadi
- Student Research Committee, Afzalipour School of Medicine, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran
- Research Center for Hydatid Disease in Iran, Afzalipour School of Medicine, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran
| | - Majid Fasihi Harandi
- Research Center for Hydatid Disease in Iran, Afzalipour School of Medicine, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran
| | - Donald P. McManus
- Molecular Parasitology Laboratory, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, QLD Australia
| | - Mehdi Mansouri
- Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, Iran
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Schwartz ML, Davis MW, Rich MS, Jorgensen EM. High-efficiency CRISPR gene editing in C. elegans using Cas9 integrated into the genome. PLoS Genet 2021; 17:e1009755. [PMID: 34748534 PMCID: PMC8601624 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1009755] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2021] [Revised: 11/18/2021] [Accepted: 10/16/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Gene editing in C. elegans using plasmid-based CRISPR reagents requires microinjection of many animals to produce a single edit. Germline silencing of plasmid-borne Cas9 is a major cause of inefficient editing. Here, we present a set of C. elegans strains that constitutively express Cas9 in the germline from an integrated transgene. These strains markedly improve the success rate for plasmid-based CRISPR edits. For simple, short homology arm GFP insertions, 50-100% of injected animals typically produce edited progeny, depending on the target locus. Template-guided editing from an extrachromosomal array is maintained over multiple generations. We have built strains with the Cas9 transgene on multiple chromosomes. Additionally, each Cas9 locus also contains a heatshock-driven Cre recombinase for selectable marker removal and a bright fluorescence marker for easy outcrossing. These integrated Cas9 strains greatly reduce the workload for producing individual genome edits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew L. Schwartz
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute and School of Biological Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America
| | - M. Wayne Davis
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute and School of Biological Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America
| | - Matthew S. Rich
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute and School of Biological Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America
| | - Erik M. Jorgensen
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute and School of Biological Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America
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10
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Xu FF, Niu YF, Chen WQ, Liu SS, Li JR, Jiang P, Wang ZQ, Cui J, Zhang X. Hookworm infection in central China: morphological and molecular diagnosis. Parasit Vectors 2021; 14:537. [PMID: 34649597 PMCID: PMC8518228 DOI: 10.1186/s13071-021-05035-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2021] [Accepted: 09/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Necator americanus is one of the major etiological agents of human ancylostomiasis. Historically, the epidemiology of ancylostomiasis in Henan Province of central China and the molecular characteristics of N. americanus have been poorly understood. METHODS In this study, we report a case of ancylostomiasis in Zhengzhou city of Henan Province. We also review the epidemiology of ancylostomiasis in Henan Province from 1949 to 2020. In addition, the complete mitochondrial (mt) genome of one clinical isolate is fully characterized using Illumina sequencing. All available mt genomes of hookworms in GenBank were included to reconstruct the phylogeny using both maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian inference (BI) methods. RESULTS A total of three worms were collected from the patient. These worms were identified as N. americanus based on morphological characteristics as well as confirmed by genotyping with the barcoding gene cox1. Although ancylostomiasis cases have dropped substantially in recent years, hookworm infection is still a public health problem in underdeveloped areas and remote rural areas in Henan Province. The mt genome features of the N. americanus contained 12 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNA genes, two ribosomal RNA genes, and a major non-coding region. The nad1 gene showed high sequence variability among isolates, which is worth considering for future genetic studies of N. americanus. Phylogenetic analyses support the monophyly of hookworm isolates from different hosts and distinct geographical locations. CONCLUSIONS The mt genome of N. americanus presented here will serve as a useful data set for studying population genetics and phylogenetic relationships of hookworms. Positive measures for preventing and controlling ancylostomiasis are required by both health services and individuals in Henan Province.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fang Fang Xu
- Department of Parasitology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450001, China
| | - Yu Fei Niu
- Department of Parasitology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450001, China
| | - Wen Qing Chen
- Department of Parasitology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450001, China
| | - Sha Sha Liu
- Department of Parasitology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450001, China
| | - Jing Ru Li
- Department of Parasitology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450001, China
| | - Peng Jiang
- Department of Parasitology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450001, China
| | - Zhong Quan Wang
- Department of Parasitology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450001, China
| | - Jing Cui
- Department of Parasitology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450001, China
| | - Xi Zhang
- Department of Parasitology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450001, China.
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11
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Meier B, Volkova NV, Wang B, González-Huici V, Bertolini S, Campbell PJ, Gerstung M, Gartner A. C. elegans genome-wide analysis reveals DNA repair pathways that act cooperatively to preserve genome integrity upon ionizing radiation. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0258269. [PMID: 34614038 PMCID: PMC8494335 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0258269] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2021] [Accepted: 09/22/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Ionizing radiation (IR) is widely used in cancer therapy and accidental or environmental exposure is a major concern. However, little is known about the genome-wide effects IR exerts on germ cells and the relative contribution of DNA repair pathways for mending IR-induced lesions. Here, using C. elegans as a model system and using primary sequencing data from our recent high-level overview of the mutagenic consequences of 11 genotoxic agents, we investigate in detail the genome-wide mutagenic consequences of exposing wild-type and 43 DNA repair and damage response defective C. elegans strains to a Caesium (Cs-137) source, emitting γ-rays. Cs-137 radiation induced single nucleotide variants (SNVs) at a rate of ~1 base substitution per 3 Gy, affecting all nucleotides equally. In nucleotide excision repair mutants, this frequency increased 2-fold concurrently with increased dinucleotide substitutions. As observed for DNA damage induced by bulky DNA adducts, small deletions were increased in translesion polymerase mutants, while base changes decreased. Structural variants (SVs) were augmented with dose, but did not arise with significantly higher frequency in any DNA repair mutants tested. Moreover, 6% of all mutations occurred in clusters, but clustering was not significantly altered in any DNA repair mutant background. Our data is relevant for better understanding how DNA repair pathways modulate IR-induced lesions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bettina Meier
- Centre for Gene Regulation and Expression, University of Dundee, Dundee, United Kingdom
| | - Nadezda V. Volkova
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, Hinxton, United Kingdom
| | - Bin Wang
- Centre for Gene Regulation and Expression, University of Dundee, Dundee, United Kingdom
- National Engineering Research Center for Non-Food Biorefinery, Guangxi Academy of Sciences, Nanning, China
| | - Víctor González-Huici
- Centre for Gene Regulation and Expression, University of Dundee, Dundee, United Kingdom
| | - Simone Bertolini
- Centre for Gene Regulation and Expression, University of Dundee, Dundee, United Kingdom
| | - Peter J. Campbell
- Cancer, Ageing and Somatic Mutation, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, United Kingdom
- Department of Haematology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
- Department of Haematology, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Moritz Gerstung
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, Hinxton, United Kingdom
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Genome Biology Unit, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Anton Gartner
- Centre for Gene Regulation and Expression, University of Dundee, Dundee, United Kingdom
- Center for Genomic Integrity, Institute for Basic Science, Ulsan, Republic of Korea
- Department of Biological Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Ulsan, Republic of Korea
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12
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Mattick J, Libro S, Bromley R, Chaicumpa W, Chung M, Cook D, Khan MB, Kumar N, Lau YL, Misra-Bhattacharya S, Rao R, Sadzewicz L, Saeung A, Shahab M, Sparklin BC, Steven A, Turner JD, Tallon LJ, Taylor MJ, Moorhead AR, Michalski M, Foster JM, Dunning Hotopp JC. X-treme loss of sequence diversity linked to neo-X chromosomes in filarial nematodes. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2021; 15:e0009838. [PMID: 34705823 PMCID: PMC8575316 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0009838] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2020] [Revised: 11/08/2021] [Accepted: 09/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The sequence diversity of natural and laboratory populations of Brugia pahangi and Brugia malayi was assessed with Illumina resequencing followed by mapping in order to identify single nucleotide variants and insertions/deletions. In natural and laboratory Brugia populations, there is a lack of sequence diversity on chromosome X relative to the autosomes (πX/πA = 0.2), which is lower than the expected (πX/πA = 0.75). A reduction in diversity is also observed in other filarial nematodes with neo-X chromosome fusions in the genera Onchocerca and Wuchereria, but not those without neo-X chromosome fusions in the genera Loa and Dirofilaria. In the species with neo-X chromosome fusions, chromosome X is abnormally large, containing a third of the genetic material such that a sizable portion of the genome is lacking sequence diversity. Such profound differences in genetic diversity can be consequential, having been associated with drug resistance and adaptability, with the potential to affect filarial eradication.
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Affiliation(s)
- John Mattick
- Institute for Genome Science, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
| | - Silvia Libro
- New England Biolabs, Ipswich, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Robin Bromley
- Institute for Genome Science, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
| | - Wanpen Chaicumpa
- Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Matthew Chung
- Institute for Genome Science, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
| | - Darren Cook
- Centre for Neglected Tropical Diseases, Department of Tropical Disease Biology, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| | - Mohammad Behram Khan
- Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
| | - Nikhil Kumar
- Institute for Genome Science, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
| | - Yee-Ling Lau
- Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
| | | | - Ramakrishna Rao
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, Missouri, United States of America
| | - Lisa Sadzewicz
- Institute for Genome Science, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
| | - Atiporn Saeung
- Center of Insect Vector Study, Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand
| | - Mohd Shahab
- Division of Parasitology, CSIR-Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow, India
| | - Benjamin C. Sparklin
- Institute for Genome Science, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
| | - Andrew Steven
- Centre for Neglected Tropical Diseases, Department of Tropical Disease Biology, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| | - Joseph D. Turner
- Centre for Neglected Tropical Diseases, Department of Tropical Disease Biology, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| | - Luke J. Tallon
- Institute for Genome Science, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
| | - Mark J. Taylor
- Centre for Neglected Tropical Diseases, Department of Tropical Disease Biology, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| | - Andrew R. Moorhead
- Department of Infectious Diseases, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Michelle Michalski
- University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, United States of America
| | - Jeremy M. Foster
- New England Biolabs, Ipswich, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Julie C. Dunning Hotopp
- Institute for Genome Science, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
- Greenebaum Cancer Center, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
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13
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Luo X, Cui K, Wang Z, Li Z, Wu Z, Huang W, Zhu XQ, Ruan J, Zhang W, Liu Q. High-quality reference genome of Fasciola gigantica: Insights into the genomic signatures of transposon-mediated evolution and specific parasitic adaption in tropical regions. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2021; 15:e0009750. [PMID: 34610021 PMCID: PMC8519440 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0009750] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2021] [Revised: 10/15/2021] [Accepted: 08/23/2021] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Fasciola gigantica and Fasciola hepatica are causative pathogens of fascioliasis, with the widest latitudinal, longitudinal, and altitudinal distribution; however, among parasites, they have the largest sequenced genomes, hindering genomic research. In the present study, we used various sequencing and assembly technologies to generate a new high-quality Fasciola gigantica reference genome. We improved the integration of gene structure prediction, and identified two independent transposable element expansion events contributing to (1) the speciation between Fasciola and Fasciolopsis during the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary mass extinction, and (2) the habitat switch to the liver during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, accompanied by gene length increment. Long interspersed element (LINE) duplication contributed to the second transposon-mediated alteration, showing an obvious trend of insertion into gene regions, regardless of strong purifying effect. Gene ontology analysis of genes with long LINE insertions identified membrane-associated and vesicle secretion process proteins, further implicating the functional alteration of the gene network. We identified 852 predicted excretory/secretory proteins and 3300 protein-protein interactions between Fasciola gigantica and its host. Among them, copper/zinc superoxide dismutase genes, with specific gene copy number variations, might play a central role in the phase I detoxification process. Analysis of 559 single-copy orthologs suggested that Fasciola gigantica and Fasciola hepatica diverged at 11.8 Ma near the Middle and Late Miocene Epoch boundary. We identified 98 rapidly evolving gene families, including actin and aquaporin, which might explain the large body size and the parasitic adaptive character resulting in these liver flukes becoming epidemic in tropical and subtropical regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xier Luo
- Shenzhen Branch, Guangdong Laboratory of Lingnan Modern Agriculture, Genome Analysis Laboratory of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shenzhen, China
- State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Subtropical Agro-bioresources, Guangxi University, Nanning, China
| | - Kuiqing Cui
- State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Subtropical Agro-bioresources, Guangxi University, Nanning, China
| | - Zhiqiang Wang
- State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Subtropical Agro-bioresources, Guangxi University, Nanning, China
| | - Zhipeng Li
- State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Subtropical Agro-bioresources, Guangxi University, Nanning, China
| | - Zhengjiao Wu
- State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Subtropical Agro-bioresources, Guangxi University, Nanning, China
| | - Weiyi Huang
- State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Subtropical Agro-bioresources, Guangxi University, Nanning, China
| | - Xing-Quan Zhu
- College of Veterinary Medicine, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taigu, China
| | - Jue Ruan
- Shenzhen Branch, Guangdong Laboratory of Lingnan Modern Agriculture, Genome Analysis Laboratory of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shenzhen, China
- State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Subtropical Agro-bioresources, Guangxi University, Nanning, China
| | - Weiyu Zhang
- State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Subtropical Agro-bioresources, Guangxi University, Nanning, China
| | - Qingyou Liu
- Shenzhen Branch, Guangdong Laboratory of Lingnan Modern Agriculture, Genome Analysis Laboratory of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shenzhen, China
- State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Subtropical Agro-bioresources, Guangxi University, Nanning, China
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14
