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Vogel NA, Rubin JD, Pedersen AG, Sackett PW, Pedersen MW, Renaud G. soibean: High-Resolution Taxonomic Identification of Ancient Environmental DNA Using Mitochondrial Pangenome Graphs. Mol Biol Evol 2024; 41:msae203. [PMID: 39361595 PMCID: PMC11488136 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msae203] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2024] [Revised: 08/05/2024] [Accepted: 09/27/2024] [Indexed: 10/05/2024] Open
Abstract
Ancient environmental DNA (aeDNA) is becoming a powerful tool to gain insights about past ecosystems, overcoming the limitations of conventional fossil records. However, several methodological challenges remain, particularly for classifying the DNA to species level and conducting phylogenetic analysis. Current methods, primarily tailored for modern datasets, fail to capture several idiosyncrasies of aeDNA, including species mixtures from closely related species and ancestral divergence. We introduce soibean, a novel tool that utilizes mitochondrial pangenomic graphs for identifying species from aeDNA reads. It outperforms existing methods in accurately identifying species from multiple closely related sources within a sample, enhancing phylogenetic analysis for aeDNA. soibean employs a damage-aware likelihood model for precise identification at low coverage with a high damage rate. Additionally, we reconstructed ancestral sequences for soibean's database to handle aeDNA that is highly diverged from modern references. soibean demonstrates effectiveness through simulated data tests and empirical validation. Notably, our method uncovered new empirical results in published datasets, including using porpoise whales as food in a Mesolithic community in Sweden, demonstrating its potential to reveal previously unrecognized findings in aeDNA studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicola Alexandra Vogel
- Department of Health Technology, Section for Bioinformatics, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Joshua Daniel Rubin
- Department of Health Technology, Section for Bioinformatics, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Anders Gorm Pedersen
- Department of Health Technology, Section for Bioinformatics, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Peter Wad Sackett
- Department of Health Technology, Section for Bioinformatics, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Mikkel Winther Pedersen
- Centre For Ancient Environmental Genomics, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen K, Denmark
| | - Gabriel Renaud
- Department of Health Technology, Section for Bioinformatics, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
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Edirisinghe EAHW, Athukorala BN, Perera M, Abeywardana BASD, Sigera PST, Eranga P, Theekshana KD, Boudjelal M, Ali R, Peiris DC. Jellyfish Venom Peptides Targeting Human Potassium Channels Identified through Ligand Screening: Morphometric and Molecular Identification of the Species and Antibiotic Potential. Mar Drugs 2024; 22:333. [PMID: 39195449 DOI: 10.3390/md22080333] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2024] [Revised: 07/16/2024] [Accepted: 07/19/2024] [Indexed: 08/29/2024] Open
Abstract
The relative lack of marine venom could be attributed to the difficulty in dealing with venomous marine animals. Moreover, the venom of marine animals consists of various bioactive molecules, many of which are proteins with unique properties. In this study, we investigated the potential toxic proteins of jellyfish collected for ligand screening to understand the mechanism of the toxic effects of jellyfish. Since taxonomic identification is problematic due to the lack of proper keys, we conducted morphological and molecular mitochondrial DNA sequencing from COI and ITS regions. The venom extract from nematocysts found along the bell margins was used for protein characterization using SDS-gel electrophoresis and nano-liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Ligand screening for the most potent toxin and antibacterial and cytotoxicity assays were carried out. The phylogenetic tree showed distinct clustering from other Catostylus sp. The proteomic analysis revealed venom with many bioactive proteins. Only 13 venom proteins were identified with molecular weights ranging from 4318 to 184,923 Da, exhibiting the venom's complexity. The overall toxin protein composition of Catostylus sp. venom was dominated by potassium channel toxin alpha-KTx. Molecular docking of toxin alpha-KTx 1.13 revealed high specificity towards the human voltage-gated potassium channel Kv3 with a high fitness score and a minimum energy barrier of -17.9 kcal/mol. Disc diffusion and cytotoxicity assays revealed potent antibacterial activity against Klebsiella pneumoniae with no cytotoxicity. Further studies on detailed characterization and therapeutic potentials are warranted.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Buddhima Nirmani Athukorala
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Applied Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Nugegoda 10250, Sri Lanka
| | - Minoli Perera
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Applied Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Nugegoda 10250, Sri Lanka
| | | | | | - Pasindu Eranga
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Applied Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Nugegoda 10250, Sri Lanka
| | - Kavindu Dinuhara Theekshana
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Applied Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Nugegoda 10250, Sri Lanka
| | - Mohamad Boudjelal
- King Abdullah International Medical Research Center (KAIMRC), Medical Research Core Facility, and Platforms (MRCFP), King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences (KSAU-HS), Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs (MNGHA), Riyadh 11481, Saudi Arabia
