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Human rhinoviruses.

Human rhinoviruses are the most important causative agents of upper respiratory infections and are also implicated in more severe clinical entities. Although often present, very little is known about human rhinoviruses. Molecular methods have been used in the classification of this large group of viruses into two separate clades. In addition, one known serotype was found to be a member of enterovirus group D. Laboratory diagnosis of human rhinovirus infection is based on reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction methods or the more tedious virus culture but a rapid "bedside" method is unavailable. Anti-rhinoviral therapy has been under extensive study over the past few decades but symptomatic treatment of the common cold is still the only useful approach in clinical use. More data on circulating human rhinovirus strains would facilitate both detection and treatment of these common pathogens.

Acute Disease↗

Correlation among phenotypical and molecular techniques in comparing ascomycetous yeast type strains.

Different phenotypical or molecular techniques can be used to describe and classify microorganisms for taxonomic, phylogenetic or genetic purposes. In yeast taxonomy the official hierarchic classification, based on morphological and physiological characters, is used together with more convenient molecular techniques such as the DNA sequencing. The question on whether these procedures produce coherent classifications is critical both to interpret taxonomic data consistently and to outline species correctly. In this paper, a set of type strains from the major genera of the budding hemiascomycetes yeast is examined with a series of physiological and molecular techniques, widely employed in taxonomy, in order to compare the among-strains correlations obtained with different methods. Results showed that the level of correlation among different techniques is relatively low, showing that different classifications and species organization could be obtained with diverse approaches. This is particularly interesting, considering that the official description of the yeast species is based on characters different from those becoming increasingly popular in the routine identification.

Animals↗

Classification systems for acute and chronic leukaemias.

Modern classification systems for acute and chronic leukaemias are based on cytomorphology, cytochemistry, immunophenotyping, immunogenetics and molecular cytogenetics. Morphology forms the initial diagnosis of leukaemia, but generally is not sufficient to identify biologically and clinically relevant subsets within the main categories of leukaemia. Immunophenotyping precisely defines the lineage and stage of differentiation of malignantly transformed haematopoietic cells. This is usually sufficient for precise classification of mature lymphoid malignancies, although immunogenetic and (molecular) cytogenetic studies might be helpful to confirm the diagnosis of disseminated non-Hodgkin's lymphomas. However, certain categories of disease that are clearly defined by cytomorphology and immunophenotyping, particularly acute leukaemias, are still heterogeneous, mainly owing to different underlying leukaemogenic events. Immunophenotyping can reveal subgroups highly suggestive of certain chromosome aberrations but reliable identification of such aberrations requires cytogenetic or molecular studies. Such combined diagnostic information forms the basis of current WHO classification of tumours of haematopoietic and lymphoid tissues. This will be complemented in the near future with novel criteria revealed by microarray gene expression profiling. This chapter summarizes and comments on the currently used immunophenotypic classification systems of acute and chronic leukaemias and on the added value of molecular diagnostics.

Humans↗

The effect of TERT promoter mutation on predicting meningioma outcomes: a multi-institutional cohort analysis.