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Ribado JV, Li NJ, Thiele E, Lyons H, Cotton JA, Weiss A, Tchindebet Ouakou P, Moundai T, Zirimwabagabo H, Guagliardo SAJ, Chabot-Couture G, Proctor JL. Linked surveillance and genetic data uncovers programmatically relevant geographic scale of Guinea worm transmission in Chad. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2021; 15:e0009609. [PMID: 34310598 PMCID: PMC8341693 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0009609] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2020] [Revised: 08/05/2021] [Accepted: 06/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Guinea worm (Dracunculus medinensis) was detected in Chad in 2010 after a supposed ten-year absence, posing a challenge to the global eradication effort. Initiation of a village-based surveillance system in 2012 revealed a substantial number of dogs infected with Guinea worm, raising questions about paratenic hosts and cross-species transmission. Methodology/principal findings We coupled genomic and surveillance case data from 2012-2018 to investigate the modes of transmission between dog and human hosts and the geographic connectivity of worms. Eighty-six variants across four genes in the mitochondrial genome identified 41 genetically distinct worm genotypes. Spatiotemporal modeling revealed worms with the same genotype (‘genetically identical’) were within a median range of 18.6 kilometers of each other, but largely within approximately 50 kilometers. Genetically identical worms varied in their degree of spatial clustering, suggesting there may be different factors that favor or constrain transmission. Each worm was surrounded by five to ten genetically distinct worms within a 50 kilometer radius. As expected, we observed a change in the genetic similarity distribution between pairs of worms using variants across the complete mitochondrial genome in an independent population. Conclusions/significance In the largest study linking genetic and surveillance data to date of Guinea worm cases in Chad, we show genetic identity and modeling can facilitate the understanding of local transmission. The co-occurrence of genetically non-identical worms in quantitatively identified transmission ranges highlights the necessity for genomic tools to link cases. The improved discrimination between pairs of worms from variants identified across the complete mitochondrial genome suggests that expanding the number of genomic markers could link cases at a finer scale. These results suggest that scaling up genomic surveillance for Guinea worm may provide additional value for programmatic decision-making critical for monitoring cases and intervention efficacy to achieve elimination. The global eradication effort for Guinea worm disease has dramatically decreased the global burden of the disease and enabled 187 countries to be certified by the World Health Organization to be free of endemic transmission. Despite this progress, several countries continue to have endemic transmission. In Chad, a long absence of reported cases was interrupted with the identification of new Guinea worm cases, prompting a substantial scale up of surveillance and intervention efforts. Here, we study the value of increasing genomic surveillance as a tool for programmatic evaluation of surveillance and intervention efforts in Chad. Linking surveillance and genomic samples, parsimonious spatial models help reveal a consistent geographic clustering of similar genetic sequences across Chad. We also demonstrate that expanding the sequencing can offer better resolution for distinguishing Guinea worm samples. In this retrospective study, we found evidence that scaling up genomic surveillance can be an important monitoring and evaluation tool for the eradication program in Chad.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica V. Ribado
- Institute for Disease Modeling, Global Health Division of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Nancy J. Li
- Institute for Disease Modeling, Global Health Division of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Elizabeth Thiele
- Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York, United States of America
| | - Hil Lyons
- Institute for Disease Modeling, Global Health Division of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - James A. Cotton
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom
| | - Adam Weiss
- The Carter Center, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
| | | | - Tchonfienet Moundai
- National Guinea Worm Eradication Program, Ministry of Public Health, N’Djamena, Chad
| | | | - Sarah Anne J. Guagliardo
- The Carter Center, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Guillaume Chabot-Couture
- Institute for Disease Modeling, Global Health Division of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Joshua L. Proctor
- Institute for Disease Modeling, Global Health Division of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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15
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Li G, Liu X, Smagghe G, Niu J, Wang J. Genome-Wide Characterization and Identification of Long Non-Coding RNAs during the Molting Process of a Spider Mite, Panonychus citri. Int J Mol Sci 2021; 22:6909. [PMID: 34199120 PMCID: PMC8269015 DOI: 10.3390/ijms22136909] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2021] [Revised: 06/23/2021] [Accepted: 06/23/2021] [Indexed: 01/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Molting is essential for arthropods to grow. As one of the important arthropod pests in agriculture, key spider mite species (Tetranychus and Panonychus) can normally molt three times from the larva to adult stage within a week. This physiological strategy results in the short lifecycle of spider mites and difficulties in their control in the field. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) regulate transcriptional editing, cellular function, and biological processes. Thus, analysis of the lncRNAs in the spider mite molting process may provide new insights into their roles in the molting mechanism. For this purpose, we used high-throughput RNA-seq to examine the expression dynamics of lncRNAs and mRNAs in the molting process of different development stages in Panonychus citri. We identified 9199 lncRNAs from 18 transcriptomes. Analysis of the lncRNAs suggested that they were shorter and had fewer exons and transcripts than mRNAs. Among these, 356 lncRNAs were differentially expressed during three molting processes: late larva to early protonymph, late protonymph to early deutonymph, and late deutonymph to early adult. A time series profile analysis of differentially expressed lncRNAs showed that 77 lncRNAs were clustered into two dynamic expression profiles (Pattern a and Pattern c), implying that lncRNAs were involved in the molting process of spider mites. Furthermore, the lncRNA-mRNA co-expression networks showed that several differentially expressed hub lncRNAs were predicted to be functionally associated with typical molting-related proteins, such as cuticle protein and chitin biosynthesis. These data reveal the potential regulatory function of lncRNAs in the molting process and provide datasets for further analysis of lncRNAs and mRNAs in spider mites.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gang Li
- Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Pest Management of Mountainous Regions, Institute of Entomology, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China;
- International Joint Laboratory of China-Belgium on Sustainable Crop Pest Control, State Cultivation Base of Crop Stress Biology for Southern Mountainous Land, Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China; (X.L.); (G.S.); (J.N.)
| | - Xunyan Liu
- International Joint Laboratory of China-Belgium on Sustainable Crop Pest Control, State Cultivation Base of Crop Stress Biology for Southern Mountainous Land, Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China; (X.L.); (G.S.); (J.N.)
| | - Guy Smagghe
- International Joint Laboratory of China-Belgium on Sustainable Crop Pest Control, State Cultivation Base of Crop Stress Biology for Southern Mountainous Land, Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China; (X.L.); (G.S.); (J.N.)
- Department of Plants and Crops, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Jinzhi Niu
- International Joint Laboratory of China-Belgium on Sustainable Crop Pest Control, State Cultivation Base of Crop Stress Biology for Southern Mountainous Land, Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China; (X.L.); (G.S.); (J.N.)
| | - Jinjun Wang
- International Joint Laboratory of China-Belgium on Sustainable Crop Pest Control, State Cultivation Base of Crop Stress Biology for Southern Mountainous Land, Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China; (X.L.); (G.S.); (J.N.)
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16
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Hong H, Chen H, Zhang Y, Wu Z, Zhang Y, Zhang Y, Hu Z, Zhang JV, Ling K, Hu J, Wei Q. DYF-4 regulates patched-related/DAF-6-mediated sensory compartment formation in C. elegans. PLoS Genet 2021; 17:e1009618. [PMID: 34115759 PMCID: PMC8221789 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1009618] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2020] [Revised: 06/23/2021] [Accepted: 05/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Coordination of neurite extension with surrounding glia development is critical for neuronal function, but the underlying molecular mechanisms remain poorly understood. Through a genome-wide mutagenesis screen in C. elegans, we identified dyf-4 and daf-6 as two mutants sharing similar defects in dendrite extension. DAF-6 encodes a glia-specific patched-related membrane protein that plays vital roles in glial morphogenesis. We cloned dyf-4 and found that DYF-4 encodes a glia-secreted protein. Further investigations revealed that DYF-4 interacts with DAF-6 and functions in a same pathway as DAF-6 to regulate sensory compartment formation. Furthermore, we demonstrated that reported glial suppressors of daf-6 could also restore dendrite elongation and ciliogenesis in both dyf-4 and daf-6 mutants. Collectively, our data reveal that DYF-4 is a regulator for DAF-6 which promotes the proper formation of the glial channel and indirectly affects neurite extension and ciliogenesis. In C. elegans sensory organ, the ciliated neuronal endings are wrapped in a luminal channel formed by glial cells, forming a specialized sensory compartment critical for sensory activity. Coordination of glial channel formation, dendritic tip anchoring and ciliogenesis are critical for the formation of a functional sensory compartment. DAF-6, a patched-related glial membrane protein, was reported to play an important role in glial channel morphogenesis, but the molecular function and regulatory mechanism of DAF-6 remain poorly understood. Here, we found that DYF-4, a glia-secreted protein, interacts and colocalizes with DAF-6, and functions in a same pathway as DAF-6 to regulate sensory compartment formation. We propose that DYF-4 is a novel regulator for DAF-6 to control sensory compartment formation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hui Hong
- CAS Key Laboratory of Insect Developmental and Evolutionary Biology, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
- Department of Thoracic Surgery, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai, China
- Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai, China
| | - Huicheng Chen
- CAS Key Laboratory of Insect Developmental and Evolutionary Biology, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Center for Energy Metabolism and Reproduction, Institute of Biomedicine and Biotechnology, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shenzhen, China
| | - Yuxia Zhang
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, United States of America
- Department of Cancer Biology, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, United States of America
| | - Zhimao Wu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Insect Developmental and Evolutionary Biology, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Center for Energy Metabolism and Reproduction, Institute of Biomedicine and Biotechnology, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shenzhen, China
| | - Yingying Zhang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Insect Developmental and Evolutionary Biology, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Center for Energy Metabolism and Reproduction, Institute of Biomedicine and Biotechnology, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shenzhen, China
| | - Yingyi Zhang
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, United States of America
| | - Zeng Hu
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, United States of America
| | - Jian V. Zhang
- Center for Energy Metabolism and Reproduction, Institute of Biomedicine and Biotechnology, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shenzhen, China
| | - Kun Ling
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, United States of America
| | - Jinghua Hu
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, United States of America
| | - Qing Wei
- Center for Energy Metabolism and Reproduction, Institute of Biomedicine and Biotechnology, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shenzhen, China
- * E-mail:
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Stelzer CP, Pichler M, Hatheuer A. Linking genome size variation to population phenotypic variation within the rotifer, Brachionus asplanchnoidis. Commun Biol 2021; 4:596. [PMID: 34011946 PMCID: PMC8134563 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-021-02131-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2020] [Accepted: 04/19/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Eukaryotic organisms usually contain much more genomic DNA than expected from their biological complexity. In explaining this pattern, selection-based hypotheses suggest that genome size evolves through selection acting on correlated life history traits, implicitly assuming the existence of phenotypic effects of (extra) genomic DNA that are independent of its information content. Here, we present conclusive evidence of such phenotypic effects within a well-mixed natural population that shows heritable variation in genome size. We found that genome size is positively correlated with body size, egg size, and embryonic development time in a population of the monogonont rotifer Brachionus asplanchnoidis. The effect on embryonic development time was mediated partly by an indirect effect (via egg size), and a direct effect, the latter indicating an increased replication cost of the larger amounts of DNA during mitosis. Our results suggest that selection-based change of genome size can operate in this population, provided it is strong enough to overcome drift or mutational change of genome size.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Maria Pichler
- University of Innsbruck, Mondseestr. 9, 5310, Mondsee, Austria
| | - Anita Hatheuer
- University of Innsbruck, Mondseestr. 9, 5310, Mondsee, Austria
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Meier B, Volkova NV, Hong Y, Bertolini S, González-Huici V, Petrova T, Boulton S, Campbell PJ, Gerstung M, Gartner A. Protection of the C. elegans germ cell genome depends on diverse DNA repair pathways during normal proliferation. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0250291. [PMID: 33905417 PMCID: PMC8078821 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0250291] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2020] [Accepted: 04/01/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Maintaining genome integrity is particularly important in germ cells to ensure faithful transmission of genetic information across generations. Here we systematically describe germ cell mutagenesis in wild-type and 61 DNA repair mutants cultivated over multiple generations. ~44% of the DNA repair mutants analysed showed a >2-fold increased mutagenesis with a broad spectrum of mutational outcomes. Nucleotide excision repair deficiency led to higher base substitution rates, whereas polh-1(Polη) and rev-3(Polζ) translesion synthesis polymerase mutants resulted in 50-400 bp deletions. Signatures associated with defective homologous recombination fall into two classes: 1) brc-1/BRCA1 and rad-51/RAD51 paralog mutants showed increased mutations across all mutation classes, 2) mus-81/MUS81 and slx-1/SLX1 nuclease, and him-6/BLM, helq-1/HELQ or rtel-1/RTEL1 helicase mutants primarily accumulated structural variants. Repetitive and G-quadruplex sequence-containing loci were more frequently mutated in specific DNA repair backgrounds. Tandem duplications embedded in inverted repeats were observed in helq-1 helicase mutants, and a unique pattern of 'translocations' involving homeologous sequences occurred in rip-1 recombination mutants. atm-1/ATM checkpoint mutants harboured structural variants specifically enriched in subtelomeric regions. Interestingly, locally clustered mutagenesis was only observed for combined brc-1 and cep-1/p53 deficiency. Our study provides a global view of how different DNA repair pathways contribute to prevent germ cell mutagenesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bettina Meier
- Centre for Gene Regulation and Expression, University of Dundee, Dundee, Scotland
| | - Nadezda V. Volkova
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, Hinxton, United Kingdom
| | - Ye Hong
- Centre for Gene Regulation and Expression, University of Dundee, Dundee, Scotland
| | - Simone Bertolini
- Centre for Gene Regulation and Expression, University of Dundee, Dundee, Scotland
| | | | - Tsvetana Petrova
- Centre for Gene Regulation and Expression, University of Dundee, Dundee, Scotland
| | | | - Peter J. Campbell
- Cancer, Ageing and Somatic Mutation Program, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, United Kingdom
- Department of Haematology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
- Department of Haematology, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Moritz Gerstung
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, Hinxton, United Kingdom
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Genome Biology Unit, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Anton Gartner
- Centre for Gene Regulation and Expression, University of Dundee, Dundee, Scotland
- Department of Biological Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Ulsan, Republic of Korea
- Center for Genomic Integrity, Institute for Basic Science, Ulsan, Republic of Korea
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Froehlich JJ, Uyar B, Herzog M, Theil K, Glažar P, Akalin A, Rajewsky N. Parallel genetics of regulatory sequences using scalable genome editing in vivo. Cell Rep 2021; 35:108988. [PMID: 33852857 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2021.108988] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2020] [Revised: 01/13/2021] [Accepted: 03/23/2021] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
How regulatory sequences control gene expression is fundamental for explaining phenotypes in health and disease. Regulatory elements must ultimately be understood within their genomic environment and development- or tissue-specific contexts. Because this is technically challenging, few regulatory elements have been characterized in vivo. Here, we use inducible Cas9 and multiplexed guide RNAs to create hundreds of mutations in enhancers/promoters and 3' UTRs of 16 genes in C. elegans. Our software crispr-DART analyzes indel mutations in targeted DNA sequencing. We quantify the impact of mutations on expression and fitness by targeted RNA sequencing and DNA sampling. When applying our approach to the lin-41 3' UTR, generating hundreds of mutants, we find that the two adjacent binding sites for the miRNA let-7 can regulate lin-41 expression independently of each other. Finally, we map regulatory genotypes to phenotypic traits for several genes. Our approach enables parallel analysis of regulatory sequences directly in animals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan J Froehlich
- Systems Biology of Gene Regulatory Elements, Berlin Institute for Medical Systems Biology, Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association, Hannoversche Str. 28, 10115 Berlin, Germany
| | - Bora Uyar
- Bioinformatics and Omics Data Science Platform, Berlin Institute for Medical Systems Biology, Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association, Hannoversche Str. 28, 10115 Berlin, Germany
| | - Margareta Herzog
- Systems Biology of Gene Regulatory Elements, Berlin Institute for Medical Systems Biology, Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association, Hannoversche Str. 28, 10115 Berlin, Germany
| | - Kathrin Theil
- Systems Biology of Gene Regulatory Elements, Berlin Institute for Medical Systems Biology, Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association, Hannoversche Str. 28, 10115 Berlin, Germany
| | - Petar Glažar
- Systems Biology of Gene Regulatory Elements, Berlin Institute for Medical Systems Biology, Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association, Hannoversche Str. 28, 10115 Berlin, Germany
| | - Altuna Akalin
- Bioinformatics and Omics Data Science Platform, Berlin Institute for Medical Systems Biology, Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association, Hannoversche Str. 28, 10115 Berlin, Germany
| | - Nikolaus Rajewsky
- Systems Biology of Gene Regulatory Elements, Berlin Institute for Medical Systems Biology, Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association, Hannoversche Str. 28, 10115 Berlin, Germany.
