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An intermediate grade of finished genomic sequence suitable for comparative analyses.

Although the cost of generating draft-quality genomic sequence continues to decline, refining that sequence by the process of "sequence finishing" remains expensive. Near-perfect finished sequence is an appropriate goal for the human genome and a small set of reference genomes; however, such a high-quality product cannot be cost-justified for large numbers of additional genomes, at least for the foreseeable future. Here we describe the generation and quality of an intermediate grade of finished genomic sequence (termed comparative-grade finished sequence), which is tailored for use in multispecies sequence comparisons. Our analyses indicate that this sequence is very high quality (with the residual gaps and errors mostly falling within repetitive elements) and reflects 99% of the total sequence. Importantly, comparative-grade sequence finishing requires approximately 40-fold less reagents and approximately 10-fold less personnel effort compared to the generation of near-perfect finished sequence, such as that produced for the human genome. Although applied here to finishing sequence derived from individual bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) clones, one could envision establishing routines for refining sequences emanating from whole-genome shotgun sequencing projects to a similar quality level. Our experience to date demonstrates that comparative-grade sequence finishing represents a practical and affordable option for sequence refinement en route to comparative analyses.

Animals↗

Fast multi-planar gradient echo MR imaging: impact of variation in pulse sequence parameters on image quality and artifacts.

The purpose of this investigation was to quantitatively evaluate the practical impact of alteration of key imaging parameters on image quality and artifacts in fast multi-planar gradient echo (GRE) pulse sequences. These include multi-planar GRASS (MPGR) and fast multi-planar spoiled GRASS (FMPSPGR). We developed a composite phantom with different T(1) and T(2) values comprising the range of common biological tissues, which was also subjected to periodic motion in order to evaluate motion effects. Magnetic resonance imaging was performed on a GE Signa 1.5-T system. Experimental variations in key parameters included excitation flip angle (FL), echo time (TE), repetition time (TR), and receive bandwidth (BW). Quantitative analysis consisted of signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) and contrast (CN), image nonuniformity (NU), full-width-at-half-maximum (FWHM) (i.e., blurring or geometric distortion), and ghosting ratio (GR). We found that flip angle, TE, and TR play particularly critical roles in determining image signal, homogeneity, and ghosting artifact with these sequences. Optimum clinical application of these pulse sequences requires careful attention to these imaging parameters and to their complex interactions.

Artifacts↗

Heat Inactivation of Nipah Virus for Downstream Single-Cell RNA Sequencing Does Not Interfere with Sample Quality.

Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) technologies are instrumental to improving our understanding of virus-host interactions in cell culture infection studies and complex biological systems because they allow separating the transcriptional signatures of infected versus non-infected bystander cells. A drawback of using biosafety level (BSL) 4 pathogens is that protocols are typically developed without consideration of virus inactivation during the procedure. To ensure complete inactivation of virus-containing samples for downstream analyses, an adaptation of the workflow is needed. Focusing on a commercially available microfluidic partitioning scRNA-seq platform to prepare samples for scRNA-seq, we tested various chemical and physical components of the platform for their ability to inactivate Nipah virus (NiV), a BSL-4 pathogen that belongs to the group of nonsegmented negative-sense RNA viruses. The only step of the standard protocol that led to NiV inactivation was a 5 min incubation at 85 °C. To comply with the more stringent biosafety requirements for BSL-4-derived samples, we included an additional heat step after cDNA synthesis. This step alone was sufficient to inactivate NiV-containing samples, adding to the necessary inactivation redundancy. Importantly, the additional heat step did not affect sample quality or downstream scRNA-seq results.

Nipah Virus↗

Automating the identification of DNA variations using quality-based fluorescence re-sequencing: analysis of the human mitochondrial genome.

Diagnostic re-sequencing plays a central role in medical and evolutionary genetics. In this report we describe a process that applies fluorescence-based re-sequencing and an integrated set of analysis tools to automate and simplify the identification of DNA variations using the human mitochondrial genome as a model system. Two programs used in genome sequence analysis (Phred, a base-caller, and Phrap, a sequence assembler) are applied to assess the quality of each base call across the sequence. Potential DNA variants are automatically identified and 'tagged' by comparing the assembled sequence with a reference sequence. We also show that employing the Consed program to display a set of highly annotated reference sequences greatly simplifies data analysis by providing a visual database containing information on the location of the PCR primers, coding and regulatory sequences and previously known DNA variants. Among the 12 genomes sequenced 378 variants including 29 new variants were identified along with two heteroplasmic sites, automatically detected by the PolyPhred program. Overall we document the ease and speed of performing high quality and accurate fluorescence-based re-sequencing on long tracts of DNA as well as the application of new approaches to automatically find and view DNA variants among these sequences.