BACKGROUND: Molecular aberrations have been incorporated into tumour classification guidelines of meningioma. TERT-promoter (TERTp) mutation is associated with worse prognosis and is designated a WHO grade 3 biomarker. However, it remains unclear whether TERTp mutation is context-dependent, with other co-occurring genetic alterations potentially driving its association with prognosis. We sought to characterise the role of TERTp mutation in meningioma and guide TERTp sequencing. METHODS: We identified 1492 patients of all ages who had previously received surgery for meningioma across 14 medical centres in the USA, Canada, and Germany. Patients were eligible if they had post-surgical clinical or radiographical assessment of the resection site, and TERTp status evaluated by Nov 1, 2024. Multi-modal profiling was used to assess TERTp mutation, focal gene alterations-including CDKN2A/B loss-and copy number alterations. An adjusted WHO grade was calculated for TERTp-mutant meningiomas, incorporating all WHO criteria except TERTp status. Kaplan-Meier curves and multivariable Cox proportional hazards models were used to quantify the effect of TERTp mutation on the endpoints of overall survival and recurrence-free survival across adjusted WHO grade and co-occurring molecular alterations. FINDINGS: 64 (4&#xb7;3%) of 1492 meningiomas were TERTp-mutant and 1428 (95&#xb7;7%) were TERTp-wildtype. Of the TERTp-mutant meningiomas, 33 (51&#xb7;6%) were from female patients and 31 (48&#xb7;4%) were from male patients, and the overall median age was 67 years (IQR 60-75). Of the wildtype meningiomas, 965 (67&#xb7;6%) were from female patients and 463 (32&#xb7;4%) were from male patients, and the overall median age of the patients was 59 years (IQR 48-70). Data on race was inconsistently reported and thus excluded. The TERTp-mutant patients had a 5-year overall survival (49&#xb7;4% [95% CI 33&#xb7;7-72&#xb7;4]) and 5-year recurrence-free survival (27&#xb7;6% [95% CI 16&#xb7;8-45&#xb7;5]) resembling that of patients with WHO grade 3 TERTp-wildtype tumours (5-year overall survival 32&#xb7;3% [95% CI 17&#xb7;2-60&#xb7;5], p=0&#xb7;28, 5-year recurrence-free survival 14&#xb7;3% [5&#xb7;8-35&#xb7;2], p=0&#xb7;28). However, the TERTp-mutant group had heterogenous histological grading and was enriched for aggressive molecular features, with 1p loss present in 44 (77&#xb7;2%) of 57 profiled tumours and CDKN2A/B loss in 24 (41&#xb7;4%) of the 58 profiled tumours. Adjusting tumour grade revealed a subset of TERTp-mutant meningiomas that were more molecularly and clinically benign. Among TERTp-mutant tumours, CDKN2A/B loss played a defining role in stratifying tumour behaviour. Multivariable analysis confirmed this, with CDKN2A/B loss being significantly associated with shorter overall survival (HR 3&#xb7;04 [95% CI 1&#xb7;67-5&#xb7;52], p=0&#xb7;00026) and faster time to recurrence (HR 5&#xb7;22 [95% CI 3&#xb7;10-8&#xb7;79], p<0&#xb7;0001), while TERTp-mutation did not independently affect overall survival (HR 1&#xb7;00 [95% CI 0&#xb7;53-1&#xb7;87], p=0&#xb7;99) or recurrence-free survival (1&#xb7;17 [95% CI 0&#xb7;75-1&#xb7;83], p=0&#xb7;49). Sequencing for TERTp-mutation demonstrated clinical impact only among histologically WHO grade 2 meningiomas. INTERPRETATION: The indolent behaviour of certain TERTp-mutant meningiomas suggests that TERTp mutation is not sufficient to assign the most aggressive meningioma grade. Instead, TERT sequencing might offer prognostic utility in identifying high-risk cases among WHO grade 2 meningiomas. FUNDING: National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Friedberg Charitable Foundation, Courtney Meningioma Research Fund, Fleming Meningioma Research Fund, and the Gray Family Foundation.

Humans↗

Molecular evolutionary relationships between partulid land snails of the Pacific.

Adaptive radiation of partulid land snails in the tropical Pacific has produced an extraordinary array of distinctive morphological, ecological and behavioural types. Here we use part of the nuclear ribosomal RNA gene cluster to investigate the relationships within and between the three partulid genera, Partula, Samoana and Eua. The genera cluster separately, with Samoana and Partula forming monophyletic groups. With one exception, the molecular data generally support the previous generic classification based on genital morphology, even in species that show a number of characteristics otherwise atypical of the genus. Convergent evolution explains morphological similarities between members of different genera. The phylogeny suggests that Samoana has colonized the Pacific from west to east, originating in the area where Eua, believed to be the most ancient partulid genus, is found. An unexplained anomaly is the reported occurrence of a single species of Samoana in the Mariana Islands of the western Pacific. The genus Partula has a disjunct distribution, encompassing islands both to the east and west of the range occupied by Eua. Partula seems to have spread both eastward and westward after the splitting of the Partula lineage.

