Search PubMedSearch

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “Variant calling”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

Enhanced reaction with Vicia graminea lectin and exposed terminal N-acetyl-D-glucosaminyl residues on a sample of human red cells with Hb M-Hyde Park.

A sample of polyagglutinable red cells was obtained from a healthy individual (group O, N) possessing a hemoglobin (Hb) variant called Hb M-Hyde Park. The sialic acid content of the individual's red cells is 90 percent of normal, and his cells are agglutinated by monoclonal but not lectin anti-Tn, a panel of lectins specific for N-acetylgalactosamine (or galactose), and N-acetylglucosamine. Enhanced agglutination reactions were obtained with Vicia graminea, Ulex europaeus, and human anti-I and -i. Using various enzyme treatments and different methods of labeling cell surface components, two defective cell membrane sites have been identified: one associated with the O-linked oligosaccharides on sialoglycoproteins and the other associated with exposed N-acetylglucosaminyl residues located on membrane components of apparent molecular weights 88,000 to 130,000 and 46,000 to 73,000 (probably the Band 3 and Band 4.5 regions, respectively).

Acetylglucosamine

Growth hormones. 1. Polymorphism (minireview).

Pituitary growth hormone (GH) is not a single molecular species, but a whole set of similar molecules, the individual specific characteristics of which constitute the polymorphism of this hormone. The present paper deals mainly with various forms of human GH, called "variants", and touches on this polymorphism in other species as well. The 22 K variant (MW = 22,000 daltons) is the predominant form of GH to which all other variants are compared as to chemical structure and biological effect. These variants are classified into two large groups: 1) mass variants, the molecular weight of which is modified in comparison with that of 22 K; these can be subdivided into aggregated and non-aggregated forms, and 2) charge variants with modified electrophoretic mobility. Outside this classification are entities which are not yet well known; these include bioinactive GH, correctly detected by RIA but deprived of biological activity or, on the contrary, strongly bioactive GH lacking immunoreactivity and consequently difficult to study. Another outsider is the SV-hGH-2 variant encoded from a gene different from the hGH-N gene normally coding for the other variants. In this case, the product could be considered a true isohormone of 22 K and no longer a variant. The pituitary expression of this gene has never been evidenced to date, but according to recent data, it could be expressed at the placental level and be implicated in human placental growth hormone (hPGH) synthesis. hPGH is a newly-found GH in pregnant women which takes over pituitary GH from the 25th week onwards. After the GH molecules are released by the pituitary in the blood stream, they are partially taken up and carried by binding proteins. The physiological role of this phenomenon could be the setting up of a GH reservoir and a GH sparing process since the metabolic clearance rate of the complex GH-binding protein is slower than that of free GH, thus increasing the biological half-life of the hormone.

Animals

PathoSeq-QC: a decision support bioinformatics workflow for robust genomic surveillance.

MOTIVATION: Recommendations on the use of genomics for pathogens surveillance are evidence that high-throughput genomic sequencing plays a key role to fight global health threats. Coupled with bioinformatics and other data types (e.g., epidemiological information), genomics is used to obtain knowledge on health pathogenic threats and insights on their evolution, to monitor pathogens spread, and to evaluate the effectiveness of countermeasures. From a decision-making policy perspective, it is essential to ensure the entire process's quality before relying on analysis results as evidence. Available workflows usually offer quality assessment tools that are primarily focused on the quality of raw NGS reads but often struggle to keep pace with new technologies and threats, and fail to provide a robust consensus on results, necessitating manual evaluation of multiple tool outputs. RESULTS: We present PathoSeq-QC, a bioinformatics decision support workflow developed to improve the trustworthiness of genomic surveillance analyses and conclusions. Designed for SARS-CoV-2, it is suitable for any viral threat. In the specific case of SARS-CoV-2, PathoSeq-QC: (i) evaluates the quality of the raw data; (ii) assesses whether the analysed sample is composed by single or multiple lineages; (iii) produces robust variant calling results via multi-tool comparison; (iv) reports whether the produced data are in support of a recombinant virus, a novel or an already known lineage. The tool is modular, which will allow easy functionalities extension. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: PathoSeq-QC is a command-line tool written in Python and R. The code is available at https://code.europa.eu/dighealth/pathoseq-qc.

Genomics

nf-core/pacvar: a pipeline for analyzing long-read PacBio whole genome and repeat expansion sequencing data.