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20
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Craven HM, Bonsignore R, Lenis V, Santi N, Berrar D, Swain M, Whiteland H, Casini A, Hoffmann KF. Identifying and validating the presence of Guanine-Quadruplexes (G4) within the blood fluke parasite Schistosoma mansoni. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2021; 15:e0008770. [PMID: 33600427 PMCID: PMC7924807 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0008770] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2020] [Revised: 03/02/2021] [Accepted: 02/02/2021] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Schistosomiasis is a neglected tropical disease that currently affects over 250 million individuals worldwide. In the absence of an immunoprophylactic vaccine and the recognition that mono-chemotherapeutic control of schistosomiasis by praziquantel has limitations, new strategies for managing disease burden are urgently needed. A better understanding of schistosome biology could identify previously undocumented areas suitable for the development of novel interventions. Here, for the first time, we detail the presence of G-quadruplexes (G4) and putative quadruplex forming sequences (PQS) within the Schistosoma mansoni genome. We find that G4 are present in both intragenic and intergenic regions of the seven autosomes as well as the sex-defining allosome pair. Amongst intragenic regions, G4 are particularly enriched in 3´ UTR regions. Gene Ontology (GO) term analysis evidenced significant G4 enrichment in the wnt signalling pathway (p<0.05) and PQS oligonucleotides synthetically derived from wnt-related genes resolve into parallel and anti-parallel G4 motifs as elucidated by circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy. Finally, utilising a single chain anti-G4 antibody called BG4, we confirm the in situ presence of G4 within both adult female and male worm nuclei. These results collectively suggest that G4-targeted compounds could be tested as novel anthelmintic agents and highlights the possibility that G4-stabilizing molecules could be progressed as candidates for the treatment of schistosomiasis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Holly M. Craven
- Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS), Aberystwyth University, United Kingdom
| | | | - Vasilis Lenis
- School of Health and Life Sciences, Teesside University, United Kingdom
| | - Nicolo Santi
- School of Chemistry, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom
| | - Daniel Berrar
- Data Science Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Martin Swain
- Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS), Aberystwyth University, United Kingdom
| | - Helen Whiteland
- Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS), Aberystwyth University, United Kingdom
| | - Angela Casini
- Department of Chemistry, Technical University of Munich, Germany
| | - Karl F. Hoffmann
- Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS), Aberystwyth University, United Kingdom
- * E-mail:
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21
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Mewamba EM, Nyangiri OA, Noyes HA, Egesa M, Matovu E, Simo G. The Genetics of Human Schistosomiasis Infection Intensity and Liver Disease: A Review. Front Immunol 2021; 12:613468. [PMID: 33659002 PMCID: PMC7917240 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.613468] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2020] [Accepted: 01/22/2021] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Schistosomiasis remains the fourth most prevalent parasitic disease affecting over 200 million people worldwide. Control efforts have focussed on the disruption of the life cycle targeting the parasite, vector and human host. Parasite burdens are highly skewed, and the majority of eggs are shed into the environment by a minority of the infected population. Most morbidity results from hepatic fibrosis leading to portal hypertension and is not well-correlated with worm burden. Genetics as well as environmental factors may play a role in these skewed distributions and understanding the genetic risk factors for intensity of infection and morbidity may help improve control measures. In this review, we focus on how genetic factors may influence parasite load, hepatic fibrosis and portal hypertension. We found 28 studies on the genetics of human infection and 20 studies on the genetics of pathology in humans. S. mansoni and S. haematobium infection intensity have been showed to be controlled by a major quantitative trait locus SM1, on chromosome 5q31-q33 containing several genes involved in the Th2 immune response, and three other loci of smaller effect on chromosomes 1, 6, and 7. The most common pathology associated with schistosomiasis is hepatic and portal vein fibroses and the SM2 quantitative trait locus on chromosome six has been linked to intensity of fibrosis. Although there has been an emphasis on Th2 cytokines in candidate gene studies, we found that four of the five QTL regions contain Th17 pathway genes that have been included in schistosomiasis studies: IL17B and IL12B in SM1, IL17A and IL17F in 6p21-q2, IL6R in 1p21-q23 and IL22RA2 in SM2. The Th17 pathway is known to be involved in response to schistosome infection and hepatic fibrosis but variants in this pathway have not been tested for any effect on the regulation of these phenotypes. These should be priorities for future studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Estelle M. Mewamba
- Molecular Parasitology and Entomology Unit, Faculty of Science, University of Dschang, Dschang, Cameroon
| | - Oscar A. Nyangiri
- College of Veterinary Medicine Animal Resources and Biosecurity, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda
| | - Harry A. Noyes
- Centre for Genomic Research, School of Biological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| | - Moses Egesa
- Medical Research Council/Uganda Virus Research Institute and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Uganda Research Unit, Entebbe, Uganda
- London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
| | - Enock Matovu
- College of Veterinary Medicine Animal Resources and Biosecurity, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda
| | - Gustave Simo
- Molecular Parasitology and Entomology Unit, Faculty of Science, University of Dschang, Dschang, Cameroon
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Baeza JA, González MT. A first look at the 'repeatome' of Benedenia humboldti, a major pathogen in yellowtail aquaculture: Repetitive element characterization, nuclear rRNA operon assembly, and microsatellite discovery. Mar Genomics 2021; 58:100848. [PMID: 34217484 DOI: 10.1016/j.margen.2021.100848] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2020] [Revised: 01/30/2021] [Accepted: 02/01/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
The monogenean Benedenia humboldti is a pathogen of the yellowtail Seriola lalandi in the South-Eastern Pacific ocean. Using low-coverage short Illumina 150bp pair-end reads sequencing, this study examines, for the first time, the 'repeatome' (= repetitive genomic elements), including the 45S ribosomal RNA DNA operon and microsatellites, in B. humboldti. Repetitive elements comprised a large fraction of the nuclear genome and a considerable proportion of them could not be assigned to known repeat element families. Taking into account only annotated repetitive elements, the most frequent belonged to the 45S ribosomal RNA operon or were classified as satellite DNA and Class I - Long Interspersed Nuclear Elements (LINEs) which were considerably more abundant than Class I - LTR elements. The ribosomal RNA gene operon in B. humboldti is comprised of, in the following order, a 5' ETS (length = 233 bp), ssrDNA (2082 bp), ITS1 (346 bp), 5.8S rDNA (150 bp), ITS2 (572 bp), lsrDNA (3887 bp), and a 3' ETS (1097 bp). A total of 15 SSRs were identified. These newly developed genomic resources will contribute to the better understanding of meta-population connectivity in this species, cryptic species in the genus, and will advance pest management strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Antonio Baeza
- Department of Biological Sciences, 132 Long Hall, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634, USA; Smithsonian Marine Station at Fort Pierce, 701 Seaway Drive, Fort Pierce, Florida 34949, USA; Departamento de Biología Marina, Universidad Católica del Norte, Larrondo 1281, Coquimbo, IV Region, Chile.
| | - Maria Teresa González
- Laboratorio Eco-parasitologia y Epidemiologia Marina (LEPyEM), Instituto de Ciencias Naturales Alexander von Humboldt, Facultad de Ciencias del Mar y Recursos Biologicos, Universidad de Antofagasta, Angamos 601, Antofagasta, Chile.
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Wenzel M, Johnston C, Müller B, Pettitt J, Connolly B. Resolution of polycistronic RNA by SL2 trans-splicing is a widely conserved nematode trait. RNA 2020; 26:1891-1904. [PMID: 32887788 PMCID: PMC7668243 DOI: 10.1261/rna.076414.120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2020] [Accepted: 08/26/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Spliced leader trans-splicing is essential for the processing and translation of polycistronic RNAs generated by eukaryotic operons. In C. elegans, a specialized spliced leader, SL2, provides the 5' end for uncapped pre-mRNAs derived from polycistronic RNAs. Studies of other nematodes suggested that SL2-type trans-splicing is a relatively recent innovation, confined to Rhabditina, the clade containing C. elegans and its close relatives. Here we conduct a survey of transcriptome-wide spliced leader trans-splicing in Trichinella spiralis, a distant relative of C. elegans with a particularly diverse repertoire of 15 spliced leaders. By systematically comparing the genomic context of trans-splicing events for each spliced leader, we identified a subset of T. spiralis spliced leaders that are specifically used to process polycistronic RNAs-the first examples of SL2-type spliced leaders outside of Rhabditina. These T. spiralis spliced leader RNAs possess a perfectly conserved stem-loop motif previously shown to be essential for SL2-type trans-splicing in C. elegans We show that genes trans-spliced to these SL2-type spliced leaders are organized in operonic fashion, with short intercistronic distances. A subset of T. spiralis operons show conservation of synteny with C. elegans operons. Our work substantially revises our understanding of nematode spliced leader trans-splicing, showing that SL2 trans-splicing is a major mechanism for nematode polycistronic RNA processing, which may have evolved prior to the radiation of the Nematoda. This work has important implications for the improvement of genome annotation pipelines in nematodes and other eukaryotes with operonic gene organization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marius Wenzel
- Centre of Genome-Enabled Biology and Medicine, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3RY, United Kingdom
| | - Christopher Johnston
- School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition, University of Aberdeen, Institute of Medical Sciences, Foresterhill, Aberdeen AB25 2ZD, United Kingdom
| | - Berndt Müller
- School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition, University of Aberdeen, Institute of Medical Sciences, Foresterhill, Aberdeen AB25 2ZD, United Kingdom
| | - Jonathan Pettitt
- School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition, University of Aberdeen, Institute of Medical Sciences, Foresterhill, Aberdeen AB25 2ZD, United Kingdom
| | - Bernadette Connolly
- School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition, University of Aberdeen, Institute of Medical Sciences, Foresterhill, Aberdeen AB25 2ZD, United Kingdom
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Durrant C, Thiele EA, Holroyd N, Doyle SR, Sallé G, Tracey A, Sankaranarayanan G, Lotkowska ME, Bennett HM, Huckvale T, Abdellah Z, Tchindebet O, Wossen M, Logora MSY, Coulibaly CO, Weiss A, Schulte-Hostedde AI, Foster JM, Cleveland CA, Yabsley MJ, Ruiz-Tiben E, Berriman M, Eberhard ML, Cotton JA. Population genomic evidence that human and animal infections in Africa come from the same populations of Dracunculus medinensis. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2020; 14:e0008623. [PMID: 33253172 PMCID: PMC7728184 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0008623] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2019] [Revised: 12/10/2020] [Accepted: 07/22/2020] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Guinea worm-Dracunculus medinensis-was historically one of the major parasites of humans and has been known since antiquity. Now, Guinea worm is on the brink of eradication, as efforts to interrupt transmission have reduced the annual burden of disease from millions of infections per year in the 1980s to only 54 human cases reported globally in 2019. Despite the enormous success of eradication efforts to date, one complication has arisen. Over the last few years, hundreds of dogs have been found infected with this previously apparently anthroponotic parasite, almost all in Chad. Moreover, the relative numbers of infections in humans and dogs suggests that dogs are currently the principal reservoir on infection and key to maintaining transmission in that country. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS In an effort to shed light on this peculiar epidemiology of Guinea worm in Chad, we have sequenced and compared the genomes of worms from dog, human and other animal infections. Confirming previous work with other molecular markers, we show that all of these worms are D. medinensis, and that the same population of worms are causing both infections, can confirm the suspected transmission between host species and detect signs of a population bottleneck due to the eradication efforts. The diversity of worms in Chad appears to exclude the possibility that there were no, or very few, worms present in the country during a 10-year absence of reported cases. CONCLUSIONS This work reinforces the importance of adequate surveillance of both human and dog populations in the Guinea worm eradication campaign and suggests that control programs aiming to interrupt disease transmission should stay aware of the possible emergence of unusual epidemiology as pathogens approach elimination.
