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At least 433 records · Page 24Linked to original sources

Features of Arabidopsis genes and genome discovered using full-length cDNAs.

Arabidopsis is currently the reference genome for higher plants. A new, more detailed statistical analysis of Arabidopsis gene structure is presented including intron and exon lengths, intergenic distances, features of promoters, and variant 5'-ends of mRNAs transcribed from the same transcription unit. We also provide a statistical characterization of Arabidopsis transcripts in terms of their size, UTR lengths, 3'-end cleavage sites, splicing variants, and coding potential. These analyses were facilitated by scrutiny of our collection of sequenced full-length cDNAs and much larger collection of 5'-ESTs, together with another set of full-length cDNAs from Salk/Stanford/Plant Gene Expression Center/RIKEN. Examples of alternative splicing are observed for transcripts from 7% of the genes and many of these genes display multiple spliced isoforms. Most splicing variants lie in non-coding regions of the transcripts. Non-canonical splice sites constitute less than 1% of all splice sites. Genes with fewer than four introns display reduced average mRNA levels. Putative alternative transcription start sites were observed in 30% of highly expressed genes and in more than 50% of the genes with low expression. Transcription start sites correlate remarkably well with a CG skew peak in the DNA sequences. The intergenic distances vary considerably, those where genes are transcribed towards one another being significantly shorter. New transcripts, missing in the current TIGR genome annotation and ESTs that are non-coding, including those antisense to known genes, are derived and cataloged in the Supplementary Material. They identify 148 new loci in the Arabidopsis genome. The conclusions drawn provide a better understanding of the Arabidopsis genome and how the gene transcripts are processed. The results also allow better predictions to be made for, as yet, poorly defined genes and provide a reference for comparisons with other plant genomes whose complete sequences are currently being determined. Some comparisons with rice are included in this paper.

Alternative Splicing↗

Genome sequence data of the chitinase-producing bacterium Paenibacillus mucilaginosus YWY-5.1.

Paenibacillus mucilaginosus is a beneficial bacterium widely applied as a biofertilizer in agriculture. To date, genomic information on this species remains limited; however, no genome assemblies from Vietnam have been reported. This work presented the draft genome of P. mucilaginosus YWY-5.1, a promising strain with strong chitin-degrading capability and agricultural potential, isolated from Yok Don National Park, Vietnam, using Illumina technology. Results showed that the assembled genome comprised 48 contigs with 4,076,146 bp and 73.8% GC-content. Genome annotation identified 3,611 protein-coding genes, 2 rRNA genes, and 53 tRNA genes. A total of 150 carbohydrate-active enzyme-related genes were predicted from the genome; among them, seven putative chitinolytic genes were identified, including 4 genes related to family 18 chitinase, 2 genes to family 20 β-N-acetylglucosaminidase, and one gene to auxiliary activity family 10. In addition, at least 32 genes related to plant growth-promoting functions were identified, including those associated with indole-3-acetic acid production, phosphate and potassium solubilization, siderophore biosynthesis, iron uptake, ACC metabolism, and nitrate transport and reduction. Furthermore, genome mining identified 4 biosynthetic gene clusters probably involved in secondary metabolite production, of which 3 displayed no similarity to previously reported clusters, indicating potential for novel bioactive compounds. These genomic data improved our understanding of the biodegradation capacity and agricultural potential of P. mucilaginosus YWY-5.1 isolated from Vietnam, and provided a valuable genomic resource for future functional and biotechnological investigations toward crop production and related fields.

Chitinases↗

HERVd: the Human Endogenous RetroViruses Database: update.

An elaboration of HERVd (http://herv.img.cas.cz) is being carried out in two directions. One of them is the integration and better classification of families that diverge considerably from typical retroviral genomes. This leads to a more precise identification of members with individual families. The second improvement is better accessibility of the database and connection with human genome annotation.

Computational Biology↗

ASD: a bioinformatics resource on alternative splicing.

