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Thermo Sequenase DNA polymerase and T. acidophilum pyrophosphatase: new thermostable enzymes for DNA sequencing.

A combination of thermostable enzymes has been developed that produces higher quality cycle sequences. Thermo Sequenase DNA polymerase is a thermostable enzyme engineered to catalyze the incorporation of ddNTPs with an efficiency several thousandfold better than other thermostable DNA polymerases. Since the enzyme also catalyzes pyrophosphorolysis at dideoxy termini, a thermostable inorganic pyrophosphatase is needed to remove the pyrophosphate produced during sequencing reactions. Thermoplasma acidophilum inorganic pyrophosphatase (TAP) is thermostable and effective for converting pyrophosphate to orthophosphate. The use of the combination of Thermo Sequenase polymerase and TAP for cycle sequencing yields sequence data with uniform band intensities, allowing the determination of longer, more accurate sequence reads. Uniform band intensities also facilitate interpretation of sequence anomalies and the presence of mixed templates. Sequencing PCR products of DNA amplified from heterozygous diploid individuals results in signals of equal intensity from each allele.

Cloning, Molecular↗

EST database for early flower development in California poppy (Eschscholzia californica Cham., Papaveraceae) tags over 6,000 genes from a basal eudicot.

The Floral Genome Project (FGP) selected California poppy (Eschscholzia californica Cham. ssp. Californica) to help identify new florally-expressed genes related to floral diversity in basal eudicots. A large, non-normalized cDNA library was constructed from premeiotic and meiotic floral buds and sequenced to generate a database of 9,079 high quality Expressed Sequence Tags (ESTs). These sequences clustered into 5,713 unigenes, including 1,414 contigs and 4,299 singletons. Homologs of genes regulating many aspects of flower development were identified, including those for organ identity and development, cell and tissue differentiation, cell cycle control, and secondary metabolism. Over 5% of the transcriptome consisted of homologs to known floral gene families. Most are the first representatives of their respective gene families in basal eudicots and their conservation suggests they are important for floral development and/or function. App. 10% of the transcripts encoded transcription factors and other regulatory genes, including nine genes from the seven major lineages of the important MADS-box family of developmental regulators. Homologs of alkaloid pathway genes were also recovered, providing opportunities to explore adaptive evolution in secondary products. Furthermore, comparison of the poppy ESTs with the Arabidopsis genome provided support for putative Arabidopsis genes that previously lacked annotation. Finally, over 1,800 unique sequences had no observable homology in the public databases. The California poppy EST database and library will help bridge our understanding of flower initiation and development among higher eudicot and monocot model plants and provide new opportunities for comparative analysis of gene families across angiosperm species.

DNA, Complementary↗

High-throughput SELEX SAGE method for quantitative modeling of transcription-factor binding sites.

The ability to determine the location and relative strength of all transcription-factor binding sites in a genome is important both for a comprehensive understanding of gene regulation and for effective promoter engineering in biotechnological applications. Here we present a bioinformatically driven experimental method to accurately define the DNA-binding sequence specificity of transcription factors. A generalized profile was used as a predictive quantitative model for binding sites, and its parameters were estimated from in vitro-selected ligands using standard hidden Markov model training algorithms. Computer simulations showed that several thousand low- to medium-affinity sequences are required to generate a profile of desired accuracy. To produce data on this scale, we applied high-throughput genomics methods to the biochemical problem addressed here. A method combining systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX) and serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE) protocols was coupled to an automated quality-controlled sequence extraction procedure based on Phred quality scores. This allowed the sequencing of a database of more than 10,000 potential DNA ligands for the CTF/NFI transcription factor. The resulting binding-site model defines the sequence specificity of this protein with a high degree of accuracy not achieved earlier and thereby makes it possible to identify previously unknown regulatory sequences in genomic DNA. A covariance analysis of the selected sites revealed non-independent base preferences at different nucleotide positions, providing insight into the binding mechanism.

Base Sequence↗

Detection of sequence polymorphisms in red junglefowl and White Leghorn ESTs.

