Asset Tag: PAG

June 1, 2021  |  

Isoform sequencing: Unveiling the complex landscape of the eukaryotic transcriptome on the PacBio RS II.

Alternative splicing of RNA is an important mechanism that increases protein diversity and is pervasive in the most complex biological functions. While advances in RNA sequencing methods have accelerated our understanding of the transcriptome, isoform discovery remains computationally challenging due to short read lengths. Here, we describe the Isoform Sequencing (Iso-Seq) method using long reads generated by the PacBio RS II. We sequenced rat heart and lung RNA using the Clontech® SMARTer® cDNA preparation kit followed by size selection using agarose gel. Additionally, we tested the BluePippin™ device from Sage Science for efficiently extracting longer transcripts = 3 kb. Post-sequencing, we developed a novel isoform-level clustering algorithm to generate high-quality transcript consensus sequences. We show that our method recovered alternative splice forms as well as alternative stop sites, antisense transcription, and retained introns. To conclude, the Iso-Seq method provides a new opportunity for researchers to study the complex eukaryotic transcriptome even in the absence of reference genomes or annotated transcripts.

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June 1, 2021  |  

Getting the most out of your PacBio libraries with size selection.

PacBio RS II sequencing chemistries provide read lengths beyond 20 kb with high consensus accuracy. The long read lengths of P4-C2 chemistry and demonstrated consensus accuracy of 99.999% are ideal for applications such as de novo assembly, targeted sequencing and isoform sequencing. The recently launched P5-C3 chemistry generates even longer reads with N50 often >10,000 bp, making it the best choice for scaffolding and spanning structural rearrangements. With these chemistry advances, PacBio’s read length performance is now primarily determined by the SMRTbell library itself. Size selection of a high-quality, sheared 20 kb library using the BluePippin™ System has been demonstrated to increase the N50 read length by as much as 5 kb with C3 chemistry. BluePippin size selection or a more stringent AMPure® PB selection cutoff can be used to recover long fragments from degraded genomic material. The selection of chemistries, P4-C2 versus P5-C3, is highly dependent on the final size distribution of the SMRTbell library and experimental goals. PacBio’s long read lengths also allow for the sequencing of full-length cDNA libraries at single-molecule resolution. However, longer transcripts are difficult to detect due to lower abundance, amplification bias, and preferential loading of smaller SMRTbell constructs. Without size selection, most sequenced transcripts are 1-1.5 kb. Size selection dramatically increases the number of transcripts >1.5 kb, and is essential for >3 kb transcripts.

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June 1, 2021  |  

Isoform sequencing: Unveiling the complex landscape in eukaryotic transcriptome on the PacBio RS II.

Advances in RNA sequencing have accelerated our understanding of the transcriptome, however isoform discovery remains challenging due to short read lengths. The Iso-Seq Application provides a new alternative to sequence full-length cDNA libraries using long reads from the PacBio RS II. Identification of long and often rare isoforms is demonstrated with rat heart and lung RNA prepared using the Clontech® SMARTer® cDNA preparation kit, followed by agarose-gel size selection in fractions of 1-2 kb, 2-3 kb and 3-6 kb. For each tissue, 1.8 and 1.2 million reads were obtained from 32 and 26 SMRT Cells, respectively. Filtering for reads with both adapters and polyA tail signals yielded >50% putative full-length transcripts. To improve consensus accuracy, we developed an isoform-level clustering algorithm ICE (Iterative Clustering for Error Correction), and polished full-length consensus sequences from ICE using Quiver. This method generated full-length transcripts up to 4.5 kb with = 99% post-correction accuracy. Compared with known rat genes, the Iso-Seq method not only recovered the majority of currently annotated isoforms, but also several unannotated novel isoforms with identified homologs in the RefSeq database. Additionally, alternative stop sites, extended UTRs, and retained introns were detected.

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June 1, 2021  |  

Developments in PacBio metagenome sequencing: Shotgun whole genomes and full-length 16S.

The assembly of metagenomes is dramatically improved by the long read lengths of SMRT Sequencing. This is demonstrated in an experimental design to sequence a mock community from the Human Microbiome Project, and assemble the data using the hierarchical genome assembly process (HGAP) at Pacific Biosciences. Results of this analysis are promising, and display much improved contiguity in the assembly of the mock community as compared to publicly available short-read data sets and assemblies. Additionally, the use of base modification information to make further associations between contigs provides additional data to improve assemblies, and to distinguish between members within a microbial community. The epigenetic approach is a novel validation method unique to SMRT Sequencing. In addition to whole-genome shotgun sequencing, SMRT Sequencing also offers improved classification resolution and reliability of metagenomic and microbiome samples by the full-length sequencing of 16S rRNA (~1500 bases long). Microbial communities can be detected at the species level in some cases, rather than being limited to the genus taxonomic classification as constrained by short-read technologies. The performance of SMRT Sequencing for these metagenomic samples achieved >99% predicted concordance to reference sequences in cecum, soil, water, and mock control investigations for bacterial 16S. Community samples are estimated to contain from 2.3 and up to 15 times as many species with abundance levels as low as 0.05% compared to the identification of phyla groups.

