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At least 415 records · Page 23Linked to original sources

The Adaptive Roles of Active Transposable Elements in Insect Hosts.

Active transposable elements (TEs) are capable of generating new insertions in genomes and have historically been viewed as genomic parasites due to their largely detrimental or neutral effects. However, emerging evidence suggests that these elements also play a crucial role in driving adaptive evolution in insects. This mini-review synthesizes recent findings on how active TEs contribute to insect adaptation through various mechanisms, including regulation of gene expression, structural variation, and epigenetic effects. Notable examples of adaptation driven by active TEs include their roles in insecticide resistance, morphological adaptations, tolerance to harsh climates, and antiviral immune responses. We argue that while host silencing mechanisms, such as the piRNA pathway, tightly regulate TE activity to minimize harmful effects, the context-dependent activation of active TEs can generate beneficial genetic variation that enhances insect adaptations to anthropogenic and climatic pressures. Future research that integrates long-read sequencing, single-cell omics, and gene editing techniques will provide a robust mechanistic foundation for understanding the adaptive significance of active TEs in insects, with important implications for pest management, pollinator protection, and evolutionary biology.

Journal Article↗

Proteomics.

The genome sequences of important model systems are available and the focus is now shifting to large-scale experiments enabled by this data. Following in the footsteps of genomics, we have functional genomics, proteomics, and even metabolomics, roughly paralleling the biological hierarchy of the transcription, translation, and production of small molecules. Proteomics is initially concerned with determining the structure, expression, localization, biochemical activity, interactions, and cellular roles of as many proteins as possible. There has been great progress owing to novel instrumentation, experimental strategies, and bioinformatics methods. The area of protein-protein interactions has been especially fruitful. First pass interaction maps of some model organisms exist, and the proteins in many important organelles are about to be determined. Researchers are also beginning to integrate large-scale data sets from various "omics" disciplines in targeted investigations of specific biomedical areas and in pursuit of a general framework for systems biology.

Genomics↗

A need for a 'whole-istic functional genomics' approach in complex human diseases: arthritis.

'Genomic tools', such as gene/protein chips, single nucleotide polymorphism and haplotype analyses, are empowering us to generate staggering amounts of correlative data, from human/animal genetics and from normal and disease-affected tissues obtained from complex diseases such as arthritis. These tools are transforming molecular biology into a 'data rich' science, with subjects with an '-omic' suffix. These disciplines have to converge and integrate at a systemic level to examine the structure and dynamics of cellular and organismal function ('functionomics') simultaneously, using a multidimensional approach for cells, tissues, organs, rodents and Zebra fish models, which intertwines various approaches and readouts to study the development and homeostasis of a system. In summary, the postgenomic era of functionomics will facilitate narrowing the bridge between correlative data and causative data, thus integrating 'intercoms' of interacting and interdependent disciplines and forming a unified whole.

Arthritis↗

Epigenetic profiling of circulating cell-free DNA for early detection and minimal residual disease assessment in lung cancer: a focus on DNA methylation.

Lung Cancer (LC) continues to be the biggest cause of cancer-related deaths around the world, mostly because of delayed diagnosis. Even if tissue biopsies and circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) tests have revolutionized clinical management of LC patients, their effectiveness is restricted in settings with lower tumor burden, molecular heterogeneity, and bias in sampling approaches. In this scenario, the epigenetic profiling of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) stands out as a promising, less invasive approach, accurately detect cancer traces. Evidence from stage I-II disease and CT-detected pulmonary nodules supports the diagnostic potential of cfDNA methylation, although further validation in prospective screening cohorts remains necessary. Beyond genomic alterations, cfDNA epigenetic changes, including DNA methylation, chromatin organization, nucleosome positioning, and fragmentation patterns, reflect multi-dimensional complexity of tumor biology. These properties convey both the functional status and the origin of the circulating DNA fragments, accelerating for tumor integrating genomic analysis. Within this group, DNA methylation is the biologically robust and clinically well-established epigenetic marker, as alterations in methylation linked to cancer often occur in the early stages of tumorigenesis and are commonly found across different cancer cell types. Here, we explored the biological and clinical relevance of the epigenetic landscape of cfDNA in LC patients, particularly focusing on DNA methylation-based biomarkers and their evolving applications towards early diagnosis and post-surgical monitoring of minimal residual disease (MRD). We aimed to comprehensively overview analytical approaches for cfDNA methylation analysis, including targeted and genome-wide profiling strategies, and discuss their integration with machine learning (ML) and multi-omics frameworks in order to improve diagnostic performance and clinical applicability in LC management.