Animals↗

Molecular staging for survival prediction of colorectal cancer patients.

PURPOSE: The Dukes' staging system is the gold standard for predicting colorectal cancer prognosis; however, accurate classification of intermediate-stage cases is problematic. We hypothesized that molecular fingerprints could provide more accurate staging and potentially assist in directing adjuvant therapy. METHODS: A 32,000 cDNA microarray was used to evaluate 78 human colon cancer specimens, and these results were correlated with survival. Molecular classifiers were produced to predict outcome. RESULTS: Molecular staging, based on 43 core genes, was 90% accurate (93% sensitivity, 84% specificity) in predicting 36-month overall survival in 78 patients. This result was significantly better than Dukes' staging (P = .03878), discriminated patients into significantly different groups by survival time (P < .001, log-rank test), and was significantly different from chance (P < .001, 1,000 permutations). Furthermore, the classifier was able to discriminate a survival difference in an independent test set from Denmark. Molecular staging identifies patient prognosis (as represented by 36-month survival) more accurately than the traditional clinical staging, particularly for intermediate Dukes' stage B and C patients. The classifier was based on a core set of 43 genes, including osteopontin and neuregulin, which have biologic significance for this disease. CONCLUSION: These data support further evaluation of molecular staging to discriminate good from poor prognosis patients, with the potential to direct adjuvant therapy.

Adult↗

Molecular karyotyping and aneuploidy detection in Arabidopsis thaliana using quantitative fluorescent polymerase chain reaction.

Certain cellular processes are sensitive to changes in gene dosage. Aneuploidy is deleterious because of an imbalance of gene dosage on a chromosomal scale. Identification, classification and characterization of aneuploidy are therefore important for molecular, population and medical genetics and for a deeper understanding of the mechanisms underlying dosage sensitivity. Notwithstanding recent progress in genomic technologies, limited means are available for detecting and classifying changes in chromosome dose. The development of an inexpensive and scalable karyotyping method would allow rapid detection and characterization of both simple and complex aneuploid types. In addition to the problem of karyotyping, genomic and molecular genetic studies of aneuploids and polyploids are complicated by multiple heterozygous combinations possible at loci present in more than two copies. Quantitative scoring of allele genotypes would enable large-scale population genetic experiments in polyploids, and permit genetic analyses on bulked populations in diploid species. Here, we demonstrate that quantitative fluorescent-polymerase chain reaction (QF-PCR) can be used to simultaneously genotype and karyotype aneuploid and polyploid Arabidopsis thaliana. Comparison of QF-PCR with flow cytometric determination of nuclear DNA content indicated near perfect agreement between the methods, but complete karyotype resolution was only possible using QF-PCR. A complex karyotype, determined by QF-PCR, was validated by comparative genomic hybridization to microarrays. Finally, we screened the progeny of tetraploid individuals and found that more than 25% were aneuploid and that our artificially induced tetraploid strain produced fewer aneuploid individuals than a tetraploid strain isolated from nature.

Alleles↗

Microbial beta-glucosidases: cloning, properties, and applications.

Beta-glucosidases constitute a major group among glycosylhydrolase enzymes. Out of the 82 families classified under glycosylhydrolase category, these belong to family 1 and family 3 and catalyze the selective cleavage of glucosidic bonds. This function is pivotal in many crucial biological pathways, such as degradation of structural and storage polysaccharides, cellular signaling, oncogenesis, host-pathogen interactions, as well as in a number of biotechnological applications. In recent years, interest in these enzymes has gained momentum owing to their biosynthetic abilities. The enzymes exhibit utility in syntheses of diverse oligosaccharides, glycoconjugates, alkyl- and aminoglucosides. Attempts are being made to understand the structure-function relationship of these versatile biocatalysts. Earlier reviews described the sources and properties of microbial beta-glucosidases, yeast beta-glucosidases, thermostable fungal beta-glucosidase, and the physiological functions, characteristics, and catalytic action of native beta-glucosidases from various plant, animal, and microbial sources. Recent efforts have been directed towards molecular cloning, sequencing, mutagenesis, and crystallography of the enzymes. The aim of the present article is to describe the sources and properties of recombinant beta-glucosidases, their classification schemes based on similarity at the structural and molecular levels, elucidation of structure-function relationships, directed evolution of existing enzymes toward enhanced thermostability, substrate range, biosynthetic properties, and applications.