Base Sequence↗

Usefulness of microchip electrophoresis for the analysis of mitochondrial DNA in forensic and ancient DNA studies.

We evaluate the usefulness of a commercially available microchip CE (MCE) device in different genetic identification studies performed with mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) targets, including the haplotype analysis of HVR1 and HVR2 and the study of interspecies diversity of cytochrome b (Cyt b) and 16S ribosomal RNA (16S rRNA) mitochondrial genes in forensic and ancient DNA samples. The MCE commercial system tested in this study proved to be a fast and sensitive detection method of length heteroplasmy in cytosine stretches produced by 16 189T>C transitions in HVR1 and by 309.1 and 309.2 C-insertions in HVR2. Moreover, the quantitative analysis of PCR amplicons performed by LIF allowed normalizing the amplicon input in the sequencing reactions, improving the overall quality of sequence data. These quantitative data in combination with the quantification of genomic mtDNA by real-time PCR has been successfully used to evaluate the PCR efficiency and detection limit of full sequencing methods of different mtDNA targets. The quantification of amplicons also provided a method for the rapid evaluation of PCR efficiency of multiplex-PCR versus singleplex-PCR to amplify short HV1 amplicons (around 100 bp) from severely degraded ancient DNA samples. The combination of human-specific (Cyt b) and universal (16S rRNA) mtDNA primer sets in a single PCR reaction followed by MCE detection offers a very rapid and simple screening test to differentiate between human and nonhuman hair forensic samples. This method was also very efficient with degraded DNA templates from forensic hair and bone samples, because of its applicability to detect small amplicon sizes. Future possibilities of MCE in forensic DNA typing, including nuclear STRs and SNP profiling are suggested.

Animals↗

Genomic sequencing by ligation-mediated PCR.

Genomic sequencing permits studies of in vivo DNA methylation and protein-DNA interactions, but its use has been limited due to the complexity of the mammalian genome. Ligation-mediated PCR (LMPCR) is a sensitive genomic sequencing procedure that generates high quality, reproducible sequence ladders starting with only 1 microgram of uncloned mammalian DNA per reaction. This genomic sequencing procedure can be adapted for various methylation, in vivo footprinting and DNA adduct mapping procedures. We provide a detailed protocol for genomic sequencing by LMPCR and discuss the principles and applications of the method.

DNA Adducts↗

Gene expression in Florida red tide dinoflagellate Karenia brevis: analysis of an expressed sequence tag library and development of DNA microarray.

Karenia brevis (Davis) is the dinoflagellate responsible for nearly annual red tides in the Gulf of Mexico. Although the mechanisms regulating the growth and toxicity of this problematic organism are of considerable interest, little information is available on its molecular biology. We therefore constructed a complementary DNA library from which to gain insight into its expressed genome and to develop tools for studying its gene expression. Large-scale sequencing yielded 7001 high-quality expressed sequence tags (ESTs), which clustered into 5280 unique gene groups. The vast majority of genes expressed fell into a low-abundance class, with the highest expressed gene accounting for only 1% of the total ESTs. Approximately 29% of genes were found to have similarity to known sequences in other organisms after BLAST similarity comparisons to the GenBank public protein database using a cutoff of P < 10e(-4). We identified for the first time in a dinoflagellate a suite of conserved eukaryotic genes involved in cell cycle control, intracellular signaling, and the transcription and translation machinery. At least 40% of gene clusters displayed single nucleotide polymorphisms, suggesting the presence of multiple gene copies. The average GC content of ESTs was 51%, with a slight preference for G or C in the third codon position (53.5%). The ESTs were used to develop an oligonucleotide microarray containing 4629 unique features and 3462 replicate probes. Microarray labeling has been optimized, and the microarray has been validated for probe specificity and reproducibility. This is the first information to be developed on the expressed genome of K. brevis and provides the basis from which to begin functional genomic studies on this harmful algal bloom species.

Animals↗

Sequencing homopolymer tracts and repetitive elements.