DNA methylation↗

BiomedSQL: Text-to-SQL for Scientific Reasoning on Biomedical Knowledge Bases.

Biomedical researchers increasingly rely on large-scale structured databases for complex analytical tasks. However, current text-to-SQL systems often struggle to map qualitative scientific questions into executable SQL, particularly when implicit domain reasoning is required. We introduce BiomedSQL, the first benchmark explicitly designed to evaluate scientific reasoning in text-to-SQL generation over a real-world biomedical knowledge base. BiomedSQL comprises 68,000 question/SQL query/answer triples generated from templates and grounded in a harmonized BigQuery knowledge base that integrates gene-disease associations, causal inference from omics data, and drug approval records. Each question requires models to infer domain-specific criteria, such as genome-wide significance thresholds, effect directionality, or trial phase filtering, rather than rely on syntactic translation alone. We evaluate a range of open- and closed-source LLMs across prompting strategies and interaction paradigms. Our results reveal a substantial performance gap: GPT-o3-mini achieves 59.0% execution accuracy, while our custom multi-step agent, BMSQL, reaches 62.6%, both well below the expert baseline of 90.0%. BiomedSQL provides a new foundation for advancing text-to-SQL systems capable of supporting scientific discovery through robust reasoning over structured biomedical knowledge bases. Our dataset is publicly available at https://huggingface.co/datasets/NIH-CARD/BiomedSQL, and our code is open-source at https://github.com/NIH-CARD/biomedsql.

Journal Article↗

Decoding Primary Open-Angle Glaucoma: A Multi-Omics Approach to Identify Druggable Effector Genes.

PURPOSE: Genomewide association studies (GWAS) have identified numerous primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) risk loci, yet most reside in non-coding regions with unclear function. Mapping these loci to effector genes can elucidate disease mechanisms, identify functionally conserved variants, improve cross-ancestry risk prediction by reducing population-specific noise, and uncover shared therapeutic targets. METHODS: Here, we integrate European POAG GWAS with six types of multi-omics molecular Quantitative Trait Locis (xQTLs) using multi-trait colocalization to identify candidate effector variants and evaluate their cross-population relevance using genetic risk score (GRS) analysis, and their therapeutic potential through drug target prioritization. RESULTS: We identified 25 POAG effector variants colocalized with at least one xQTLs. In non-European populations, effector variants showed stronger effect size correlations with Europeans than non-colocalized variants (Pearson r2 = African 0.85 vs. 0.71; East Asian 0.81 vs. 0.69; and Latin American 0.91 vs. 0.75). Effector variants also had smaller allele frequency variations across populations (average interquartile range [IQR] = 0.15 vs. 0.20). The genetic risk score based on effector variants performed comparably to the genome-wide significant single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-based GRS in non-European populations. Drug prioritization identified zinc, copper, sunitinib, probucol, and astemizole as potential common therapeutic agents for POAG and its subtypes. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings offer deeper insight into the molecular mechanisms underlying glaucoma and effector variants for developing more robust GRS models and broadly effective therapeutic strategies for POAG.

Humans↗

Clinical applications of digital twin technology in In Vitro Fertilisation.