| | - Rizwan Ali
- King Abdullah International Medical Research Center (KAIMRC), Medical Research Core Facility, and Platforms (MRCFP), King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences (KSAU-HS), Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs (MNGHA), Riyadh 11481, Saudi Arabia
| | - Dinithi Champika Peiris
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Applied Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Nugegoda 10250, Sri Lanka
- Genetics and Molecular Biology Unit, Faculty of Applied Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Nugegoda 10250, Sri Lanka
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Lebrasseur O, More KD, Orlando L. Equine herpesvirus 4 infected domestic horses associated with Sintashta spoke-wheeled chariots around 4,000 years ago. Virus Evol 2024; 10:vead087. [PMID: 38465241 PMCID: PMC10924538 DOI: 10.1093/ve/vead087] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2023] [Revised: 11/27/2023] [Accepted: 01/11/2024] [Indexed: 03/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Equine viral outbreaks have disrupted the socio-economic life of past human societies up until the late 19th century and continue to be of major concern to the horse industry today. With a seroprevalence of 60-80 per cent, equine herpesvirus 4 (EHV-4) is the most common horse pathogen on the planet. Yet, its evolutionary history remains understudied. Here, we screen the sequenced data of 264 archaeological horse remains to detect the presence of EHV-4. We recover the first ancient EHV-4 genome with 4.2× average depth-of-coverage from a specimen excavated in the Southeastern Urals and dated to the Early Bronze Age period, approximately 3,900 years ago. The recovery of an EHV-4 virus outside the upper respiratory tract not only points to an animal particularly infected but also highlights the importance of post-cranial bones in pathogen characterisation. Bayesian phylogenetic reconstruction provides a minimal time estimate for EHV-4 diversification to around 4,000 years ago, a time when modern domestic horses spread across the Central Asian steppes together with spoke-wheeled Sintashta chariots, or earlier. The analyses also considerably revise the diversification time of the two EHV-4 subclades from the 16th century based solely on modern data to nearly a thousand years ago. Our study paves the way for a robust reconstruction of the history of non-human pathogens and their impact on animal health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ophélie Lebrasseur
- Centre for Anthropobiology and Genomics of Toulouse (CAGT), CNRS/Université Paul Sabatier, 37 Allées Jules Guesde, 31000, Toulouse, France
- Instituto Nacional de Antropología y Pensamiento Latinoamericano, 3 de Febrero 1370 (1426), Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Kuldeep Dilip More
- Centre for Anthropobiology and Genomics of Toulouse (CAGT), CNRS/Université Paul Sabatier, 37 Allées Jules Guesde, 31000, Toulouse, France
| | - Ludovic Orlando
- Centre for Anthropobiology and Genomics of Toulouse (CAGT), CNRS/Université Paul Sabatier, 37 Allées Jules Guesde, 31000, Toulouse, France
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Fiddaman SR, Dimopoulos EA, Lebrasseur O, du Plessis L, Vrancken B, Charlton S, Haruda AF, Tabbada K, Flammer PG, Dascalu S, Marković N, Li H, Franklin G, Symmons R, Baron H, Daróczi-Szabó L, Shaymuratova DN, Askeyev IV, Putelat O, Sana M, Davoudi H, Fathi H, Mucheshi AS, Vahdati AA, Zhang L, Foster A, Sykes N, Baumberg GC, Bulatović J, Askeyev AO, Askeyev OV, Mashkour M, Pybus OG, Nair V, Larson G, Smith AL, Frantz LAF. Ancient chicken remains reveal the origins of virulence in Marek's disease virus. Science 2023; 382:1276-1281. [PMID: 38096384 DOI: 10.1126/science.adg2238] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2022] [Accepted: 10/25/2023] [Indexed: 12/18/2023]
Abstract
The pronounced growth in livestock populations since the 1950s has altered the epidemiological and evolutionary trajectory of their associated pathogens. For example, Marek's disease virus (MDV), which causes lymphoid tumors in chickens, has experienced a marked increase in virulence over the past century. Today, MDV infections kill >90% of unvaccinated birds, and controlling it costs more than US$1 billion annually. By sequencing MDV genomes derived from archeological chickens, we demonstrate that it has been circulating for at least 1000 years. We functionally tested the Meq oncogene, one of 49 viral genes positively selected in modern strains, demonstrating that ancient MDV was likely incapable of driving tumor formation. Our results demonstrate the power of ancient DNA approaches to trace the molecular basis of virulence in economically relevant pathogens.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Evangelos A Dimopoulos
- The Palaeogenomics and Bio-Archaeology Research Network, Research Laboratory for Archaeology and History of Art, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Ophélie Lebrasseur
- Centre d'Anthropobiologie et de Génomique de Toulouse, CNRS/Université Toulouse III Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France
- Instituto Nacional de Antropología y Pensamiento Latinoamericano, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Louis du Plessis
- Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering, ETH Zurich, Basel, Switzerland
- Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Bram Vrancken
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Transplantation, Rega Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
- Spatial Epidemiology Lab (SpELL), Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Sophy Charlton
- The Palaeogenomics and Bio-Archaeology Research Network, Research Laboratory for Archaeology and History of Art, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- BioArCh, Department of Archaeology, University of York, York, UK