Biotechnology↗

Restriction endonucleases: classification, properties, and applications.

Restriction endonucleases have become a fundamental tool of molecular biology with many commercial vendors and extensive product lines. While a significant amount has been learned about restriction enzyme diversity, genomic organization, and mechanism, these continue to be active areas of research and assist in classification efforts. More recently, one focus has been their exquisite specificity for the proper recognition sequence and the lack of homology among enzymes recognizing the same DNA sequence. Some questions also remain regarding in vivo function. Site-directed mutagenesis and fusion proteins based on known endonucleases show promise for custom-designed cleavage. An understanding of the enzymes and their properties can improve their productive application by maintaining critical digest parameters and enhancing or avoiding alternative activities.

Animals↗

Molecular characterization of isolates of anagyris vein yellowing virus, plantago mottle virus and scrophularia mottle virus -- comparison of various approaches for tymovirus classification.

The complete nucleotide sequences were determined for the genomic RNAs of three tymoviruses, i.e. isolates of anagyris vein yellowing virus (AVYV), plantago mottle virus (PlMoV) and scrophularia mottle virus (SrMV) which are all serologically closely related to ononis yellow mosaic virus (ibid) and to Nemesia ring necrosis virus (NeRNV), a recently described recombinant virus which is widely spread in commercially grown ornamental plant species belonging to the Scrophulariaceae. Total nucleotide and coat protein amino acid sequence identities revealed similar groupings in the genus tymovirus as serological studies did. The latter, however, tended to suggest much closer relationships than the molecular data and may fail to recognise the distinctiveness of new tymovirus species. The usefulness of various species demarcation criteria for the classification of tymoviruses is discussed.

Genome, Viral↗

A hierarchical Naïve Bayes Model for handling sample heterogeneity in classification problems: an application to tissue microarrays.

BACKGROUND: Uncertainty often affects molecular biology experiments and data for different reasons. Heterogeneity of gene or protein expression within the same tumor tissue is an example of biological uncertainty which should be taken into account when molecular markers are used in decision making. Tissue Microarray (TMA) experiments allow for large scale profiling of tissue biopsies, investigating protein patterns characterizing specific disease states. TMA studies deal with multiple sampling of the same patient, and therefore with multiple measurements of same protein target, to account for possible biological heterogeneity. The aim of this paper is to provide and validate a classification model taking into consideration the uncertainty associated with measuring replicate samples. RESULTS: We propose an extension of the well-known Naïve Bayes classifier, which accounts for biological heterogeneity in a probabilistic framework, relying on Bayesian hierarchical models. The model, which can be efficiently learned from the training dataset, exploits a closed-form of classification equation, thus providing no additional computational cost with respect to the standard Naïve Bayes classifier. We validated the approach on several simulated datasets comparing its performances with the Naïve Bayes classifier. Moreover, we demonstrated that explicitly dealing with heterogeneity can improve classification accuracy on a TMA prostate cancer dataset. CONCLUSION: The proposed Hierarchical Naïve Bayes classifier can be conveniently applied in problems where within sample heterogeneity must be taken into account, such as TMA experiments and biological contexts where several measurements (replicates) are available for the same biological sample. The performance of the new approach is better than the standard Naïve Bayes model, in particular when the within sample heterogeneity is different in the different classes.

Algorithms↗

Lymphomas of the female genital tract: a study of 186 cases and review of the literature.

