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King MR, Ruff KM, Pappu RV. Emergent microenvironments of nucleoli. Nucleus 2024; 15:2319957. [PMID: 38443761 PMCID: PMC10936679 DOI: 10.1080/19491034.2024.2319957] [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: 09/04/2023] [Accepted: 02/13/2024] [Indexed: 03/07/2024] Open
Abstract
In higher eukaryotes, the nucleolus harbors at least three sub-phases that facilitate multiple functionalities including ribosome biogenesis. The three prominent coexisting sub-phases are the fibrillar center (FC), the dense fibrillar component (DFC), and the granular component (GC). Here, we review recent efforts in profiling sub-phase compositions that shed light on the types of physicochemical properties that emerge from compositional biases and territorial organization of specific types of macromolecules. We highlight roles played by molecular grammars which refers to protein sequence features including the substrate binding domains, the sequence features of intrinsically disordered regions, and the multivalence of these distinct types of domains / regions. We introduce the concept of a barcode of emergent physicochemical properties of nucleoli. Although our knowledge of the full barcode remains incomplete, we hope that the concept prompts investigations into undiscovered emergent properties and engenders an appreciation for how and why unique microenvironments control biochemical reactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew R. King
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and Center for Biomolecular Condensates, Washington University in St. Louis, Campus, MO, USA
| | - Kiersten M. Ruff
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and Center for Biomolecular Condensates, Washington University in St. Louis, Campus, MO, USA
| | - Rohit V. Pappu
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and Center for Biomolecular Condensates, Washington University in St. Louis, Campus, MO, USA
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Yu HJ, Byun YH, Park CK. Techniques for assessing telomere length: A methodological review. Comput Struct Biotechnol J 2024; 23:1489-1498. [PMID: 38633384 PMCID: PMC11021795 DOI: 10.1016/j.csbj.2024.04.011] [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] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2023] [Revised: 04/04/2024] [Accepted: 04/05/2024] [Indexed: 04/19/2024] Open
Abstract
Telomeres are located at the ends of chromosomes and have specific sequences with a distinctive structure that safeguards genes. They possess capping structures that protect chromosome ends from fusion events and ensure chromosome stability. Telomeres shorten in length during each cycle of cell division. When this length reaches a certain threshold, it can lead to genomic instability, thus being implicated in various diseases, including cancer and neurodegenerative disorders. The possibility of telomeres serving as a biomarker for aging and age-related disease is being explored, and their significance is still under study. This is because post-mitotic cells, which are mature cells that do not undergo mitosis, do not experience telomere shortening due to age. Instead, other causes, for example, exposure to oxidative stress, can directly damage the telomeres, causing genomic instability. Nonetheless, a general agreement has been established that measuring telomere length offers valuable insights and forms a crucial foundation for analyzing gene expression and epigenetic data. Numerous approaches have been developed to accurately measure telomere lengths. In this review, we summarize various methods and their advantages and limitations for assessing telomere length.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hyeon Jong Yu
- Department of Neurosurgery, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Yoon Hwan Byun
- Department of Neurosurgery, SMG-SNU Boramae Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Chul-Kee Park
- Department of Neurosurgery, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea
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3
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Wang YC, Mao Y, Fu HM, Wang J, Weng X, Liu ZH, Xu XW, Yan P, Fang F, Guo JS, Shen Y, Chen YP. New insights into functional divergence and adaptive evolution of uncultured bacteria in anammox community by complete genome-centric analysis. Sci Total Environ 2024; 924:171530. [PMID: 38453092 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171530] [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] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2023] [Revised: 11/13/2023] [Accepted: 03/04/2024] [Indexed: 03/09/2024]
Abstract
Anaerobic ammonium-oxidation (anammox) bacteria play a crucial role in global nitrogen cycling and wastewater nitrogen removal, but they share symbiotic relationships with various other microorganisms. Functional divergence and adaptive evolution of uncultured bacteria in anammox community remain underexplored. Although shotgun metagenomics based on short reads has been widely used in anammox research, metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) are often discontinuous and highly contaminated, which limits in-depth analyses of anammox communities. Here, for the first time, we performed Pacific Biosciences high-fidelity (HiFi) long-read sequencing on the anammox granule sludge sample from a lab-scale bioreactor, and obtained 30 accurate and complete metagenome-assembled genomes (cMAGs). These cMAGs were obtained by selecting high-quality circular contigs from initial assemblies of long reads generated by HiFi sequencing, eliminating the need for Illumina short reads, binning, and reassembly. One new anammox species affiliated with Candidatus Jettenia and three species affiliated with novel families were found in this anammox community. cMAG-centric analysis revealed functional divergence in general and nitrogen metabolism among the anammox community members, and they might adopt a cross-feeding strategy in organic matter, cofactors, and vitamins. Furthermore, we identified 63 mobile genetic elements (MGEs) and 50 putative horizontal gene transfer (HGT) events within these cMAGs. The results suggest that HGT events and MGEs related to phage and integration or excision, particularly transposons containing tnpA in anammox bacteria, might play important roles in the adaptive evolution of this anammox community. The cMAGs generated in the present study could be used to establish of a comprehensive database for anammox bacteria and associated microorganisms. These findings highlight the advantages of HiFi sequencing for the studies of complex mixed cultures and advance the understanding of anammox communities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yi-Cheng Wang
- Key Laboratory of the Three Gorges Reservoir Region's Eco-Environments of MOE, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, China
| | - Yanping Mao
- College of Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518071, Guangdong, China
| | - Hui-Min Fu
- Key Laboratory of the Three Gorges Reservoir Region's Eco-Environments of MOE, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, China; National Research Base of Intelligent Manufacturing Service, Chongqing Technology and Business University, Chongqing 400067, China
| | - Jin Wang
- Key Laboratory of the Three Gorges Reservoir Region's Eco-Environments of MOE, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, China
| | - Xun Weng
- Key Laboratory of the Three Gorges Reservoir Region's Eco-Environments of MOE, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, China
| | - Zi-Hao Liu
- Key Laboratory of the Three Gorges Reservoir Region's Eco-Environments of MOE, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, China
| | - Xiao-Wei Xu
- Key Laboratory of the Three Gorges Reservoir Region's Eco-Environments of MOE, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, China
| | - Peng Yan
- Key Laboratory of the Three Gorges Reservoir Region's Eco-Environments of MOE, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, China
| | - Fang Fang
- Key Laboratory of the Three Gorges Reservoir Region's Eco-Environments of MOE, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, China
| | - Jin-Song Guo
- Key Laboratory of the Three Gorges Reservoir Region's Eco-Environments of MOE, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, China
| | - Yu Shen
- National Research Base of Intelligent Manufacturing Service, Chongqing Technology and Business University, Chongqing 400067, China
| | - You-Peng Chen
- Key Laboratory of the Three Gorges Reservoir Region's Eco-Environments of MOE, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, China.
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Niewold TB, Aksentijevich I, Gorevic PD, Gibson G, Yao Q. Genetically transitional disease: conceptual understanding and applicability to rheumatic disease. Nat Rev Rheumatol 2024; 20:301-310. [PMID: 38418715 DOI: 10.1038/s41584-024-01086-9] [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] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/19/2024] [Indexed: 03/02/2024]
Abstract
In genomic medicine, the concept of genetically transitional disease (GTD) refers to cases in which gene mutation is necessary but not sufficient to cause disease. In this Perspective, we apply this novel concept to rheumatic diseases, which have been linked to hundreds of genetic variants via association studies. These variants are in the 'grey zone' between monogenic variants with large effect sizes and common susceptibility alleles with small effect sizes. Among genes associated with rare autoinflammatory diseases, many low-frequency and/or low-penetrance variants are known to increase susceptibility to systemic inflammation. In autoimmune diseases, hundreds of HLA and non-HLA genetic variants have been revealed to be modest- to moderate-risk alleles. These diseases can be reclassified as GTDs. The same concept could apply to many other human diseases. GTD could improve the reporting of genetic testing results, diagnostic yields, genetic counselling and selection of therapy, as well as facilitating research using a novel approach to human genetic diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Timothy B Niewold
- Department of Rheumatology, Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, NY, USA
| | - Ivona Aksentijevich
- Inflammatory Disease Section, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Peter D Gorevic
- Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology, Stony Brook University Renaissance School of Medicine, Stony Brook, NY, USA
| | - Greg Gibson
- Center for Integrative Genomics, School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Qingping Yao
- Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology, Stony Brook University Renaissance School of Medicine, Stony Brook, NY, USA.
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Charlesworth D, Harkess A. Why should we study plant sex chromosomes? Plant Cell 2024; 36:1242-1256. [PMID: 38163640 DOI: 10.1093/plcell/koad278] [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] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2023] [Accepted: 10/10/2023] [Indexed: 01/03/2024]
Abstract
Understanding plant sex chromosomes involves studying interactions between developmental and physiological genetics, genome evolution, and evolutionary ecology. We focus on areas of overlap between these. Ideas about how species with separate sexes (dioecious species, in plant terminology) can evolve are even more relevant to plants than to most animal taxa because dioecy has evolved many times from ancestral functionally hermaphroditic populations, often recently. One aim of studying plant sex chromosomes is to discover how separate males and females evolved from ancestors with no such genetic sex-determining polymorphism, and the diversity in the genetic control of maleness vs femaleness. Different systems share some interesting features, and their differences help to understand why completely sex-linked regions may evolve. In some dioecious plants, the sex-determining genome regions are physically small. In others, regions without crossing over have evolved sometimes extensive regions with properties very similar to those of the familiar animal sex chromosomes. The differences also affect the evolutionary changes possible when the environment (or pollination environment, for angiosperms) changes, as dioecy is an ecologically risky strategy for sessile organisms. Dioecious plants have repeatedly reverted to cosexuality, and hermaphroditic strains of fruit crops such as papaya and grapes are desired by plant breeders. Sex-linked regions are predicted to become enriched in genes with sex differences in expression, especially when higher expression benefits one sex function but harms the other. Such trade-offs may be important for understanding other plant developmental and physiological processes and have direct applications in plant breeding.
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Affiliation(s)
- Deborah Charlesworth
- Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3FL, UK
| | - Alex Harkess
- HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, Huntsville, AL 35806, USA
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Pino LK. The future role of mass spectrometry in proteomics: Embracing new technologies and building bridges for higher impact. J Mass Spectrom 2024; 59:e5028. [PMID: 38605454 DOI: 10.1002/jms.5028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2024] [Accepted: 03/16/2024] [Indexed: 04/13/2024]
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Shen X, Zhu X, Liu H, Yuan R, Guo Q, Zhao P. Leveraging genomic signatures of oral microbiome-associated antibiotic resistance genes for diagnosing pancreatic cancer. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0302361. [PMID: 38687802 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0302361] [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] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2024] [Accepted: 04/02/2024] [Indexed: 05/02/2024] Open
Abstract
Growing evidence has increasingly suggested a potential linkage between the oral microbiome and various diseases, including pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). However, the utilization of gene-level information derived from the oral microbiome for diagnosing PDAC remains unexplored. In this study, we sought to investigate the novel potential of leveraging genomic signatures associated with antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) within the oral microbiome for the diagnosis of PDAC. By conducting an analysis of oral microbiome samples obtained from PDAC patients, we successfully identified specific ARGs that displayed distinct sequence abundance profiles correlated with the presence of PDAC. In the healthy group, three ARGs were found to be enriched, whereas 21 ARGs were enriched in PDAC patients. Remarkably, these ARGs from oral microbiome exhibited promising diagnostic capabilities for PDAC (AUROC = 0.79), providing a non-invasive and early detection method. Our findings not only provide novel modal data for diagnosing PDAC but also shed light on the intricate interplay between the oral microbiome and PDAC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaojing Shen
- Qingdao municipal hospital(group) Stomatology, Qingdao, Shandong, China
| | - Xiaolin Zhu
- Department of Gastroenterology, Qingdao Municipal Hospital, Qingdao, Shandong, China
| | - Hairong Liu
- Qingdao municipal hospital(group) Stomatology, Qingdao, Shandong, China
| | - Rongtao Yuan
- Qingdao municipal hospital(group) Stomatology, Qingdao, Shandong, China
| | - Qingyuan Guo
- Qingdao municipal hospital(group) Stomatology, Qingdao, Shandong, China
| | - Peng Zhao
- Qingdao municipal hospital(group) Stomatology, Qingdao, Shandong, China
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Shi TL, Jia KH, Bao YT, Nie S, Tian XC, Yan XM, Chen ZY, Li ZC, Zhao SW, Ma HY, Zhao Y, Li X, Zhang RG, Guo J, Zhao W, El-Kassaby YA, Müller N, Van de Peer Y, Wang XR, Street NR, Porth I, An X, Mao JF. High-quality genome assembly enables prediction of allele-specific gene expression in hybrid poplar. Plant Physiol 2024; 195:652-670. [PMID: 38412470 DOI: 10.1093/plphys/kiae078] [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] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2023] [Revised: 01/08/2024] [Accepted: 01/09/2024] [Indexed: 02/29/2024]
Abstract
Poplar (Populus) is a well-established model system for tree genomics and molecular breeding, and hybrid poplar is widely used in forest plantations. However, distinguishing its diploid homologous chromosomes is difficult, complicating advanced functional studies on specific alleles. In this study, we applied a trio-binning design and PacBio high-fidelity long-read sequencing to obtain haplotype-phased telomere-to-telomere genome assemblies for the 2 parents of the well-studied F1 hybrid "84K" (Populus alba × Populus tremula var. glandulosa). Almost all chromosomes, including the telomeres and centromeres, were completely assembled for each haplotype subgenome apart from 2 small gaps on one chromosome. By incorporating information from these haplotype assemblies and extensive RNA-seq data, we analyzed gene expression patterns between the 2 subgenomes and alleles. Transcription bias at the subgenome level was not uncovered, but extensive-expression differences were detected between alleles. We developed machine-learning (ML) models to predict allele-specific expression (ASE) with high accuracy and identified underlying genome features most highly influencing ASE. One of our models with 15 predictor variables achieved 77% accuracy on the training set and 74% accuracy on the testing set. ML models identified gene body CHG methylation, sequence divergence, and transposon occupancy both upstream and downstream of alleles as important factors for ASE. Our haplotype-phased genome assemblies and ML strategy highlight an avenue for functional studies in Populus and provide additional tools for studying ASE and heterosis in hybrids.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tian-Le Shi
- State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding, National Engineering Research Center of Tree Breeding and Ecological Restoration, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Tree Breeding by Molecular Design, National Engineering Laboratory for Tree Breeding, Key Laboratory of Genetics and Breeding in Forest Trees and Ornamental Plants, Ministry of Education, College of Biological Sciences and Technology, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
| | - Kai-Hua Jia
- State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding, National Engineering Research Center of Tree Breeding and Ecological Restoration, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Tree Breeding by Molecular Design, National Engineering Laboratory for Tree Breeding, Key Laboratory of Genetics and Breeding in Forest Trees and Ornamental Plants, Ministry of Education, College of Biological Sciences and Technology, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
- Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement & Ecology and Physiology, Institute of Crop Germplasm Resources, Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Ji'nan 250100, China
| | - Yu-Tao Bao
- State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding, National Engineering Research Center of Tree Breeding and Ecological Restoration, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Tree Breeding by Molecular Design, National Engineering Laboratory for Tree Breeding, Key Laboratory of Genetics and Breeding in Forest Trees and Ornamental Plants, Ministry of Education, College of Biological Sciences and Technology, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
| | - Shuai Nie