MOTIVATION: Pacific Biosciences (PacBio) single-molecule, long-read sequencing enables whole genome annotation and the characterization of 20 complex repetitive repeat regions, especially relevant to neurodegenerative diseases, through their PureTarget panel. Long-read whole-genome sequencing (WGS) also allows for the detection of structural variants that would be difficult to detect with traditional short-read sequencing. However, the raw unaligned Binary Alignment Map data need to be processed before analysis. There is a need for an intuitive comprehensive bioinformatic pipeline that can analyze these data. RESULTS: We present nf-core/pacvar, a comprehensive pipeline for analyzing both PacBio single-molecule PureTarget and WGS data that demultiplexes and parallelizes pre-processing, variant calling and repeat characterization. nf-core/pacvar is compatible with little configuration and has few dependencies. This pipeline enables rapid end-to-end, parallel processing of PacBio single-molecule whole genome and targeted repeat expansion sequencing. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: nf-core/pacvar is available on nf-core website (https://nf-co.re/pacvar/) and on github (https://github.com/nf-core/pacvar) under MIT License (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.14813048).

Software

wgatools: an ultrafast toolkit for manipulating whole-genome alignments.

SUMMARY: With the rapid development of long-read sequencing technologies, the era of individual complete genomes is approaching. We have developed wgatools, a cross-platform, ultrafast toolkit that supports a range of whole-genome alignment formats, offering practical tools for conversion, processing, evaluation, and visualization of alignments, thereby facilitating population-level genome analysis and advancing functional and evolutionary genomics. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: wgatools supports diverse formats and can process, filter, and statistically evaluate alignments, perform alignment-based variant calling, and visualize alignments both locally and genome-wide. Built with Rust for efficiency and safe memory usage, it ensures fast performance and can handle large datasets consisting of hundreds of genomes. wgatools is published as free software under the MIT open-source license, and its source code is freely available at https://github.com/wjwei-handsome/wgatools and https://zenodo.org/records/14882797.

Software

FuNTB: a functional network clustering tool for the analysis of genome-wide genetic variants in Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

MOTIVATION: Tuberculosis (TB), caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), still claims around 1.25 million lives each year. The growing threat of drug resistance-often driven by single‑nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in Mtb genomes underscores the need for high‑quality genomic data and powerful bioinformatics tools. We present FuNTB, a python‑based pipeline that detects non‑synonymous SNPs in Mtb and builds functional network clusters to reveal genotype-phenotype relationships. RESULTS: FuNTB profiles non‑synonymous SNPs at the gene level across user‑defined phenotypes, pinpointing both shared and unique mutations. It ingests annotated Variant Call Format (VCF) files or MTBseq outputs and merges them with clinical metadata to produce network‑XML files compatible with Cytoscape and Gephi. When applied to the CRyPTIC Mtb collection, FuNTB rapidly recovered established resistance genes and surfaced novel candidates, validating its utility for mapping genotype-phenotype associations. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: FuNTB is implemented in Python 3.8+ and is freely available under the MIT license at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15399917.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis

AncestryGeni: a novel genetic ancestry classification pipeline for small and noisy sequence data.

MOTIVATION: Efforts to address health disparities are often limited by the lack of robust computational tools for inferring genetic ancestry by calculating an individual's genetic similarity to continental groups. We have already shown that a preferred alternative to self-described race is using ancestry-informative markers (AIMs) that can be classified into ancestral components and used to estimate their similarity to those of known populations to identify continental groups. However, real-world genomic data can present challenges, including limited availability of germline DNA, a small number of AIMs for each sample, and the use of different variant calling software, limiting the application of existing solutions. RESULTS: Here, we describe a novel supervised machine-learning tool AncestryGeni, which infers genetic ancestry for samples with even a hundred markers and is applicable to any genomic data, including whole exome sequencing (WES) and RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) data. Applying AncestryGeni to a real-world genomic dataset obtained from the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) CoMMpass study, we show that it is more accurate than the commonly used FastNGSadmix when using nonstandard genomic material. We also demonstrate that when using AncestryGeni, the tumor-derived sequence obtained from WES and RNA-Seq can be a robust data source to accurately estimate an individual's genetic similarity to a continental group. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: AncestryGeni pipeline is available at https://github.com/eelhaik/AncestryGeni/tree/main.

Humans

insilicoSV: a flexible grammar-based framework for structural variant simulation and placement.