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Affiliation(s)
- Caroline Durrant
- Parasites and Microbes, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom
| | - Elizabeth A. Thiele
- Department of Biology, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York, United States of America
| | - Nancy Holroyd
- Parasites and Microbes, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom
| | - Stephen R. Doyle
- Parasites and Microbes, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom
| | - Guillaume Sallé
- Parasites and Microbes, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom
- INRA—U. Tours, UMR 1282 ISP Infectiologie et Santé Publique, Nouzilly, France
| | - Alan Tracey
- Parasites and Microbes, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom
| | - Geetha Sankaranarayanan
- Parasites and Microbes, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom
| | - Magda E. Lotkowska
- Parasites and Microbes, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom
| | - Hayley M. Bennett
- Parasites and Microbes, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom
- Present Address: Berkeley Lights Inc., Emeryville, California, United States of America
| | - Thomas Huckvale
- Parasites and Microbes, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom
| | - Zahra Abdellah
- Parasites and Microbes, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom
| | - Ouakou Tchindebet
- Guinea Worm Eradication Program, The Carter Center, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Mesfin Wossen
- Guinea Worm Eradication Program, The Carter Center, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
| | | | - Cheick Oumar Coulibaly
- Guinea Worm Eradication Program, The Carter Center, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Adam Weiss
- Guinea Worm Eradication Program, The Carter Center, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
| | | | - Jeremy M. Foster
- New England Biolabs, Ipswich, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Christopher A. Cleveland
- Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, Department of Population Health, Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Michael J. Yabsley
- Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, Department of Population Health, Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States of America
- Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Ernesto Ruiz-Tiben
- Guinea Worm Eradication Program, The Carter Center, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Matthew Berriman
- Parasites and Microbes, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom
- * E-mail: (JAC); (MB)
| | - Mark L. Eberhard
- Retired, Parasitic Diseases Branch, Division of Parasitic Diseases and Malaria, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
| | - James A. Cotton
- Parasites and Microbes, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom
- * E-mail: (JAC); (MB)
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Olson PD, Tracey A, Baillie A, James K, Doyle SR, Buddenborg SK, Rodgers FH, Holroyd N, Berriman M. Complete representation of a tapeworm genome reveals chromosomes capped by centromeres, necessitating a dual role in segregation and protection. BMC Biol 2020; 18:165. [PMID: 33167983 PMCID: PMC7653826 DOI: 10.1186/s12915-020-00899-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/11/2020] [Accepted: 10/14/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Chromosome-level assemblies are indispensable for accurate gene prediction, synteny assessment, and understanding higher-order genome architecture. Reference and draft genomes of key helminth species have been published, but little is yet known about the biology of their chromosomes. Here, we present the complete genome of the tapeworm Hymenolepis microstoma, providing a reference quality, end-to-end assembly that represents the first fully assembled genome of a spiralian/lophotrochozoan, revealing new insights into chromosome evolution. RESULTS Long-read sequencing and optical mapping data were added to previous short-read data enabling complete re-assembly into six chromosomes, consistent with karyology. Small genome size (169 Mb) and lack of haploid variation (1 SNP/3.2 Mb) contributed to exceptionally high contiguity with only 85 gaps remaining in regions of low complexity sequence. Resolution of repeat regions reveals novel gene expansions, micro-exon genes, and spliced leader trans-splicing, and illuminates the landscape of transposable elements, explaining observed length differences in sister chromatids. Syntenic comparison with other parasitic flatworms shows conserved ancestral linkage groups indicating that the H. microstoma karyotype evolved through fusion events. Strikingly, the assembly reveals that the chromosomes terminate in centromeric arrays, indicating that these motifs play a role not only in segregation, but also in protecting the linear integrity and full lengths of chromosomes. CONCLUSIONS Despite strong conservation of canonical telomeres, our results show that they can be substituted by more complex, species-specific sequences, as represented by centromeres. The assembly provides a robust platform for investigations that require complete genome representation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter D. Olson
- Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD UK
| | - Alan Tracey
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire, CB10 1SA UK
| | - Andrew Baillie
- Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD UK
| | - Katherine James
- Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD UK
- Department of Applied Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8ST UK
| | - Stephen R. Doyle
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire, CB10 1SA UK
| | - Sarah K. Buddenborg
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire, CB10 1SA UK
| | - Faye H. Rodgers
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire, CB10 1SA UK
| | - Nancy Holroyd
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire, CB10 1SA UK
| | - Matt Berriman
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire, CB10 1SA UK
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Wang J, Veronezi GMB, Kang Y, Zagoskin M, O'Toole ET, Davis RE. Comprehensive Chromosome End Remodeling during Programmed DNA Elimination. Curr Biol 2020; 30:3397-3413.e4. [PMID: 32679104 PMCID: PMC7484210 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.06.058] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2020] [Revised: 06/09/2020] [Accepted: 06/16/2020] [Indexed: 01/14/2023]
Abstract
Germline and somatic genomes are in general the same in a multicellular organism. However, programmed DNA elimination leads to a reduced somatic genome compared to germline cells. Previous work on the parasitic nematode Ascaris demonstrated that programmed DNA elimination encompasses high-fidelity chromosomal breaks and loss of specific genome sequences including a major tandem repeat of 120 bp and ~1,000 germline-expressed genes. However, the precise chromosomal locations of these repeats, breaks regions, and eliminated genes remained unknown. We used PacBio long-read sequencing and chromosome conformation capture (Hi-C) to obtain fully assembled chromosomes of Ascaris germline and somatic genomes, enabling a complete chromosomal view of DNA elimination. We found that all 24 germline chromosomes undergo comprehensive chromosome end remodeling with DNA breaks in their subtelomeric regions and loss of distal sequences including the telomeres at both chromosome ends. All new Ascaris somatic chromosome ends are recapped by de novo telomere healing. We provide an ultrastructural analysis of Ascaris DNA elimination and show that eliminated DNA is incorporated into double membrane-bound structures, similar to micronuclei, during telophase of a DNA elimination mitosis. These micronuclei undergo dynamic changes including loss of active histone marks and localize to the cytoplasm following daughter nuclei formation and cytokinesis where they form autophagosomes. Comparative analysis of nematode chromosomes suggests that chromosome fusions occurred, forming Ascaris sex chromosomes that become independent chromosomes following DNA elimination breaks in somatic cells. These studies provide the first chromosomal view and define novel features and functions of metazoan programmed DNA elimination.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jianbin Wang
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO 80045, USA; RNA Bioscience Initiative, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO 80045, USA; Department of Biochemistry and Cellular and Molecular Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA.
| | - Giovana M B Veronezi
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO 80045, USA
| | - Yuanyuan Kang
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO 80045, USA
| | - Maxim Zagoskin
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO 80045, USA
| | - Eileen T O'Toole
- Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
| | - Richard E Davis
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO 80045, USA; RNA Bioscience Initiative, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO 80045, USA.
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Abstract
The abundance, diversity, and genomic distribution of repetitive elements is highly variable among species. These patterns are thought to be driven in part by reproductive mode and the interaction of selection and recombination, and recombination rates typically vary by chromosomal position. In the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, repetitive elements are enriched at chromosome arms and depleted on centers, and this mirrors the chromosomal distributions of other genomic features such as recombination rate. How conserved is this genomic landscape of repeats, and what evolutionary forces maintain it? To address this, we compared the genomic organization of repetitive elements across five Caenorhabditis species with chromosome-level assemblies. As previously reported, repeat content is enriched on chromosome arms in most Caenorhabditis species, and no obvious patterns of repeat content associated with reproductive mode were observed. However, the fig-associated C. inopinata has experienced repetitive element expansion and reveals no association of global repeat density with chromosome position. Patterns of repeat superfamily specific distributions reveal this global pattern is driven largely by a few repeat superfamilies that in C. inopinata have expanded in number and have weak associations with chromosome position. Additionally, 15% of predicted protein-coding genes in C. inopinata align to transposon-related proteins. When these are excluded, C. inopinata has no enrichment of genes in chromosome centers, in contrast to its close relatives who all have such clusters. Forward evolutionary simulations reveal that chromosomal heterogeneity in recombination rate alone can generate structured repetitive genomic landscapes when insertions are weakly deleterious, whereas chromosomal heterogeneity in the fitness effects of transposon insertion can promote such landscapes across a variety of evolutionary scenarios. Thus, patterns of gene density along chromosomes likely contribute to global repetitive landscapes in this group, although other historical or genomic factors are needed to explain the idiosyncrasy of genomic organization of various transposable element taxa within C. inopinata. Taken together, these results highlight the power of comparative genomics and evolutionary simulations in testing hypotheses regarding the causes of genome organization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gavin C Woodruff
- Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR
| | - Anastasia A Teterina
- Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR
- Center of Parasitology, Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution RAS, Moscow, Russia
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28
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Abstract
Ion channels underlie electrical excitability in cells and are essential for a variety of functions, most notably neuromuscular and sensory activity. They are also validated targets for a preponderance of approved anthelmintic compounds. Transient receptor potential (TRP) channels constitute an ion channel superfamily whose members play important roles in sensory signaling, regulation of ion homeostasis, organellar trafficking, and other key cellular and organismal activities. Unlike most other ion channels, TRP channels are often polymodal, gated by a variety of mechanisms. Furthermore, TRP channels fall into several classes or subtypes based on sequence and structure. Until recently, there had been very little investigation of the properties and functions of TRP channels from parasitic helminths, including schistosomes, but that situation has changed in the past few years. Indeed, it is now clear that at least some schistosome TRP channels exhibit unusual pharmacological properties, and, intriguingly, both a mammalian and a schistosome TRP channel are activated by praziquantel, the current antischistosomal drug of choice. With the latest release of the Schistosoma mansoni genome database, several changes in predicted TRP channel sequences appeared, some of which were significant. This review updates and reassesses the TRP channel repertoire in S. mansoni, examines recent findings regarding these potential therapeutic targets, and provides guideposts for some of the physiological functions that may be mediated by these channels in schistosomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Swarna Bais
- Department of Pathobiology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, 3800 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
| | - Robert M Greenberg
- Department of Pathobiology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, 3800 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.
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29
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Asalone KC, Ryan KM, Yamadi M, Cohen AL, Farmer WG, George DJ, Joppert C, Kim K, Mughal MF, Said R, Toksoz-Exley M, Bisk E, Bracht JR. Regional sequence expansion or collapse in heterozygous genome assemblies. PLoS Comput Biol 2020; 16:e1008104. [PMID: 32735589 PMCID: PMC7423139 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008104] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2019] [Revised: 08/12/2020] [Accepted: 06/29/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
High levels of heterozygosity present a unique genome assembly challenge and can adversely impact downstream analyses, yet is common in sequencing datasets obtained from non-model organisms. Here we show that by re-assembling a heterozygous dataset with variant parameters and different assembly algorithms, we are able to generate assemblies whose protein annotations are statistically enriched for specific gene ontology categories. While total assembly length was not significantly affected by assembly methodologies tested, the assemblies generated varied widely in fragmentation level and we show local assembly collapse or expansion underlying the enrichment or depletion of specific protein functional groups. We show that these statistically significant deviations in gene ontology groups can occur in seemingly high-quality assemblies, and result from difficult-to-detect local sequence expansion or contractions. Given the unpredictable interplay between assembly algorithm, parameter, and biological sequence data heterozygosity, we highlight the need for better measures of assembly quality than N50 value, including methods for assessing local expansion and collapse. In the genomic era, genomes must be reconstructed from fragments using computational methods, or assemblers. How do we know that a new genome assembly is correct? This is important because errors in assembly can lead to downstream problems in gene predictions and these inaccurate results can contaminate databases, affecting later comparative studies. A particular challenge occurs when a diploid organism inherits two highly divergent genome copies from its parents. While it is widely appreciated that this type of data is difficult for assemblers to handle properly, here we show that the process is prone to more errors than previously appreciated. Specifically, we document examples of regional expansion and collapse, affecting downstream gene prediction accuracy, but without changing the overall genome assembly size or other metrics of accuracy. Our results suggest that assembly evaluation methods should be altered to identify whether regional expansions and collapses are present in the genome assembly.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kathryn C. Asalone
- Biology Department, American University, Washington DC, United States of America
| | - Kara M. Ryan
- Biology Department, American University, Washington DC, United States of America
| | - Maryam Yamadi
- Biology Department, American University, Washington DC, United States of America
| | - Annastelle L. Cohen
- Biology Department, American University, Washington DC, United States of America
| | - William G. Farmer
- Biology Department, American University, Washington DC, United States of America
| | - Deborah J. George
- Biology Department, American University, Washington DC, United States of America
| | - Claudia Joppert
- Biology Department, American University, Washington DC, United States of America
| | - Kaitlyn Kim
- Biology Department, American University, Washington DC, United States of America
| | - Madeeha Froze Mughal
- Biology Department, American University, Washington DC, United States of America
| | - Rana Said
- Biology Department, American University, Washington DC, United States of America
| | - Metin Toksoz-Exley
- Mathematics and Statistics Department, American University, Washington DC, United States of America
| | - Evgeny Bisk
- Office of Information Technology, American University, Washington DC, United States of America