- Rice Research Institute, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences & Key Laboratory of Genetics and Breeding of High Quality Rice in Southern China (Co-construction by Ministry and Province), Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs & Guangdong Key Laboratory of New Technology in Rice Breeding, Guangzhou 510640, China
| | - Xue-Chan Tian
- State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding, National Engineering Research Center of Tree Breeding and Ecological Restoration, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Tree Breeding by Molecular Design, National Engineering Laboratory for Tree Breeding, Key Laboratory of Genetics and Breeding in Forest Trees and Ornamental Plants, Ministry of Education, College of Biological Sciences and Technology, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
| | - Xue-Mei Yan
- State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding, National Engineering Research Center of Tree Breeding and Ecological Restoration, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Tree Breeding by Molecular Design, National Engineering Laboratory for Tree Breeding, Key Laboratory of Genetics and Breeding in Forest Trees and Ornamental Plants, Ministry of Education, College of Biological Sciences and Technology, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
| | - Zhao-Yang Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding, National Engineering Research Center of Tree Breeding and Ecological Restoration, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Tree Breeding by Molecular Design, National Engineering Laboratory for Tree Breeding, Key Laboratory of Genetics and Breeding in Forest Trees and Ornamental Plants, Ministry of Education, College of Biological Sciences and Technology, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
| | - Zhi-Chao Li
- State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding, National Engineering Research Center of Tree Breeding and Ecological Restoration, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Tree Breeding by Molecular Design, National Engineering Laboratory for Tree Breeding, Key Laboratory of Genetics and Breeding in Forest Trees and Ornamental Plants, Ministry of Education, College of Biological Sciences and Technology, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
| | - Shi-Wei Zhao
- State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding, National Engineering Research Center of Tree Breeding and Ecological Restoration, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Tree Breeding by Molecular Design, National Engineering Laboratory for Tree Breeding, Key Laboratory of Genetics and Breeding in Forest Trees and Ornamental Plants, Ministry of Education, College of Biological Sciences and Technology, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
| | - Hai-Yao Ma
- State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding, National Engineering Research Center of Tree Breeding and Ecological Restoration, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Tree Breeding by Molecular Design, National Engineering Laboratory for Tree Breeding, Key Laboratory of Genetics and Breeding in Forest Trees and Ornamental Plants, Ministry of Education, College of Biological Sciences and Technology, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
| | - Ye Zhao
- State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding, National Engineering Research Center of Tree Breeding and Ecological Restoration, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Tree Breeding by Molecular Design, National Engineering Laboratory for Tree Breeding, Key Laboratory of Genetics and Breeding in Forest Trees and Ornamental Plants, Ministry of Education, College of Biological Sciences and Technology, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
| | - Xiang Li
- School of Agriculture, Ningxia University, Yinchuan 750021, China
| | - Ren-Gang Zhang
- Yunnan Key Laboratory for Integrative Conservation of Plant Species with Extremely Small Populations, Key Laboratory for Plant Diversity and Biogeography of East Asia, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650201, Yunnan, China
| | - Jing Guo
- College of Forestry, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an 271000, China
| | - Wei Zhao
- Umeå Plant Science Centre, Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå University, SE-901 87 Umeå, Sweden
| | - Yousry Aly El-Kassaby
- Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Bc, V6T 1Z4, Canada
| | - Niels Müller
- Thünen-Institute of Forest Genetics, 22927 Grosshansdorf, Germany
| | - Yves Van de Peer
- Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
- VIB Center for Plant Systems Biology, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
- Centre for Microbial Ecology and Genomics, Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0028, South Africa
- College of Horticulture, Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
| | - Xiao-Ru Wang
- Umeå Plant Science Centre, Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå University, SE-901 87 Umeå, Sweden
| | - Nathaniel Robert Street
- Umeå Plant Science Centre, Department of Plant Physiology, Umeå University, SE-901 87 Umeå, Sweden
| | - Ilga Porth
- Départment des Sciences du Bois et de la Forêt, Faculté de Foresterie, de Géographie et Géomatique, Université Laval, Québec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada
| | - Xinmin An
- State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding, National Engineering Research Center of Tree Breeding and Ecological Restoration, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Tree Breeding by Molecular Design, National Engineering Laboratory for Tree Breeding, Key Laboratory of Genetics and Breeding in Forest Trees and Ornamental Plants, Ministry of Education, College of Biological Sciences and Technology, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
| | - Jian-Feng Mao
- State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding, National Engineering Research Center of Tree Breeding and Ecological Restoration, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Tree Breeding by Molecular Design, National Engineering Laboratory for Tree Breeding, Key Laboratory of Genetics and Breeding in Forest Trees and Ornamental Plants, Ministry of Education, College of Biological Sciences and Technology, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
- Umeå Plant Science Centre, Department of Plant Physiology, Umeå University, SE-901 87 Umeå, Sweden
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9
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Agustinho DP, Fu Y, Menon VK, Metcalf GA, Treangen TJ, Sedlazeck FJ. Unveiling microbial diversity: harnessing long-read sequencing technology. Nat Methods 2024:10.1038/s41592-024-02262-1. [PMID: 38689099 DOI: 10.1038/s41592-024-02262-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/08/2022] [Accepted: 03/29/2024] [Indexed: 05/02/2024]
Abstract
Long-read sequencing has recently transformed metagenomics, enhancing strain-level pathogen characterization, enabling accurate and complete metagenome-assembled genomes, and improving microbiome taxonomic classification and profiling. These advancements are not only due to improvements in sequencing accuracy, but also happening across rapidly changing analysis methods. In this Review, we explore long-read sequencing's profound impact on metagenomics, focusing on computational pipelines for genome assembly, taxonomic characterization and variant detection, to summarize recent advancements in the field and provide an overview of available analytical methods to fully leverage long reads. We provide insights into the advantages and disadvantages of long reads over short reads and their evolution from the early days of long-read sequencing to their recent impact on metagenomics and clinical diagnostics. We further point out remaining challenges for the field such as the integration of methylation signals in sub-strain analysis and the lack of benchmarks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel P Agustinho
- Human Genome Sequencing center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Yilei Fu
- Department of Computer Science, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Vipin K Menon
- Human Genome Sequencing center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA
- Senior research project manager, Human Genetics, Genentech, South San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Ginger A Metcalf
- Human Genome Sequencing center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Todd J Treangen
- Department of Computer Science, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA
- Department of Bioengineering, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Fritz J Sedlazeck
- Human Genome Sequencing center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.
- Department of Computer Science, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA.
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10
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Parl FF. Analysis of CENP-B Boxes as Anchor of Kinetochores in Centromeres of Human Chromosomes. Bioinform Biol Insights 2024; 18:11779322241248913. [PMID: 38690324 PMCID: PMC11060027 DOI: 10.1177/11779322241248913] [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] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2023] [Accepted: 04/04/2024] [Indexed: 05/02/2024] Open
Abstract
The kinetochore is a multiprotein structure that attaches at one end to DNA in the centromere and at the other end to microtubules in the mitotic spindle. By connecting centromere and spindle, the kinetochore controls the migration of chromosomes during cell division. The exact position where the kinetochore assembles on each centromere was uncertain because large sections of centromeric DNA had not been sequenced due to highly repetitive alpha-satellite arrays. Embedded in the arrays is a 17 bp consensus sequence, the so-called CENP-B box, which binds the CENP-B protein, the only protein that binds directly to centromeric DNA. Recently, the Telomere-to-Telomere Consortium published the complete centromeric DNA sequences of all chromosomes including their epigenetic modifications in the T2T-CHM13 map. I used data from the T2T-CHM13 map to locate the CENP-B boxes in the centromeres as anchor of kinetochores. Most of the CENP-B boxes in centromeric DNA are methylated with the exception of the so-called centromere dip region (CDR), where CENP-B protein dimers bind to adjacent unmethylated CENP-B boxes and interact with CENP-A and CENP-C proteins to assemble the kinetochore. The centromeres of all chromosomes combined have a size of 407 Mb of which the kinetochores account for 5.0 Mb or 1.2%. There is no correlation between centromere and kinetochore size (P = .77). While the number of CENP-B boxes varies 4-fold between chromosomes, their density (number/Kb) varies less than 2-fold with a mean of 2.61 ± 0.33. The narrow range ensures a uniform pull of the spindle on the centromeres. I illustrate the findings in a model of the human kinetochore anchored at unmethylated CENP-B boxes in the CDR and present circos plots of chromosomes to show the location of kinetochores in their respective centromeres.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fritz F Parl
- Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
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11
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Khan J, Rubel T, Molloy E, Dhulipala L, Patro R. Fast, parallel, and cache-friendly suffix array construction. Algorithms Mol Biol 2024; 19:16. [PMID: 38679714 PMCID: PMC11056320 DOI: 10.1186/s13015-024-00263-5] [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] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2023] [Accepted: 03/21/2024] [Indexed: 05/01/2024] Open
Abstract
PURPOSE String indexes such as the suffix array (SA) and the closely related longest common prefix (LCP) array are fundamental objects in bioinformatics and have a wide variety of applications. Despite their importance in practice, few scalable parallel algorithms for constructing these are known, and the existing algorithms can be highly non-trivial to implement and parallelize. METHODS In this paper we present CAPS-SA, a simple and scalable parallel algorithm for constructing these string indexes inspired by samplesort and utilizing an LCP-informed mergesort. Due to its design, CAPS-SA has excellent memory-locality and thus incurs fewer cache misses and achieves strong performance on modern multicore systems with deep cache hierarchies. RESULTS We show that despite its simple design, CAPS-SA outperforms existing state-of-the-art parallel SA and LCP-array construction algorithms on modern hardware. Finally, motivated by applications in modern aligners where the query strings have bounded lengths, we introduce the notion of a bounded-context SA and show that CAPS-SA can easily be extended to exploit this structure to obtain further speedups. We make our code publicly available at https://github.com/jamshed/CaPS-SA .
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Affiliation(s)
- Jamshed Khan
- Department of Computer Science, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA.
| | - Tobias Rubel
- Department of Computer Science, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA
| | - Erin Molloy
- Department of Computer Science, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA
| | - Laxman Dhulipala
- Department of Computer Science, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA
| | - Rob Patro
- Department of Computer Science, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA.
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12
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Hu J, Wang Z, Sun Z, Hu B, Ayoola AO, Liang F, Li J, Sandoval JR, Cooper DN, Ye K, Ruan J, Xiao CL, Wang D, Wu DD, Wang S. NextDenovo: an efficient error correction and accurate assembly tool for noisy long reads. Genome Biol 2024; 25:107. [PMID: 38671502 PMCID: PMC11046930 DOI: 10.1186/s13059-024-03252-4] [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: 06/12/2023] [Accepted: 04/17/2024] [Indexed: 04/28/2024] Open
Abstract
Long-read sequencing data, particularly those derived from the Oxford Nanopore sequencing platform, tend to exhibit high error rates. Here, we present NextDenovo, an efficient error correction and assembly tool for noisy long reads, which achieves a high level of accuracy in genome assembly. We apply NextDenovo to assemble 35 diverse human genomes from around the world using Nanopore long-read data. These genomes allow us to identify the landscape of segmental duplication and gene copy number variation in modern human populations. The use of NextDenovo should pave the way for population-scale long-read assembly using Nanopore long-read data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiang Hu
- GrandOmics Biosciences, Beijing, 102206, China
- School of Automation Science and Engineering, Faculty of Electronic and Information Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | - Zhuo Wang
- GrandOmics Biosciences, Beijing, 102206, China
| | - Zongyi Sun
- GrandOmics Biosciences, Beijing, 102206, China
| | - Benxia Hu
- Key Laboratory of Genetic Evolution and Animal Models, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, 650223, China
| | - Adeola Oluwakemi Ayoola
- Key Laboratory of Genetic Evolution and Animal Models, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, 650223, China
| | - Fan Liang
- GrandOmics Biosciences, Beijing, 102206, China
| | - Jingjing Li
- GrandOmics Biosciences, Beijing, 102206, China
| | - José R Sandoval
- Centro de Investigación de Genética y Biología Molecular (CIGBM), Instituto de Investigación, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de San Martín de Porres, Lima, 15102, Peru
| | - David N Cooper
- Institute of Medical Genetics, Cardiff University, Heath Park, Cardiff, CF14 4XN, UK
| | - Kai Ye
- School of Automation Science and Engineering, Faculty of Electronic and Information Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 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, 518120, China
| | - Chuan-Le Xiao
- State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-Sen University, #7 Jinsui Road, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, China
| | - Depeng Wang
- GrandOmics Biosciences, Beijing, 102206, China.
| | - Dong-Dong Wu
- Key Laboratory of Genetic Evolution and Animal Models, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, 650223, China.
- Kunming Primate Research Center, and National Research Facility for Phenotypic and Genetic Analysis of Model Animals (Primate Facility), National Resource Center for Non-Human Primates, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, 650107, China.
- Kunming Natural History Museum of Zoology, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China.
| | - Sheng Wang
- Key Laboratory of Genetic Evolution and Animal Models, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, 650223, China.
- Yunnan Key Laboratory of Biodiversity Information, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China.
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13
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English AC, Dolzhenko E, Ziaei Jam H, McKenzie SK, Olson ND, De Coster W, Park J, Gu B, Wagner J, Eberle MA, Gymrek M, Chaisson MJP, Zook JM, Sedlazeck FJ. Analysis and benchmarking of small and large genomic variants across tandem repeats. Nat Biotechnol 2024:10.1038/s41587-024-02225-z. [PMID: 38671154 DOI: 10.1038/s41587-024-02225-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2023] [Accepted: 03/28/2024] [Indexed: 04/28/2024]
Abstract
Tandem repeats (TRs) are highly polymorphic in the human genome, have thousands of associated molecular traits and are linked to over 60 disease phenotypes. However, they are often excluded from at-scale studies because of challenges with variant calling and representation, as well as a lack of a genome-wide standard. Here, to promote the development of TR methods, we created a catalog of TR regions and explored TR properties across 86 haplotype-resolved long-read human assemblies. We curated variants from the Genome in a Bottle (GIAB) HG002 individual to create a TR dataset to benchmark existing and future TR analysis methods. We also present an improved variant comparison method that handles variants greater than 4 bp in length and varying allelic representation. The 8.1% of the genome covered by the TR catalog holds ~24.9% of variants per individual, including 124,728 small and 17,988 large variants for the GIAB HG002 'truth-set' TR benchmark. We demonstrate the utility of this pipeline across short-read and long-read technologies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adam C English
- Human Genome Sequencing Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.
| | | | - Helyaneh Ziaei Jam
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | | | - Nathan D Olson
- Material Measurement Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, USA
| | - Wouter De Coster
- Applied and Translational Neurogenomics Group, VIB Center for Molecular Neurology, VIB, Antwerp, Belgium
- Applied and Translational Neurogenomics Group, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
| | - Jonghun Park
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Bida Gu
- Department of Quantitative and Computational Biology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Justin Wagner
- Material Measurement Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, USA
| | | | - Melissa Gymrek
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Mark J P Chaisson
- Department of Quantitative and Computational Biology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Justin M Zook
- Material Measurement Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, USA
| | - Fritz J Sedlazeck
- Human Genome Sequencing Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.
- Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.
- Department of Computer Science, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA.
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14
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Ylagan M, Xu Q, Kowalski J. TTSBBC: triplex target site biomarkers and barcodes in cancer. Nucleic Acids Res 2024:gkae312. [PMID: 38661214 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkae312] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2024] [Revised: 03/28/2024] [Accepted: 04/10/2024] [Indexed: 04/26/2024] Open
Abstract
The technology of triplex-forming oligonucleotides (TFOs) provides an approach to manipulate genes at the DNA level. TFOs bind to specific sites on genomic DNA, creating a unique intermolecular triple-helix DNA structure through Hoogsteen hydrogen bonding. This targeting by TFOs is site-specific and the locations TFOs bind are referred to as TFO target sites (TTS). Triplexes have been observed to selectively influence gene expression, homologous recombination, mutations, protein binding, and DNA damage. These sites typically feature a poly-purine sequence in duplex DNA, and the characteristics of these TTS sequences greatly influence the formation of the triplex. We introduce TTSBBC, a novel analysis and visualization platform designed to explore features of TTS sequences to enable users to design and validate TTSs. The web server can be freely accessed at https://kowalski-labapps.dellmed.utexas.edu/TTSBBC/.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maya Ylagan
- Department of Oncology, Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX78712, USA
| | - Qi Xu
- Department of Oncology, Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX78712, USA
| | - Jeanne Kowalski
- Department of Oncology, Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX78712, USA
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15
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Mėlinytė-Ankudavičė K, Šukys M, Kasputytė G, Krikštolaitis R, Ereminienė E, Galnaitienė G, Mizarienė V, Šakalytė G, Krilavičius T, Jurkevičius R. Association of uncertain significance genetic variants with myocardial mechanics and morphometrics in patients with nonischemic dilated cardiomyopathy. BMC Cardiovasc Disord 2024; 24:224. [PMID: 38664609 PMCID: PMC11044472 DOI: 10.1186/s12872-024-03888-x] [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] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2023] [Accepted: 04/11/2024] [Indexed: 04/29/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Careful interpretation of the relation between phenotype changes of the heart and gene variants detected in dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is important for patient care and monitoring. OBJECTIVE We sought to assess the association between cardiac-related genes and whole-heart myocardial mechanics or morphometrics in nonischemic dilated cardiomyopathy (NIDCM). METHODS It was a prospective study consisting of patients with NIDCM. All patients were referred for genetic testing and a genetic analysis was performed using Illumina NextSeq 550 and a commercial gene capture panel of 233 genes (Systems Genomics, Cardiac-GeneSGKit®). It was analyzed whether there are significant differences in clinical, two-dimensional (2D) echocardiographic, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) parameters between patients with the genes variants and those without. 2D echocardiography and MRI were used to analyze myocardial mechanics and morphometrics. RESULTS The study group consisted of 95 patients with NIDCM and the average age was 49.7 ± 10.5. All echocardiographic and MRI parameters of myocardial mechanics (left ventricular ejection fraction 28.4 ± 8.7 and 30.7 ± 11.2, respectively) were reduced and all values of cardiac chambers were increased (left ventricular end-diastolic diameter 64.5 ± 5.9 mm and 69.5 ± 10.7 mm, respectively) in this group. It was noticed that most cases of whole-heart myocardial mechanics and morphometrics differences between patients with and without gene variants were in the genes GATAD1, LOX, RASA1, KRAS, and KRIT1. These genes have not been previously linked to DCM. It has emerged that KRAS and KRIT1 genes were associated with worse whole-heart mechanics and enlargement of all heart chambers. GATAD1, LOX, and RASA1 genes variants showed an association with better cardiac function and morphometrics parameters. It might be that these variants alone do not influence disease development enough to be selective in human evolution. CONCLUSIONS Combined variants in previously unreported genes related to DCM might play a significant role in affecting clinical, morphometrics, or myocardial mechanics parameters.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karolina Mėlinytė-Ankudavičė
- Department of Cardiology, Medical Academy, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, LT-44307, Lithuania.
- Institute of Cardiology, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, LT-50162, Lithuania.
| | - Marius Šukys
- Department of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, LT-50161, Lithuania
| | - Gabrielė Kasputytė
- Faculty of Informatics, Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, LT-44248, Lithuania
| | | | - Eglė Ereminienė
- Department of Cardiology, Medical Academy, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, LT-44307, Lithuania
- Institute of Cardiology, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, LT-50162, Lithuania
| | - Grytė Galnaitienė
- Department of Radiology, Medical Academy, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, LT-44307, Lithuania
| | - Vaida Mizarienė
- Department of Cardiology, Medical Academy, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, LT-44307, Lithuania
| | - Gintarė Šakalytė
- Department of Cardiology, Medical Academy, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, LT-44307, Lithuania
- Institute of Cardiology, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, LT-50162, Lithuania
| | - Tomas Krilavičius
- Faculty of Informatics, Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, LT-44248, Lithuania
| | - Renaldas Jurkevičius
- Department of Cardiology, Medical Academy, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, LT-44307, Lithuania
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16
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Ransom LS, Liu CS, Dunsmore E, Palmer CR, Nicodemus J, Ziomek D, Williams N, Chun J. Human brain small extracellular vesicles contain selectively packaged, full-length mRNA. Cell Rep 2024; 43:114061. [PMID: 38578831 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2024.114061] [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: 10/05/2023] [Revised: 02/12/2024] [Accepted: 03/20/2024] [Indexed: 04/07/2024] Open
Abstract
Brain cells release and take up small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) containing bioactive nucleic acids. sEV exchange is hypothesized to contribute to stereotyped spread of neuropathological changes in the diseased brain. We assess mRNA from sEVs of postmortem brain from non-diseased (ND) individuals and those with Alzheimer's disease (AD) using short- and long-read sequencing. sEV transcriptomes are distinct from those of bulk tissue, showing enrichment for genes including mRNAs encoding ribosomal proteins and transposable elements such as human-specific LINE-1 (L1Hs). AD versus ND sEVs show enrichment of inflammation-related mRNAs and depletion of synaptic signaling mRNAs. sEV mRNAs from cultured murine primary neurons, astrocytes, or microglia show similarities to human brain sEVs and reveal cell-type-specific packaging. Approximately 80% of neural sEV transcripts sequenced using long-read sequencing are full length. Motif analyses of sEV-enriched isoforms elucidate RNA-binding proteins that may be associated with sEV loading. Collectively, we show that mRNA in brain sEVs is intact, selectively packaged, and altered in disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Linnea S Ransom
- Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program, School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA; Center for Genetic Disorders and Aging Research, Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Christine S Liu
- Center for Genetic Disorders and Aging Research, Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Emily Dunsmore
- Center for Genetic Disorders and Aging Research, Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Carter R Palmer
- Center for Genetic Disorders and Aging Research, Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Juliet Nicodemus
- Center for Genetic Disorders and Aging Research, Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Derya Ziomek
- Center for Genetic Disorders and Aging Research, Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Nyssa Williams
- Center for Genetic Disorders and Aging Research, Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Jerold Chun
- Center for Genetic Disorders and Aging Research, Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA.
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17
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Cao B, Zheng Y, Shao Q, Liu Z, Xie L, Zhao Y, Wang B, Zhang Q, Wei X. Efficient data reconstruction: The bottleneck of large-scale application of DNA storage. Cell Rep 2024; 43:113699. [PMID: 38517891 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2024.113699] [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: 08/09/2023] [Revised: 11/15/2023] [Accepted: 01/05/2024] [Indexed: 03/24/2024] Open
Abstract
Over the past decade, the rapid development of DNA synthesis and sequencing technologies has enabled preliminary use of DNA molecules for digital data storage, overcoming the capacity and persistence bottlenecks of silicon-based storage media. DNA storage has now been fully accomplished in the laboratory through existing biotechnology, which again demonstrates the viability of carbon-based storage media. However, the high cost and latency of data reconstruction pose challenges that hinder the practical implementation of DNA storage beyond the laboratory. In this article, we review existing advanced DNA storage methods, analyze the characteristics and performance of biotechnological approaches at various stages of data writing and reading, and discuss potential factors influencing DNA storage from the perspective of data reconstruction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ben Cao
- School of Computer Science and Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Lingshui Street, Dalian, Liaoning 116024, China; Centre for Frontier AI Research, Agency for Science, Technology, and Research (A(∗)STAR), 1 Fusionopolis Way, Singapore 138632, Singapore
| | - Yanfen Zheng
- School of Computer Science and Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Lingshui Street, Dalian, Liaoning 116024, China
| | - Qi Shao
- Key Laboratory of Advanced Design and Intelligent Computing, Ministry of Education, School of Software Engineering, Dalian University, Xuefu Street, Dalian, Liaoning 116622, China
| | - Zhenlu Liu
- Key Laboratory of Advanced Design and Intelligent Computing, Ministry of Education, School of Software Engineering, Dalian University, Xuefu Street, Dalian, Liaoning 116622, China
| | - Lei Xie
- Key Laboratory of Advanced Design and Intelligent Computing, Ministry of Education, School of Software Engineering, Dalian University, Xuefu Street, Dalian, Liaoning 116622, China
| | - Yunzhu Zhao
- Key Laboratory of Advanced Design and Intelligent Computing, Ministry of Education, School of Software Engineering, Dalian University, Xuefu Street, Dalian, Liaoning 116622, China
| | - Bin Wang
- Key Laboratory of Advanced Design and Intelligent Computing, Ministry of Education, School of Software Engineering, Dalian University, Xuefu Street, Dalian, Liaoning 116622, China
| | - Qiang Zhang
- School of Computer Science and Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Lingshui Street, Dalian, Liaoning 116024, China.
| | - Xiaopeng Wei
- School of Computer Science and Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Lingshui Street, Dalian, Liaoning 116024, China
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18
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Li H, Durbin R. Genome assembly in the telomere-to-telomere era. Nat Rev Genet 2024:10.1038/s41576-024-00718-w. [PMID: 38649458 DOI: 10.1038/s41576-024-00718-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/27/2024] [Indexed: 04/25/2024]
Abstract
Genome sequences largely determine the biology and encode the history of an organism, and de novo assembly - the process of reconstructing the genome sequence of an organism from sequencing reads - has been a central problem in bioinformatics for four decades. Until recently, genomes were typically assembled into fragments of a few megabases at best, but now technological advances in long-read sequencing enable the near-complete assembly of each chromosome - also known as telomere-to-telomere assembly - for many organisms. Here, we review recent progress on assembly algorithms and protocols, with a focus on how to derive near-telomere-to-telomere assemblies. We also discuss the additional developments that will be required to resolve remaining assembly gaps and to assemble non-diploid genomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heng Li
- Department of Data Science, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA.
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
| | - Richard Durbin
- Department of Genetics, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK.
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19
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Teschendorff AE. On epigenetic stochasticity, entropy and cancer risk. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2024; 379:20230054. [PMID: 38432318 PMCID: PMC10909509 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2023.0054] [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: 04/01/2023] [Accepted: 09/26/2023] [Indexed: 03/05/2024] Open
Abstract
Epigenetic changes are known to accrue in normal cells as a result of ageing and cumulative exposure to cancer risk factors. Increasing evidence points towards age-related epigenetic changes being acquired in a quasi-stochastic manner, and that they may play a causal role in cancer development. Here, I describe the quasi-stochastic nature of DNA methylation (DNAm) changes in ageing cells as well as in normal cells at risk of neoplastic transformation, discussing the implications of this stochasticity for developing cancer risk prediction strategies, and in particular, how it may require a conceptual paradigm shift in how we select cancer risk markers. I also describe the mounting evidence that a significant proportion of DNAm changes in ageing and cancer development are related to cell proliferation, reflecting tissue-turnover and the opportunity this offers for predicting cancer risk via the development of epigenetic mitotic-like clocks. Finally, I describe how age-associated DNAm changes may be causally implicated in cancer development via an irreversible suppression of tissue-specific transcription factors that increases epigenetic and transcriptomic entropy, promoting a more plastic yet aberrant cancer stem-cell state. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'Causes and consequences of stochastic processes in development and disease'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew E. Teschendorff
- CAS Key Laboratory of Computational Biology, Shanghai Institute of Nutrition and Health, Shanghai Institute for Biological Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Yue Yang Road, Shanghai 200031, People's Republic of China
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20
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Schloissnig S, Pani S, Rodriguez-Martin B, Ebler J, Hain C, Tsapalou V, Söylev A, Hüther P, Ashraf H, Prodanov T, Asparuhova M, Hunt S, Rausch T, Marschall T, Korbel JO. Long-read sequencing and structural variant characterization in 1,019 samples from the 1000 Genomes Project. bioRxiv 2024:2024.04.18.590093. [PMID: 38659906 PMCID: PMC11042266 DOI: 10.1101/2024.04.18.590093] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/26/2024]
Abstract
Structural variants (SVs) contribute significantly to human genetic diversity and disease 1-4 . Previously, SVs have remained incompletely resolved by population genomics, with short-read sequencing facing limitations in capturing the whole spectrum of SVs at nucleotide resolution 5-7 . Here we leveraged nanopore sequencing 8 to construct an intermediate coverage resource of 1,019 long-read genomes sampled within 26 human populations from the 1000 Genomes Project. By integrating linear and graph-based approaches for SV analysis via pangenome graph-augmentation, we uncover 167,291 sequence-resolved SVs in these samples, considerably advancing SV characterization compared to population-wide short-read sequencing studies 3,4 . Our analysis details diverse SV classes-deletions, duplications, insertions, and inversions-at population-scale. LINE-1 and SVA retrotransposition activities frequently mediate transductions 9,10 of unique sequences, with both mobile element classes transducing sequences at either the 3'- or 5'-end, depending on the source element locus. Furthermore, analyses of SV breakpoint junctions suggest a continuum of homology-mediated rearrangement processes are integral to SV formation, and highlight evidence for SV recurrence involving repeat sequences. Our open-access dataset underscores the transformative impact of long-read sequencing in advancing the characterisation of polymorphic genomic architectures, and provides a resource for guiding variant prioritisation in future long-read sequencing-based disease studies.