BACKGROUND: Digital twin technology, originating from aerospace and manufacturing industries, has emerged as a transformative tool in healthcare. In vitro fertilisation (IVF) faces persistent challenges including suboptimal embryo selection, unpredictable treatment outcomes, and limited personalisation of protocols. Despite advances in assisted reproductive technology, existing literature exhibits fragmentation: artificial intelligence applications in embryo selection, ovarian stimulation, and endometrial assessment have been developed independently without systematic integration into comprehensive treatment frameworks. Digital twin technology offers unprecedented opportunities to create virtual replicas of biological systems, enabling real-time monitoring, predictive modelling, and personalised treatment strategies. AIM: This narrative review aims to critically examine the current applications of digital twin technology in IVF, evaluate its potential benefits and limitations, synthesize existing evidence into an integrative conceptual model, and identify future directions for implementation in reproductive medicine. METHOD: A comprehensive narrative review was conducted using PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and IEEE Xplore databases. A narrative review approach was selected over systematic review to accommodate the heterogeneity of evidence types in this emerging field, including theoretical frameworks, simulation studies, and proof-of-concept implementations that would be excluded from systematic reviews. Search terms included "digital twin," "IVF," "in vitro fertilisation," "assisted reproductive technology," "embryo selection," and "predictive modelling." Studies published between 2015 and 2025 were included, focusing on original research articles, systematic reviews, and proof-of-concept studies describing digital twin applications in reproductive medicine. RESULTS: Digital twin technology in IVF demonstrates significant potential across multiple domains including embryo development simulation, ovarian response prediction, endometrial receptivity modelling, and personalised stimulation protocols. Current applications integrate artificial intelligence, machine learning algorithms, time-lapse imaging, and omics data to create comprehensive virtual models. Early evidence suggests improvements in embryo selection accuracy, ovarian response prediction, and treatment protocol optimization, though large-scale randomized controlled trials remain limited. Implementation challenges include data integration complexity, computational requirements, regulatory considerations, and validation requirements. CONCLUSION: Digital twin technology represents a paradigm shift in IVF practice, offering personalised, predictive, and precision medicine approaches. This review synthesizes existing evidence to propose an integrative conceptual model for digital twin implementation across the IVF treatment spectrum, identifies critical knowledge gaps, and establishes research priorities to advance clinical translation. Despite current limitations, continued advancement promises improved success rates and patient outcomes.

Humans↗

Target and biomarker exploration portal for drug discovery.

MOTIVATION: The discovery of novel drug targets and precision biomarkers remains a major challenge in drug development, with traditional differential expression analysis often overlooking key regulatory proteins. Here, we present a novel, web-based bioinformatics tool, the Target and Biomarker Exploration Portal (TBEP), designed to accelerate the drug discovery process by integrating large-scale biomedical data with network analysis techniques. RESULTS: TBEP harnesses machine-learning approaches to mine and combine multimodal datasets, including human genetics, functional genomics, and protein-protein interaction networks, to decode causal disease mechanisms and uncover novel therapeutic targets and precision biomarkers for specific phenotypes. A unique feature of the tool is its ability to process large-scale data in real-time, facilitated by an efficient cloud-based architecture. Additionally, the tool incorporates an integrated large language model (LLM), which assists researchers in exploring and interpreting complex biological relationships within the generated networks and multi-omics data using natural language (English). By offering an intuitive, interactive interface, the LLM enhances the exploration of biological insights, making it easier for scientists to derive actionable conclusions. This powerful integration of network analysis, multi-omics data, and LLM provides a robust framework for accelerating the identification of novel drug targets. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: The tool is publicly available at https://tbep.missouri.edu. The source code, documentation and installation instructions are available at GitHub repository: https://github.com/mizzoudbl/tbep.

Drug Discovery↗

Selection of biomarkers by a multivariate statistical processing of composite metabonomic data sets using multiple factor analysis.

We introduce a statistical approach for integrating data from several analytical platforms. We illustrate this approach using (1)H-(13)C Heteronuclear Multiple Bond Connectivity nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((1)H-(13)C HMBC NMR) and Pyrolysis Metastable Atom Bombardment Time-of-Flight mass spectrometry (Py-MAB-TOF-MS) to perform metabolic fingerprinting on cattle treated with anabolic steroids. Multiple factor analysis (MFA) integrates complementary aspects from NMR and MS data into a unique metabolic signature describing the biomarkers related to the dose-response. This work also indicates that, from a practical point of view, metabonomics and other "-omics" biotechnologies can benefit significantly from a generalized multi-platform integrative approach using multiple factor analysis.