| | - John R. Bracht
- Biology Department, American University, Washington DC, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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Munday JC, Kunz S, Kalejaiye TD, Siderius M, Schroeder S, Paape D, Alghamdi AH, Abbasi Z, Huang SX, Donachie AM, William S, Sabra AN, Sterk GJ, Botros SS, Brown DG, Hoffman CS, Leurs R, de Koning HP. Cloning and functional complementation of ten Schistosoma mansoni phosphodiesterases expressed in the mammalian host stages. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2020; 14:e0008447. [PMID: 32730343 PMCID: PMC7430754 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0008447] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2019] [Revised: 08/17/2020] [Accepted: 06/02/2020] [Indexed: 01/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Only a single drug against schistosomiasis is currently available and new drug development is urgently required but very few drug targets have been validated and characterised. However, regulatory systems including cyclic nucleotide metabolism are emerging as primary candidates for drug discovery. Here, we report the cloning of ten cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase (PDE) genes of S. mansoni, out of a total of 11 identified in its genome. We classify these PDEs by homology to human PDEs. Male worms displayed higher expression levels for all PDEs, in mature and juvenile worms, and schistosomula. Several functional complementation approaches were used to characterise these genes. We constructed a Trypanosoma brucei cell line in which expression of a cAMP-degrading PDE complements the deletion of TbrPDEB1/B2. Inhibitor screens of these cells expressing only either SmPDE4A, TbrPDEB1 or TbrPDEB2, identified highly potent inhibitors of the S. mansoni enzyme that elevated the cellular cAMP concentration. We further expressed most of the cloned SmPDEs in two pde1Δ/pde2Δ strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and some also in a specialised strain of Schizosacharomyces pombe. Five PDEs, SmPDE1, SmPDE4A, SmPDE8, SmPDE9A and SmPDE11 successfully complemented the S. cerevisiae strains, and SmPDE7var also complemented to a lesser degree, in liquid culture. SmPDE4A, SmPDE8 and SmPDE11 were further assessed in S. pombe for hydrolysis of cAMP and cGMP; SmPDE11 displayed considerable preferrence for cGMP over cAMP. These results and tools enable the pursuit of a rigorous drug discovery program based on inhibitors of S. mansoni PDEs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jane C. Munday
- Institute of Infection, Immunity and inflammation, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - Stefan Kunz
- Division of Medicinal Chemistry, Amsterdam Institute for Molecules, Medicines and Systems, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Titilola D. Kalejaiye
- Institute of Infection, Immunity and inflammation, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - Marco Siderius
- Division of Medicinal Chemistry, Amsterdam Institute for Molecules, Medicines and Systems, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | | | - Daniel Paape
- Institute of Infection, Immunity and inflammation, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - Ali H. Alghamdi
- Institute of Infection, Immunity and inflammation, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - Zainab Abbasi
- Biology Department, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Sheng Xiang Huang
- Biology Department, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Anne-Marie Donachie
- Institute of Infection, Immunity and inflammation, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - Samia William
- Department of Pharmacology, Theodor Bilharz Research Institute, Warrak El-Hadar, Imbaba, Egypt
| | - Abdel Nasser Sabra
- Department of Pharmacology, Theodor Bilharz Research Institute, Warrak El-Hadar, Imbaba, Egypt
| | - Geert Jan Sterk
- Division of Medicinal Chemistry, Amsterdam Institute for Molecules, Medicines and Systems, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Sanaa S. Botros
- Department of Pharmacology, Theodor Bilharz Research Institute, Warrak El-Hadar, Imbaba, Egypt
| | - David G. Brown
- School of Biosciences, University of Kent, United Kingdom
| | - Charles S. Hoffman
- Biology Department, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Rob Leurs
- Division of Medicinal Chemistry, Amsterdam Institute for Molecules, Medicines and Systems, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Harry P. de Koning
- Institute of Infection, Immunity and inflammation, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
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31
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Mauer K, Hellmann SL, Groth M, Fröbius AC, Zischler H, Hankeln T, Herlyn H. The genome, transcriptome, and proteome of the fish parasite Pomphorhynchus laevis (Acanthocephala). PLoS One 2020; 15:e0232973. [PMID: 32574180 PMCID: PMC7310846 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0232973] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/06/2019] [Accepted: 04/24/2020] [Indexed: 01/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Thorny-headed worms (Acanthocephala) are endoparasites exploiting Mandibulata (Arthropoda) and Gnathostomata (Vertebrata). Despite their world-wide occurrence and economic relevance as a pest, genome and transcriptome assemblies have not been published before. However, such data might hold clues for a sustainable control of acanthocephalans in animal production. For this reason, we present the first draft of an acanthocephalan nuclear genome, besides the mitochondrial one, using the fish parasite Pomphorhynchus laevis (Palaeacanthocephala) as a model. Additionally, we have assembled and annotated the transcriptome of this species and the proteins encoded. A hybrid assembly of long and short reads resulted in a near-complete P. laevis draft genome of ca. 260 Mb, comprising a large repetitive portion of ca. 63%. Numbers of transcripts and translated proteins (35,683) were within the range of other members of the Rotifera-Acanthocephala clade. Our data additionally demonstrate a significant reorganization of the acanthocephalan gene repertoire. Thus, more than 20% of the usually conserved metazoan genes were lacking in P. laevis. Ontology analysis of the retained genes revealed many connections to the incorporation of carotinoids. These are probably taken up via the surface together with lipids, thus accounting for the orange coloration of P. laevis. Furthermore, we found transcripts and protein sequences to be more derived in P. laevis than in rotifers from Monogononta and Bdelloidea. This was especially the case in genes involved in energy metabolism, which might reflect the acanthocephalan ability to use the scarce oxygen in the host intestine for respiration and simultaneously carry out fermentation. Increased plasticity of the gene repertoire through the integration of foreign DNA into the nuclear genome seems to be another underpinning factor of the evolutionary success of acanthocephalans. In any case, energy-related genes and their proteins may be considered as candidate targets for the acanthocephalan control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katharina Mauer
- Anthropology, Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution (iomE), Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Sören Lukas Hellmann
- Molecular Genetics and Genomic Analysis Group, Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution (iomE), Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Marco Groth
- CF DNA sequencing, Leibniz Institute on Aging–Fritz Lipmann Institute, Jena, Germany
| | - Andreas C. Fröbius
- Molecular Andrology, Biomedical Research Center Seltersberg (BFS), Justus Liebig University Gießen, Gießen, Germany
| | - Hans Zischler
- Anthropology, Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution (iomE), Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Thomas Hankeln
- Molecular Genetics and Genomic Analysis Group, Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution (iomE), Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Holger Herlyn
- Anthropology, Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution (iomE), Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany
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32
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Logan J, Pearson MS, Manda SS, Choi YJ, Field M, Eichenberger RM, Mulvenna J, Nagaraj SH, Fujiwara RT, Gazzinelli-Guimaraes P, Bueno L, Mati V, Bethony JM, Mitreva M, Sotillo J, Loukas A. Comprehensive analysis of the secreted proteome of adult Necator americanus hookworms. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2020; 14:e0008237. [PMID: 32453752 PMCID: PMC7274458 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0008237] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2019] [Revised: 06/05/2020] [Accepted: 03/18/2020] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The human hookworm Necator americanus infects more than 400 million people worldwide, contributing substantially to the poverty in these regions. Adult stage N. americanus live in the small intestine of the human host where they inject excretory/secretory (ES) products into the mucosa. ES products have been characterized at the proteome level for a number of animal hookworm species, but until now, the difficulty in obtaining sufficient live N. americanus has been an obstacle in characterizing the secretome of this important human pathogen. Herein we describe the ES proteome of N. americanus and utilize this information along with RNA Seq data to conduct the first proteogenomic analysis of a parasitic helminth, significantly improving the available genome and thereby generating a robust description of the parasite secretome. The genome annotation resulted in a revised prediction of 3,425 fewer genes than initially reported, accompanied by a significant increase in the number of exons and introns, total gene length and the percentage of the genome covered by genes. Almost 200 ES proteins were identified by LC-MS/MS with SCP/TAPS proteins, ‘hypothetical’ proteins and proteases among the most abundant families. These proteins were compared to commonly used model species of human parasitic infections, including Ancylostoma caninum, Nippostrongylus brasiliensis and Heligmosomoides polygyrus. SCP/TAPS proteins are immunogenic in nematode infections, so we expressed four of those identified in this study in recombinant form and showed that they are all recognized to varying degrees by serum antibodies from hookworm-infected subjects from a disease-endemic area of Brazil. Our findings provide valuable information on important families of proteins with both known and unknown functions that could be instrumental in host-parasite interactions, including protein families that might be key for parasite survival in the onslaught of robust immune responses, as well as vaccine and diagnostic targets. Hookworms infect hundreds of millions of people in tropical regions of the world. Adult worms reside in the small bowel where they feed on blood, causing iron-deficiency anemia when present in large numbers and contributing substantially to the poverty in these regions. Hookworms inject excretory/secretory (ES) products into the gut tissue when they feed, and while the protein constituents of ES products have been characterized for a number of animal hookworm species, difficulty in obtaining sufficient live human hookworms has thus far precluded characterization of the secreted proteome. Herein we describe the ES proteins of the major human hookworm, Necator americanus, and utilize this information to significantly improve the available genome sequence. Almost 200 ES proteins were identified and compared to the secreted proteomes of other parasitic roundworms to provide a molecular snapshot of the host-parasite interface. We produced recombinant forms of some of the identified proteins and showed that they are all recognized to varying degrees by antibodies from hookworm-infected subjects. Our work sheds light on important families of proteins that might be key for parasite survival in the human host, and presents a dataset that can now be mined in the search for vaccine, drug and diagnostic targets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jayden Logan
- Centre for Molecular Therapeutics, Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, James Cook University, Cairns, QLD, Australia
| | - Mark S. Pearson
- Centre for Molecular Therapeutics, Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, James Cook University, Cairns, QLD, Australia
| | - Srikanth S. Manda
- Cancer Data Science Group, ProCan, Children's Medical Research Institute, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Westmead, NSW, Australia
- LifeBytes India Pvt Ltd, Whitefield, Bangalore, India
| | - Young-Jun Choi
- McDonnell Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, United States of America
| | - Matthew Field
- Centre for Molecular Therapeutics, Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, James Cook University, Cairns, QLD, Australia
| | - Ramon M. Eichenberger
- Centre for Molecular Therapeutics, Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, James Cook University, Cairns, QLD, Australia
| | - Jason Mulvenna
- QIMR-Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Shivashankar H. Nagaraj
- Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation and Translational Research Institute, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Ricardo T. Fujiwara
- Department of Parasitology, Biological Sciences Institute, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
| | - Pedro Gazzinelli-Guimaraes
- Department of Parasitology, Biological Sciences Institute, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
| | - Lilian Bueno
- Department of Parasitology, Biological Sciences Institute, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
| | - Vitor Mati
- Department of Health Sciences, Universidade Federal de Lavras, Lavras, Brazil
| | - Jeffrey M. Bethony
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Tropical Medicine, George Washington University, Washington DC, United States of America
| | - Makedonka Mitreva
- McDonnell Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, United States of America
| | - Javier Sotillo
- Centre for Molecular Therapeutics, Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, James Cook University, Cairns, QLD, Australia
- Centro Nacional de Microbiología, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Majadahonda, Madrid, Spain
- * E-mail: (JS); (AL)
| | - Alex Loukas
- Centre for Molecular Therapeutics, Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, James Cook University, Cairns, QLD, Australia
- * E-mail: (JS); (AL)
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Nakayama KI, Ishita Y, Chihara T, Okumura M. Screening for CRISPR/Cas9-induced mutations using a co-injection marker in the nematode Pristionchus pacificus. Dev Genes Evol 2020; 230:257-264. [PMID: 32030512 DOI: 10.1007/s00427-020-00651-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2019] [Accepted: 01/28/2020] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
CRISPR/Cas9 genome-editing methods are used to reveal functions of genes and molecular mechanisms underlying biological processes in many species, including nematodes. In evolutionary biology, the nematode Pristionchus pacificus is a satellite model and has been used to understand interesting phenomena such as phenotypic plasticity and self-recognition. In P. pacificus, CRISPR/Cas9-mediated mutations are induced by microinjecting a guide RNA (gRNA) and Cas9 protein into the gonads. However, mutant screening is laborious and time-consuming due to the absence of visual markers. In this study, we established a Co-CRISPR strategy by using a dominant roller marker in P. pacificus. We found that heterozygous mutations in Ppa-prl-1 induced the roller phenotype, which can be used as an injection marker. After the co-injection of Ppa-prl-1 gRNA, target gRNA, and the Cas9 protein, roller progeny and their siblings were examined using the heteroduplex mobility assay and DNA sequencing. We found that some of the roller and non-roller siblings had mutations at the target site. We used varying Cas9 concentrations and found that a higher concentration of Cas9 did not increase genome-editing events. The Co-CRISPR strategy promotes the screening for genome-editing events and will facilitate the development of new genome-editing methods in P. pacificus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ken-Ichi Nakayama
- Program of Biomedical Science, Graduate School of Integrated Sciences for Life, Hiroshima University, 1-3-1 Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima, 739-8526, Japan
| | - Yuuki Ishita
- Department of Biological Science, Graduate School of Science, Hiroshima University, 1-3-1 Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima, 739-8526, Japan
| | - Takahiro Chihara
- Program of Biomedical Science, Graduate School of Integrated Sciences for Life, Hiroshima University, 1-3-1 Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima, 739-8526, Japan
- Department of Biological Science, Graduate School of Science, Hiroshima University, 1-3-1 Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima, 739-8526, Japan
- Program of Basic Biology, Graduate School of Integrated Sciences for Life, Hiroshima University, 1-3-1 Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima, 739-8526, Japan
| | - Misako Okumura
- Program of Biomedical Science, Graduate School of Integrated Sciences for Life, Hiroshima University, 1-3-1 Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima, 739-8526, Japan.
- Department of Biological Science, Graduate School of Science, Hiroshima University, 1-3-1 Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima, 739-8526, Japan.
- Program of Basic Biology, Graduate School of Integrated Sciences for Life, Hiroshima University, 1-3-1 Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima, 739-8526, Japan.