SUMMARY: Structural variants (SVs) are key drivers of genetic variation and disease in the genome. Their discovery remains challenging, however, in large part due to the scarcity of validated SV callsets and comprehensive benchmarks, which are essential for method development and evaluation. The growing number of data-driven learning-based approaches for SV discovery, in particular, requires large, diverse, and well-balanced training datasets to achieve reliable performance. To address this need, SV simulation has served as a key tool for assessing method performance and training SV models. However, existing SV simulators only support a fixed and limited set of SV classes and do not provide fine-grained control over the placement of SVs within specific contexts of the genome. Here we present insilicoSV, a versatile framework for SV simulation, which models SVs using a simple and flexible grammar, allowing users to easily define standard and custom arbitrary genome rearrangements, as well as encode genome placement constraints. This design allows insilicoSV to naturally support new and bespoke SV types, such as the complex rearrangements of cancer genomes. In addition to grammar-based modeling, insilicoSV provides built-in support for 26 predefined SV types, placement of user-provided SVs, small variant simulation, streamlined workflows for the simulation of genome evolution and genome mixtures, read simulation, alignment, and visualization. These features enable the creation of comprehensive genomic datasets for a variety of downstream applications, such as in-depth benchmarking of alignment and variant calling methods, as well as training of data-driven learning-based approaches for SV detection. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: insilicoSV is available under the MIT license at https://github.com/PopicLab/insilicoSV and https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17402009.

Software

ALPINE: a scalable pipeline for comprehensive classification of gene-editing outcomes from long-read amplicon sequencing.

SUMMARY: CRISPR genome editing has enabled precise genetic modification for gene and cell therapies, but edits often produce heterogeneous on-target outcomes, including homology-directed repair (HDR) knock-ins, DNA repair template integrations, and structural variants. Existing tools are frequently limited to short reads or lack viral vector-specific integration categories needed for therapeutic development. Here, we present ALPINE (Amplicon Long-read Pipeline for INtegration Evaluation), a scalable and reproducible pipeline for classifying and quantifying gene-editing outcomes from long-read amplicon sequencing supporting both PacBio HiFi and Oxford Nanopore platforms. ALPINE classifies reads into 10+ categories, including DNA repair vector integration subtypes, and performs variant calling near the gene-edited site with batch, multi-sample reporting. Uniquely, ALPINE can distinguish between cells treated with multiple DNA repair vectors and identify distinct molecular features, such as inverted terminal repeats (ITRs), enabling comprehensive characterization of complex gene editing outcomes. Dual-target benchmarking on simulated datasets demonstrated high accuracy for transgene integration events. Independent validation on public crosslinked-HDR dataset confirmed ALPINE's integration detection capabilities, and application to edited T cell samples demonstrated comprehensive gene-editing outcome profiling. AVAILABILITY: ALPINE is available under MIT license at https://github.com/Maggi-Chen/ALPINE and https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20272510. All analysis scripts and visualization code used in this manuscript are available at https://github.com/Maggi-Chen/ALPINE-manuscript-analysis. Simulated datasets are deposited at Zenodo (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20260865). Public dataset PRJNA913199 is available through NCBI SRA.

Gene Editing

Nonhomologous pairing in mice heterozygous for a t haplotype can produce recombinant chromosomes with duplications and deletions.

We have investigated the structure and properties of a chromosomal product recovered from a rare recombination event between a t haplotype and a wild-type form of mouse chromosome 17. Our embryological and molecular studies indicate that this chromosome (twLub2) is characterized by both a deletion and duplication of adjacent genetic material. The deletion appears to be responsible for a dominant lethal maternal effect and a recessive embryonic lethality. The duplication provides an explanation for the twLub2 suppression of the dominant T locus phenotype. A reanalysis of previously described results with another chromosome 17 variant called TtOrl indicates a structure for this chromosome that is reciprocal to that observed for twLub2. We have postulated the existence of an inversion over the proximal portion of all complete t haplotypes in order to explain the generation of the partial t haplotypes twLub2 and TtOrl. This proximal inversion and the previously described distal inversion are sufficient to account for all of the recombination properties that are characteristic of complete t haplotypes. The structures determined for twLub2 and TtOrl indicate that rare recombination can occur between nonequivalent genomic sequences within the inverted proximal t region when wild-type and t chromosomes are paired in a linear, nonhomologous configuration.

Alleles

Long-read sequencing of single cell-derived melanoma subclones reveals divergent and parallel genomic and epigenomic evolutionary trajectories.

Tumor evolution is driven by various mutational processes, ranging from single-nucleotide variants (SNVs) to large structural variants (SVs) to dynamic shifts in DNA methylation. Current short-read sequencing methods struggle to accurately capture the full spectrum of these genomic and epigenomic alterations due to inherent technical limitations. To overcome that, here we introduce an approach for long-read sequencing of single-cell derived subclones, and use it to profile 23 subclones of a mouse melanoma cell line, characterized with distinct growth phenotypes and treatment responses. We develop a computational framework for harmonization and joint analysis of different variant types in the evolutionary context. Uniquely, our framework enables detection of recurrent amplifications of putative driver genes, generated by independent SVs across different lineages, suggesting parallel evolution. In addition, our approach revealed gradual and lineage-specific methylation changes associated with aggressive clonal phenotypes. We also show our set of phylogeny-constrained variant calls along with openly released sequencing data can be a valuable resource for the development of new computational methods.