Malignant lymphomas in the female genital tract are rare, and those arising from this tissue system are extremely uncommon. Most pertinent reports lack clear references to the accepted classifications or failed to apply immunomarkers and molecular techniques for a reliable diagnosis. We analyzed a large group of patients with primary and secondary lymphomas of the female genital tract classified on the basis of the recent WHO consensus. A total of 186 patients with malignant lymphoma detected in the female genital tract were selected from the files of the Kiel Lymphoma Registry covering the period of 1974 to 2004. Stringent criteria were applied to separate systemic versus secondary lymphomas. All cases were reviewed on the basis of conventionally stained sections, relevant immunohistochemistry using the alkaline phosphatase/anti-alkaline phosphatase technique, and clinical information, as far as available. When required, gene rearrangement analysis was performed, including TCR-gamma chain gene and the three FR fragments of the IgG heavy chain gene. In addition, typical chromosomal translocations were detected by means of the FISH technique to verify the diagnosis, where needed. Thirty-seven percent of the cases were systemic lymphomas and 63% were mostly extranodal lymphomas primary to the female genital tract. The adnexa were involved in 87 cases, followed by uterine corpus in 23 cases, uterine cervix in 17 cases, portio in 9 cases, vagina in 11 cases, and vulva including clitoris in 8 cases. In 31 cases, two or more adjacent sites were involved. In both (primary and secondary) groups, the adnexa were the prevailing site of involvement. As expected, the overwhelming majority of cases were of B phenotype. The most frequent type of lymphoma proved to be diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, closely followed by follicular lymphoma, including all 3 grades of malignancy. Burkitt lymphoma showed a rather similar frequency. Marginal zone lymphoma occurred exclusively as primary lesions in the uterine mucosa. Lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma was restricted to the vulvo-vaginal area and occurred in women over 60 years of age. In conclusion, our study provides a thorough overview of various types of lymphoma affecting the female genital tract primarily or secondarily, which were classified on the basis of a widely accepted WHO classification. Although quite rare, our report should remind the pathologist of considering malignant lymphomas while reading biopsies taken from female genital organ.

Adolescent↗

Charcot-marie-tooth disease and related neuropathies: molecular basis for distinction and diagnosis.

Great advances have been made in understanding the molecular basis of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) and related neuropathies, namely Dejerine-Sottas disease (DSD), hereditary neuropathy with liability to pressure palsies (HNPP) and congenital hypomyelination (CH). The number of newly uncovered mutations and identified genetic loci is rapidly increasing, and, as a consequence, the classification of these disorders is becoming more complicated. Molecular genetics, animal models, and transfected cell studies are shedding light on function and dysfunction of proteins involved in hereditary myelinopathies-peripheral myelin protein 22 (PMP22), myelin protein zero (PO), connexin 32 (Cx32), and early growth response 2 (EGR2). Gene dosage effect, loss of function, gain of toxic function, and dominant negative effect are possible mechanisms whereby different gene mutations may exert their detrimental action on peripheral nerves. A tentative rational approach to clinical and molecular diagnosis based on genotype-phenotype correlation analysis is described.

Animals↗

Random forest: a classification and regression tool for compound classification and QSAR modeling.

A new classification and regression tool, Random Forest, is introduced and investigated for predicting a compound's quantitative or categorical biological activity based on a quantitative description of the compound's molecular structure. Random Forest is an ensemble of unpruned classification or regression trees created by using bootstrap samples of the training data and random feature selection in tree induction. Prediction is made by aggregating (majority vote or averaging) the predictions of the ensemble. We built predictive models for six cheminformatics data sets. Our analysis demonstrates that Random Forest is a powerful tool capable of delivering performance that is among the most accurate methods to date. We also present three additional features of Random Forest: built-in performance assessment, a measure of relative importance of descriptors, and a measure of compound similarity that is weighted by the relative importance of descriptors. It is the combination of relatively high prediction accuracy and its collection of desired features that makes Random Forest uniquely suited for modeling in cheminformatics.