Over 16,000 high quality expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from red junglefowl (RJ) and White Leghorn (WL) brain and testis cDNA libraries were generated. Here, we have used this resource for detection of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and also completed full-length sequencing of 46 pairs of clones, representing the same gene from both the RJ and WL libraries. From the main set of ESTs, which were assembled using Phrap, 746 putative SNPs were identified, of which 76% were transitions and 24% were transversions. A subset of SNPs was evaluated by sequence analysis of five RJ and five WL birds. Nine of 12 SNPs were verified in this limited sample, suggesting that a majority of the putative polymorphisms documented in this study represent real SNPs. During full-length sequencing of the 46 RJ/WL clones 100 SNPs were identified, which translated to a frequency of 1.90 SNPs/1000 bp. The number of transitions and transversions were 77% and 23%, respectively, and the proportion of non-synonymous vs. synonymous SNPs was 20% and 80%, respectively. Four large insertions/deletions were identified between the RJ and WL full-length sequences, and they appear to represent different splice variants.

Animals↗

Comparison of genotypic and phenotypic methods for species-level identification of clinical isolates of coagulase-negative staphylococci.

To compare commonly used phenotypic methods with genotypic identification methods 47 clinical isolates of coagulase-negative staphylococci (CONS), 10 CONS ATCC strains, and a Staphylococcus aureus clinical isolate were identified using the API Staph ID test, BD Phoenix Automated Microbiology System, and 16S rRNA gene and tuf gene sequencing. When necessary part of the sodA gene was sequenced for definitive identification. The results show that tuf gene sequencing is the best method for identification of CONS, but the API Staph ID test is a reasonably reliable phenotypic alternative. The performance of the BD Phoenix Automated Microbiology System for identification of CONS is poor. The present study also showed that although genotypic methods are clearly superior to phenotypic identifications, a drawback of sequence-based genotypic methods may be a lack of quality of deposited sequences in data banks. In particular, 16S rRNA gene sequencing suffers from the lack of high quality among sequences deposited in GenBank. Furthermore, genotypic identification based on 16S rRNA sequences has limited discriminating power for closely related Staphylococcus species. We propose partial sequencing of the tuf gene as a reliable and reproducible method for identification of CONS species.

Base Sequence↗

The use of structure information to increase alignment accuracy does not aid homologue detection with profile HMMs.

MOTIVATION: The best quality multiple sequence alignments are generally considered to derive from structural superposition. However, no previous work has studied the relative performance of profile hidden Markov models (HMMs) derived from such alignments. Therefore several alignment methods have been used to generate multiple sequence alignments from 348 structurally aligned families in the HOMSTRAD database. The performance of profile HMMs derived from the structural and sequence-based alignments has been assessed for homologue detection. RESULTS: The best alignment methods studied here correctly align nearly 80% of residues with respect to structure alignments. Alignment quality and model sensitivity are found to be dependent on average number, length, and identity of sequences in the alignment. The striking conclusion is that, although structural data may improve the quality of multiple sequence alignments, this does not add to the ability of the derived profile HMMs to find sequence homologues. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: A list of HOMSTRAD families used in this study and the corresponding Pfam families is available at http://www.sanger.ac.uk/Users/sgj/alignments/map.html CONTACT: sgj@sanger.ac.uk

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Sensor data validation using gray models.

A new method based on the gray model is described for the online validation of measurements. A gray model is a differential equation describing the behavior of an accumulate generating operation (AGO) data sequence. First-order gray models are fitted to measuring data records using the recursive orthogonal least-squares algorithm. Predictions derived from the fitted gray model are then compared with the actual measurements to generate a prediction error sequence. The quality of the measured value is determined by the prediction errors and variance of the prediction error sequence. Experimental results for detecting the quality of measurements from a thermistor are presented.

Algorithms↗

Very rapid nucleotide sequence analysis of improved, double-stranded minipreps.

Recently, the combination of double-stranded sequencing and Sequenase has been used to accomplish rapid, high-performance sequencing. This combination is relatively resistant to the usual compression effects of palindromes seen with sequencing enzymes such as Klenow fragment of DNA polymerase I or reverse transcriptase. However, for optimal results the method has still relied on plasmids purified by centrifugation through CsCl gradients. The preparation of large-scale cultures, CsCl gradients, and subsequent dialysis are time-consuming processes. The present report describes an improved, miniprep procedure which eliminates the need for CsCl gradients or single-stranded vectors. The effectiveness of the procedure is due to increased ampicillin concentration which amplifies the plasmids, destruction of contaminating enzymes by diethylpyrocarbonate treatment, and vortexing to facilitate rapid sample handling. Sequences of the resulting minipreps are equal in resolution and quality to sequences of CsCl-gradient-purified plasmids.