Journal Article

Abnormal tryptic peptide from the spectrin alpha-chain resulting from alpha- or beta-chain mutations: two genetically distinct forms of the Sp alpha I/74 variant.

Limited tryptic digestion of native spectrin (Sp) has revealed several variants in hereditary pyropoikilocytosis (HPP) and in a subset of patients with hereditary elliptocytosis (HE). In most cases, tryptic peptide corresponding to the alpha I (N-terminal) 80 kD domain is wholly or partially replaced by smaller fragments. These variants are provisionally designated according to the molecular weight of the most prominent new peptide. Partial amino acid sequences of the abnormal peptides and DNA analysis of the alpha-spectrin gene have shown that most variants result from substitution or insertion of an amino acid in the alpha I-domain. However, similar investigations did not detect any such abnormality in the spectrin alpha I-domain of an HE black kindred with one of the spectrin variants called Sp alpha I/74. In this kindred, restriction fragment length polymorphism studies and transmission of the genetic polymorphism relative to the alpha II-domain excluded the involvement of the alpha-chain in the pathological process. To ascertain whether the abnormal alpha I 74 kD peptide might be caused by a beta-chain mutation, we reconstituted hybrid dimers combining normal and HE Sp-chains. The tryptic peptide patterns of spectrin hybrid dimers containing HE alpha-chain and control beta-chain showed a normal 80 kD tryptic product. In contrast, the hybrid dimer containing normal alpha-chain and HE beta-chain gave rise to increased 74 kD peptide at the expense of the 80 kD, demonstrating that the mutation in this family resides in the beta-chain. The same method was used to show that in two other unrelated white kindreds, the elevated 74 kD peptide arose from a Sp alpha-chain defect. Thus an alteration in tryptic susceptibility within the N-terminal domain of the spectrin alpha-chain can be directed by a mutation in the beta-chain. The hybridization technique affords a definitive means of distinguishing between alpha- and beta-chain mutants.

Amino Acid Sequence

From aerial drone to quantitative trait locus: leveraging next-generation phenotyping to reveal the genetics of color and height in field-grown Lactuca sativa.

In recent years, accurate and low-cost variant calling has enabled the genotyping of large diversity panels for genome-wide association studies. As a result, phenotyping rather than genotyping is now the rate-limiting step, especially in field experiments. This has created a strong need for high-throughput, accurate, and low-cost in-field phenotyping. Here, we present a genome-wide association study (GWAS) study on 194 field-grown accessions of lettuce (Lactuca sativa). These accessions were non-destructively phenotyped at two time points 15 days apart using a drone equipped with an RGB and multispectral (MSP) camera. Our high-throughput phenotyping approach integrates an RGB- and MSP camera to measure the color and height of lettuce in this large-scale field experiment. We used the mean and other summary statistics, such as median, quantiles, skewness, kurtosis, minimum, and maximum to quantify different aspects of color and height variation in lettuce from the drone images. Using these summary statistics as traits for GWAS, we confirm several previously described genetic associations, now under field conditions, and identify additional novel associations for color and height traits in lettuce.

Lactuca

Longitudinal characterization of mixed-genotype SARS-CoV-2 infections in a military cohort reveals compartmentalized viral populations.

UNLABELLED: Mixed-genotype severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections are a concern due to the potential generation of novel recombinants that give rise to new variants. To better understand intra-host viral dynamics, we analyzed specimens from 24 participants from the U.S. Military Health System's Epidemiology, Immunology, and Clinical Characteristics of Emerging Infectious Diseases with Pandemic Potential COVID-19 cohort with suspected mixed-genotype SARS-CoV-2 infections. From an initial 24 suspected cases, we confirmed 17 as genuine coinfections and graded them by evidence: 7 were "strong"; 4 were "moderate"; 6 were "weak"; and 7 were deemed unlikely to be true mixed-genotype infections. Access to swabs from multiple body sites across the course of infection allowed us to observe compartmentalization and shifts in variant dominance that would have been missed by a single-timepoint analysis, as well as one recombinant Omicron BA.1/BA.2 genome. By using an evidence-based bioinformatic framework to assess sequencing data from well-characterized clinical cases, we distinguished genuine coinfections from bioinformatic artifacts. Our findings emphasize the importance of both extensive specimen collection and careful bioinformatic approaches in ascertaining dual genotype infections. IMPORTANCE: Novel recombinants of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) arise from coinfections with different lineages, but mixed infections are not screened for despite risk to public health, and most surveillance relies on single swabs. We analyzed a longitudinal data set with specimens from multiple body sites, providing an opportunity to assess intra-host dynamics. To distinguish true coinfection from bioinformatic artifacts with confidence, we applied a framework that grades evidence for mixed genotypes by incorporating lineage and clade with manually validated variant calls. This allowed investigation beyond abundance levels of mixed genotypes within a single specimen, including observations of compartmentalization and a recombinant virus. This work enables further study of evolutionary, immunological, and clinical implications of mixed SARS-CoV-2 genotypes. Detecting dual-genotype infections and discriminating between true dual-genotype infection vs potential bioinformatics-based artifacts support public health and military readiness. These efforts provide evidence to bolster decision-making in molecular epidemiological studies to track transmission and for the choice of effective countermeasures.