We investigated the use of Taq dye primer and Taq terminator sequencing chemistry to optimize the quality of sequence data obtained from templates containing homopolymer tracts and repetitive elements. In direct side-by-side comparisons using the Applied Biosystems Model 373A Fluorescent Sequencer, the Taq terminator sequencing chemistry gave much cleaner and more consistent results on long homopolymer tracts and dinucleotide repeats. We also investigated various thermal cycling conditions and determined that higher annealing temperatures and longer denaturation times improved the ability to sequence through these problem templates.

Base Sequence↗

Mapler: a pipeline for assessing assembly quality in taxonomically rich metagenomes sequenced with HiFi reads.

SUMMARY: Metagenome assembly seeks to reconstruct the most high-quality genomes from sequencing data of microbial ecosystems. Despite technological advancements that facilitate assembly, such as Hi-Fi long reads, the process remains challenging in complex environmental samples consisting of hundreds to thousands of populations. Mapler is a metagenome assembly and evaluation pipeline with a focus on evaluating the quality of Hi-Fi long read metagenome assemblies. It incorporates several state-of-the-art metrics, as well as novel metrics assessing the diversity that remains uncaptured by the assembly process. Mapler facilitates the comparison of assembly strategies and helps identify methodological bottlenecks that hinder genome reconstruction. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: Mapler is open source and publicly available under the AGPL-3.0 licence at https://github.com/Nimauric/Mapler. Source code is implemented in Python and Bash as a Snakemake pipeline. A snapshot of the code is available on Software Heritage at swh:1:snp:df4f5f02e22ebbab285ec14af58d4d88436ee5d6. Raw data and results are available at https://entrepot.recherche.data.gouv.fr/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.57745/2SA8AB.

Metagenome↗

Analysis of HLA Allelic and Haplotypic Frequencies in a Cohort of Bone Marrow Donors in Catalonia: Impact of Next-Generation Sequencing on Donor Registry Quality.

In haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), the volunteer unrelated donor (VUD) has become the most common strategy in Europe, as improved outcomes are achieved through HLA compatibility at allelic-level resolution. In this context, the implementation of next-generation sequencing (NGS) in histocompatibility typing laboratories has significantly enhanced the quality of bone marrow registries, enabling a high level of resolution at a lower cost and improved performance. In this study, we analyse a large cohort of 21,787 bone marrow donors in Catalonia and present the observed HLA allelic and haplotypic frequencies, along with their linkage disequilibria. HLA-A, -B, -C, -E and -G were genotyped at full resolution, while -DRB1, -DQB1, -DQA1, -DPA1 and -DPB1 were genotyped at high resolution. We identified 236 new officially named HLA alleles, both coding and non-coding regions. This study highlights that the implementation of high-throughput HLA typing has led to an increase in the number of registered donors and an improvement in quality, which has been reflected in a rise in the number of effective donors.

Humans↗

MAGIC-SPP: a database-driven DNA sequence processing package with associated management tools.

BACKGROUND: Processing raw DNA sequence data is an especially challenging task for relatively small laboratories and core facilities that produce as many as 5000 or more DNA sequences per week from multiple projects in widely differing species. To meet this challenge, we have developed the flexible, scalable, and automated sequence processing package described here. RESULTS: MAGIC-SPP is a DNA sequence processing package consisting of an Oracle 9i relational database, a Perl pipeline, and user interfaces implemented either as JavaServer Pages (JSP) or as a Java graphical user interface (GUI). The database not only serves as a data repository, but also controls processing of trace files. MAGIC-SPP includes an administrative interface, a laboratory information management system, and interfaces for exploring sequences, monitoring quality control, and troubleshooting problems related to sequencing activities. In the sequence trimming algorithm it employs new features designed to improve performance with respect to concerns such as concatenated linkers, identification of the expected start position of a vector insert, and extending the useful length of trimmed sequences by bridging short regions of low quality when the following high quality segment is sufficiently long to justify doing so. CONCLUSION: MAGIC-SPP has been designed to minimize human error, while simultaneously being robust, versatile, flexible and automated. It offers a unique combination of features that permit administration by a biologist with little or no informatics background. It is well suited to both individual research programs and core facilities.

Algorithms↗

A new and fast method for preparing high quality lambda DNA suitable for sequencing.

A method is described for the rapid purification of high quality lambda DNA. The method can be used from either liquid or plate lysates and on a small scale or a large scale. It relies on the preadsobtion of all polyanions present in the lysate to an "insoluble" anion-exchange matrix (DEAE or TEAE). Phage particles are then disrupted by combined treatment with EDTA/proteinase K and the resulting DNA is precipitated by the addition of the cationic detergent cetyl (or hexadecyl)-trimethyl ammonium bromide-CTAB ("soluble" anion-exchange matrix). The precipitated CTAB-DNA complex is then exchanged to Na-DNA and ethanol precipitated. The resultant purified DNA is suitable for enzymatic reactions and provides a high quality template for dideoxy-sequence analysis.