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34
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Teterina AA, Willis JH, Phillips PC. Chromosome-Level Assembly of the Caenorhabditis remanei Genome Reveals Conserved Patterns of Nematode Genome Organization. Genetics 2020; 214:769-780. [PMID: 32111628 PMCID: PMC7153949 DOI: 10.1534/genetics.119.303018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2019] [Accepted: 02/24/2020] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is one of the key model systems in biology, including possessing the first fully assembled animal genome. Whereas C. elegans is a self-reproducing hermaphrodite with fairly limited within-population variation, its relative C. remanei is an outcrossing species with much more extensive genetic variation, making it an ideal parallel model system for evolutionary genetic investigations. Here, we greatly improve on previous assemblies by generating a chromosome-level assembly of the entire C. remanei genome (124.8 Mb of total size) using long-read sequencing and chromatin conformation capture data. Like other fully assembled genomes in the genus, we find that the C. remanei genome displays a high degree of synteny with C. elegans despite multiple within-chromosome rearrangements. Both genomes have high gene density in central regions of chromosomes relative to chromosome ends and the opposite pattern for the accumulation of repetitive elements. C. elegans and C. remanei also show similar patterns of interchromosome interactions, with the central regions of chromosomes appearing to interact with one another more than the distal ends. The new C. remanei genome presented here greatly augments the use of the Caenorhabditis as a platform for comparative genomics and serves as a basis for molecular population genetics within this highly diverse species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anastasia A Teterina
- Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403
- Center of Parasitology, A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow 117071, Russia
| | - John H Willis
- Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403
| | - Patrick C Phillips
- Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403
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Cavallero S, Lombardo F, Salvemini M, Pizzarelli A, Cantacessi C, D’Amelio S. Comparative Transcriptomics Reveals Clues for Differences in Pathogenicity between Hysterothylacium aduncum, Anisakis simplex sensu stricto and Anisakis pegreffii. Genes (Basel) 2020; 11:genes11030321. [PMID: 32197414 PMCID: PMC7140869 DOI: 10.3390/genes11030321] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2020] [Accepted: 03/16/2020] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Ascaridoid nematodes are widespread in marine fishes. Despite their major socioeconomic importance, mechanisms associated to the fish-borne zoonotic disease anisakiasis are still obscure. RNA-Seq and de-novo assembly were herein applied to RNA extracted from larvae and dissected pharynx of Hysterothylacium aduncum (HA), a non-pathogenic nematode. Assembled transcripts in HA were annotated and compared to the transcriptomes of the zoonotic species Anisakis simplex sensu stricto (AS) and Anisakis pegreffii (AP). Approximately 60,000,000 single-end reads were generated for HA, AS and AP. Transcripts in HA encoded for 30,254 putative peptides while AS and AP encoded for 20,574 and 20,840 putative peptides, respectively. Differential gene expression analyses yielded 471, 612 and 526 transcripts up regulated in the pharynx of HA, AS and AP. The transcriptomes of larvae and pharynx of HA were enriched in transcripts encoding collagen, peptidases, ribosomal proteins and in heat-shock motifs. Transcripts encoding proteolytic enzymes, anesthetics, inhibitors of primary hemostasis and virulence factors, anticoagulants and immunomodulatory peptides were up-regulated in AS and AP pharynx. This study represents the first transcriptomic characterization of a marine parasitic nematode commonly recovered in fish and probably of negligible concern for public health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Serena Cavallero
- Department of Public Health and Infectious Diseases, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy; (S.C.); (F.L.); (A.P.)
| | - Fabrizio Lombardo
- Department of Public Health and Infectious Diseases, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy; (S.C.); (F.L.); (A.P.)
| | - Marco Salvemini
- Department of Biology, University of Naples Federico II, Corso Umberto I, 40, 80138 Naples, Italy;
| | - Antonella Pizzarelli
- Department of Public Health and Infectious Diseases, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy; (S.C.); (F.L.); (A.P.)
| | - Cinzia Cantacessi
- Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0ES, UK;
| | - Stefano D’Amelio
- Department of Public Health and Infectious Diseases, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy; (S.C.); (F.L.); (A.P.)
- Correspondence:
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36
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Cha D, Kim D, Choi W, Park S, Han H. Point-of-care diagnostic (POCD) method for detecting Bursaphelenchus xylophilus in pinewood using recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) with the portable optical isothermal device (POID). PLoS One 2020; 15:e0227476. [PMID: 31935232 PMCID: PMC6959569 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0227476] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2019] [Accepted: 12/19/2019] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
The pinewood nematode (PWN), Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, is a causative agent of pine wilt disease (PWD). To date, although several molecular diagnostic methods have been developed, rapid on-site diagnostic tools for detecting PWN in pinewood are limited. In this study, a point of care diagnostic (POCD) method for detecting PWN in pinewood using recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) assay was developed. This method comprises quick gDNA extraction buffer (DAP buffer) for the direct extraction of gDNA of PWN from pinewood and a battery-mounted portable optical isothermal device (POID) for the detection of PWD in the field. The RPA assay can distinguish between the PWN and its conspecies which exist in pinewood and can complete diagnostic procedures within 25 min in the field. Moreover, the RPA assay can detect PWN in old wood samples in both natural and stored conditions. The POCD-RPA assay to detect PWN will be useful for epidemiological investigations in the field as well as for quarantine processes in the wood trade.
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Affiliation(s)
- Deokjea Cha
- Division of Forest Insect Pests & Diseases, National Institute of Forest Science, Dongdaemun, Seoul, Korea
| | - Dongsoo Kim
- Division of Forest Insect Pests & Diseases, National Institute of Forest Science, Dongdaemun, Seoul, Korea
| | - Wonil Choi
- Division of Forest Ecology & Climate Change, National Institute of Forest Science, Dongdaemun, Seoul, Korea
| | | | - Hyerim Han
- Division of Forest Insect Pests & Diseases, National Institute of Forest Science, Dongdaemun, Seoul, Korea
- * E-mail:
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Nowak RM, Jastrzębski JP, Kuśmirek W, Sałamatin R, Rydzanicz M, Sobczyk-Kopcioł A, Sulima-Celińska A, Paukszto Ł, Makowczenko KG, Płoski R, Tkach VV, Basałaj K, Młocicki D. Hybrid de novo whole-genome assembly and annotation of the model tapeworm Hymenolepis diminuta. Sci Data 2019; 6:302. [PMID: 31796747 PMCID: PMC6890685 DOI: 10.1038/s41597-019-0311-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2019] [Accepted: 11/04/2019] [Indexed: 01/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Despite the use of Hymenolepis diminuta as a model organism in experimental parasitology, a full genome description has not yet been published. Here we present a hybrid de novo genome assembly based on complementary sequencing technologies and methods. The combination of Illumina paired-end, Illumina mate-pair and Oxford Nanopore Technology reads greatly improved the assembly of the H. diminuta genome. Our results indicate that the hybrid sequencing approach is the method of choice for obtaining high-quality data. The final genome assembly is 177 Mbp with contig N50 size of 75 kbp and a scaffold N50 size of 2.3 Mbp. We obtained one of the most complete cestode genome assemblies and annotated 15,169 potential protein-coding genes. The obtained data may help explain cestode gene function and better clarify the evolution of its gene families, and thus the adaptive features evolved during millennia of co-evolution with their hosts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert M Nowak
- Institute of Computer Science, Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland.
| | | | - Wiktor Kuśmirek
- Institute of Computer Science, Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Rusłan Sałamatin
- Department of General Biology and Parasitology, Medical University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
- Department of Parasitology and Vector-Borne Diseases, National Institute of Public Health - National Institute of Hygiene, Warsaw, Poland
| | | | | | - Anna Sulima-Celińska
- Department of General Biology and Parasitology, Medical University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
| | | | | | - Rafał Płoski
- Department of Medical Genetics, Medical University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Vasyl V Tkach
- Department of Biology, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, USA
| | - Katarzyna Basałaj
- Witold Stefański Institute of Parasitology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Daniel Młocicki
- Department of General Biology and Parasitology, Medical University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland.
- Witold Stefański Institute of Parasitology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.
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Abstract
BACKGROUND Tapeworms lack a canonical piRNA-pathway, raising the question of how they can silence existing mobile genetic elements (MGE). Investigation towards the underlying mechanisms requires information on tapeworm transposons which is, however, presently scarce. METHODS The presence of densovirus-related sequences in tapeworm genomes was studied by bioinformatic approaches. Available RNA-Seq datasets were mapped against the Echinococcus multilocularis genome to calculate expression levels of densovirus-related genes. Transcription of densovirus loci was further analyzed by sequencing and RT-qPCR. RESULTS We herein provide evidence for the presence of densovirus-related elements in a variety of tapeworm genomes. In the high-quality genome of E. multilocularis we identified more than 20 individual densovirus integration loci which contain the information for non-structural and structural virus proteins. The majority of densovirus loci are present as head-to-tail concatemers in isolated repeat containing regions of the genome. In some cases, unique densovirus loci have integrated close to histone gene clusters. We show that some of the densovirus loci of E. multilocularis are actively transcribed, whereas the majority are transcriptionally silent. RT-qPCR data further indicate that densovirus expression mainly occurs in the E. multilocularis stem cell population, which probably forms the germline of this organism. Sequences similar to the non-structural densovirus genes present in E. multilocularis were also identified in the genomes of E. canadensis, E. granulosus, Hydatigera taeniaeformis, Hymenolepis diminuta, Hymenolepis microstoma, Hymenolepis nana, Taenia asiatica, Taenia multiceps, Taenia saginata and Taenia solium. CONCLUSIONS Our data indicate that densovirus integration has occurred in many tapeworm species. This is the first report on widespread integration of DNA viruses into cestode genomes. Since only few densovirus integration sites were transcriptionally active in E. multilocularis, our data are relevant for future studies into gene silencing mechanisms in tapeworms. Furthermore, they indicate that densovirus-based vectors might be suitable tools for genetic manipulation of cestodes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michaela Herz
- Institut für Hygiene und Mikrobiologie, Universität Würzburg, Josef-Schneider-Str 2/E1, 97080 Würzburg, Germany
| | - Klaus Brehm
- Institut für Hygiene und Mikrobiologie, Universität Würzburg, Josef-Schneider-Str 2/E1, 97080 Würzburg, Germany
- Konsiliarlabor für Echinokokkose des Robert-Koch-Instituts, Josef-Schneider-Straße 2/E1, 97080 Würzburg, Germany
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Bresso E, Fernandez D, Amora DX, Noel P, Petitot AS, de Sa MEL, Albuquerque EVS, Danchin EGJ, Maigret B, Martins NF. A Chemosensory GPCR as a Potential Target to Control the Root-Knot Nematode Meloidogyne incognita Parasitism in Plants. Molecules 2019; 24:E3798. [PMID: 31652525 PMCID: PMC6832152 DOI: 10.3390/molecules24203798] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2018] [Revised: 01/31/2019] [Accepted: 02/01/2019] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Root-knot nematodes (RKN), from the Meloidogyne genus, have a worldwide distribution and cause severe economic damage to many life-sustaining crops. Because of their lack of specificity and danger to the environment, most chemical nematicides have been banned from use. Thus, there is a great need for new and safe compounds to control RKN. Such research involves identifying beforehand the nematode proteins essential to the invasion. Since G protein-coupled receptors GPCRs are the target of a large number of drugs, we have focused our research on the identification of putative nematode GPCRs such as those capable of controlling the movement of the parasite towards (or within) its host. A datamining procedure applied to the genome of Meloidogyne incognita allowed us to identify a GPCR, belonging to the neuropeptide GPCR family that can serve as a target to carry out a virtual screening campaign. We reconstructed a 3D model of this receptor by homology modeling and validated it through extensive molecular dynamics simulations. This model was used for large scale molecular dockings which produced a filtered limited set of putative antagonists for this GPCR. Preliminary experiments using these selected molecules allowed the identification of an active compound, namely C260-2124, from the ChemDiv provider, which can serve as a starting point for further investigations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emmanuel Bresso
- Université de Lorraine, CNRS, Inria, LORIA, F-54000 Nancy, France.
- EMBRAPA Genetic Resources and Biotechnology, Brasilia 70770-917, DF, Brazil.
| | - Diana Fernandez
- EMBRAPA Genetic Resources and Biotechnology, Brasilia 70770-917, DF, Brazil.
- IRD, CIRAD, Université de Montpellier, IPME, F-34398 Montpellier, France.
| | - Deisy X Amora
- EMBRAPA Genetic Resources and Biotechnology, Brasilia 70770-917, DF, Brazil.
| | - Philippe Noel
- Université de Lorraine, CNRS, Inria, LORIA, F-54000 Nancy, France.
| | | | | | | | - Etienne G J Danchin
- INRA, Université Côte d'Azur, CNRS, Institut Sophia Agrobiotech, F-06903 Sophia-Antipolis, France.
| | - Bernard Maigret
- Université de Lorraine, CNRS, Inria, LORIA, F-54000 Nancy, France.
| | - Natália F Martins
- EMBRAPA Genetic Resources and Biotechnology, Brasilia 70770-917, DF, Brazil.
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Han J, Park JC, Choi BS, Kim MS, Kim HS, Hagiwara A, Park HG, Lee BY, Lee JS. The genome of the marine monogonont rotifer Brachionus plicatilis: Genome-wide expression profiles of 28 cytochrome P450 genes in response to chlorpyrifos and 2-ethyl-phenanthrene. Aquat Toxicol 2019; 214:105230. [PMID: 31306923 DOI: 10.1016/j.aquatox.2019.105230] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2019] [Revised: 06/03/2019] [Accepted: 06/18/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Brachionus spp. (Rotifera: Monogononta) are globally distributed in aquatic environments and play important roles in the aquatic ecosystem. The marine monogonont rotifer Brachionus plicatilis is considered a suitable model organism for ecology, evolution, and ecotoxicology. In this study, we assembled and characterized the B. plicatilis genome. The total length of the assembled genome was 106.9 Mb and the number of final scaffolds was 716 with an N50 value of 1.15 Mb and a GC content of 26.75%. A total of 20,154 genes were annotated after manual curation. To demonstrate the use of whole genome data, we targeted one of the main detoxifying enzyme of phase I detoxification system and identified in a total of 28 cytochrome P450 s (CYPs). Based on the phylogenetic analysis using the maximum likelihood, 28 B. plicatilis-CYPs were apparently separated into five different clans, namely, 2, 3, 4, mitochondrial (MT), and 46 clans. To better understand the CYPs-mediated xenobiotic detoxification, we measured the mRNA expression levels of 28 B. plicatilis CYPs in response to chlorpyrifos and 2-ethyl-phenanthrene. Most B. plicatilis CYPs were significantly modulated (P < 0.05) in response to chlorpyrifos and 2-ethyl-phenanthrene. In addition, xenobiotic-sensing nuclear receptor (XNR) response element sequences were identified in the 5 kb upstream of promoter regions of 28 CYPs from the genome of B. plicatilis, indicating that these XNR can be associated with detoxification of xenobiotics. Overall, the assembled B. plicatilis genome presented here will be a useful resource for a better understanding the molecular ecotoxicology in the view of molecular mechanisms underlying toxicological responses, particularly on xenobiotic detoxification in this species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeonghoon Han
- Department of Biological Science, College of Science, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, Republic of Korea
| | - Jun Chul Park
- Department of Biological Science, College of Science, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, Republic of Korea
| | - Beom-Soon Choi
- Phyzen Genomics Institute, Seongnam 13558, Republic of Korea
| | - Min-Sub Kim
- Department of Biological Science, College of Science, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, Republic of Korea
| | - Hui-Su Kim
- Department of Biological Science, College of Science, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, Republic of Korea
| | - Atsushi Hagiwara
- Graduate School of Fisheries and Environmental Sciences, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki 852-8521, Japan; Institute of Integrated Science and Technology, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki 852-8521, Japan
| | - Heum Gi Park
- Department of Marine Resource Development, College of Life Sciences, Gangneung-Wonju National University, Gangneung 25457, Republic of Korea
| | - Bo-Young Lee
- Department of Biological Science, College of Science, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, Republic of Korea.
| | - Jae-Seong Lee
- Department of Biological Science, College of Science, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, Republic of Korea.