Journal Article↗

Learning gene functional classifications from multiple data types.

In our attempts to understand cellular function at the molecular level, we must be able to synthesize information from disparate types of genomic data. We consider the problem of inferring gene functional classifications from a heterogeneous data set consisting of DNA microarray expression measurements and phylogenetic profiles from whole-genome sequence comparisons. We demonstrate the application of the support vector machine (SVM) learning algorithm to this functional inference task. Our results suggest the importance of exploiting prior information about the heterogeneity of the data. In particular, we propose an SVM kernel function that is explicitly heterogeneous. In addition, we describe feature scaling methods for further exploiting prior knowledge of heterogeneity by giving each data type different weights.

Algorithms↗

Detecting the node-density artifact in phylogeny reconstruction.

The node-density effect is an artifact of phylogeny reconstruction that can cause branch lengths to be underestimated in areas of the tree with fewer taxa. Webster, Payne, and Pagel (2003, Science 301:478) introduced a statistical procedure (the "delta" test) to detect this artifact, and here we report the results of computer simulations that examine the test's performance. In a sample of 50,000 random data sets, we find that the delta test detects the artifact in 94.4% of cases in which it is present. When the artifact is not present (n = 10,000 simulated data sets) the test showed a type I error rate of approximately 1.69%, incorrectly reporting the artifact in 169 data sets. Three measures of tree shape or "balance" failed to predict the size of the node-density effect. This may reflect the relative homogeneity of our randomly generated topologies, but emphasizes that nearly any topology can suffer from the artifact, the effect not being confined only to highly unevenly sampled or otherwise imbalanced trees. The ability to screen phylogenies for the node-density artifact is important for phylogenetic inference and for researchers using phylogenetic trees to infer evolutionary processes, including their use in molecular clock dating.

Classification↗

Antigenic and molecular analyses of different Chlamydia pneumoniae strains.

Chlamydia pneumoniae is an important human respiratory pathogen. Classification of C. pneumoniae isolates into distinguishable serovars or genotypes has not yet been reported. To determine whether antigenic or molecular variants among C. pneumoniae isolates exist, six strains were studied via immunoblot analysis and DNA sequence determination of the entire major outer membrane protein (MOMP) gene omp1. The strains included four prototype strains and two clinical isolates from our laboratory. Immunoblot analysis of sera from patients infected with C. pneumoniae revealed antigenic differences between the C. pneumoniae strains. Strong reactivity of one serum sample with a 65-kDa protein in two C. pneumoniae strains which was not observed with the other strains was the most prominent finding. All sera reacted with the 40-kDa MOMP. Comparison of the omp1 DNA sequences revealed that the omp1 genes of all strains were identical and were 100% identical to the sequence of the omp1 gene of C. pneumoniae AR-39. The results of this study demonstrate that unlike C. trachomatis, the omp1 gene is conserved in C. pneumoniae. Furthermore, it was shown that C. pneumoniae strains are antigenically different. This finding indicates that more than one serovar of C. pneumoniae exist.

Antigenic Variation↗

Characterization of Endotrypanum (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae), a unique parasite infecting the neotropical tree sloths (Edentata).

This article reviews current concepts of the biology of Endotrypanum spp. Data summarized here on parasite classification and taxonomic divergence found among these haemoflagellates come from our studies of molecular characterization of Endotrypanum stocks (representing an heterogenous population of reference strains and isolates from the Brazilian Amazon region) and from scientific literature. Using numerical zymotaxonomy we have demonstrated genetic diversity among these parasites. The molecular trees obtained revealed that there are, at least, three groups (distinct species?) of Endotrypanum, which are distributed in Central and South America. In concordance with this classification of the parasites there are further newer molecular data obtained using distinct markers. Moreover, comparative studies (based on the molecular genetics of the organisms) have shown the phylogenetic relationships between some Endotrypanum and related kinetoplastid lineages.

Animals↗