Alternative splicing is an important regulatory mechanism of mammalian gene expression. The alternative splicing database (ASD) consortium is systematically collecting and annotating data on alternative splicing. We present the continuation and upgrade of the ASD [T. A. Thanaraj, S. Stamm, F. Clark, J. J. Riethoven, V. Le Texier, J. Muilu (2004) Nucleic Acids Res. 32, D64-D69] that consists of computationally and manually generated data. Its largest parts are AltSplice, a value-added database of computationally delineated alternative splicing events. Its data include alternatively spliced introns/exons, events, isoform splicing patterns and isoform peptide sequences. AltSplice data are generated by examining gene-transcript alignments. The data are annotated for various biological features including splicing signals, expression states, (SNP)-mediated splicing and cross-species conservation. AEdb forms the manually curated component of ASD. It is a literature-based data set containing sequence and properties of alternatively spliced exons, functional enumeration of observed splicing events, characterization of observed splicing regulatory elements, and a collection of experimentally clarified minigene constructs. ASD includes a workbench, which is an analysis tool that enables users to carry out splicing related analysis such as characterization of introns for various splicing signals, identification of splicing regulatory elements on a given RNA sequence, prediction of putative exons and prediction of putative translation start codons. The different ASD modules are integrated and can be accessed through user-friendly interfaces and visualization tools. ASD data has been integrated with Ensembl genome annotation project as a Distributed Annotation System (DAS) resource and can be viewed on Ensembl genome browser. The ASD resource is presented at (http://www.ebi.ac.uk/asd).

Alternative Splicing↗

Reconciling gene expression data with known genome-scale regulatory network structures.

The availability of genome-scale gene expression data sets has initiated the development of methods that use this data to infer transcriptional regulatory networks. Alternatively, such regulatory network structures can be reconstructed based on annotated genome information, well-curated databases, and primary research literature. As a first step toward reconciling the two approaches, we examine the consistency between known genome-wide regulatory network structures and extensive gene expression data collections in Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. By decomposing the regulatory network into a set of basic network elements, we can compute the local consistency of each instance of a particular type of network element. We find that the consistency of network elements is influenced by both structural features of the network such as the number of regulators acting on a target gene and by the functional classes of the genes involved in a particular element. Taken together, the approach presented allows us to define regulatory network subcomponents with a high degree of consistency between the network structure and gene expression data. The results suggest that targeted gene expression profiling data can be used to refine and expand particular subcomponents of known regulatory networks that are sufficiently decoupled from the rest of the network.

Computational Biology↗

Exploring genetic regulatory networks in metazoan development: methods and models.

One of the foremost challenges of 21st century biological research will be to decipher the complex genetic regulatory networks responsible for embryonic development. The recent explosion of whole genome sequence data and of genome-wide transcriptional profiling methods, such as microarrays, coupled with the development of sophisticated computational tools for exploiting and analyzing genomic data, provide a significant starting point for regulatory network analysis. In this article we review some of the main methodological issues surrounding genome annotation, transcriptional profiling, and computational prediction of cis-regulatory elements and discuss how the power of model genetic organisms can be used to experimentally verify and extend the results of genomic research.

Animals↗

Detection of weakly conserved ancestral mammalian regulatory sequences by primate comparisons.

BACKGROUND: Genomic comparisons between human and distant, non-primate mammals are commonly used to identify cis-regulatory elements based on constrained sequence evolution. However, these methods fail to detect functional elements that are too weakly conserved among mammals to distinguish them from non-functional DNA. RESULTS: To evaluate a strategy for large scale genome annotation that is complementary to the commonly used distal species comparisons, we explored the potential of deep intra-primate sequence comparisons. We sequenced the orthologs of 558 kb of human genomic sequence, covering multiple loci involved in cholesterol homeostasis, in 6 non-human primates. Our analysis identified six non-coding DNA elements displaying significant conservation among primates but undetectable in more distant comparisons. In vitro and in vivo tests revealed that at least three of these six elements have regulatory function. Notably, the mouse orthologs of these three functional human sequences had regulatory activity despite their lack of significant sequence conservation, indicating that they are ancestral mammalian cis-regulatory elements. These regulatory elements could be detected even in a smaller set of three primate species including human, rhesus and marmoset. CONCLUSION: We have demonstrated that intra-primate sequence comparisons can be used to identify functional modules in large genomic regions, including cis-regulatory elements that are not detectable through comparison with non-mammalian genomes. With the available human and rhesus genomes and that of marmoset, which is being actively sequenced, this strategy can be extended to the whole genome in the near future.

Animals↗

An automated annotation tool for genomic DNA sequences using GeneScan and BLAST.