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21
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König E, Mitchell JS, Filosi M, Fuchsberger C. Impact of the inaccessible genome on genotype imputation and genome-wide association studies. Hum Mol Genet 2024:ddae062. [PMID: 38643062 DOI: 10.1093/hmg/ddae062] [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] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2023] [Revised: 03/03/2024] [Accepted: 03/25/2024] [Indexed: 04/22/2024] Open
Abstract
Genotype imputation is widely used in genome-wide association studies (GWAS). However, both the genotyping chips and imputation reference panels are dependent on next-generation sequencing (NGS). Due to the nature of NGS, some regions of the genome are inaccessible to sequencing. To date, there has been no complete evaluation of these regions and their impact on the identification of associations in GWAS remains unclear. In this study, we systematically assess the extent to which variants in inaccessible regions are underrepresented on genotyping chips and imputation reference panels, in GWAS results and in variant databases. We also determine the proportion of genes located in inaccessible regions and compare the results across variant masks defined by the 1000 Genomes Project and the TOPMed program. Overall, fewer variants were observed in inaccessible regions in all categories analyzed. Depending on the mask used and normalized for region size, only 4%-17% of the genotyped variants are located in inaccessible regions and 52 to 581 genes were almost completely inaccessible. From the Cooperative Health Research in South Tyrol (CHRIS) study, we present a case study of an association located in an inaccessible region that is driven by genotyped variants and cannot be reproduced by imputation in GRCh37. We conclude that genotyping, NGS, genotype imputation and downstream analyses such as GWAS and fine mapping are systematically biased in inaccessible regions, due to missed variants and spurious associations. To help researchers assess gene and variant accessibility, we provide an online application (https://gab.gm.eurac.edu).
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Affiliation(s)
- Eva König
- Institute for Biomedicine (affiliated to the University of Lübeck), Eurac Research, Via Volta 21, Bolzano 39100, Italy
| | - Jonathan Stewart Mitchell
- Institute for Biomedicine (affiliated to the University of Lübeck), Eurac Research, Via Volta 21, Bolzano 39100, Italy
| | - Michele Filosi
- Institute for Biomedicine (affiliated to the University of Lübeck), Eurac Research, Via Volta 21, Bolzano 39100, Italy
| | - Christian Fuchsberger
- Institute for Biomedicine (affiliated to the University of Lübeck), Eurac Research, Via Volta 21, Bolzano 39100, Italy
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22
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Yan X, Wang J, Yang W, Li L, Shen T, Geng J, Zhang Q, Zhong M, Xiong W, Bu F, Lu Y, Zhao Y, Cheng J, Yuan H. Molecular diagnosis, clinical evaluation and phenotypic spectrum of Townes-Brocks syndrome: insights from a large Chinese hearing loss cohort. J Med Genet 2024; 61:459-468. [PMID: 38296632 DOI: 10.1136/jmg-2023-109579] [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: 08/17/2023] [Accepted: 01/10/2024] [Indexed: 02/02/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Townes-Brocks syndrome (TBS) is a rare genetic disorder characterised by multiple malformations. Due to its phenotypic heterogeneity and rarity, diagnosis and recognition of TBS can be challenging and there has been a lack of investigation of patients with atypical TBS in large cohorts and delineation of their phenotypic characteristics. METHODS We screened SALL1 and DACT1 variants using next-generation sequencing in the China Deafness Genetics Consortium (CDGC) cohort enrolling 20 666 unrelated hearing loss (HL) cases. Comprehensive clinical evaluations were conducted on seven members from a three-generation TBS family. Combining data from previously reported cases, we also provided a landscape of phenotypes and genotypes of patients with TBS. RESULTS We identified five novel and two reported pathogenic/likely pathogenic (P/LP) SALL1 variants from seven families. Audiological features in patients differed in severity and binaural asymmetry. Moreover, previously undocumented malformations in the middle and inner ear were detected in one patient. By comprehensive clinical evaluations, we further provide evidence for the causal relationship between SALL1 variation and certain endocrine abnormalities. Penetrance analysis within familial contexts revealed incomplete penetrance among first-generation patients with TBS and a higher disease burden among their affected offspring. CONCLUSION This study presents the first insight of genetic screening for patients with TBS in a large HL cohort. We broadened the phenotypic-genotypic spectrum of TBS and our results supported an underestimated prevalence of TBS. Due to the rarity and phenotypic heterogeneity of rare diseases, broader spectrum molecular tests, especially whole genome sequencing, can improve the situation of underdiagnosis and provide effective recommendations for clinical management.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaohong Yan
- Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
- Institute of Rare Diseases, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
| | - Jing Wang
- Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
- Institute of Rare Diseases, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
| | - Wen Yang
- Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
- Institute of Rare Diseases, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
| | - Linke Li
- Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
- Institute of Rare Diseases, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
| | - Tian Shen
- Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
- Institute of Rare Diseases, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
| | - Jia Geng
- Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
- Institute of Rare Diseases, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
| | - Qian Zhang
- Institute of Rare Diseases, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
| | - Mingjun Zhong
- Institute of Rare Diseases, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
| | - Wenyu Xiong
- Institute of Rare Diseases, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
| | - Fengxiao Bu
- Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
- Institute of Rare Diseases, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
| | - Yu Lu
- Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
- Institute of Rare Diseases, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
| | - Yu Zhao
- Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
| | - Jing Cheng
- Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
- Institute of Rare Diseases, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
| | - Huijun Yuan
- Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
- Institute of Rare Diseases, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
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23
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Kong X, Nguyen NV, Li Y, Sakr JS, Williams K, Sharifi S, Chau J, Bayrakci A, Mizuno S, Takahashi S, Kiyono T, Tawil R, Mortazavi A, Yokomori K. Engineered FSHD mutations results in D4Z4 heterochromatin disruption and feedforward DUX4 network activation. iScience 2024; 27:109357. [PMID: 38510139 PMCID: PMC10951985 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.109357] [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] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2023] [Revised: 09/20/2023] [Accepted: 02/23/2024] [Indexed: 03/22/2024] Open
Abstract
Facioscapulohumeral dystrophy (FSHD) is linked to contraction of D4Z4 repeats on chromosome 4q with SMCHD1 mutations acting as a disease modifier. D4Z4 heterochromatin disruption and abnormal upregulation of the transcription factor DUX4, encoded in the D4Z4 repeat, are the hallmarks of FSHD. However, defining the precise effect of D4Z4 contraction has been difficult because D4Z4 repeats are primate-specific and DUX4 expression is very rare in highly heterogeneous patient myocytes. We generated isogenic mutant cell lines harboring D4Z4 and/or SMCHD1 mutations in a healthy human skeletal myoblast line. We found that the mutations affect D4Z4 heterochromatin differently, and that SMCHD1 mutation or disruption of DNA methylation stabilizes otherwise variegated DUX4 target activation in D4Z4 contraction mutant cells, demonstrating the critical role of modifiers. Our study revealed amplification of the DUX4 signal through downstream targets, H3.X/Y and LEUTX. Our results provide important insights into how rare DUX4 expression leads to FSHD pathogenesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiangduo Kong
- Department of Biological Chemistry, School of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Nam Viet Nguyen
- Department of Biological Chemistry, School of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Yumeng Li
- Department of Biological Chemistry, School of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Jasmine Shaaban Sakr
- Department of Development and Cell Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Kate Williams
- Department of Development and Cell Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Sheila Sharifi
- Department of Biological Chemistry, School of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Jonathan Chau
- Department of Biological Chemistry, School of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Altay Bayrakci
- Department of Biological Chemistry, School of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Seiya Mizuno
- Laboratory Animal Resource Center in Transborder Medical Research Center, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan
| | - Satoru Takahashi
- Laboratory Animal Resource Center in Transborder Medical Research Center, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan
- Department of Anatomy and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8577, Japan
| | - Tohru Kiyono
- Exploratory Oncology Research and Clinical Trial Center, National Cancer Center, Kashiwa, Chiba, Japan
| | - Rabi Tawil
- Neuromuscular Disease Unit, Department of Neurology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, USA
| | - Ali Mortazavi
- Department of Development and Cell Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Kyoko Yokomori
- Department of Biological Chemistry, School of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA
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24
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Lin MJ, Iyer S, Chen NC, Langmead B. Measuring, visualizing, and diagnosing reference bias with biastools. Genome Biol 2024; 25:101. [PMID: 38641647 PMCID: PMC11027314 DOI: 10.1186/s13059-024-03240-8] [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: 09/13/2023] [Accepted: 04/04/2024] [Indexed: 04/21/2024] Open
Abstract
Many bioinformatics methods seek to reduce reference bias, but no methods exist to comprehensively measure it. Biastools analyzes and categorizes instances of reference bias. It works in various scenarios: when the donor's variants are known and reads are simulated; when donor variants are known and reads are real; and when variants are unknown and reads are real. Using biastools, we observe that more inclusive graph genomes result in fewer biased sites. We find that end-to-end alignment reduces bias at indels relative to local aligners. Finally, we use biastools to characterize how T2T references improve large-scale bias.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mao-Jan Lin
- Department of Computer Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA.
| | - Sheila Iyer
- Department of Computer Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA
| | - Nae-Chyun Chen
- Department of Computer Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA
| | - Ben Langmead
- Department of Computer Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA.
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25
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Li B, Xiong W, Zuo W, Shi Y, Wang T, Chang L, Wu Y, Ma H, Bian Q, Chang ACY. Proximal telomeric decompaction due to telomere shortening drives FOXC1-dependent myocardial senescence. Nucleic Acids Res 2024:gkae274. [PMID: 38634789 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkae274] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2023] [Revised: 02/29/2024] [Accepted: 04/03/2024] [Indexed: 04/19/2024] Open
Abstract
Telomeres, TTAGGGn DNA repeat sequences located at the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes, play a pivotal role in aging and are targets of DNA damage response. Although we and others have demonstrated presence of short telomeres in genetic cardiomyopathic and heart failure cardiomyocytes, little is known about the role of telomere lengths in cardiomyocyte. Here, we demonstrate that in heart failure patient cardiomyocytes, telomeres are shortened compared to healthy controls. We generated isogenic human induced pluripotent stem cell derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) with short telomeres (sTL-CMs) and normal telomeres (nTL-CMs) as model. Compared to nTL-CMs, short telomeres result in cardiac dysfunction and expression of senescent markers. Using Hi-C and RNASeq, we observe that short telomeres induced TAD insulation decrease near telomeric ends and this correlated with a transcription upregulation in sTL-CMs. FOXC1, a key transcription factor involved in early cardiogenesis, was upregulated in sTL-CMs and its protein levels were negatively correlated with telomere lengths in heart failure patients. Overexpression of FOXC1 induced hiPSC-CM aging, mitochondrial and contractile dysfunction; knockdown of FOXC1 rescued these phenotypes. Overall, the work presented demonstrate that increased chromatin accessibility due to telomere shortening resulted in the induction of FOXC1-dependent expression network responsible for contractile dysfunction and myocardial senescence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bin Li
- Department of Cardiology and Shanghai Institute of Precision Medicine, Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200125, China
| | - Weiyao Xiong
- Department of Cardiology and Shanghai Institute of Precision Medicine, Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200125, China
| | - Wu Zuo
- Department of Cardiology and Shanghai Institute of Precision Medicine, Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200125, China
| | - Yuanyuan Shi
- Department of Cardiology and Shanghai Institute of Precision Medicine, Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200125, China
| | - Teng Wang
- Department of Cardiology and Shanghai Institute of Precision Medicine, Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200125, China
| | - Lingling Chang
- Department of Cardiology and Shanghai Institute of Precision Medicine, Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200125, China
| | - Yueheng Wu
- Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Guangdong General Hospital, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
| | - Heng Ma
- Department of Physiology and Pathophysiology, Fourth Military Medical University, No. 169 Changle West Rd, Xi'an 710032, China
| | - Qian Bian
- Department of Cardiology and Shanghai Institute of Precision Medicine, Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200125, China
| | - Alex C Y Chang
- Department of Cardiology and Shanghai Institute of Precision Medicine, Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200125, China
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26
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Ten Berk de Boer E, Ameur A, Bunikis I, Ek M, Stattin EL, Feuk L, Eisfeldt J, Lindstrand A. Long-read sequencing and optical mapping generates near T2T assemblies that resolves a centromeric translocation. Sci Rep 2024; 14:9000. [PMID: 38637641 PMCID: PMC11026446 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-59683-3] [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: 11/28/2023] [Accepted: 04/13/2024] [Indexed: 04/20/2024] Open
Abstract
Long-read genome sequencing (lrGS) is a promising method in genetic diagnostics. Here we investigate the potential of lrGS to detect a disease-associated chromosomal translocation between 17p13 and the 19 centromere. We constructed two sets of phased and non-phased de novo assemblies; (i) based on lrGS only and (ii) hybrid assemblies combining lrGS with optical mapping using lrGS reads with a median coverage of 34X. Variant calling detected both structural variants (SVs) and small variants and the accuracy of the small variant calling was compared with those called with short-read genome sequencing (srGS). The de novo and hybrid assemblies had high quality and contiguity with N50 of 62.85 Mb, enabling a near telomere to telomere assembly with less than a 100 contigs per haplotype. Notably, we successfully identified the centromeric breakpoint of the translocation. A concordance of 92% was observed when comparing small variant calling between srGS and lrGS. In summary, our findings underscore the remarkable potential of lrGS as a comprehensive and accurate solution for the analysis of SVs and small variants. Thus, lrGS could replace a large battery of genetic tests that were used for the diagnosis of a single symptomatic translocation carrier, highlighting the potential of lrGS in the realm of digital karyotyping.
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Affiliation(s)
- Esmee Ten Berk de Boer
- Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Karolinska Institutet, 171 76, Stockholm, Sweden
- Department of Clinical Genetics and Genomics, Karolinska University Hospital, 171 76, Stockholm, Sweden
- Science for Life Laboratory, Karolinska Institutet Science Park, 171 65, Solna, Sweden
| | - Adam Ameur
- Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology, Uppsala University, 752 36, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Ignas Bunikis
- Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology, Uppsala University, 752 36, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Marlene Ek
- Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Karolinska Institutet, 171 76, Stockholm, Sweden
- Department of Clinical Genetics and Genomics, Karolinska University Hospital, 171 76, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Eva-Lena Stattin
- Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology, Uppsala University, 752 36, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Lars Feuk
- Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology, Uppsala University, 752 36, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Jesper Eisfeldt
- Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Karolinska Institutet, 171 76, Stockholm, Sweden.
- Department of Clinical Genetics and Genomics, Karolinska University Hospital, 171 76, Stockholm, Sweden.