Base Sequence↗

COFFEE: an objective function for multiple sequence alignments.

MOTIVATION: In order to increase the accuracy of multiple sequence alignments, we designed a new strategy for optimizing multiple sequence alignments by genetic algorithm. We named it COFFEE (Consistency based Objective Function For alignmEnt Evaluation). The COFFEE score reflects the level of consistency between a multiple sequence alignment and a library containing pairwise alignments of the same sequences. RESULTS: We show that multiple sequence alignments can be optimized for their COFFEE score with the genetic algorithm package SAGA. The COFFEE function is tested on 11 test cases made of structural alignments extracted from 3D_ali. These alignments are compared to those produced using five alternative methods. Results indicate that COFFEE outperforms the other methods when the level of identity between the sequences is low. Accuracy is evaluated by comparison with the structural alignments used as references. We also show that the COFFEE score can be used as a reliability index on multiple sequence alignments. Finally, we show that given a library of structure-based pairwise sequence alignments extracted from FSSP, SAGA can produce high-quality multiple sequence alignments. The main advantage of COFFEE is its flexibility. With COFFEE, any method suitable for making pairwise alignments can be extended to making multiple alignments. AVAILABILITY: The package is available along with the test cases through the WWW: http://www. ebi.ac.uk/cedric CONTACT: cedric.notredame@ebi.ac.uk

Algorithms↗

Exclusion of lumican and fibromodulin as candidate genes in MYP3 linked high grade myopia.

PURPOSE: The proteoglycans lumican and fibromodulin regulate collagen fibril assembly and show expression in ocular tissues. A recent mouse knockout study implicates lumican and fibromodulin as functional candidate genes for high myopia. Lumican maps within the chromosome 12q21-q23 autosomal dominant high grade myopia-3 (MYP3) interval, and fibromodulin maps to chromosome 1q32. We screened individuals for lumican and fibromodulin sequence alterations from the original MYP3 family, and from a second high grade myopia pedigree that showed suggestive linkage to both the MYP3 interval and to chromosome 1q32. METHODS: A total of 10 affected (average spherical refractive error was -16.13 D) and 5 unaffected individuals from the 2 families were screened by direct DNA sequencing. Six primer pairs spanning intron-exon boundaries and coding regions were designed for the 3-exon 1804 base pair (bp) lumican gene. Two primer pairs for the 2-exon 2863 bp fibromodulin gene were designed. Polymerase chain reaction products were sequenced and analyzed using standard fluorescent methods. Sequences were quality scored and aligned for polymorphic analysis. RESULTS: Direct DNA sequencing of lumican amplicons yielded the expected sequence with no evidence of polymorphism or pathologic mutation. Sequencing of fibromodulin amplicons revealed 6 polymorphisms, 1 of which was novel. One polymorphism was a silent mutation, and five were in the 3' untranslated region. No polymorphism segregated with high myopia. CONCLUSIONS: Although null and double null Lum and Fmod mouse models have been developed for high myopia, our human cohort did not show affected status association with these genes. Sequencing of the human lumican and fibromodulin genes has excluded them as candidate genes for MYP3 associated high grade myopia.

Child↗

Adjust quality scores from alignment and improve sequencing accuracy.

In shotgun sequencing, statistical reconstruction of a consensus from alignment requires a model of measurement error. Churchill and Waterman proposed one such model and an expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm to estimate sequencing error rates for each assembly matrix. Ewing and Green defined Phred quality scores for base-calling from sequencing traces by training a model on a large amount of data. However, sample preparations and sequencing machines may work under different conditions in practice and therefore quality scores need to be adjusted. Moreover, the information given by quality scores is incomplete in the sense that they do not describe error patterns. We observe that each nucleotide base has its specific error pattern that varies across the range of quality values. We develop models of measurement error for shotgun sequencing by combining the two perspectives above. We propose a logistic model taking quality scores as covariates. The model is trained by a procedure combining an EM algorithm and model selection techniques. The training results in calibration of quality values and leads to a more accurate construction of consensus. Besides Phred scores obtained from ABI sequencers, we apply the same technique to calibrate quality values that come along with Beckman sequencers.