| | - Ashleigh F Haruda
- The Palaeogenomics and Bio-Archaeology Research Network, Research Laboratory for Archaeology and History of Art, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Kristina Tabbada
- The Palaeogenomics and Bio-Archaeology Research Network, Research Laboratory for Archaeology and History of Art, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | | | | | | | - Hannah Li
- Institute of Immunity and Transplantation, University College London, London, UK
| | | | | | | | | | - Dilyara N Shaymuratova
- Laboratory of Biomonitoring, The Institute of Problems in Ecology and Mineral Wealth, Tatarstan Academy of Sciences, Kazan, Russia
| | - Igor V Askeyev
- Laboratory of Biomonitoring, The Institute of Problems in Ecology and Mineral Wealth, Tatarstan Academy of Sciences, Kazan, Russia
| | | | - Maria Sana
- Departament de Prehistòria, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Hossein Davoudi
- Bioarchaeology Laboratory, Central Laboratory, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
| | - Homa Fathi
- Bioarchaeology Laboratory, Central Laboratory, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
| | - Amir Saed Mucheshi
- Department of Art and Architecture, Payame Noor University (PNU), Tehran, Iran
| | - Ali Akbar Vahdati
- Iranian Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts, North Khorasan Office, Iran
| | - Liangren Zhang
- Department of Archaeology, School of History, Nanjing University, China
| | | | - Naomi Sykes
- Department of Archaeology, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
| | - Gabrielle Cass Baumberg
- The Palaeogenomics and Bio-Archaeology Research Network, Research Laboratory for Archaeology and History of Art, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Jelena Bulatović
- Department of Historical Studies, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Arthur O Askeyev
- Laboratory of Biomonitoring, The Institute of Problems in Ecology and Mineral Wealth, Tatarstan Academy of Sciences, Kazan, Russia
| | - Oleg V Askeyev
- Laboratory of Biomonitoring, The Institute of Problems in Ecology and Mineral Wealth, Tatarstan Academy of Sciences, Kazan, Russia
| | - Marjan Mashkour
- Bioarchaeology Laboratory, Central Laboratory, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
- CNRS, National Museum Natural History Paris, Paris, France
| | - Oliver G Pybus
- Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Department of Pathobiology and Population Sciences, Royal Veterinary College, London, UK
| | - Venugopal Nair
- Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Viral Oncogenesis Group, Pirbright Institute, Woking, UK
| | - Greger Larson
- The Palaeogenomics and Bio-Archaeology Research Network, Research Laboratory for Archaeology and History of Art, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | | | - Laurent A F Frantz
- Palaeogenomics Group, Institute of Palaeoanatomy, Domestication Research and the History of Veterinary Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat, Munich, Germany
- School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
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Kumar R, Yadav G, Kuddus M, Ashraf GM, Singh R. Unlocking the microbial studies through computational approaches: how far have we reached? ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL 2023; 30:48929-48947. [PMID: 36920617 PMCID: PMC10016191 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-023-26220-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2022] [Accepted: 02/24/2023] [Indexed: 04/16/2023]
Abstract
The metagenomics approach accelerated the study of genetic information from uncultured microbes and complex microbial communities. In silico research also facilitated an understanding of protein-DNA interactions, protein-protein interactions, docking between proteins and phyto/biochemicals for drug design, and modeling of the 3D structure of proteins. These in silico approaches provided insight into analyzing pathogenic and nonpathogenic strains that helped in the identification of probable genes for vaccines and antimicrobial agents and comparing whole-genome sequences to microbial evolution. Artificial intelligence, more precisely machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL), has proven to be a promising approach in the field of microbiology to handle, analyze, and utilize large data that are generated through nucleic acid sequencing and proteomics. This enabled the understanding of the functional and taxonomic diversity of microorganisms. ML and DL have been used in the prediction and forecasting of diseases and applied to trace environmental contaminants and environmental quality. This review presents an in-depth analysis of the recent application of silico approaches in microbial genomics, proteomics, functional diversity, vaccine development, and drug design.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rajnish Kumar
- Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University Uttar Pradesh Lucknow Campus, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
- Department of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA
| | - Garima Yadav
- Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University Uttar Pradesh Lucknow Campus, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
| | - Mohammed Kuddus
- Department of Biochemistry, College of Medicine, University of Hail, Hail, Saudi Arabia
| | - Ghulam Md Ashraf
- Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, College of Health Sciences, and Sharjah Institute for Medical Research, University of Sharjah, Sharjah , 27272, United Arab Emirates
| | - Rachana Singh
- Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University Uttar Pradesh Lucknow Campus, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.
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