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Stroehlein AJ, Korhonen PK, Chong TM, Lim YL, Chan KG, Webster B, Rollinson D, Brindley PJ, Gasser RB, Young ND. High-quality Schistosoma haematobium genome achieved by single-molecule and long-range sequencing. Gigascience 2019; 8:giz108. [PMID: 31494670 PMCID: PMC6736295 DOI: 10.1093/gigascience/giz108] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2019] [Revised: 06/25/2019] [Accepted: 08/10/2019] [Indexed: 01/30/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Schistosoma haematobium causes urogenital schistosomiasis, a neglected tropical disease affecting >100 million people worldwide. Chronic infection with this parasitic trematode can lead to urogenital conditions including female genital schistosomiasis and bladder cancer. At the molecular level, little is known about this blood fluke and the pathogenesis of the disease that it causes. To support molecular studies of this carcinogenic worm, we reported a draft genome for S. haematobium in 2012. Although a useful resource, its utility has been somewhat limited by its fragmentation. FINDINGS Here, we systematically enhanced the draft genome of S. haematobium using a single-molecule and long-range DNA-sequencing approach. We achieved a major improvement in the accuracy and contiguity of the genome assembly, making it superior or comparable to assemblies for other schistosome species. We transferred curated gene models to this assembly and, using enhanced gene annotation pipelines, inferred a gene set with as many or more complete gene models as those of other well-studied schistosomes. Using conserved, single-copy orthologs, we assessed the phylogenetic position of S. haematobium in relation to other parasitic flatworms for which draft genomes were available. CONCLUSIONS We report a substantially enhanced genomic resource that represents a solid foundation for molecular research on S. haematobium and is poised to better underpin population and functional genomic investigations and to accelerate the search for new disease interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andreas J Stroehlein
- Department of Veterinary Biosciences, Melbourne Veterinary School, Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Corner Flemington Road and Park Drive, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia
| | - Pasi K Korhonen
- Department of Veterinary Biosciences, Melbourne Veterinary School, Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Corner Flemington Road and Park Drive, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia
| | - Teik Min Chong
- Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
| | - Yan Lue Lim
- Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
| | - Kok Gan Chan
- Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
| | - Bonnie Webster
- Parasites and Vectors Division, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Rd, South Kensington, London SW7 5BD, UK
| | - David Rollinson
- Parasites and Vectors Division, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Rd, South Kensington, London SW7 5BD, UK
| | - Paul J Brindley
- School of Medicine & Health Sciences, Department of Microbiology, Immunology & Tropical Medicine, George Washington University, 2300 Eye Street, NW, Suite 502, Washington, DC 20037, USA
| | - Robin B Gasser
- Department of Veterinary Biosciences, Melbourne Veterinary School, Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Corner Flemington Road and Park Drive, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia
| | - Neil D Young
- Department of Veterinary Biosciences, Melbourne Veterinary School, Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Corner Flemington Road and Park Drive, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia
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Zhang D, Zou H, Jakovlić I, Wu SG, Li M, Zhang J, Chen R, Li WX, Wang GT. Mitochondrial Genomes of Two Thaparocleidus Species (Platyhelminthes: Monogenea) Reveal the First rRNA Gene Rearrangement among the Neodermata. Int J Mol Sci 2019; 20:E4214. [PMID: 31466297 PMCID: PMC6747449 DOI: 10.3390/ijms20174214] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2019] [Revised: 08/21/2019] [Accepted: 08/26/2019] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Phylogenetic framework for the closely related Ancylodiscoidinae and Ancyrocephalinae subfamilies remains contentious. As this issue was never studied using a large molecular marker, we sequenced the first two Ancylodiscoidinae mitogenomes: Thaparocleidus asoti and Thaparocleidus varicus. Both mitogenomes had two non-coding regions (NCRs) that contained a number of repetitive hairpin-forming elements (RHE). Due to these, the mitogenome of T. asoti (16,074 bp) is the longest among the Monogenea; especially large is its major NCR, with 3500 bp, approximately 1500 bp of which could not be sequenced (thus, the total mitogenome size is ≈ 17,600 bp). Although RHEs have been identified in other monopisthocotyleans, they appear to be independently derived in different taxa. The presence of RHEs may have contributed to the high gene order rearrangement rate observed in the two mitogenomes, including the first report of a transposition of rRNA genes within the Neodermata. Phylogenetic analyses using mitogenomic dataset produced Dactylogyrinae embedded within the Ancyrocephalinae (paraphyly), whereas Ancylodiscoidinae formed a sister-group with them. This was also supported by the gene order analysis. 28S rDNA dataset produced polyphyletic Dactylogyridae and Ancyrocephalinae. The phylogeny of the two subfamilies shall have to be further evaluated with more data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dong Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Aquaculture Disease Control, Ministry of Agriculture and State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 101408, China
| | - Hong Zou
- Key Laboratory of Aquaculture Disease Control, Ministry of Agriculture and State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China
| | | | - Shan G Wu
- Key Laboratory of Aquaculture Disease Control, Ministry of Agriculture and State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China
| | - Ming Li
- Key Laboratory of Aquaculture Disease Control, Ministry of Agriculture and State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China
| | - Jin Zhang
- Bio-Transduction Lab, Biolake, Wuhan 430075, China
| | - Rong Chen
- Bio-Transduction Lab, Biolake, Wuhan 430075, China
| | - Wen X Li
- Key Laboratory of Aquaculture Disease Control, Ministry of Agriculture and State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China.
| | - Gui T Wang
- Key Laboratory of Aquaculture Disease Control, Ministry of Agriculture and State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China.
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Touati R, Oueslati AE, Messaoudi I, Lachiri Z. The Helitron family classification using SVM based on Fourier transform features applied on an unbalanced dataset. Med Biol Eng Comput 2019; 57:2289-2304. [PMID: 31422557 DOI: 10.1007/s11517-019-02027-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2018] [Accepted: 08/02/2019] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Helitrons are mobile sequences which belong to the class 2 of eukaryotic transposons. Their specificity resides in their mechanism of transposition: the rolling circle mechanism. They play an important role in remodeling proteomes due to their ability to modify existing genes and introducing new ones. A major difficulty in identifying and classifying Helitron families comes from the complex structure, the unspecified length, and the unbalanced appearance number of each Helitron type. The Helitron's recognition is still not solved in literature. The purpose of this paper is to characterize and classify Helitron types using spectral features and support vector machine (SVM) classification technique. Thus, the helitronic DNA is transformed into a numerical form using the FCGS2 coding technique. Then, a set of spectral features is extracted from the smoothed Fourier transform applied on the FCGS2 signals. Based on the spectral signature and the classification's confusion matrix, we demonstrated that some specific classes which do not show similarities, such as HelitronY2 and NDNAX3, are easily discriminated with important accuracy rates exceeding 90%. However, some Helitron types have great similarities such as the following: Helitron1, HelitronY1, HelitronY1A, and HelitronY4. Our system is also able to predict them with promising values reaching 70%. Graphical abstract The Helitron recognizer based on features extracted from smoothed Fourier transform.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rabeb Touati
- LR99ES10 Human Genetics Laboratory, Faculty of Medicine of Tunis (FMT), University of Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia.
- SITI Laboratory, National School of Engineers of Tunis (ENIT), University Tunis El Manar, BP 37, le Belvédère, 1002, Tunis, Tunisia.
| | - Afef Elloumi Oueslati
- SITI Laboratory, National School of Engineers of Tunis (ENIT), University Tunis El Manar, BP 37, le Belvédère, 1002, Tunis, Tunisia
- Electrical Engineering Department, National School of Engineers of Carthage (ENICarthage), University of Carthage, Carthage, Tunisia
| | - Imen Messaoudi
- SITI Laboratory, National School of Engineers of Tunis (ENIT), University Tunis El Manar, BP 37, le Belvédère, 1002, Tunis, Tunisia
- Industrial Computing Department, Higher Institute of Information Technologies and Communications (ISTIC), University of Carthage, Carthage, Tunisia
| | - Zied Lachiri
- SITI Laboratory, National School of Engineers of Tunis (ENIT), University Tunis El Manar, BP 37, le Belvédère, 1002, Tunis, Tunisia
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Luo F, Yin M, Mo X, Sun C, Wu Q, Zhu B, Xiang M, Wang J, Wang Y, Li J, Zhang T, Xu B, Zheng H, Feng Z, Hu W. An improved genome assembly of the fluke Schistosoma japonicum. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2019; 13:e0007612. [PMID: 31390359 PMCID: PMC6685614 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0007612] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2019] [Accepted: 07/08/2019] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Schistosoma japonicum is a parasitic flatworm that causes human schistosomiasis, which is a significant cause of morbidity in China and the Philippines. A single draft genome was available for S. japonicum, yet this assembly is very fragmented and only covers 90% of the genome, which make it difficult to be applied as a reference in functional genome analysis and genes discovery. FINDINGS In this study, we present a high-quality assembly of the fluke S. japonicum genome by combining 20 G (~53X) long single molecule real time sequencing reads with 80 G (~ 213X) Illumina paired-end reads. This improved genome assembly is approximately 370.5 Mb, with contig and scaffold N50 length of 871.9 kb and 1.09 Mb, representing 142.4-fold and 6.2-fold improvement over the released WGS-based assembly, respectively. Additionally, our assembly captured 85.2% complete and 4.6% partial eukaryotic Benchmarking Universal Single-Copy Orthologs. Repetitive elements account for 46.80% of the genome, and 10,089 of the protein-coding genes were predicted from the improved genome, of which 96.5% have been functionally annotated. Lastly, using the improved assembly, we identified 20 significantly expanded gene families in S. japonicum, and those genes were primarily enriched in functions of proteolysis and protein glycosylation. CONCLUSIONS Using the combination of PacBio and Illumina Sequencing technologies, we provided an improved high-quality genome of S. japonicum. This improved genome assembly, as well as the annotation, will be useful for the comparative genomics of the flukes and more importantly facilitate the molecular studies of this important parasite in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fang Luo
- Department of infectious diseases, Huashan Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Mingbo Yin
- Department of infectious diseases, Huashan Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
- National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Key Laboratory of Parasite and Vector Biology of China Ministry of Health, WHO Collaborating Centre for Tropical Diseases, Joint Research Laboratory of Genetics and Ecology on Parasite-host Interaction, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention & Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Xiaojin Mo
- National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Key Laboratory of Parasite and Vector Biology of China Ministry of Health, WHO Collaborating Centre for Tropical Diseases, Joint Research Laboratory of Genetics and Ecology on Parasite-host Interaction, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention & Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Chengsong Sun
- Department of infectious diseases, Huashan Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Qunfeng Wu
- Department of infectious diseases, Huashan Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Bingkuan Zhu
- Department of infectious diseases, Huashan Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Manyu Xiang
- Department of infectious diseases, Huashan Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Jipeng Wang
- Department of infectious diseases, Huashan Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Yi Wang
- Department of infectious diseases, Huashan Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Jian Li
- Department of infectious diseases, Huashan Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Ting Zhang
- National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Key Laboratory of Parasite and Vector Biology of China Ministry of Health, WHO Collaborating Centre for Tropical Diseases, Joint Research Laboratory of Genetics and Ecology on Parasite-host Interaction, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention & Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Bin Xu
- National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Key Laboratory of Parasite and Vector Biology of China Ministry of Health, WHO Collaborating Centre for Tropical Diseases, Joint Research Laboratory of Genetics and Ecology on Parasite-host Interaction, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention & Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Huajun Zheng
- Shanghai-MOST Key Laboratory of Health and Disease Genomics, Chinese National Human Genome Center at Shanghai, Shanghai, China
| | - Zheng Feng
- National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Key Laboratory of Parasite and Vector Biology of China Ministry of Health, WHO Collaborating Centre for Tropical Diseases, Joint Research Laboratory of Genetics and Ecology on Parasite-host Interaction, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention & Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Wei Hu
- Department of infectious diseases, Huashan Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
- National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Key Laboratory of Parasite and Vector Biology of China Ministry of Health, WHO Collaborating Centre for Tropical Diseases, Joint Research Laboratory of Genetics and Ecology on Parasite-host Interaction, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention & Fudan University, Shanghai, China
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45
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Blommaert J, Riss S, Hecox-Lea B, Mark Welch DB, Stelzer CP. Small, but surprisingly repetitive genomes: transposon expansion and not polyploidy has driven a doubling in genome size in a metazoan species complex. BMC Genomics 2019; 20:466. [PMID: 31174483 PMCID: PMC6555955 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-019-5859-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2019] [Accepted: 05/29/2019] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The causes and consequences of genome size variation across Eukaryotes, which spans five orders of magnitude, have been hotly debated since before the advent of genome sequencing. Previous studies have mostly examined variation among larger taxonomic units (e.g., orders, or genera), while comparisons among closely related species are rare. Rotifers of the Brachionus plicatilis species complex exhibit a seven-fold variation in genome size and thus represent a unique opportunity to study such changes on a relatively short evolutionary timescale. Here, we sequenced and analysed the genomes of four species of this complex with nuclear DNA contents spanning 110-422 Mbp. To establish the likely mechanisms of genome size change, we analysed both sequencing read libraries and assemblies for signatures of polyploidy and repetitive element content. We also compared these genomes to that of B. calyciflorus, the closest relative with a sequenced genome (293 Mbp nuclear DNA content). RESULTS Despite the very large differences in genome size, we saw no evidence of ploidy level changes across the B. plicatilis complex. However, repetitive element content explained a large portion of genome size variation (at least 54%). The species with the largest genome, B. asplanchnoidis, has a strikingly high 44% repetitive element content, while the smaller B. plicatilis genomes contain between 14 and 25% repetitive elements. According to our analyses, the B. calyciflorus genome contains 39% repetitive elements, which is substantially higher than previously reported (21%), and suggests that high repetitive element load could be widespread in monogonont rotifers. CONCLUSIONS Even though the genome sizes of these species are at the low end of the metazoan spectrum, their genomes contain substantial amounts of repetitive elements. Polyploidy does not appear to play a role in genome size variations in these species, and these variations can be mostly explained by changes in repetitive element content. This contradicts the naïve expectation that small genomes are streamlined, or less complex, and that large variations in nuclear DNA content between closely related species are due to polyploidy.