SARS-CoV-2

Group-specific component, alpha1-antitrypsin and esterase D in Canadian Eskimos.

Three genetic markers - group-specific component (Gc), alpha1-antitrypsin, and esterase D - were examined in a population of Eskimos from Igloolik in the eastern Canadian Arctic. Gc and esterase D were found to be polymorphic. In addition to the common Gc types, an anodal variant called Gc Igloolik was found, probably identical to previously reported Gc Eskimo. Gene frequencies were Gc1: 0.6524, Gc2: 0.3373, GcIgl: 0.0104, for 338 Eskimos. Genetic types of alpha1-antitrypsin (Pi types) were mostly M, with two MS sibs who were half Caucasian, in 170 Eskimos. Frequencies of the esterase D allele in 336 Eskimos were EsD1: 0.7083, EsD2: 0.2917. The frequencies of Gc2 and EsD2 are both higher than are found in Caucasian populations.

Canada

Reference genome bias in light of species-specific chromosomal reorganization and translocations.

BACKGROUND: Whole-genome sequencing efforts, have during the past decade, unveiled the central role of genomic rearrangements-such as chromosomal inversions-in evolutionary processes, including local adaptation in a wide range of taxa. However, employment of reference genomes from distantly or even closely related species for mapping and the subsequent variant calling can lead to errors and/or biases in the datasets generated for downstream analyses. RESULTS: Here, we capitalize on the recently generated chromosome-anchored genome assemblies for Arctic cod (Arctogadus glacialis), polar cod (Boreogadus saida), and Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) to evaluate the extent and consequences of reference bias on population sequencing datasets (approx. 15-20 × coverage) for both Arctic cod and polar cod. Our findings demonstrate that the choice of reference genome impacts the mapping statistics, including mapping depth and mapping quality, as well as core population genetic estimates, such as heterozygosity levels, nucleotide diversity (π), and cross-species genetic divergence (DXY). Furthermore, using a more distantly related reference genome can lead to inaccurate detection and characterization of chromosomal inversions, i.e., in terms of size (length) and location (position), due to inter-chromosomal reorganizations between species. Additionally, we observe that some of the verified species-specific inversions are split across multiple genomic regions when mapped against a heterospecific reference. CONCLUSIONS: Inaccurate identification of chromosomal rearrangements as well as biased population genetic measures could potentially lead to erroneous interpretation of species-specific genomic diversity, impede the resolution of local adaptation, and thus, impact predictions of their genomic potential to respond to climatic and other environmental perturbations.

Animals

Progress in peritoneal dialysis (PD).

In the last decade Peritoneal Dialysis treatment has grown specially due to the new technique known as CAPD. However, there are still a lot of problems that need to be solved such as: infection rate, new solutions and improvement of catheters and devices in order to make it safer and to decrease the complications resulted from variants called Peritoneal Dialysis on Alternate Days (PDAD) and Equilibrium Peritoneal Dialysis used in the cases of acute renal failure. Improved PD is suitable to treat the patients in many parts of the world who do not receive any treatment at present.

Acute Kidney Injury

Cloning and nucleotide sequence of placental hGH-V cDNA.

We have previously demonstrated the presence in human placenta and maternal serum of a GH variant, called human placental growth hormone (hPGH). We have also shown that the hGH-V gene is expressed at the placental level thus possibly coding for hPGH. The hGH-V cDNA has now been isolated from a lambda gt 11 human placenta cDNA library. Its sequence has been determined which firmly establishes the GH-V gene mode of splicing as well as the GH-V protein structure. Our data give final evidence of placental hGH-V gene expression and reinforce the hypothesis of identity between the hGH-V protein and hPGH.

Amino Acid Sequence