Animals↗

Deciphering novel targets in salivary gland pleomorphic adenoma by integrating plasma proteomics and parotid transcriptomics analyses.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Pleomorphic adenoma (PA) is the most common salivary gland benign tumor, with its molecular drivers elusive due to a lack of experimental models. This study aimed to decipher novel targets in PA by systematically integrating plasma protein quantitative trait loci (pQTL)-based Mendelian randomization (MR) with multi-omics profiling of parotid gland tissues. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We performed two-sample MR using 5450 plasma pQTLs and genome-wide association study summary for benign or broader salivary gland diseases from FinnGen consortium. Bulk RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) and single-cell RNA-seq (scRNA-seq) comparing PA to normal tissue were used for transcriptomic validation. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was applied for protein-level validation in human PA, adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC), and murine inflammatory lesions. RESULTS: MR identified 12 plasma proteins associated with benign salivary gland tumor risk. Transmembrane serine protease 6 (TMPRSS6) was the only protein significantly risk-increasing for both benign and broader salivary gland diseases. Strikingly, mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase 4 (MAP2K4) showed opposite MR effects between benign and all-lesion outcomes. Bulk RNA-seq showed limited concordance with MR findings, while scRNA-seq revealed a unique plastic epithelium and partially validated candidates at cellular resolution. Critically, IHC confirmed MAP2K4 protein overexpression specifically in human PA, but not in ACC or inflammatory lesions, while TMPRSS6 was downregulated in established pathologies despite its genetic risk association. CONCLUSION: By integrating plasma proteome-based causal inference with parotid tissue multi-omics, this study unveils MAP2K4 as a potential PA-specific driver. This integrative framework provides novel, context-specific targets for further functional investigation in salivary gland tumorigenesis.

Gene expression profiling↗

WormBase as an integrated platform for the C. elegans ORFeome.

The ORFeome project has validated and corrected a large number of predicted gene models in the nematode C. elegans, and has provided an enormous resource for proteome-scale studies. To make the resource useful to the research and teaching community, it needs to be integrated with other large-scale data sets, including the C. elegans genome, cell lineage, neurological wiring diagram, transcriptome, and gene expression map. This integration is also critical because the ORFeome data sets, like other 'omics' data sets, have significant false-positive and false-negative rates, and comparison to related data is necessary to make confidence judgments in any given data point. WormBase, the central data repository for information about C. elegans and related nematodes, provides such a platform for integration. In this report, we will describe how C. elegans ORFeome data are deposited in the database, how they are used to correct gene models, how they are integrated and displayed in the context of other data sets at the WormBase Web site, and how WormBase establishes connection with the reagent-based resources at the ORFeome project Web site.

Animals↗

Sex as a modifier of genetic risk for type 1 diabetes.

Sex differences influence the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes (T1D), yet most genetic studies have treated sex as a control covariate rather than a dynamic effect modifier. Sex influences immune cell behaviour, including CD4+ and CD8+ T cell activation, regulatory T cell stability, B cell autoantibody production, dendritic cell priming and monocyte/macrophage inflammation. Underlying mechanisms include hormone-responsive enhancers, X-escape gene dosage and sex-biassed chromatin states, intersecting with T1D-associated variants to produce sex-specific immune phenotypes. These insights help explain regional variation in sex ratios of T1D incidence, such as male predominance in high-risk populations and female excess in low-risk populations. Biological sex shapes T1D risk across multiple layers, including polygenic load; environmental exposures such as vitamin D deficiency and enteroviral infection; and sex-specific hormonal, chromosomal and epigenetic influences. An integrative G × E × S (genetic × environmental × sex-specific) liability-threshold framework is thus supported. Clinical and translational implications include developing sex-specific polygenic risk scores, biomarker panels and interventional strategies targeting pathways such as hormone signalling, vitamin D metabolism and the microbiome. Future multi-omic, longitudinal studies are warranted to test genotype-sex interactions, integrate sex as a core effect modifier and enable precision prevention and treatment of T1D in both males and females.