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Affiliation(s)
- J. Blommaert
- Research Department for Limnology, University of Innsbruck, Mondsee, Austria
| | - S. Riss
- Research Department for Limnology, University of Innsbruck, Mondsee, Austria
| | - B. Hecox-Lea
- Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA USA
| | - D. B. Mark Welch
- Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA USA
| | - C. P. Stelzer
- Research Department for Limnology, University of Innsbruck, Mondsee, Austria
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Kim C, Kim J, Kim S, Cook DE, Evans KS, Andersen EC, Lee J. Long-read sequencing reveals intra-species tolerance of substantial structural variations and new subtelomere formation in C. elegans. Genome Res 2019; 29:1023-1035. [PMID: 31123081 PMCID: PMC6581047 DOI: 10.1101/gr.246082.118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2018] [Accepted: 04/22/2019] [Indexed: 12/05/2022]
Abstract
Long-read sequencing technologies have contributed greatly to comparative genomics among species and can also be applied to study genomics within a species. In this study, to determine how substantial genomic changes are generated and tolerated within a species, we sequenced a C. elegans strain, CB4856, which is one of the most genetically divergent strains compared to the N2 reference strain. For this comparison, we used the Pacific Biosciences (PacBio) RSII platform (80×, N50 read length 11.8 kb) and generated de novo genome assembly to the level of pseudochromosomes containing 76 contigs (N50 contig = 2.8 Mb). We identified structural variations that affected as many as 2694 genes, most of which are at chromosome arms. Subtelomeric regions contained the most extensive genomic rearrangements, which even created new subtelomeres in some cases. The subtelomere structure of Chromosome VR implies that ancestral telomere damage was repaired by alternative lengthening of telomeres even in the presence of a functional telomerase gene and that a new subtelomere was formed by break-induced replication. Our study demonstrates that substantial genomic changes including structural variations and new subtelomeres can be tolerated within a species, and that these changes may accumulate genetic diversity within a species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chuna Kim
- Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea 08826
- Department of Biological Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea 08826
| | - Jun Kim
- Department of Biological Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea 08826
- Research Institute of Basic Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea 08826
| | - Sunghyun Kim
- Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea 08826
- Department of Molecular and Computational Biology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA
| | - Daniel E Cook
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA
| | - Kathryn S Evans
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA
| | - Erik C Andersen
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA
| | - Junho Lee
- Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea 08826
- Department of Biological Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea 08826
- Research Institute of Basic Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea 08826
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Ahmad AA, Yang X, Zhang T, Wang C, Zhou C, Yan X, Hassan M, Ikram M, Hu M. Characterization of the Complete Mitochondrial Genome of Ostertagia trifurcata of Small Ruminants and its Phylogenetic Associations for the Trichostrongyloidea Superfamily. Genes (Basel) 2019; 10:genes10020107. [PMID: 30709051 PMCID: PMC6410049 DOI: 10.3390/genes10020107] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2019] [Revised: 01/23/2019] [Accepted: 01/29/2019] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
The complete mitochondrial (mt) genome of Ostertagia trifurcata, a parasitic nematode of small ruminants, has been sequenced and its phylogenetic relationship with selected members from the superfamily Trichostrongyloidea was investigated on the basis of deduced datasets of mt amino acid sequences. The entire mt genome of Ostertagia trifurcata is circular and 14,151 bp in length. It consists of a total of 36 genes comprising 12 genes coding for proteins (PCGs), 2 genes for ribosomal RNA (rRNA), 22 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes and 2 non-coding regions, since all genes are transcribed in the same direction. The phylogenetic analysis based on the concatenated datasets of predicted amino acid sequences of the 12 protein coding genes supported monophylies of the Haemonchidae, Dictyocaulidae and Molineidae families, but rejected monophylies of the Trichostrongylidae family. The complete characterization and provision of the mtDNA sequence of Ostertagia trifurcata provides novel genetic markers for molecular epidemiological investigations, systematics, diagnostics and population genetics of Ostertagia trifurcata and its correspondents.
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Affiliation(s)
- Awais Ali Ahmad
- State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology, Key Laboratory for the Development of Veterinary Products, Ministry of Agriculture, College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China.
| | - Xin Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology, Key Laboratory for the Development of Veterinary Products, Ministry of Agriculture, College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China.
| | - Ting Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology, Key Laboratory for the Development of Veterinary Products, Ministry of Agriculture, College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China.
| | - Chunqun Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology, Key Laboratory for the Development of Veterinary Products, Ministry of Agriculture, College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China.
| | - Caixian Zhou
- State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology, Key Laboratory for the Development of Veterinary Products, Ministry of Agriculture, College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China.
| | - Xingrun Yan
- State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology, Key Laboratory for the Development of Veterinary Products, Ministry of Agriculture, College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China.
| | - Mubashar Hassan
- State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology, Key Laboratory for the Development of Veterinary Products, Ministry of Agriculture, College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China.
| | - Muhammad Ikram
- Statistical Genomics Lab, College of Plant Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China.
| | - Min Hu
- State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology, Key Laboratory for the Development of Veterinary Products, Ministry of Agriculture, College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China.
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Oey H, Zakrzewski M, Narain K, Devi KR, Agatsuma T, Nawaratna S, Gobert GN, Jones MK, Ragan MA, McManus DP, Krause L. Whole-genome sequence of the oriental lung fluke Paragonimus westermani. Gigascience 2019; 8:5232231. [PMID: 30520948 PMCID: PMC6329441 DOI: 10.1093/gigascience/giy146] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2018] [Accepted: 11/19/2018] [Indexed: 01/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Foodborne infections caused by lung flukes of the genus Paragonimus are a significant and widespread public health problem in tropical areas. Approximately 50 Paragonimus species have been reported to infect animals and humans, but Paragonimus westermani is responsible for the bulk of human disease. Despite their medical and economic importance, no genome sequence for any Paragonimus species is available. Results We sequenced and assembled the genome of P. westermani, which is among the largest of the known pathogen genomes with an estimated size of 1.1 Gb. A 922.8 Mb genome assembly was generated from Illumina and Pacific Biosciences (PacBio) sequence data, covering 84% of the estimated genome size. The genome has a high proportion (45%) of repeat-derived DNA, particularly of the long interspersed element and long terminal repeat subtypes, and the expansion of these elements may explain some of the large size. We predicted 12,852 protein coding genes, showing a high level of conservation with related trematode species. The majority of proteins (80%) had homologs in the human liver fluke Opisthorchis viverrini, with an average sequence identity of 64.1%. Assembly of the P. westermani mitochondrial genome from long PacBio reads resulted in a single high-quality circularized 20.6 kb contig. The contig harbored a 6.9 kb region of non-coding repetitive DNA comprised of three distinct repeat units. Our results suggest that the region is highly polymorphic in P. westermani, possibly even within single worm isolates. Conclusions The generated assembly represents the first Paragonimus genome sequence and will facilitate future molecular studies of this important, but neglected, parasite group.
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Affiliation(s)
- Harald Oey
- The University of Queensland Diamantina Institute, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland, 37 Kent St, Translational Research Institute (TRI), Wooloongabba, QLD 4102
- Correspondence address. Harald Oey, Address: The university of Queensland Diamantina Institute, 37 Kent St, Translational Research Institute (TRI), Wooloongabba, QLD 4102, Australia. E-mail:
| | - Martha Zakrzewski
- Molecular Parasitology Laboratory, Immunology Department, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, 300 Herston Road, QLD 4006, Australia
| | - Kanwar Narain
- ICMR-Regional Medical Research Centre, Dibrugarh - 786010, Assam, India
| | - K Rekha Devi
- ICMR-Regional Medical Research Centre, Dibrugarh - 786010, Assam, India
| | - Takeshi Agatsuma
- Department of Environmental Medicine, Kochi University, Kohasu, Oko, Nankoku City 783–8505, Japan
| | - Sujeevi Nawaratna
- Molecular Parasitology Laboratory, Immunology Department, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, 300 Herston Road, QLD 4006, Australia
- School of Medicine, Griffith University, Gold Coast Campus, QLD 4222, Australia
| | - Geoffrey N Gobert
- Molecular Parasitology Laboratory, Immunology Department, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, 300 Herston Road, QLD 4006, Australia
- School of Biological Sciences, Queen's University Belfast, 19 Chlorine Gardens, Belfast BT9 5DL, United Kingdom
| | - Malcolm K Jones
- School of Veterinary Science, University of Queensland, Gatton, QLD 4343, Australia
| | - Mark A Ragan
- Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, 306 Carmody Road, St Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Donald P McManus
- Molecular Parasitology Laboratory, Immunology Department, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, 300 Herston Road, QLD 4006, Australia
| | - Lutz Krause
- The University of Queensland Diamantina Institute, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland, 37 Kent St, Translational Research Institute (TRI), Wooloongabba, QLD 4102
- Molecular Parasitology Laboratory, Immunology Department, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, 300 Herston Road, QLD 4006, Australia
- Correspondence address. Lutz Krause, Address: The university of Queensland Diamantina Institute, 37 Kent St, Translational Research Institute (TRI), Wooloongabba, QLD 4102, Australia. E-mail:
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Masonbrink R, Maier TR, Seetharam AS, Juvale PS, Baber L, Baum TJ, Severin AJ. SCNBase: a genomics portal for the soybean cyst nematode (Heterodera glycines). Database (Oxford) 2019; 2019:baz111. [PMID: 31680133 PMCID: PMC6853641 DOI: 10.1093/database/baz111] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2019] [Revised: 07/22/2019] [Accepted: 08/09/2019] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Soybean is an important worldwide crop, and farmers continue to experience significant yield loss due to the soybean cyst nematode (SCN), Heterodera glycines. This soil-borne roundworm parasite is rated the most important pathogen problem in soybean production. The infective nematodes enter into complex interactions with their host plant by inducing the development of specialized plant feeding cells that provide the parasites with nourishment. Addressing the SCN problem will require the development of genomic resources and a global collaboration of scientists to analyze and use these resources. SCNBase.org was designed as a collaborative hub for the SCN genome. All data and analyses are downloadable and can be analyzed with three integrated genomic tools: JBrowse, Feature Search and BLAST. At the time of this writing, a number of genomic and transcriptomic data sets are already available, with 43 JBrowse tracks and 21 category pages describing SCN genomic analyses on gene predictions, transcriptome and read alignments, effector-like genes, expansion and contraction of genomic repeats, orthology and synteny with related nematode species, Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNPs) from 15 SCN populations and novel splice sites. Standard functional gene annotations were supplemented with orthologous gene annotations using a comparison to nine related plant-parasitic nematodes, thereby enabling functional annotations for 85% of genes. These annotations led to a greater grasp on the SCN effectorome, which include over 3324 putative effector genes. By designing SCNBase as a hub, future research findings and genomic resources can easily be uploaded and made available for use by others with minimal needs for further curation. By providing these resources to nematode research community, scientists will be empowered to develop novel, more effective SCN management tools.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rick Masonbrink
- Genome Informatics Facility, Iowa State University, Osborne Dr, Ames, IA 50011, USA
| | - Tom R Maier
- Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, Iowa State University, Pammel Dr, Ames, IA 50011, USA
| | - Arun S Seetharam
- Genome Informatics Facility, Iowa State University, Osborne Dr, Ames, IA 50011, USA
| | - Parijat S Juvale
- Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, Iowa State University, Pammel Dr, Ames, IA 50011, USA
| | - Levi Baber
- Research IT, Iowa State University, Osborne Dr, Ames, IA 50011, USA
| | - Thomas J Baum
- Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, Iowa State University, Pammel Dr, Ames, IA 50011, USA
| | - Andrew J Severin
- Genome Informatics Facility, Iowa State University, Osborne Dr, Ames, IA 50011, USA
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50
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Abstract
The pace of research towards a genetic model to understand the unique molecular biology of parasitic nematodes has increased recently. This research has developed a diverse suite of genetic tools for a variety of parasitic nematodes. CRISPR/Cas9 technology in particular offers much promise as a game changing tool for researchers studying parasitic nematodes. Unlike RNAi, which depends on diverse nematode effectors to silence gene expression, the effectors for CRISPR/Cas9 mutations are typically supplied by the experimenter, making gene editing via CRISPR/Cas9 ideal for testing on genetically intractable nematode systems. To facilitate the development of CRISPR/Cas9 technology for parasitic nematodes, I here describe a tool for identifying gRNA targets and diagnostic primers to a user supplied sequence. The software attempts to minimize non-specific targets by interrogating the genomes of parasitic nematodes. This software is freely available online and features an intuitive interface to help researchers design effective CRISPR experiments for parasitic nematodes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Damien M O'Halloran
- Department of Biological Sciences, George Washington University, Science and Engineering Hall, Suite 6000, 800 22nd Street NW, Washington DC 20052, USA; Institute for Neuroscience, George Washington University, 636A Ross Hall, 2300 I Street NW, Washington DC 20052, USA.
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