Genomic sequence data are often available well before the annotated sequence is published. We present a method for analysis of genomic DNA to identify coding sequences using the GeneScan algorithm and characterize these resultant sequences by BLAST. The routines are used to develop a system for automated annotation of genome DNA sequences.

Algorithms↗

GONOME: measuring correlations between GO terms and genomic positions.

BACKGROUND: Current methods to find significantly under- and over-represented gene ontology (GO) terms in a set of genes consider the genes as equally probable "balls in a bag", as may be appropriate for transcripts in micro-array data. However, due to the varying length of genes and intergenic regions, that approach is inappropriate for deciding if any GO terms are correlated with a set of genomic positions. RESULTS: We present an algorithm--GONOME--that can determine which GO terms are significantly associated with a set of genomic positions given a genome annotated with (at least) the starts and ends of genes. We show that certain GO terms may appear to be significantly associated with a set of randomly chosen positions in the human genome if gene lengths are not considered, and that these same terms have been reported as significantly over-represented in a number of recent papers. This apparent over-representation disappears when gene lengths are considered, as GONOME does. For example, we show that, when gene length is taken into account, the term "development" is not significantly enriched in genes associated with human CpG islands, in contradiction to a previous report. We further demonstrate the efficacy of GONOME by showing that occurrences of the proteosome-associated control element (PACE) upstream activating sequence in the S. cerevisiae genome associate significantly to appropriate GO terms. An extension of this approach yields a whole-genome motif discovery algorithm that allows identification of many other promoter sequences linked to different types of genes, including a large group of previously unknown motifs significantly associated with the terms 'translation' and 'translational elongation'. CONCLUSION: GONOME is an algorithm that correctly extracts over-represented GO terms from a set of genomic positions. By explicitly considering gene size, GONOME avoids a systematic bias toward GO terms linked to large genes. Inappropriate use of existing algorithms that do not take gene size into account has led to erroneous or suspect conclusions. Reciprocally GONOME may be used to identify new features in genomes that are significantly associated with particular categories of genes.

Algorithms↗

Genomic islands of speciation in Anopheles gambiae.

The African malaria mosquito, Anopheles gambiae sensu stricto (A. gambiae), provides a unique opportunity to study the evolution of reproductive isolation because it is divided into two sympatric, partially isolated subtaxa known as M form and S form. With the annotated genome of this species now available, high-throughput techniques can be applied to locate and characterize the genomic regions contributing to reproductive isolation. In order to quantify patterns of differentiation within A. gambiae, we hybridized population samples of genomic DNA from each form to Affymetrix GeneChip microarrays. We found that three regions, together encompassing less than 2.8 Mb, are the only locations where the M and S forms are significantly differentiated. Two of these regions are adjacent to centromeres, on Chromosomes 2L and X, and contain 50 and 12 predicted genes, respectively. Sequenced loci in these regions contain fixed differences between forms and no shared polymorphisms, while no fixed differences were found at nearby control loci. The third region, on Chromosome 2R, contains only five predicted genes; fixed differences in this region were also verified by direct sequencing. These "speciation islands" remain differentiated despite considerable gene flow, and are therefore expected to contain the genes responsible for reproductive isolation. Much effort has recently been applied to locating the genes and genetic changes responsible for reproductive isolation between species. Though much can be inferred about speciation by studying taxa that have diverged for millions of years, studying differentiation between taxa that are in the early stages of isolation will lead to a clearer view of the number and size of regions involved in the genetics of speciation. Despite appreciable levels of gene flow between the M and S forms of A. gambiae, we were able to isolate three small regions of differentiation where genes responsible for ecological and behavioral isolation are likely to be located. We expect reproductive isolation to be due to changes at a small number of loci, as these regions together contain only 67 predicted genes. Concentrating future mapping experiments on these regions should reveal the genes responsible for reproductive isolation between forms.

Animals↗

Identification of rat genes by TWINSCAN gene prediction, RT-PCR, and direct sequencing.

The publication of a draft sequence of a third mammalian genome--that of the rat--suggests a need to rethink genome annotation. New mammalian sequences will not receive the kind of labor-intensive annotation efforts that are currently being devoted to human. In this paper, we demonstrate an alternative approach: reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and direct sequencing based on dual-genome de novo predictions from TWINSCAN. We tested 444 TWINSCAN-predicted rat genes that showed significant homology to known human genes implicated in disease but that were partially or completely missed by methods based on protein-to-genome mapping. Using primers in exons flanking a single predicted intron, we were able to verify the existence of 59% of these predicted genes. We then attempted to amplify the complete predicted open reading frames of 136 genes that were verified in the single-intron experiment. Spliced sequences were amplified in 46 cases (34%). We conclude that this procedure for elucidating gene structures with native cDNA sequences is cost-effective and will become even more so as it is further optimized.