- Science for Life Laboratory, Karolinska Institutet Science Park, 171 65, Solna, Sweden.
| | - Anna Lindstrand
- Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Karolinska Institutet, 171 76, Stockholm, Sweden
- Department of Clinical Genetics and Genomics, Karolinska University Hospital, 171 76, Stockholm, Sweden
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27
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Meng A, Li X, Li Z, Miao F, Ma L, Li S, Sun W, Huang J, Yang G. Genome assembly of Melilotus officinalis provides a new reference genome for functional genomics. BMC Genom Data 2024; 25:37. [PMID: 38637749 PMCID: PMC11025269 DOI: 10.1186/s12863-024-01224-y] [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: 01/02/2024] [Accepted: 04/10/2024] [Indexed: 04/20/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Sweet yellow clover (Melilotus officinalis) is a diploid plant (2n = 16) that is native to Europe. It is an excellent legume forage. It can both fix nitrogen and serve as a medicine. A genome assembly of Melilotus officinalis that was collected from Best corporation in Beijing is available based on Nanopore sequencing. The genome of Melilotus officinalis was sequenced, assembled, and annotated. RESULTS The latest PacBio third generation HiFi assembly and sequencing strategies were used to produce a Melilotus officinalis genome assembly size of 1,066 Mbp, contig N50 = 5 Mbp, scaffold N50 = 130 Mbp, and complete benchmarking universal single-copy orthologs (BUSCOs) = 96.4%. This annotation produced 47,873 high-confidence gene models, which will substantially aid in our research on molecular breeding. A collinear analysis showed that Melilotus officinalis and Medicago truncatula shared conserved synteny. The expansion and contraction of gene families showed that Melilotus officinalis expanded by 565 gene families and shrank by 56 gene families. The contacted gene families were associated with response to stimulus, nucleotide binding, and small molecule binding. Thus, it is related to a family of genes associated with peptidase activity, which could lead to better stress tolerance in plants. CONCLUSIONS In this study, the latest PacBio technology was used to assemble and sequence the genome of the Melilotus officinalis and annotate its protein-coding genes. These results will expand the genomic resources available for Melilotus officinalis and should assist in subsequent research on sweet yellow clover plants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aoran Meng
- Key Laboratory of National Forestry and Grassland Administration on Grassland Resources and Ecology in the Yellow River Delta, College of Grassland Science, Qingdao Agricultural University, 266109, Qingdao, China
| | - Xinru Li
- Key Laboratory of National Forestry and Grassland Administration on Grassland Resources and Ecology in the Yellow River Delta, College of Grassland Science, Qingdao Agricultural University, 266109, Qingdao, China
| | - Zhiguang Li
- Key Laboratory of National Forestry and Grassland Administration on Grassland Resources and Ecology in the Yellow River Delta, College of Grassland Science, Qingdao Agricultural University, 266109, Qingdao, China
| | - Fuhong Miao
- Key Laboratory of National Forestry and Grassland Administration on Grassland Resources and Ecology in the Yellow River Delta, College of Grassland Science, Qingdao Agricultural University, 266109, Qingdao, China
| | - Lichao Ma
- Key Laboratory of National Forestry and Grassland Administration on Grassland Resources and Ecology in the Yellow River Delta, College of Grassland Science, Qingdao Agricultural University, 266109, Qingdao, China
| | - Shuo Li
- Key Laboratory of National Forestry and Grassland Administration on Grassland Resources and Ecology in the Yellow River Delta, College of Grassland Science, Qingdao Agricultural University, 266109, Qingdao, China
| | - Wenfei Sun
- Key Laboratory of National Forestry and Grassland Administration on Grassland Resources and Ecology in the Yellow River Delta, College of Grassland Science, Qingdao Agricultural University, 266109, Qingdao, China
| | | | - Guofeng Yang
- Key Laboratory of National Forestry and Grassland Administration on Grassland Resources and Ecology in the Yellow River Delta, College of Grassland Science, Qingdao Agricultural University, 266109, Qingdao, China.
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28
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Kovachka S, Tong Y, Childs-Disney JL, Disney MD. Heterobifunctional small molecules to modulate RNA function. Trends Pharmacol Sci 2024:S0165-6147(24)00065-8. [PMID: 38641489 DOI: 10.1016/j.tips.2024.03.006] [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] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2024] [Revised: 03/27/2024] [Accepted: 03/27/2024] [Indexed: 04/21/2024]
Abstract
RNA has diverse cellular functionality, including regulating gene expression, protein translation, and cellular response to stimuli, due to its intricate structures. Over the past decade, small molecules have been discovered that target functional structures within cellular RNAs and modulate their function. Simple binding, however, is often insufficient, resulting in low or even no biological activity. To overcome this challenge, heterobifunctional compounds have been developed that can covalently bind to the RNA target, alter RNA sequence, or induce its cleavage. Herein, we review the recent progress in the field of RNA-targeted heterobifunctional compounds using representative case studies. We identify critical gaps and limitations and propose a strategic pathway for future developments of RNA-targeted molecules with augmented functionalities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sandra Kovachka
- Department of Chemistry, The Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute for Biomedical Innovation and Technology, 130 Scripps Way, Jupiter, FL 33458, USA
| | - Yuquan Tong
- Department of Chemistry, The Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute for Biomedical Innovation and Technology, 130 Scripps Way, Jupiter, FL 33458, USA; The Scripps Research Institute, 130 Scripps Way, Jupiter, FL 33458, USA
| | - Jessica L Childs-Disney
- Department of Chemistry, The Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute for Biomedical Innovation and Technology, 130 Scripps Way, Jupiter, FL 33458, USA
| | - Matthew D Disney
- Department of Chemistry, The Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute for Biomedical Innovation and Technology, 130 Scripps Way, Jupiter, FL 33458, USA; The Scripps Research Institute, 130 Scripps Way, Jupiter, FL 33458, USA.
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29
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Glunčić M, Vlahović I, Rosandić M, Paar V. Novel Concept of Alpha Satellite Cascading Higher-Order Repeats (HORs) and Precise Identification of 15mer and 20mer Cascading HORs in Complete T2T-CHM13 Assembly of Human Chromosome 15. Int J Mol Sci 2024; 25:4395. [PMID: 38673983 PMCID: PMC11050224 DOI: 10.3390/ijms25084395] [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: 03/06/2024] [Revised: 04/08/2024] [Accepted: 04/11/2024] [Indexed: 04/28/2024] Open
Abstract
Unraveling the intricate centromere structure of human chromosomes holds profound implications, illuminating fundamental genetic mechanisms and potentially advancing our comprehension of genetic disorders and therapeutic interventions. This study rigorously identified and structurally analyzed alpha satellite higher-order repeats (HORs) within the centromere of human chromosome 15 in the complete T2T-CHM13 assembly using the high-precision GRM2023 algorithm. The most extensive alpha satellite HOR array in chromosome 15 reveals a novel cascading HOR, housing 429 15mer HOR copies, containing 4-, 7- and 11-monomer subfragments. Within each row of cascading HORs, all alpha satellite monomers are of distinct types, as in regular Willard's HORs. However, different HOR copies within the same cascading 15mer HOR contain more than one monomer of the same type. Each canonical 15mer HOR copy comprises 15 monomers belonging to only 9 different monomer types. Notably, 65% of the 429 15mer cascading HOR copies exhibit canonical structures, while 35% display variant configurations. Identified as the second most extensive alpha satellite HOR, another novel cascading HOR within human chromosome 15 encompasses 164 20mer HOR copies, each featuring two subfragments. Moreover, a distinct pattern emerges as interspersed 25mer/26mer structures differing from regular Willard's HORs and giving rise to a 34-monomer subfragment. Only a minor 18mer HOR array of 12 HOR copies is of the regular Willard's type. These revelations highlight the complexity within the chromosome 15 centromeric region, accentuating deviations from anticipated highly regular patterns and hinting at profound information encoding and functional potential within the human centromere.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matko Glunčić
- Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia;
| | - Ines Vlahović
- Algebra LAB, Algebra University College, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia;
| | - Marija Rosandić
- Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital Centre Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia;
- Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
| | - Vladimir Paar
- Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia;
- Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
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30
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Ginno PA, Borgers H, Ernst C, Schneider A, Behm M, Aitken SJ, Taylor MS, Odom DT. Single-mitosis dissection of acute and chronic DNA mutagenesis and repair. Nat Genet 2024:10.1038/s41588-024-01712-y. [PMID: 38627597 DOI: 10.1038/s41588-024-01712-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2023] [Accepted: 03/08/2024] [Indexed: 04/24/2024]
Abstract
How chronic mutational processes and punctuated bursts of DNA damage drive evolution of the cancer genome is poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate a strategy to disentangle and quantify distinct mechanisms underlying genome evolution in single cells, during single mitoses and at single-strand resolution. To distinguish between chronic (reactive oxygen species (ROS)) and acute (ultraviolet light (UV)) mutagenesis, we microfluidically separate pairs of sister cells from the first mitosis following burst UV damage. Strikingly, UV mutations manifest as sister-specific events, revealing mirror-image mutation phasing genome-wide. In contrast, ROS mutagenesis in transcribed regions is reduced strand agnostically. Successive rounds of genome replication over persisting UV damage drives multiallelic variation at CC dinucleotides. Finally, we show that mutation phasing can be resolved to single strands across the entire genome of liver tumors from F1 mice. This strategy can be broadly used to distinguish the contributions of overlapping cancer relevant mutational processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul Adrian Ginno
- German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Division of Regulatory Genomics and Cancer Evolution, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Helena Borgers
- German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Division of Regulatory Genomics and Cancer Evolution, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Christina Ernst
- Cancer Research UK - Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- School of Life Sciences, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Anja Schneider
- German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Division of Regulatory Genomics and Cancer Evolution, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Mikaela Behm
- German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Division of Regulatory Genomics and Cancer Evolution, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Sarah J Aitken
- Cancer Research UK - Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- MRC Toxicology Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- Department of Histopathology, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge, UK
| | - Martin S Taylor
- MRC Human Genetics Unit, MRC Institute of Genetics and Cancer, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
| | - Duncan T Odom
- German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Division of Regulatory Genomics and Cancer Evolution, Heidelberg, Germany.
- Cancer Research UK - Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
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31
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Swindell WR. Meta-analysis of differential gene expression in lower motor neurons isolated by laser capture microdissection from post-mortem ALS spinal cords. Front Genet 2024; 15:1385114. [PMID: 38689650 PMCID: PMC11059082 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2024.1385114] [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] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2024] [Accepted: 04/03/2024] [Indexed: 05/02/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction ALS is a fatal neurodegenerative disease for which underlying mechanisms are incompletely understood. The motor neuron is a central player in ALS pathogenesis but different transcriptome signatures have been derived from bulk analysis of post-mortem tissue and iPSC-derived motor neurons (iPSC-MNs). Methods This study performed a meta-analysis of six gene expression studies (microarray and RNA-seq) in which laser capture microdissection (LCM) was used to isolate lower motor neurons from post-mortem spinal cords of ALS and control (CTL) subjects. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) with consistent ALS versus CTL expression differences across studies were identified. Results The analysis identified 222 ALS-increased DEGs (FDR <0.10, SMD >0.80) and 278 ALS-decreased DEGs (FDR <0.10, SMD < -0.80). ALS-increased DEGs were linked to PI3K-AKT signaling, innate immunity, inflammation, motor neuron differentiation and extracellular matrix. ALS-decreased DEGs were associated with the ubiquitin-proteosome system, microtubules, axon growth, RNA-binding proteins and synaptic membrane. ALS-decreased DEG mRNAs frequently interacted with RNA-binding proteins (e.g., FUS, HuR). The complete set of DEGs (increased and decreased) overlapped significantly with genes near ALS-associated SNP loci (p < 0.01). Transcription factor target motifs with increased proximity to ALS-increased DEGs were identified, most notably DNA elements predicted to interact with forkhead transcription factors (e.g., FOXP1) and motor neuron and pancreas homeobox 1 (MNX1). Some of these DNA elements overlie ALS-associated SNPs within known enhancers and are predicted to have genotype-dependent MNX1 interactions. DEGs were compared to those identified from SOD1-G93A mice and bulk spinal cord segments or iPSC-MNs from ALS patients. There was good correspondence with transcriptome changes from SOD1-G93A mice (r ≤ 0.408) but most DEGs were not differentially expressed in bulk spinal cords or iPSC-MNs and transcriptome-wide effect size correlations were weak (bulk tissue: r ≤ 0.207, iPSC-MN: r ≤ 0.037). Conclusion This study defines a robust transcriptome signature from LCM-based motor neuron studies of post-mortem tissue from ALS and CTL subjects. This signature differs from those obtained from analysis of bulk spinal cord segments and iPSC-MNs. Results provide insight into mechanisms underlying gene dysregulation in ALS and highlight connections between these mechanisms, ALS genetics, and motor neuron biology.
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Affiliation(s)
- William R. Swindell
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hospital Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, United States
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32
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Mascher M, Marone MP, Schreiber M, Stein N. Are cereal grasses a single genetic system? Nat Plants 2024:10.1038/s41477-024-01674-3. [PMID: 38605239 DOI: 10.1038/s41477-024-01674-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2023] [Accepted: 03/17/2024] [Indexed: 04/13/2024]
Abstract
In 1993, a passionate and provocative call to arms urged cereal researchers to consider the taxon they study as a single genetic system and collaborate with each other. Since then, that group of scientists has seen their discipline blossom. In an attempt to understand what unity of genetic systems means and how the notion was borne out by later research, we survey the progress and prospects of cereal genomics: sequence assemblies, population-scale sequencing, resistance gene cloning and domestication genetics. Gene order may not be as extraordinarily well conserved in the grasses as once thought. Still, several recurring themes have emerged. The same ancestral molecular pathways defining plant architecture have been co-opted in the evolution of different cereal crops. Such genetic convergence as much as cross-fertilization of ideas between cereal geneticists has led to a rich harvest of genes that, it is hoped, will lead to improved varieties.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martin Mascher
- Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research, Gatersleben, Germany.
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Marina Püpke Marone
- Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research, Gatersleben, Germany
| | - Mona Schreiber
- University of Marburg, Department of Biology, Marburg, Germany
| | - Nils Stein
- Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research, Gatersleben, Germany.
- Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale), Germany.
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Bell CG. Epigenomic insights into common human disease pathology. Cell Mol Life Sci 2024; 81:178. [PMID: 38602535 PMCID: PMC11008083 DOI: 10.1007/s00018-024-05206-2] [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: 01/19/2024] [Revised: 03/11/2024] [Accepted: 03/13/2024] [Indexed: 04/12/2024]
Abstract
The epigenome-the chemical modifications and chromatin-related packaging of the genome-enables the same genetic template to be activated or repressed in different cellular settings. This multi-layered mechanism facilitates cell-type specific function by setting the local sequence and 3D interactive activity level. Gene transcription is further modulated through the interplay with transcription factors and co-regulators. The human body requires this epigenomic apparatus to be precisely installed throughout development and then adequately maintained during the lifespan. The causal role of the epigenome in human pathology, beyond imprinting disorders and specific tumour suppressor genes, was further brought into the spotlight by large-scale sequencing projects identifying that mutations in epigenomic machinery genes could be critical drivers in both cancer and developmental disorders. Abrogation of this cellular mechanism is providing new molecular insights into pathogenesis. However, deciphering the full breadth and implications of these epigenomic changes remains challenging. Knowledge is accruing regarding disease mechanisms and clinical biomarkers, through pathogenically relevant and surrogate tissue analyses, respectively. Advances include consortia generated cell-type specific reference epigenomes, high-throughput DNA methylome association studies, as well as insights into ageing-related diseases from biological 'clocks' constructed by machine learning algorithms. Also, 3rd-generation sequencing is beginning to disentangle the complexity of genetic and DNA modification haplotypes. Cell-free DNA methylation as a cancer biomarker has clear clinical utility and further potential to assess organ damage across many disorders. Finally, molecular understanding of disease aetiology brings with it the opportunity for exact therapeutic alteration of the epigenome through CRISPR-activation or inhibition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher G Bell
- William Harvey Research Institute, Barts & The London Faculty of Medicine, Queen Mary University of London, Charterhouse Square, London, EC1M 6BQ, UK.