Anion Exchange Resins↗

Genomic divergences among cattle, dog and human estimated from large-scale alignments of genomic sequences.

BACKGROUND: Approximately 11 Mb of finished high quality genomic sequences were sampled from cattle, dog and human to estimate genomic divergences and their regional variation among these lineages. RESULTS: Optimal three-way multi-species global sequence alignments for 84 cattle clones or loci (each >50 kb of genomic sequence) were constructed using the human and dog genome assemblies as references. Genomic divergences and substitution rates were examined for each clone and for various sequence classes under different functional constraints. Analysis of these alignments revealed that the overall genomic divergences are relatively constant (0.32-0.37 change/site) for pairwise comparisons among cattle, dog and human; however substitution rates vary across genomic regions and among different sequence classes. A neutral mutation rate (2.0-2.2 x 10(-9) change/site/year) was derived from ancestral repetitive sequences, whereas the substitution rate in coding sequences (1.1 x 10(-9) change/site/year) was approximately half of the overall rate (1.9-2.0 x 10(-9) change/site/year). Relative rate tests also indicated that cattle have a significantly faster rate of substitution as compared to dog and that this difference is about 6%. CONCLUSION: This analysis provides a large-scale and unbiased assessment of genomic divergences and regional variation of substitution rates among cattle, dog and human. It is expected that these data will serve as a baseline for future mammalian molecular evolution studies.

Animals↗

A quality control algorithm for DNA sequencing projects.

Heterologous DNA sequences from rearrangements with the genomes of host cells, genomic fragments from hybrid cells, or impure tissue sources can threaten the purity of libraries that are derived from RNA or DNA. Hybridization methods can only detect contaminants from known or suspected heterologous sources, and whole library screening is technically very difficult. Detection of contaminating heterologous clones by sequence alignment is only possible when related sequences are present in a known database. We have developed a statistical test to identify heterologous sequences that is based on the differences in hexamer composition of DNA from different organisms. This test does not require that sequences similar to potential heterologous contaminants are present in the database, and can in principle detect contamination by previously unknown organisms. We have applied this test to the major public expressed sequence tag (EST) data sets to evaluate its utility as a quality control measure and a peer evaluation tool. There is detectable heterogeneity in most human and C.elegans EST data sets but it is not apparently associated with cross-species contamination. However, there is direct evidence for both yeast and bacterial sequence contamination in some public database sequences annotated as human. Results obtained with the hexamer test have been confirmed with similarity searches using sequences from the relevant data sets.

Algorithms↗

Flexible sequence similarity searching with the FASTA3 program package.

The FASTA3 and FASTA2 packages provide a flexible set of sequence-comparison programs that are particularly valuable because of their accurate statistical estimates and high-quality alignments. Traditionally, sequence similarity searches have sought to ask one question: "Is my query sequence homologous to anything in the database?" Both FASTA and BLAST can provide reliable answers to this question with their statistical estimates; if the expectation value E is < 0.001-0.01 and you are not doing hundreds of searches a day, the answer is probably yes. In general, the most effective search strategies follow these rules: 1. Whenever possible, compare at the amino acid level, rather than the nucleotide level. Search first with protein sequences (blastp, fasta3, and ssearch3), then with translated DNA sequences (fastx, blastx), and only at the DNA level as a last resort (Table 5). 2. Search the smallest database that is likely to contain the sequence of interest (but it must contain many unrelated sequences for accurate statistical estimates). 3. Use sequence statistics, rather than percent identity or percent similarity, as your primary criterion for sequence homology. 4. Check that the statistics are likely to be accurate by looking for the highest-scoring unrelated sequence, using prss3 to confirm the expectation, and searching with shuffled copies of the query sequence [randseq, searches with shuffled sequences should have E approx 1.0]. 5. Consider searches with different gap penalties and other scoring matrices. Searches with long query sequences against full-length sequence libraries will not change dramatically when BLOSUM62 is used instead of BLOSUM50 (20), or a gap penalty of -14/-2 is used in place of -12/-2. However, shallower or more stringent scoring matrices are more effective at uncovering relationships in partial sequences (3,18), and they can be used to sharpen dramatically the scope of the similarity search. However, as illustrated in the last section, the E value is only the first step in characterizing a sequence relationship. Once one has confidence that the sequences are homologous, one should look at the sequence alignments and percent identities, particularly when searching with lower quality sequences. When sequence alignments are very short, the alignment should become more significant when a shallower scoring matrix is used, e.g., BLOSUM62 rather than BLOSUM50 (remember to change the gap penalties). Homology can be reliably inferred from statistically significant similarity. Whereas homology implies common three-dimensional structure, homology need not imply common function. Orthologous sequences usually have similar functions, but paralogous sequences often acquire very different functional roles. Motif databases, such as PROSITE (21), can provide evidence for the conservation of critical functional residues. However, motif identity in the absence of overall sequence similarity is not a reliable indicator of homology.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