Animals↗

HOLLYWOOD: a comparative relational database of alternative splicing.

RNA splicing is an essential step in gene expression, and is often variable, giving rise to multiple alternatively spliced mRNA and protein isoforms from a single gene locus. The design of effective databases to support experimental and computational investigations of alternative splicing (AS) is a significant challenge. In an effort to integrate accurate exon and splice site annotation with current knowledge about splicing regulatory elements and predicted AS events, and to link information about the splicing of orthologous genes in different species, we have developed the Hollywood system. This database was built upon genomic annotation of splicing patterns of known genes derived from spliced alignment of complementary DNAs (cDNAs) and expressed sequence tags, and links features such as splice site sequence and strength, exonic splicing enhancers and silencers, conserved and non-conserved patterns of splicing, and cDNA library information for inferred alternative exons. Hollywood was implemented as a relational database and currently contains comprehensive information for human and mouse. It is accompanied by a web query tool that allows searches for sets of exons with specific splicing characteristics or splicing regulatory element composition, or gives a graphical or sequence-level summary of splicing patterns for a specific gene. A streamlined graphical representation of gene splicing patterns is provided, and these patterns can alternatively be layered onto existing information in the UCSC Genome Browser. The database is accessible at http://hollywood.mit.edu.

Alternative Splicing↗

A gap-free, telomere-to-telomere chromosome-scale genome assembly of the mangrove red snapper, Lutjanus argentimaculatus.

The mangrove red snapper (Lutjanus argentimaculatus) is a commercially important marine fish species in the Indo-Pacific region. Despite its significant economic value for aquaculture, existing genomic resources remain fragmented, limiting the advancement of molecular breeding and functional genomic studies. Here, we present a gap-free, telomere-to-telomere (T2T) genome assembly of L. argentimaculatus, generated using a hybrid approach combining PacBio HiFi, Oxford Nanopore ultra-long reads and Hi-C technology. The resulting assembly comprises exactly 24 scaffolds spanning 1.03 Gb, perfectly matching the haploid chromosome number with a contig N50 of 46.17 Mb. Notably, this assembly resolves all physical gaps present in previous versions, achieving a BUSCO completeness score of 98.2%. Comprehensive genome annotation successfully predicted 23,167 protein-coding genes. Among these, 22,067 genes (95.25%) were functionally annotated across major public databases, including eggNOG, InterPro, and Swiss-Prot. Furthermore, structural analysis successfully identified 19 telomeres and 20 centromeres, validating the chromosomal integrity. This high-fidelity, gap-free reference genome provides a robust foundation for comparative genomics, population genetics, and the genetic improvement of Lutjanidae species.

Animals↗

Cytogenetic and molecular characterization of heterochromatin gene models in Drosophila melanogaster.

In the past decade, genome-sequencing projects have yielded a great amount of information on DNA sequences in several organisms. The release of the Drosophila melanogaster heterochromatin sequence by the Drosophila Heterochromatin Genome Project (DHGP) has greatly facilitated studies of mapping, molecular organization, and function of genes located in pericentromeric heterochromatin. Surprisingly, genome annotation has predicted at least 450 heterochromatic gene models, a figure 10-fold above that defined by genetic analysis. To gain further insight into the locations and functions of D. melanogaster heterochromatic genes and genome organization, we have FISH mapped 41 gene models relative to the stained bands of mitotic chromosomes and the proximal divisions of polytene chromosomes. These genes are contained in eight large scaffolds, which together account for approximately 1.4 Mb of heterochromatic DNA sequence. Moreover, developmental Northern analysis showed that the expression of 15 heterochromatic gene models tested is similar to that of the vital heterochromatic gene Nipped-A, in that it is not limited to specific stages, but is present throughout all development, despite its location in a supposedly "silent" region of the genome. This result is consistent with the idea that genes resident in heterochromatin can encode essential functions.

Animals↗

Environmental genomics, the big picture?