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Espinosa E, Bautista R, Larrosa R, Plata O. Advancements in long-read genome sequencing technologies and algorithms. Genomics 2024; 116:110842. [PMID: 38608738 DOI: 10.1016/j.ygeno.2024.110842] [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] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2023] [Revised: 04/01/2024] [Accepted: 04/06/2024] [Indexed: 04/14/2024]
Abstract
The recent advent of long read sequencing technologies, such as Pacific Biosciences (PacBio) and Oxford Nanopore technology (ONT), have led to substantial improvements in accuracy and computational cost in sequencing genomes. However, de novo whole-genome assembly still presents significant challenges related to the quality of the results. Pursuing de novo whole-genome assembly remains a formidable challenge, underscored by intricate considerations surrounding computational demands and result quality. As sequencing accuracy and throughput steadily advance, a continuous stream of innovative assembly tools floods the field. Navigating this dynamic landscape necessitates a reasonable choice of sequencing platform, depth, and assembly tools to orchestrate high-quality genome reconstructions. This comprehensive review delves into the intricate interplay between cutting-edge long read sequencing technologies, assembly methodologies, and the ever-evolving field of genomics. With a focus on addressing the pivotal challenges and harnessing the opportunities presented by these advancements, we provide an in-depth exploration of the crucial factors influencing the selection of optimal strategies for achieving robust and insightful genome assemblies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elena Espinosa
- Department of Computer Architecture, University of Malaga, Louis Pasteur, 35, Campus de Teatinos, Malaga 29071, Spain.
| | - Rocio Bautista
- Supercomputing and Bioinnovation Center, University of Malaga, C. Severo Ochoa, 34, Malaga 29590, Spain.
| | - Rafael Larrosa
- Department of Computer Architecture, University of Malaga, Louis Pasteur, 35, Campus de Teatinos, Malaga 29071, Spain; Supercomputing and Bioinnovation Center, University of Malaga, C. Severo Ochoa, 34, Malaga 29590, Spain.
| | - Oscar Plata
- Department of Computer Architecture, University of Malaga, Louis Pasteur, 35, Campus de Teatinos, Malaga 29071, Spain.
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35
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Wang B, Jia Y, Dang N, Yu J, Bush SJ, Gao S, He W, Wang S, Guo H, Yang X, Ma W, Ye K. Near telomere-to-telomere genome assemblies of two Chlorella species unveil the composition and evolution of centromeres in green algae. BMC Genomics 2024; 25:356. [PMID: 38600443 PMCID: PMC11005252 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-024-10280-8] [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: 02/28/2024] [Accepted: 04/02/2024] [Indexed: 04/12/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Centromeres play a crucial and conserved role in cell division, although their composition and evolutionary history in green algae, the evolutionary ancestors of land plants, remains largely unknown. RESULTS We constructed near telomere-to-telomere (T2T) assemblies for two Trebouxiophyceae species, Chlorella sorokiniana NS4-2 and Chlorella pyrenoidosa DBH, with chromosome numbers of 12 and 13, and genome sizes of 58.11 Mb and 53.41 Mb, respectively. We identified and validated their centromere sequences using CENH3 ChIP-seq and found that, similar to humans and higher plants, the centromeric CENH3 signals of green algae display a pattern of hypomethylation. Interestingly, the centromeres of both species largely comprised transposable elements, although they differed significantly in their composition. Species within the Chlorella genus display a more diverse centromere composition, with major constituents including members of the LTR/Copia, LINE/L1, and LINE/RTEX families. This is in contrast to green algae including Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, Coccomyxa subellipsoidea, and Chromochloris zofingiensis, in which centromere composition instead has a pronounced single-element composition. Moreover, we observed significant differences in the composition and structure of centromeres among chromosomes with strong collinearity within the Chlorella genus, suggesting that centromeric sequence evolves more rapidly than sequence in non-centromeric regions. CONCLUSIONS This study not only provides high-quality genome data for comparative genomics of green algae but gives insight into the composition and evolutionary history of centromeres in early plants, laying an important foundation for further research on their evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bo Wang
- School of Automation Science and Engineering, Faculty of Electronic and Information Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
- MOE Key Lab for Intelligent Networks & Networks Security, Faculty of Electronic and Information Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | - Yanyan Jia
- School of Automation Science and Engineering, Faculty of Electronic and Information Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
- MOE Key Lab for Intelligent Networks & Networks Security, Faculty of Electronic and Information Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | - Ningxin Dang
- School of Automation Science and Engineering, Faculty of Electronic and Information Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
- Genome Institute, the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | - Jie Yu
- College of Life Sciences, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Stephen J Bush
- School of Automation Science and Engineering, Faculty of Electronic and Information Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | - Shenghan Gao
- School of Automation Science and Engineering, Faculty of Electronic and Information Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | - Wenxi He
- School of Life Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | - Sirui Wang
- School of Life Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | - Hongtao Guo
- School of Computer Science and Technology, Faculty of Electronic and Information Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | - Xiaofei Yang
- School of Computer Science and Technology, Faculty of Electronic and Information Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | - Weimin Ma
- College of Life Sciences, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, China.
| | - Kai Ye
- School of Automation Science and Engineering, Faculty of Electronic and Information Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.
- MOE Key Lab for Intelligent Networks & Networks Security, Faculty of Electronic and Information Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.
- Genome Institute, the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.
- School of Life Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.
- Faculty of Science, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.
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Westemeier-Rice ES, Winters MT, Rawson TW, Martinez I. More than the SRY: The Non-Coding Landscape of the Y Chromosome and Its Importance in Human Disease. Noncoding RNA 2024; 10:21. [PMID: 38668379 PMCID: PMC11054740 DOI: 10.3390/ncrna10020021] [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] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2024] [Revised: 03/31/2024] [Accepted: 04/08/2024] [Indexed: 04/29/2024] Open
Abstract
Historically, the Y chromosome has presented challenges to classical methodology and philosophy of understanding the differences between males and females. A genetic unsolved puzzle, the Y chromosome was the last chromosome to be fully sequenced. With the advent of the Human Genome Project came a realization that the human genome is more than just genes encoding proteins, and an entire universe of RNA was discovered. This dark matter of biology and the black box surrounding the Y chromosome have collided over the last few years, as increasing numbers of non-coding RNAs have been identified across the length of the Y chromosome, many of which have played significant roles in disease. In this review, we will uncover what is known about the connections between the Y chromosome and the non-coding RNA universe that originates from it, particularly as it relates to long non-coding RNAs, microRNAs and circular RNAs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily S. Westemeier-Rice
- West Virginia University Cancer Institute, West Virginia University School of Medicine, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA;
| | - Michael T. Winters
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Cell Biology, West Virginia University School of Medicine, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA; (M.T.W.); (T.W.R.)
| | - Travis W. Rawson
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Cell Biology, West Virginia University School of Medicine, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA; (M.T.W.); (T.W.R.)
| | - Ivan Martinez
- West Virginia University Cancer Institute, West Virginia University School of Medicine, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA;
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Cell Biology, West Virginia University School of Medicine, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA; (M.T.W.); (T.W.R.)
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37
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Yang ZY, Zhao C, Liu SL, Pan LJ, Zhu YD, Zhao JW, Wang HK, Ye YY, Qiang J, Shi LQ, Mei JW, Xie Y, Gong W, Shu YJ, Dong P, Xiang SS. NONO promotes gallbladder cancer cell proliferation by enhancing oncogenic RNA splicing of DLG1 through interaction with IGF2BP3/RBM14. Cancer Lett 2024; 587:216703. [PMID: 38341127 DOI: 10.1016/j.canlet.2024.216703] [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: 12/19/2023] [Revised: 01/29/2024] [Accepted: 02/01/2024] [Indexed: 02/12/2024]
Abstract
Gallbladder cancer (GBC) is a highly malignant and rapidly progressing tumor of the human biliary system, and there is an urgent need to develop new therapeutic targets and modalities. Non-POU domain-containing octamer-binding protein (NONO) is an RNA-binding protein involved in the regulation of transcription, mRNA splicing, and DNA repair. NONO expression is elevated in multiple tumors and can act as an oncogene to promote tumor progression. Here, we found that NONO was highly expressed in GBC and promoted tumor cells growth. The dysregulation of RNA splicing is a molecular feature of almost all tumor types. Accordingly, mRNA-seq and RIP-seq analysis showed that NONO promoted exon6 skipping in DLG1, forming two isomers (DLG1-FL and DLG1-S). Furthermore, lower Percent-Spliced-In (PSI) values of DLG1 were detected in tumor tissue relative to the paraneoplastic tissue, and were associated with poor patient prognosis. Moreover, DLG1-S and DLG1-FL act as tumor promoters and tumor suppressors, respectively, by regulating the YAP1/JUN pathway. N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is the most common and abundant RNA modification involved in alternative splicing processes. We identified an m6A reader, IGF2BP3, which synergizes with NONO to promote exon6 skipping in DLG1 in an m6A-dependent manner. Furthermore, IP/MS results showed that RBM14 was bound to NONO and interfered with NONO-mediated exon6 skipping of DLG1. In addition, IGF2BP3 disrupted the binding of RBM14 to NONO. Overall, our data elucidate the molecular mechanism by which NONO promotes DLG1 exon skipping, providing a basis for new therapeutic targets in GBC treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zi-Yi Yang
- Laboratory of General Surgery and Department of General Surgery, Xinhua Hospital Affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, No. 1665 Kongjiang Road, Shanghai, 200092, China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Biliary Tract Disease Research, No. 1665 Kongjiang Road, Shanghai, 200092, China.
| | - Cheng Zhao
- Laboratory of General Surgery and Department of General Surgery, Xinhua Hospital Affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, No. 1665 Kongjiang Road, Shanghai, 200092, China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Biliary Tract Disease Research, No. 1665 Kongjiang Road, Shanghai, 200092, China.
| | - Shi-Lei Liu
- Laboratory of General Surgery and Department of General Surgery, Xinhua Hospital Affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, No. 1665 Kongjiang Road, Shanghai, 200092, China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Biliary Tract Disease Research, No. 1665 Kongjiang Road, Shanghai, 200092, China.
| | - Li-Jia Pan
- Laboratory of General Surgery and Department of General Surgery, Xinhua Hospital Affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, No. 1665 Kongjiang Road, Shanghai, 200092, China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Biliary Tract Disease Research, No. 1665 Kongjiang Road, Shanghai, 200092, China.
| | - Yi-di Zhu
- Laboratory of General Surgery and Department of General Surgery, Xinhua Hospital Affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, No. 1665 Kongjiang Road, Shanghai, 200092, China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Biliary Tract Disease Research, No. 1665 Kongjiang Road, Shanghai, 200092, China.
| | - Jing-Wei Zhao
- Laboratory of General Surgery and Department of General Surgery, Xinhua Hospital Affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, No. 1665 Kongjiang Road, Shanghai, 200092, China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Biliary Tract Disease Research, No. 1665 Kongjiang Road, Shanghai, 200092, China.
| | - Hua-Kai Wang
- Laboratory of General Surgery and Department of General Surgery, Xinhua Hospital Affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, No. 1665 Kongjiang Road, Shanghai, 200092, China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Biliary Tract Disease Research, No. 1665 Kongjiang Road, Shanghai, 200092, China.
| | - Yuan-Yuan Ye
- Laboratory of General Surgery and Department of General Surgery, Xinhua Hospital Affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, No. 1665 Kongjiang Road, Shanghai, 200092, China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Biliary Tract Disease Research, No. 1665 Kongjiang Road, Shanghai, 200092, China.
| | - Jing Qiang
- Laboratory of General Surgery and Department of General Surgery, Xinhua Hospital Affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, No. 1665 Kongjiang Road, Shanghai, 200092, China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Biliary Tract Disease Research, No. 1665 Kongjiang Road, Shanghai, 200092, China.
| | - Liu-Qing Shi
- Laboratory of General Surgery and Department of General Surgery, Xinhua Hospital Affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, No. 1665 Kongjiang Road, Shanghai, 200092, China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Biliary Tract Disease Research, No. 1665 Kongjiang Road, Shanghai, 200092, China.
| | - Jia-Wei Mei
- Laboratory of General Surgery and Department of General Surgery, Xinhua Hospital Affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, No. 1665 Kongjiang Road, Shanghai, 200092, China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Biliary Tract Disease Research, No. 1665 Kongjiang Road, Shanghai, 200092, China.
| | - Yang Xie
- Department of Gastroenterology, Xinhua Hospital Affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, No. 1665 Kongjiang Road, Shanghai, 200092, China.
| | - Wei Gong
- Laboratory of General Surgery and Department of General Surgery, Xinhua Hospital Affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, No. 1665 Kongjiang Road, Shanghai, 200092, China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Biliary Tract Disease Research, No. 1665 Kongjiang Road, Shanghai, 200092, China.
| | - Yi-Jun Shu
- Laboratory of General Surgery and Department of General Surgery, Xinhua Hospital Affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, No. 1665 Kongjiang Road, Shanghai, 200092, China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Biliary Tract Disease Research, No. 1665 Kongjiang Road, Shanghai, 200092, China.
| | - Ping Dong
- Laboratory of General Surgery and Department of General Surgery, Xinhua Hospital Affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, No. 1665 Kongjiang Road, Shanghai, 200092, China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Biliary Tract Disease Research, No. 1665 Kongjiang Road, Shanghai, 200092, China.
| | - Shan-Shan Xiang
- Laboratory of General Surgery and Department of General Surgery, Xinhua Hospital Affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, No. 1665 Kongjiang Road, Shanghai, 200092, China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Biliary Tract Disease Research, No. 1665 Kongjiang Road, Shanghai, 200092, China.