Algorithms↗

Multiple sequence threading: an analysis of alignment quality and stability.

Methods that compare a protein sequence directly to a structure can be divided into those that construct a molecular model (threading methods) and those that perform a sequence alignment with the structure encoded as a sequence of structural states (one-dimensional/three-dimensional (1D/3D) matching). The former take into account the internal packing of the molecule but the latter do not. On the other hand, it is simple to include multiple sequence data in a 1D/3D comparison but difficult in a threading method. Here, a protein sequence/structure alignment method is described that uses a combination of matching predicted and observed residue exposure, predicted and observed secondary structure (1D/3D) together with pairwise packing interactions in the core (threading). Using a variety of distantly related and analogous protein structures, the multiple sequence threading (MST) method was compared to a single sequence threading (SST) method (that uses complex potentials of mean-force) and also to a multiple sequence alignment (MSA) program. It was found that the MST method produced alignments that were better than the best that could be obtained with either the SST or MSA method. The method was found to be stable to error in both secondary structure prediction and predicted exposure and also under variation of the key parameters (fully described in an Appendix). The contribution of the pairwise term was found to be small but without it, the correct alignments were less stable and structurally unreasonable deletions were observed when matching against larger structures. Using the parameters derived for alignment, the method was able to recognise related folds in the structure databank with a specificity comparable to other methods.

Algorithms↗

Magnetic resonance imaging as the primary imaging modality in children presenting with acute non-traumatic hip pain.

The role of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in children presenting with acute non-traumatic hip pain was evaluated prospectively. Hip MRI was performed in addition to standard investigations (arthrosonography +/- hip radiographs) in 50 children presenting to the accident and emergency department of a paediatric hospital. MRI was performed on an open 0.23T system and comprised gradient echo T1 weighted coronal, fast spin echo T2 weighted coronal and inversion recovery spin echo (IRSE) axial sequences. Diagnostic quality MRI examinations were obtained in 94% of children. The IRSE sequence was the most reliable at determining underlying disorder (p<0.002). Interobserver agreement on the MRI examinations was very good with unweighted kappa value of 0.89, 95% confidence intervals 0.79, 0.99. Sensitivity of MRI was 0.79 (0.68, 0.90, specificity 1.00 (0.89, 1.00), accuracy 0.81 (0.70, 0.92), PPV 1.00 (0.89, 1), NPV 0.36 (0.25, 0.47). Sensitivity of standard imaging was 0.70 (0.54-0.86), specificity 0.57 (0.41, 0.73), accuracy 0.72 (0.56, 0.88), PPV 0.91 (0.75, 1.00), NPV 0.24 (0.08, 0.40). MRI correctly identified all seven children with serious underlying disorder whereas conventional imaging correctly diagnosed only two. Pelvic musculoskeletal infection was associated with the combination of marked alteration in signal in tissues adjacent to a symptomatic hip and an erythrocyte sedimentation rate of >20 mm 1st h (p<0.0001). In conclusion, MRI is a practical, well accepted and accurate non-invasive imaging technique in children presenting with acute non-traumatic hip pain. Combined with inflammatory markers MRI can be used to determine those children who require aggressive management. Where it is available, MRI is the imaging modality of choice in this condition.