High-yield deblocking of amino termini of recombinant immunoglobulins with pyroglutamate aminopeptidase.

For larger proteins, efficient deblocking prior to Edman sequencing is especially important to obtain quality, extended sequencing data which is limited by the stepwise accumulation of background from the random acid hydrolysis of the protein. Therefore, any portion that remains blocked contributes to the undesirable background. We report an optimized procedure for the removal of pyroglutamate (pGlu) by pyroglutamate aminopeptidase (PGAP) and demonstrate its use for the quantitative deblocking of several humanized recombinant antibodies (rIgGs). The rIgGs with blocked heavy chain provided an advantageous system in which removal of pGlu from the heavy chain was determined as a ratio of the deblocked heavy chain to the light chain in the first cycle of sequencing; i.e., the light chain was used as an internal standard. The reaction temperature, reaction time, enzyme-to-substrate ratio, denaturation, and reduction/carboxymethylation prior to digestion, and different commercial enzymes were evaluated. The optimized procedure involves reduction/carboxymethylation in guanidine buffer, buffer exchange by gel-permeation chromatography, and overnight PGAP digestion at 37 degrees C. Five different rIgGs, including one with blocked heavy and light chains, were deblocked in nearly quantitative yields using this procedure.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Direct amplification of the entire ITS region from poorly preserved plant material using recombinant PCR.

Sequences of the internal transcribed spacers (ITS) of the nuclear ribosomal DNA are important molecular markers in phylogenetic analyses. To obtain sequences from herbarium material in which DNA often is severely degraded, the ITS region has to be amplified in two steps. Two methods that reduce bench time and reagents used are described. (i) Separately amplified preparations of subunits ITS-1 and ITS-2 are combined before purification. The presence of two fragments in the sequencing reaction does not impair the quality of sequences. (ii) Newly designed internal primers amplify partly overlapping regions of the two subunits. A combination of these internal primers with the external primers in one PCR allows the amplification of the entire ITS region even when degraded DNAs are used. This recombinant PCR approach, taking into account the +A bases added by several Taq DNA polymerases, will also be useful with other marker regions used in molecular phylogenetics.

Base Sequence↗

Kaleidaseq: a Web-based tool to monitor data flow in a high throughput sequencing facility.

Tracking data flow in high throughput sequencing is important in maintaining a consistent number of successfully sequenced samples, making decisions on scheduling the flow of sequencing steps, resolving problems at various steps and tracking the status of different projects. This is especially critical when the laboratory is handling a multitude of projects. We have built a Web-based data flow tracking package, called Kaleidaseq, which allows us to monitor the flow and quality of sequencing samples through the steps of preparation of library plates, plaque-picking, preparation of templates, conducting sequencing reactions, loading of samples on gels, base-calling the traces, and calculating the quality of the sequenced samples. Kaleidaseq's suite of displays allows for outstanding monitoring of the production sequencing process. The online display of current information that Kaleidaseq provides on both project status and process queues sorted by project enables accurate real-time assessment of the necessary samples that must be processed to complete the project. This information allows the process manager to allocate future resources optimally and schedule tasks according to scientific priorities. Quality of the sequenced samples can be tracked on a daily basis, which allows the sequencing laboratory to maintain a steady performance level and quickly resolve dips in quality. Kaleidaseq has a simple easy-to-use interface that allows access to all major functions and process queues from one Web page. This software package is modular and designed to allow additional processing steps and new monitoring variables to be added and tracked with ease. Access to the underlying relational database is through the Perl DBI interface, which allows for the use of different relational databases. Kaleidaseq is available for free use by the academic community from http://www.cshl.org/kaleidaseq.

Arabidopsis↗