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de Jong TV, Pan Y, Rastas P, Munro D, Tutaj M, Akil H, Benner C, Chen D, Chitre AS, Chow W, Colonna V, Dalgard CL, Demos WM, Doris PA, Garrison E, Geurts AM, Gunturkun HM, Guryev V, Hourlier T, Howe K, Huang J, Kalbfleisch T, Kim P, Li L, Mahaffey S, Martin FJ, Mohammadi P, Ozel AB, Polesskaya O, Pravenec M, Prins P, Sebat J, Smith JR, Solberg Woods LC, Tabakoff B, Tracey A, Uliano-Silva M, Villani F, Wang H, Sharp BM, Telese F, Jiang Z, Saba L, Wang X, Murphy TD, Palmer AA, Kwitek AE, Dwinell MR, Williams RW, Li JZ, Chen H. A revamped rat reference genome improves the discovery of genetic diversity in laboratory rats. Cell Genom 2024; 4:100527. [PMID: 38537634 PMCID: PMC11019364 DOI: 10.1016/j.xgen.2024.100527] [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] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2023] [Revised: 12/26/2023] [Accepted: 02/29/2024] [Indexed: 04/09/2024]
Abstract
The seventh iteration of the reference genome assembly for Rattus norvegicus-mRatBN7.2-corrects numerous misplaced segments and reduces base-level errors by approximately 9-fold and increases contiguity by 290-fold compared with its predecessor. Gene annotations are now more complete, improving the mapping precision of genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomics datasets. We jointly analyzed 163 short-read whole-genome sequencing datasets representing 120 laboratory rat strains and substrains using mRatBN7.2. We defined ∼20.0 million sequence variations, of which 18,700 are predicted to potentially impact the function of 6,677 genes. We also generated a new rat genetic map from 1,893 heterogeneous stock rats and annotated transcription start sites and alternative polyadenylation sites. The mRatBN7.2 assembly, along with the extensive analysis of genomic variations among rat strains, enhances our understanding of the rat genome, providing researchers with an expanded resource for studies involving rats.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tristan V de Jong
- Department of Pharmacology, Addiction Science, and Toxicology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, USA
| | - Yanchao Pan
- Department of Human Genetics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Pasi Rastas
- Institute of Biotechnology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Daniel Munro
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA; Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology, Scripps Research, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Monika Tutaj
- Department of Physiology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA; Rat Genome Database, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA
| | - Huda Akil
- Michigan Neuroscience Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Chris Benner
- Department of Medicine, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Denghui Chen
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Apurva S Chitre
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - William Chow
- Tree of Life, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Cambridge, UK
| | - Vincenza Colonna
- Institute of Genetics and Biophysics, National Research Council, Naples, Italy; Department of Genetics, Genomics and Informatics, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, USA
| | - Clifton L Dalgard
- Department of Anatomy, Physiology & Genetics, The American Genome Center, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Wendy M Demos
- Department of Physiology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA; Rat Genome Database, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA
| | - Peter A Doris
- The Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine, Center for Human Genetics, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Erik Garrison
- Department of Genetics, Genomics and Informatics, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, USA
| | - Aron M Geurts
- Department of Physiology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA
| | - Hakan M Gunturkun
- Department of Pharmacology, Addiction Science, and Toxicology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, USA
| | - Victor Guryev
- Genome Structure and Ageing, University of Groningen, UMC, Groningen, the Netherlands
| | - Thibaut Hourlier
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus in Hinxton, Cambridgeshire, UK
| | - Kerstin Howe
- Tree of Life, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Cambridge, UK
| | - Jun Huang
- Department of Pharmacology, Addiction Science, and Toxicology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, USA
| | - Ted Kalbfleisch
- Gluck Equine Research Center, Department of Veterinary Science, University of Kentucky, Louisville, KY, USA
| | - Panjun Kim
- Department of Genetics, Genomics and Informatics, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, USA
| | - Ling Li
- Department of Genetics, Genomics and Informatics, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, USA; Center for Proteomics and Metabolomics, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, USA
| | - Spencer Mahaffey
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA
| | - Fergal J Martin
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus in Hinxton, Cambridgeshire, UK
| | - Pejman Mohammadi
- Center for Immunity and Immunotherapies, Seattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle, WA, USA; Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Ayse Bilge Ozel
- Department of Human Genetics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Oksana Polesskaya
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Michal Pravenec
- Institute of Physiology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czechia
| | - Pjotr Prins
- Department of Genetics, Genomics and Informatics, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, USA
| | - Jonathan Sebat
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Jennifer R Smith
- Department of Physiology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA; Rat Genome Database, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA
| | - Leah C Solberg Woods
- Department of Internal Medicine, Section on Molecular Medicine, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA
| | - Boris Tabakoff
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA
| | - Alan Tracey
- Tree of Life, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Cambridge, UK
| | | | - Flavia Villani
- Department of Genetics, Genomics and Informatics, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, USA
| | - Hongyang Wang
- Department of Animal Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA
| | - Burt M Sharp
- Department of Genetics, Genomics and Informatics, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, USA
| | - Francesca Telese
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Zhihua Jiang
- Department of Animal Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA
| | - Laura Saba
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA
| | - Xusheng Wang
- Department of Genetics, Genomics and Informatics, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, USA; Center for Proteomics and Metabolomics, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, USA
| | - Terence D Murphy
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Abraham A Palmer
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA; Institute for Genomic Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Anne E Kwitek
- Department of Physiology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA; Rat Genome Database, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA
| | - Melinda R Dwinell
- Department of Physiology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA; Rat Genome Database, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA
| | - Robert W Williams
- Department of Genetics, Genomics and Informatics, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, USA
| | - Jun Z Li
- Department of Human Genetics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
| | - Hao Chen
- Department of Pharmacology, Addiction Science, and Toxicology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, USA.
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39
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Paus T. Population Neuroscience: Principles and Advances. Curr Top Behav Neurosci 2024. [PMID: 38589637 DOI: 10.1007/7854_2024_474] [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] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/10/2024]
Abstract
In population neuroscience, three disciplines come together to advance our knowledge of factors that shape the human brain: neuroscience, genetics, and epidemiology (Paus, Human Brain Mapping 31:891-903, 2010). Here, I will come back to some of the background material reviewed in more detail in our previous book (Paus, Population Neuroscience, 2013), followed by a brief overview of current advances and challenges faced by this integrative approach.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tomáš Paus
- Department of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Faculty of Medicine, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada
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40
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da Silva AL, Guedes BLM, Santos SN, Correa GF, Nardy A, Nali LHDS, Bachi ALL, Romano CM. Beyond pathogens: the intriguing genetic legacy of endogenous retroviruses in host physiology. Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2024; 14:1379962. [PMID: 38655281 PMCID: PMC11035796 DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2024.1379962] [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] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2024] [Accepted: 03/22/2024] [Indexed: 04/26/2024] Open
Abstract
The notion that viruses played a crucial role in the evolution of life is not a new concept. However, more recent insights suggest that this perception might be even more expansive, highlighting the ongoing impact of viruses on host evolution. Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) are considered genomic remnants of ancient viral infections acquired throughout vertebrate evolution. Their exogenous counterparts once infected the host's germline cells, eventually leading to the permanent endogenization of their respective proviruses. The success of ERV colonization is evident so that it constitutes 8% of the human genome. Emerging genomic studies indicate that endogenous retroviruses are not merely remnants of past infections but rather play a corollary role, despite not fully understood, in host genetic regulation. This review presents some evidence supporting the crucial role of endogenous retroviruses in regulating host genetics. We explore the involvement of human ERVs (HERVs) in key physiological processes, from their precise and orchestrated activities during cellular differentiation and pluripotency to their contributions to aging and cellular senescence. Additionally, we discuss the costs associated with hosting a substantial amount of preserved viral genetic material.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amanda Lopes da Silva
- Instituto de Medicina Tropical de São Paulo, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Bruno Luiz Miranda Guedes
- Instituto de Medicina Tropical de São Paulo, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Samuel Nascimento Santos
- UNISA Research Center, Universidade Santo Amaro, Post-Graduation in Health Sciences, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Giovanna Francisco Correa
- Instituto de Medicina Tropical de São Paulo, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Ariane Nardy
- UNISA Research Center, Universidade Santo Amaro, Post-Graduation in Health Sciences, São Paulo, Brazil
| | | | - Andre Luis Lacerda Bachi
- UNISA Research Center, Universidade Santo Amaro, Post-Graduation in Health Sciences, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Camila Malta Romano
- Instituto de Medicina Tropical de São Paulo, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
- Hospital das Clinicas HCFMUSP, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil
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41
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Zhang S, Xu N, Fu L, Yang X, Li Y, Yang Z, Feng Y, Ma K, Jiang X, Han J, Hu R, Zhang L, de Gennaro L, Ryabov F, Meng D, He Y, Wu D, Yang C, Paparella A, Mao Y, Bian X, Lu Y, Antonacci F, Ventura M, Shepelev VA, Miga KH, Alexandrov IA, Logsdon GA, Phillippy AM, Su B, Zhang G, Eichler EE, Lu Q, Shi Y, Sun Q, Mao Y. Comparative genomics of macaques and integrated insights into genetic variation and population history. bioRxiv 2024:2024.04.07.588379. [PMID: 38645259 PMCID: PMC11030432 DOI: 10.1101/2024.04.07.588379] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/23/2024]
Abstract
The crab-eating macaques ( Macaca fascicularis ) and rhesus macaques ( M. mulatta ) are widely studied nonhuman primates in biomedical and evolutionary research. Despite their significance, the current understanding of the complex genomic structure in macaques and the differences between species requires substantial improvement. Here, we present a complete genome assembly of a crab-eating macaque and 20 haplotype-resolved macaque assemblies to investigate the complex regions and major genomic differences between species. Segmental duplication in macaques is ∼42% lower, while centromeres are ∼3.7 times longer than those in humans. The characterization of ∼2 Mbp fixed genetic variants and ∼240 Mbp complex loci highlights potential associations with metabolic differences between the two macaque species (e.g., CYP2C76 and EHBP1L1 ). Additionally, hundreds of alternative splicing differences show post-transcriptional regulation divergence between these two species (e.g., PNPO ). We also characterize 91 large-scale genomic differences between macaques and humans at a single-base-pair resolution and highlight their impact on gene regulation in primate evolution (e.g., FOLH1 and PIEZO2 ). Finally, population genetics recapitulates macaque speciation and selective sweeps, highlighting potential genetic basis of reproduction and tail phenotype differences (e.g., STAB1 , SEMA3F , and HOXD13 ). In summary, the integrated analysis of genetic variation and population genetics in macaques greatly enhances our comprehension of lineage-specific phenotypes, adaptation, and primate evolution, thereby improving their biomedical applications in human diseases.
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Carroll RA, Rice ES, Murphy WJ, Lyons LA, Thibaud-Nissen F, Coghill LM, Swanson WF, Terio KA, Boyd T, Warren WC. A chromosome-scale fishing cat reference genome for the evaluation of potential germline risk variants. Sci Rep 2024; 14:8073. [PMID: 38580653 PMCID: PMC10997796 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-56003-7] [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] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2023] [Accepted: 02/29/2024] [Indexed: 04/07/2024] Open
Abstract
The fishing cat, Prionailurus viverrinus, faces a population decline, increasing the importance of maintaining healthy zoo populations. Unfortunately, zoo-managed individuals currently face a high prevalence of transitional cell carcinoma (TCC), a form of bladder cancer. To investigate the genetics of inherited diseases among captive fishing cats, we present a chromosome-scale assembly, generate the pedigree of the zoo-managed population, reaffirm the close genetic relationship with the Asian leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis), and identify 7.4 million single nucleotide variants (SNVs) and 23,432 structural variants (SVs) from whole genome sequencing (WGS) data of healthy and TCC cats. Only BRCA2 was found to have a high recurrent number of missense mutations in fishing cats diagnosed with TCC when compared to inherited human cancer risk variants. These new fishing cat genomic resources will aid conservation efforts to improve their genetic fitness and enhance the comparative study of feline genomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachel A Carroll
- Bond Life Sciences Center, University of Missouri, 1201 Rollins St., Columbia, MO, 65211, USA
| | - Edward S Rice
- Bond Life Sciences Center, University of Missouri, 1201 Rollins St., Columbia, MO, 65211, USA
| | - William J Murphy
- Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, Texas A and M University, College Station, TX, 77843-4458, USA
| | - Leslie A Lyons
- Department of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, 65211, USA
| | - Francoise Thibaud-Nissen
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Lyndon M Coghill
- Bioinformatics and Analytics Core, University of Missouri, 1201 Rollins St., Columbia, MO, 65211, USA
| | - William F Swanson
- Center for Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife, Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, 3400 Vine St., Cincinnati, OH, 45220, USA
| | - Karen A Terio
- Zoological Pathology Program, University of Illinois, 3300 Golf Rd, Brookfield, IL, 60513, USA
| | - Tyler Boyd
- Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden, 2000 Remington Pl., Oklahoma, OK, 73111, USA
| | - Wesley C Warren
- Bond Life Sciences Center, University of Missouri, 1201 Rollins St., Columbia, MO, 65211, USA.
- Department of Surgery, Bond Life Sciences Center, Institute of Data Science and Informatics, University of Missouri, 1201 Rollins St., Columbia, MO, 65211, USA.
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43
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Logsdon GA, Rozanski AN, Ryabov F, Potapova T, Shepelev VA, Catacchio CR, Porubsky D, Mao Y, Yoo D, Rautiainen M, Koren S, Nurk S, Lucas JK, Hoekzema K, Munson KM, Gerton JL, Phillippy AM, Ventura M, Alexandrov IA, Eichler EE. The variation and evolution of complete human centromeres. Nature 2024:10.1038/s41586-024-07278-3. [PMID: 38570684 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07278-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2023] [Accepted: 03/07/2024] [Indexed: 04/05/2024]
Abstract
Human centromeres have been traditionally very difficult to sequence and assemble owing to their repetitive nature and large size1. As a result, patterns of human centromeric variation and models for their evolution and function remain incomplete, despite centromeres being among the most rapidly mutating regions2,3. Here, using long-read sequencing, we completely sequenced and assembled all centromeres from a second human genome and compared it to the finished reference genome4,5. We find that the two sets of centromeres show at least a 4.1-fold increase in single-nucleotide variation when compared with their unique flanks and vary up to 3-fold in size. Moreover, we find that 45.8% of centromeric sequence cannot be reliably aligned using standard methods owing to the emergence of new α-satellite higher-order repeats (HORs). DNA methylation and CENP-A chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments show that 26% of the centromeres differ in their kinetochore position by >500 kb. To understand evolutionary change, we selected six chromosomes and sequenced and assembled 31 orthologous centromeres from the common chimpanzee, orangutan and macaque genomes. Comparative analyses reveal a nearly complete turnover of α-satellite HORs, with characteristic idiosyncratic changes in α-satellite HORs for each species. Phylogenetic reconstruction of human haplotypes supports limited to no recombination between the short (p) and long (q) arms across centromeres and reveals that novel α-satellite HORs share a monophyletic origin, providing a strategy to estimate the rate of saltatory amplification and mutation of human centromeric DNA.