Humans↗

AI-integrated digital breeding for crop improvement.

Crop breeding increasingly depends on the effective integration and interpretation of large, heterogeneous datasets spanning genomic, phenotypic, multi-omics, and environmental layers. Conventional breeding approaches are often insufficient to capture the complex relationships among these data or to support timely selection decisions. Digital breeding can help address this limitation by complementing field experimentation, mixed models, and genomic prediction with the integration of biological data and computational prediction throughout the breeding process. In particular, the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) has improved the analysis of high-dimensional datasets and broadened its application to trait prediction, selection, and breeding design. Here, we review recent developments in AI-enabled digital breeding, encompassing genomic, phenomic, and multi-omics data generation and analysis, predictive modeling, explainable and generative AI, and data-driven breeding decision support. We further discuss emerging AI applications, their current contributions to crop research and breeding, and the major considerations affecting their reliable and practical implementation. Collectively, this review provides a structured understanding of the roles of AI across the digital breeding process and offers guidance for future methodological development and practical application in crop improvement.

artificial intelligence↗

Epigenetic clues: Predicting maternal depression through DNA methylation.

Perinatal depression (PND) is a prevalent and multifactorial mood disorder affecting approximately 10-20 % of women globally, with higher burdens reported in low- and middle-income countries. Despite the availability of screening tools such as the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, these approaches primarily identify risk without elucidating underlying biological mechanisms. Emerging evidence highlights the role of epigenetic regulation particularly DNA methylation as a key mediator linking genetic susceptibility and environmental exposures during the perinatal period. This review synthesizes current knowledge on DNA methylation dynamics in maternal depression, emphasizing both candidate gene and epigenome-wide association study (EWAS) approaches. Candidate gene studies have identified differential methylation in stress-related pathways, including HPA axis genes (NR3C1, FKBP5), serotonergic signalling (SLC6A4), and oxytocin pathways (OXTR), though findings remain limited by poor reproducibility and small sample sizes. In contrast, EWAS provides a hypothesis-free framework, identifying novel differentially methylated positions and regions associated with PND, including predictive CpG panels with potential diagnostic utility. The review also highlights the importance of tissue specificity, temporal epigenetic remodeling across pregnancy, and the interplay between maternal and fetal epigenomes. Furthermore, methodological challenges such as heterogeneity in study design, lack of replication, and analytical inconsistencies remain barriers to clinical translation. Integrating genetic, epigenetic, and environmental data through multi-omics approaches may enhance predictive accuracy and improve early intervention strategies. Overall, DNA methylation represents a promising avenue for understanding the biological underpinnings of PND and developing robust biomarkers for risk prediction and personalized care.

Humans↗

Genome-wide interactions with cadmium exposure in dysglycemia: Populational effects and molecular insights.

Dysglycemia is a complex metabolic disorder governed by the interplay between environmental exposures and genetic factors, yet the precise molecular mechanisms driving these gene-environment (G×E) interactions remains poorly understood. Here, we characterized the population-level landscape and molecular causality underlying the interactions between cadmium (Cd), a widespread environmental toxicant, and genetic susceptibility loci in dysglycemia. By conducting a Genome-wide Environmental Interaction (GWEI) study within a sub-cohort of the China National Human Biomonitoring (CNHBM) cohort (N = 1298), we identified 29 genetic risk loci that significantly interact with Cd burden to exacerbate elevated fasting plasma glucose levels. Functional enrichment integrated with metabolomic profiling unmasked a profound multi-omics convergence, positioning epigenetic modifications (e.g. H3K27me3) and zinc-finger transcription factors (e.g. OVOL2, KLFs) as central regulatory hubs that disrupt metabolic homeostasis. To establish causality, we demonstrated that the rs11743277 A>T variant at the lead G×E locus functions as a Cd-responsive enhancer element, facilitating recruitment of TEAD3 and upregulating TICAM2 expression in CRISPR/Cas9-edited HepG2 cells, especially upon Cd exposure. This initiates a TICAM2-mediated inflammatory response, with elevated pro-inflammatory cytokines (IFN-β, TNF-α, IL-6) impairing downstream insulin signaling and glucose utilization. Collectively, these findings establish a robust paradigm for G×E interactions in complex metabolic disorders, revealing how environmental stressors reprogram genetic susceptibilities through molecular checkpoints and paving the way for tailored, precision-prevention strategies in environmental health.