The enormous sequencing capabilities of our times might be reaching the point of overflowing the possibilities to analyse data and allow for a feedback on where to focus the available resources. We have now a foreseeable future in which most bacterial species will have an annotated genome. However, we know also that most prokaryotic diversity would not be included there. On the one hand, there is the problem of many groups not being easily amenable to culture and hence not represented in culture-centred microbial taxonomy. On the other hand, the gene pools present in one species can be orders of magnitude larger than the genome of one strain (selected for genome sequencing). Contrasting with eukaryotic genomes, the repertoire of genes present in one prokaryotic cell genome does not correlate stringently with its taxonomic identity. Hence gene catalogues from one environment might provide more meaningful information than the classical species catalogues. Metagenomics or microbial environmental genomics provide a different tool that gravitates around the habitat rather than the species. Such a tool could be just the right way to complement "organismal genomics". Its potential to advance our understanding of microbial ecology and prokaryotic diversity and evolution is discussed.

Ecology↗

SNAPping up functionally related genes based on context information: a colinearity-free approach.

We describe a computational approach for finding genes that are functionally related but do not possess any noticeable sequence similarity. Our method, which we call SNAP (similarity-neighborhood approach), reveals the conservation of gene order on bacterial chromosomes based on both cross-genome comparison and context information. The novel feature of this method is that it does not rely on detection of conserved colinear gene strings. Instead, we introduce the notion of a similarity-neighborhood graph (SN-graph), which is constructed from the chains of similarity and neighborhood relationships between orthologous genes in different genomes and adjacent genes in the same genome, respectively. An SN-cycle is defined as a closed path on the SN-graph and is postulated to preferentially join functionally related gene products that participate in the same biochemical or regulatory process. We demonstrate the substantial non-randomness and functional significance of SN-cycles derived from real genome data and estimate the prediction accuracy of SNAP in assigning broad function to uncharacterized proteins. Examples of practical application of SNAP for improving the quality of genome annotation are described.

Algorithms↗

Functional coverage of the human genome by existing structures, structural genomics targets, and homology models.

The bias in protein structure and function space resulting from experimental limitations and targeting of particular functional classes of proteins by structural biologists has long been recognized, but never continuously quantified. Using the Enzyme Commission and the Gene Ontology classifications as a reference frame, and integrating structure data from the Protein Data Bank (PDB), target sequences from the structural genomics projects, structure homology derived from the SUPERFAMILY database, and genome annotations from Ensembl and NCBI, we provide a quantified view, both at the domain and whole-protein levels, of the current and projected coverage of protein structure and function space relative to the human genome. Protein structures currently provide at least one domain that covers 37% of the functional classes identified in the genome; whole structure coverage exists for 25% of the genome. If all the structural genomics targets were solved (twice the current number of structures in the PDB), it is estimated that structures of one domain would cover 69% of the functional classes identified and complete structure coverage would be 44%. Homology models from existing experimental structures extend the 37% coverage to 56% of the genome as single domains and 25% to 31% for complete structures. Coverage from homology models is not evenly distributed by protein family, reflecting differing degrees of sequence and structure divergence within families. While these data provide coverage, conversely, they also systematically highlight functional classes of proteins for which structures should be determined. Current key functional families without structure representation are highlighted here; updated information on the "most wanted list" that should be solved is available on a weekly basis from http://function.rcsb.org:8080/pdb/function_distribution/index.html.

Databases, Protein↗

YACOP: Enhanced gene prediction obtained by a combination of existing methods.

The performance of gene-predicting tools varies considerably if evaluated with respect to the parameters sensitivity and specificity or their capability to identify the correct start codon. We were interested to validate tools for gene prediction and to implement a metatool named YACOP, which combines existing tools and has a higher performance. YACOP parses and combines the output of the three gene-predicting systems Criticia, Glimmer and ZCURVE. It outperforms each of the programs tested with its high sensitivity and specificity values combined with a larger number of correctly predicted gene starts. Performance of YACOP and the gene-finding programs was tested by comparing their output with a carefully selected set of annotated genomes. We found that the problem of identifying genes in prokaryotic genomes by means of computational analysis was solved satisfactorily. In contrast, the correct localization of the start codon still appeared to be a problem, as in all cases under test at least 7.8% and up to 32.3% of the positions given in the annotations differed from the locus predicted by any of the programs tested. YACOP can be downloaded from http://www.g2l.bio.uni-goettingen.de.

Algorithms↗