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Affiliation(s)
- Glennis A Logsdon
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA
- Department of Genetics, Epigenetics Institute, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Allison N Rozanski
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Fedor Ryabov
- Masters Program in National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia
| | - Tamara Potapova
- Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, MO, USA
| | | | - Claudia R Catacchio
- Department of Biosciences, Biotechnology and Environment, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy
| | - David Porubsky
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Yafei Mao
- Bio-X Institutes, Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Developmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Ministry of Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
| | - DongAhn Yoo
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Mikko Rautiainen
- Genome Informatics Section, Computational and Statistical Genomics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), Helsinki Institute of Life Science (HiLIFE), University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Sergey Koren
- Genome Informatics Section, Computational and Statistical Genomics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Sergey Nurk
- Genome Informatics Section, Computational and Statistical Genomics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
- Oxford Nanopore Technologies, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Julian K Lucas
- Department of Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
- UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
| | - Kendra Hoekzema
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Katherine M Munson
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA
| | | | - Adam M Phillippy
- Genome Informatics Section, Computational and Statistical Genomics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Mario Ventura
- Department of Biosciences, Biotechnology and Environment, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy
| | - Ivan A Alexandrov
- Department of Human Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
- Department of Anatomy and Anthropology, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
- Dan David Center for Human Evolution and Biohistory Research, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Evan E Eichler
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA.
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
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44
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Goldberg ME, Noyes MD, Eichler EE, Quinlan AR, Harris K. Effects of parental age and polymer composition on short tandem repeat de novo mutation rates. Genetics 2024; 226:iyae013. [PMID: 38298127 PMCID: PMC10990422 DOI: 10.1093/genetics/iyae013] [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: 08/11/2023] [Revised: 08/11/2023] [Accepted: 01/05/2024] [Indexed: 02/02/2024] Open
Abstract
Short tandem repeats (STRs) are hotspots of genomic variability in the human germline because of their high mutation rates, which have long been attributed largely to polymerase slippage during DNA replication. This model suggests that STR mutation rates should scale linearly with a father's age, as progenitor cells continually divide after puberty. In contrast, it suggests that STR mutation rates should not scale with a mother's age at her child's conception, since oocytes spend a mother's reproductive years arrested in meiosis II and undergo a fixed number of cell divisions that are independent of the age at ovulation. Yet, mirroring recent findings, we find that STR mutation rates covary with paternal and maternal age, implying that some STR mutations are caused by DNA damage in quiescent cells rather than polymerase slippage in replicating progenitor cells. These results echo the recent finding that DNA damage in oocytes is a significant source of de novo single nucleotide variants and corroborate evidence of STR expansion in postmitotic cells. However, we find that the maternal age effect is not confined to known hotspots of oocyte mutagenesis, nor are postzygotic mutations likely to contribute significantly. STR nucleotide composition demonstrates divergent effects on de novo mutation (DNM) rates between sexes. Unlike the paternal lineage, maternally derived DNMs at A/T STRs display a significantly greater association with maternal age than DNMs at G/C-containing STRs. These observations may suggest the mechanism and developmental timing of certain STR mutations and contradict prior attribution of replication slippage as the primary mechanism of STR mutagenesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael E Goldberg
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
- Departments of Human Genetics and Biomedical Informatics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
| | - Michelle D Noyes
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - Evan E Eichler
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - Aaron R Quinlan
- Departments of Human Genetics and Biomedical Informatics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
| | - Kelley Harris
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
- Computational Biology Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
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45
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Choudalakis M, Bashtrykov P, Jeltsch A. RepEnTools: an automated repeat enrichment analysis package for ChIP-seq data reveals hUHRF1 Tandem-Tudor domain enrichment in young repeats. Mob DNA 2024; 15:6. [PMID: 38570859 PMCID: PMC10988844 DOI: 10.1186/s13100-024-00315-y] [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] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2023] [Accepted: 03/05/2024] [Indexed: 04/05/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Repeat elements (REs) play important roles for cell function in health and disease. However, RE enrichment analysis in short-read high-throughput sequencing (HTS) data, such as ChIP-seq, is a challenging task. RESULTS Here, we present RepEnTools, a software package for genome-wide RE enrichment analysis of ChIP-seq and similar chromatin pulldown experiments. Our analysis package bundles together various software with carefully chosen and validated settings to provide a complete solution for RE analysis, starting from raw input files to tabular and graphical outputs. RepEnTools implementations are easily accessible even with minimal IT skills (Galaxy/UNIX). To demonstrate the performance of RepEnTools, we analysed chromatin pulldown data by the human UHRF1 TTD protein domain and discovered enrichment of TTD binding on young primate and hominid specific polymorphic repeats (SVA, L1PA1/L1HS) overlapping known enhancers and decorated with H3K4me1-K9me2/3 modifications. We corroborated these new bioinformatic findings with experimental data by qPCR assays using newly developed primate and hominid specific qPCR assays which complement similar research tools. Finally, we analysed mouse UHRF1 ChIP-seq data with RepEnTools and showed that the endogenous mUHRF1 protein colocalizes with H3K4me1-H3K9me3 on promoters of REs which were silenced by UHRF1. These new data suggest a functional role for UHRF1 in silencing of REs that is mediated by TTD binding to the H3K4me1-K9me3 double mark and conserved in two mammalian species. CONCLUSIONS RepEnTools improves the previously available programmes for RE enrichment analysis in chromatin pulldown studies by leveraging new tools, enhancing accessibility and adding some key functions. RepEnTools can analyse RE enrichment rapidly, efficiently, and accurately, providing the community with an up-to-date, reliable and accessible tool for this important type of analysis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michel Choudalakis
- Department of Biochemistry, Institute of Biochemistry and Technical Biochemistry, University of Stuttgart, Allmandring 31, 70569, Stuttgart, Germany
| | - Pavel Bashtrykov
- Department of Biochemistry, Institute of Biochemistry and Technical Biochemistry, University of Stuttgart, Allmandring 31, 70569, Stuttgart, Germany.
| | - Albert Jeltsch
- Department of Biochemistry, Institute of Biochemistry and Technical Biochemistry, University of Stuttgart, Allmandring 31, 70569, Stuttgart, Germany.
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46
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Rivas-González I, Tung J. A multi-million-year natural experiment: Comparative genomics on a massive scale and its implications for human health. Evol Med Public Health 2024; 12:67-70. [PMID: 38601345 PMCID: PMC11005778 DOI: 10.1093/emph/eoae006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2024] [Revised: 03/18/2024] [Indexed: 04/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Improving the diversity and quality of genome assemblies for non-human mammals has been a long-standing goal of comparative genomics. The last year saw substantial progress towards this goal, including the release of genome alignments for 240 mammals and nearly half the primate order. These resources have increased our ability to identify evolutionarily constrained regions of the genome, and together strongly support the importance of these regions to biomedically relevant trait variation in humans. They also provide new strategies for identifying the genetic basis of changes unique to individual lineages, illustrating the value of evolutionary comparative approaches for understanding human health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Iker Rivas-González
- Department of Primate Behavior and Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Jenny Tung
- Department of Primate Behavior and Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
- Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
- Faculty of Life Sciences, Institute of Biology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
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47
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Boakye Serebour T, Cribbs AP, Baldwin MJ, Masimirembwa C, Chikwambi Z, Kerasidou A, Snelling SJB. Overcoming barriers to single-cell RNA sequencing adoption in low- and middle-income countries. Eur J Hum Genet 2024:10.1038/s41431-024-01564-4. [PMID: 38565638 DOI: 10.1038/s41431-024-01564-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2023] [Revised: 01/29/2024] [Accepted: 02/06/2024] [Indexed: 04/04/2024] Open
Abstract
The advent of single-cell resolution sequencing and spatial transcriptomics has enabled the delivery of cellular and molecular atlases of tissues and organs, providing new insights into tissue health and disease. However, if the full potential of these technologies is to be equitably realised, ancestrally inclusivity is paramount. Such a goal requires greater inclusion of both researchers and donors in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). In this perspective, we describe the current landscape of ancestral inclusivity in genomic and single-cell transcriptomic studies. We discuss the collaborative efforts needed to scale the barriers to establishing, expanding, and adopting single-cell sequencing research in LMICs and to enable globally impactful outcomes of these technologies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tracy Boakye Serebour
- The Botnar Institute for Musculoskeletal Science, Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Adam P Cribbs
- The Botnar Institute for Musculoskeletal Science, Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Mathew J Baldwin
- The Botnar Institute for Musculoskeletal Science, Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Collen Masimirembwa
- The African Institute of Biomedical Science and Technology, Harare, Zimbabwe
| | - Zedias Chikwambi
- The African Institute of Biomedical Science and Technology, Harare, Zimbabwe
| | - Angeliki Kerasidou
- The Ethox Centre and the Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Sarah J B Snelling
- The Botnar Institute for Musculoskeletal Science, Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
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48
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Henriques WS, Young JM, Nemudryi A, Nemudraia A, Wiedenheft B, Malik HS. The Diverse Evolutionary Histories of Domesticated Metaviral Capsid Genes in Mammals. Mol Biol Evol 2024; 41:msae061. [PMID: 38507667 PMCID: PMC11011659 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msae061] [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: 01/25/2024] [Revised: 02/26/2024] [Accepted: 03/04/2024] [Indexed: 03/22/2024] Open
Abstract
Selfish genetic elements comprise significant fractions of mammalian genomes. In rare instances, host genomes domesticate segments of these elements for function. Using a complete human genome assembly and 25 additional vertebrate genomes, we re-analyzed the evolutionary trajectories and functional potential of capsid (CA) genes domesticated from Metaviridae, a lineage of retrovirus-like retrotransposons. Our study expands on previous analyses to unearth several new insights about the evolutionary histories of these ancient genes. We find that at least five independent domestication events occurred from diverse Metaviridae, giving rise to three universally retained single-copy genes evolving under purifying selection and two gene families unique to placental mammals, with multiple members showing evidence of rapid evolution. In the SIRH/RTL family, we find diverse amino-terminal domains, widespread loss of protein-coding capacity in RTL10 despite its retention in several mammalian lineages, and differential utilization of an ancient programmed ribosomal frameshift in RTL3 between the domesticated CA and protease domains. Our analyses also reveal that most members of the PNMA family in mammalian genomes encode a conserved putative amino-terminal RNA-binding domain (RBD) both adjoining and independent from domesticated CA domains. Our analyses lead to a significant correction of previous annotations of the essential CCDC8 gene. We show that this putative RBD is also present in several extant Metaviridae, revealing a novel protein domain configuration in retrotransposons. Collectively, our study reveals the divergent outcomes of multiple domestication events from diverse Metaviridae in the common ancestor of placental mammals.
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Affiliation(s)
- William S Henriques
- Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717, USA
| | - Janet M Young
- Basic Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
| | - Artem Nemudryi
- Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717, USA
| | - Anna Nemudraia
- Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717, USA
| | - Blake Wiedenheft
- Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717, USA
| | - Harmit S Malik
- Basic Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
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Bunyavanich S, Becker PM, Altman MC, Lasky-Su J, Ober C, Zengler K, Berdyshev E, Bonneau R, Chatila T, Chatterjee N, Chung KF, Cutcliffe C, Davidson W, Dong G, Fang G, Fulkerson P, Himes BE, Liang L, Mathias RA, Ogino S, Petrosino J, Price ND, Schadt E, Schofield J, Seibold MA, Steen H, Wheatley L, Zhang H, Togias A, Hasegawa K. Analytical challenges in omics research on asthma and allergy: A National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases workshop. J Allergy Clin Immunol 2024; 153:954-968. [PMID: 38295882 PMCID: PMC10999353 DOI: 10.1016/j.jaci.2024.01.014] [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: 12/13/2023] [Revised: 01/19/2024] [Accepted: 01/24/2024] [Indexed: 02/29/2024]
Abstract
Studies of asthma and allergy are generating increasing volumes of omics data for analysis and interpretation. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) assembled a workshop comprising investigators studying asthma and allergic diseases using omics approaches, omics investigators from outside the field, and NIAID medical and scientific officers to discuss the following areas in asthma and allergy research: genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics, microbiomics, metabolomics, proteomics, lipidomics, integrative omics, systems biology, and causal inference. Current states of the art, present challenges, novel and emerging strategies, and priorities for progress were presented and discussed for each area. This workshop report summarizes the major points and conclusions from this NIAID workshop. As a group, the investigators underscored the imperatives for rigorous analytic frameworks, integration of different omics data types, cross-disciplinary interaction, strategies for overcoming current limitations, and the overarching goal to improve scientific understanding and care of asthma and allergic diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Patrice M Becker
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, Md
| | | | - Jessica Lasky-Su
- Brigham & Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass
| | | | | | | | | | - Talal Chatila
- Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass
| | | | | | | | - Wendy Davidson
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, Md
| | - Gang Dong
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, Md
| | - Gang Fang
- Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
| | - Patricia Fulkerson
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, Md
| | | | - Liming Liang
- Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Mass
| | | | - Shuji Ogino
- Brigham & Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass; Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Mass; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Boston, Mass
| | | | | | - Eric Schadt
- Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
| | | | - Max A Seibold
- National Jewish Health, Denver, Colo; University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, Colo
| | - Hanno Steen
- Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass
| | - Lisa Wheatley
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, Md
| | - Hongmei Zhang
- School of Public Health, University of Memphis, Memphis, Tenn
| | - Alkis Togias
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, Md
| | - Kohei Hasegawa
- Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass
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Andersson D, Kebede FT, Escobar M, Österlund T, Ståhlberg A. Principles of digital sequencing using unique molecular identifiers. Mol Aspects Med 2024; 96:101253. [PMID: 38367531 DOI: 10.1016/j.mam.2024.101253] [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: 11/16/2023] [Revised: 01/26/2024] [Accepted: 02/03/2024] [Indexed: 02/19/2024]
Abstract
Massively parallel sequencing technologies have long been used in both basic research and clinical routine. The recent introduction of digital sequencing has made previously challenging applications possible by significantly improving sensitivity and specificity to now allow detection of rare sequence variants, even at single molecule level. Digital sequencing utilizes unique molecular identifiers (UMIs) to minimize sequencing-induced errors and quantification biases. Here, we discuss the principles of UMIs and how they are used in digital sequencing. We outline the properties of different UMI types and the consequences of various UMI approaches in relation to experimental protocols and bioinformatics. Finally, we describe how digital sequencing can be applied in specific research fields, focusing on cancer management where it can be used in screening of asymptomatic individuals, diagnosis, treatment prediction, prognostication, monitoring treatment efficacy and early detection of treatment resistance as well as relapse.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Andersson
- Sahlgrenska Center for Cancer Research, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Institute of Biomedicine, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, 413 90, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Firaol Tamiru Kebede
- Sahlgrenska Center for Cancer Research, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Institute of Biomedicine, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, 413 90, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Mandy Escobar
- Sahlgrenska Center for Cancer Research, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Institute of Biomedicine, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, 413 90, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Tobias Österlund
- Sahlgrenska Center for Cancer Research, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Institute of Biomedicine, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, 413 90, Gothenburg, Sweden; Wallenberg Centre for Molecular and Translational Medicine, University of Gothenburg, 413 90, Gothenburg, Sweden; Department of Clinical Genetics and Genomics, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, 413 45, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Anders Ståhlberg
- Sahlgrenska Center for Cancer Research, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Institute of Biomedicine, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, 413 90, Gothenburg, Sweden; Wallenberg Centre for Molecular and Translational Medicine, University of Gothenburg, 413 90, Gothenburg, Sweden; Department of Clinical Genetics and Genomics, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, 413 45, Gothenburg, Sweden.
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