CRISPR/Cas9 editing↗

Highly optimised global organisation of metabolic networks.

High-level, mathematically precise descriptions of the global organisation of complex metabolic networks are necessary for understanding the global structure of metabolic networks, the interpretation and integration of large amounts of biologic data (sequences, various -omics) and ultimately for rational design of therapies for disease processes. Metabolic networks are highly organised to execute their function efficiently while tolerating wide variation in their environment. These networks are constrained by physical requirements (e.g. conservation of energy, redox and small moieties) but are also remarkably robust and evolvable. The authors use well-known features of the stoichiometry of bacterial metabolic networks to demonstrate how network architecture facilitates such capabilities, and to develop a minimal abstract metabolism which incorporates the known features of the stoichiometry and respects the constraints on enzymes and reactions. This model shows that the essential functionality and constraints drive the tradeoffs between robustness and fragility, as well as the large-scale structure and organisation of the whole network, particularly high variability. The authors emphasise how domain-specific constraints and tradeoffs imposed by the environment are important factors in shaping stoichiometry. Importantly, the consequence of these highly organised tradeoffs and tolerances is an architecture that has a highly structured modularity that is self-dissimilar and scale-rich.

Animals↗

A strategy capitalizing on synergies: the Reporting Structure for Biological Investigation (RSBI) working group.

In this article we present the Reporting Structure for Biological Investigation (RSBI), a working group under the Microarray Gene Expression Data (MGED) Society umbrella. RSBI brings together several communities to tackle the challenges associated with integrating data and representing complex biological investigations, employing multiple OMICS technologies. Currently, RSBI includes environmental genomics, nutrigenomics and toxicogenomics communities, where independent activities are underway to develop databases and establish data communication standards within their respective domains. The RSBI working group has been conceived as a "single point of focus" for these communities, conforming to general accepted view that duplication and incompatibility should be avoided where possible. This endeavour has aimed to synergize insular solutions into one common terminology between biologically driven standardisation efforts and has also resulted in strong collaborations and shared understanding between those in the technological domain. Through extensive liaisons with many standards efforts, several threads have been woven with the hope that ultimately technology-centered standards and their specific extensions into biological domains of interest will not only stand alone, but will also be able to function together, as interchangeable modules.

Databases, Genetic↗

Moderated designs can balance between batch-effect mitigation and cell loss due to hashtag-assisted pooling in single-cell experiments.

Minimizing experimental noise is integral to robust data generation in single-cell omics. The current standard for avoiding batch effects during sample processing is barcode- or hashtag-assisted combining of different experimental treatments into one pool, allowing all samples to be subject to the technical protocols uniformly. The final data points for each treatment group are then computationally separated based on the original hashtag labels. Clearly, whereas hashtagging all groups and pooling them in a single well is expected to minimize batch effects, the procedure can also lead to a loss of cells that cannot be confidently decoded during the computational demultiplexing step. Here, we examine four alternate experimental designs, namely, compound, reference, chain, and confounded, that could be used instead of a single-pool approach and quantify the batch effects as well as cell loss in each case. We find a linear relationship-the percentage of cells lost is double the number of hashtags used in the experiment. We use these analyses to identify experimental designs that can successfully mitigate batch effects while minimizing multiplexing, hence the cell loss, in each well. Although a reference design offers the best overall performance, this study can help individual investigators choose particular approaches that are best suited for their biological questions.

Journal Article↗