Adolescent↗

Evaluation of K-space segmented cine sequences for fast functional cardiac imaging.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: In functional cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, reduction of measuring time is very important for many patients who are not able to rest motionless for long-lasting examinations. In this study, the image quality of sequences with k-space segmented data recording was compared with conventional gradient-echo sequences for cine imaging with flow compensation in applications on patients with normal and reduced ejection fractions. METHODS: Thirty-one subjects (4 volunteers and 27 patients with cardiac diseases) were examined using different techniques for cine imaging of the left and right ventricles. The ejection fraction in the patients was calculated based on images of a conventional two-dimensional gradient-echo technique using a biplane ellipsoid model. The results from k-space segmented methods (3 to 9 Fourier lines per cardiac cycle for each phase image) were compared with the conventional images of the same short-axis view separately for groups of subjects with normal and reduced ejection fraction. The contrast between blood and myocardium at several sites of the heart and the homogeneity of the blood signal in the ventricle were evaluated for several phases of the heart cycle. RESULTS: The segmentation in the acquisition of raw data allows reduction of measuring time to approximately 20% to 40% of the time required for conventional sequences in cine imaging of the heart. In patients with normal or only slightly reduced heart function (ejection fraction > or = 60%) the image quality of k-space segmented sequences was not significantly different from the conventionally recorded images. In contrast, patients with markedly lowered ejection fraction (< 60%) showed degraded results of the k-space segmented sequences compared with the conventional sequence (P < 0.001). The anterolateral border and the right ventricle especially were not sufficiently delineated by the k-space segmented sequences in these patients. CONCLUSION: The k-space segmentation for the reduction of examination time is suitable for measuring heart volumes and functional parameters of patients expected to have a nearly normal ejection fraction, whereas for patients with markedly reduced cardiac function further technical improvements of segmented techniques are necessary.

Adult↗

Evaluation of simplified DNA extraction methods for emm typing of group A streptococci.

Simplified methods of DNA extraction for amplification and sequencing for emm typing of group A streptococci (GAS) can save valuable time and cost in resource crunch situations. To evaluate this, we compared two methods of DNA extraction directly from colonies with the standard CDC cell lysate method for emm typing of 50 GAS strains isolated from children with pharyngitis and impetigo. For this, GAS colonies were transferred into two sets of PCR tubes. One set was preheated at 94 degrees C for two minutes in the thermal cycler and cooled while the other set was frozen overnight at -20 degrees C and then thawed before adding the PCR mix. For the cell lysate method, cells were treated with mutanolysin and hyaluronidase before heating at 100 degrees C for 10 minutes and cooling immediately as recommended in the CDC method. All 50 strains could be typed by sequencing the hyper variable region of the emm gene after amplification. The quality of sequences and the emm types identified were also identical. Our study shows that the two simplified DNA extraction methods directly from colonies can conveniently be used for typing a large number of GAS strains easily in relatively short time.

Antigens, Bacterial↗

ESTIMA, a tool for EST management in a multi-project environment.

BACKGROUND: Single-pass, partial sequencing of complementary DNA (cDNA) libraries generates thousands of chromatograms that are processed into high quality expressed sequence tags (ESTs), and then assembled into contigs representative of putative genes. Usually, to be of value, ESTs and contigs must be associated with meaningful annotations, and made available to end-users. RESULTS: A web application, Expressed Sequence Tag Information Management and Annotation (ESTIMA), has been created to meet the EST annotation and data management requirements of multiple high-throughput EST sequencing projects. It is anchored on individual ESTs and organized around different properties of ESTs including chromatograms, base-calling quality scores, structure of assembled transcripts, and multiple sources of comparison to infer functional annotation, Gene Ontology associations, and cDNA library information. ESTIMA consists of a relational database schema and a set of interactive query interfaces. These are integrated with a suite of web-based tools that allow a user to query and retrieve information. Further, query results are interconnected among the various EST properties. ESTIMA has several unique features. Users may run their own EST processing pipeline, search against preferred reference genomes, and use any clustering and assembly algorithm. The ESTIMA database schema is very flexible and accepts output from any EST processing and assembly pipeline. ESTIMA has been used for the management of EST projects of many species, including honeybee (Apis mellifera), cattle (Bos taurus), songbird (Taeniopygia guttata), corn rootworm (Diabrotica vergifera), catfish (Ictalurus punctatus, Ictalurus furcatus), and apple (Malus x domestica). The entire resource may be downloaded and used as is, or readily adapted to fit the unique needs of other cDNA sequencing projects. CONCLUSIONS: The scripts used to create the ESTIMA interface are freely available to academic users in an archived format from http://titan.biotec.uiuc.edu/ESTIMA/. The entity-relationship (E-R) diagrams and the programs used to generate the Oracle database tables are also available. We have also provided detailed installation instructions and a tutorial at the same website. Presently the chromatograms, EST databases and their annotations have been made available for cattle and honeybee brain EST projects. Non-academic users need to contact the W.M. Keck Center for Functional and Comparative Genomics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, for licensing information.

Animals↗