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June 1, 2021  |  

Rapid full-length Iso-Seq cDNA sequencing of rice mRNA to facilitate annotation and identify splice-site variation.

PacBio’s new Iso-Seq technology allows for rapid generation of full-length cDNA sequences without the need for assembly steps. The technology was tested on leaf mRNA from two model O. sativa ssp. indica cultivars – Minghui 63 and Zhenshan 97. Even though each transcriptome was not exhaustively sequenced, several thousand isoforms described genes over a wide size range, most of which are not present in any currently available FL cDNA collection. In addition, the lack of an assembly requirement provides direct and immediate access to complete mRNA sequences and rapid unraveling of biological novelties.

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June 1, 2021  |  

The use of PacBio and Hi-C data in de novo assembly of the goat genome.

Generating de novo reference genome assemblies for non-model organisms is a laborious task that often requires a large amount of data from several sequencing platforms and cytogenetic surveys. By using PacBio sequence data and new library creation techniques, we present a de novo, high quality reference assembly for the goat (Capra hircus) that demonstrates a primarily sequencing-based approach to efficiently create new reference assemblies for Eukaryotic species. This goat reference genome was created using 38 million PacBio P5-C3 reads generated from a San Clemente goat using the Celera Assembler PBcR pipeline with PacBio read self-correction. In order to generate the assembly, corrected and filtered reads were pre-assembled into a consensus model using PBDAGCON, and subsequently assembled using the Celera Assembly version 8.2. We generated 5,902 contigs using this method with a contig N50 size of 2.56 megabases. In order to generate chromosome-sized scaffolds, we used the LACHESIS scaffolding method to identify cis-chromosome Hi-C interactions in order to link contigs together. We then compared our new assembly to the existing goat reference assembly to identify large-scale discrepancies. In our comparison, we identified 247 disagreements between the two assemblies consisting of 123 inversions and 124 chromosome-contig relocations. The high quality of this data illustrates how this methodology can be used to efficiently generate new reference genome assemblies without the use of expensive fluorescent cytometry or large quantities of data from multiple sequencing platforms.

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June 1, 2021  |  

Progress on the reassembly and annotation of the goat genome.

The goat (Capra hircus) remains an important livestock species due to the species’ ability to forage and provide milk, meat and wool in arid environments. The current goat reference assembly and annotation borrows heavily from other loosely related livestock species, such as cattle, and may not reflect the unique structural and functional characteristics of the species. We present preliminary data from a new de novo reference assembly for goat that primarily utilizes 38 million PacBio P5-C3 reads generated from an inbred San Clemente goat. This assembly consists of only 5,902 contigs with a contig N50 size of 2.56 megabases which were grouped into scaffolds using cis-chromosome associations generated by the analysis of Hi-C sequence reads. To provide accurate functional genetic annotation, we utilized existing RNA-seq data and generated new data consisting of over 784 million reads from a combination of 27 different developmental timepoints/tissues. This dataset provides a tangible improvement over existing goat genomics resources by correcting over 247 misassemblies in the current goat reference genome and by annotating predicted gene models with actual expressed transcript data. Our goal is to provide a high quality resource to researchers to enable future genomic selection and functional prediction within the field of goat genomics.

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June 1, 2021  |  

Old school/new school genome sequencing: One step backward — a quantum leap forward.

As the costs for genome sequencing have decreased the number of “genome” sequences have increased at a rapid pace. Unfortunately, the quality and completeness of these so–called “genome” sequences have suffered enormously. We prefer to call such genome assemblies as “gene assembly space” (GAS). We believe it is important to distinguish GAS assemblies from reference genome assemblies (RGAs) as all subsequent research that depends on accurate genome assemblies can be highly compromised if the only assembly available is a GAS assembly.

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June 1, 2021  |  

Draft genome of horseweed illuminates expansion of gene families that might endow herbicide resistance.

Conyza canadensis (horseweed), a member of the Compositae (Asteraceae) family, was the first broadleaf weed to evolve resistance to glyphosate. Horseweed, one of the most problematic weeds in the world, is a true diploid (2n=2X=18) with the smallest genome of any known agricultural weed (335 Mb). Thus, it is an appropriate candidate to help us understand the genetic and genomic basis of weediness. We undertook a draft de novo genome assembly of horseweed by combining data from multiple sequencing platforms (454 GS-FLX, Illumina HiSeq 2000 and PacBio RS) using various libraries with different insertion sizes (~350 bp, ~600 bp, ~3 kb and ~10 kb) of a Tennessee-accessed, glyphosate-resistant horseweed biotype. From 116.3 Gb (~350× coverage) of data, the genome was assembled into 13,966 scaffolds with N50 =33,561 bp. The assembly covered 92.3% of the genome, including the complete chloroplast genome (~153 kb) and a nearly-complete mitochondrial genome (~450 kb in 120 scaffolds). The nuclear genome is comprised of 44,592 protein-coding genes. Genome re-sequencing of seven additional horseweed biotypes was performed. These sequence data were assembled and used to analyze genome variation. Simple sequence repeat and single nucleotide polymorphisms were surveyed. Genomic patterns were detected that associated with glyphosate-resistant or –susceptible biotypes. The draft genome will be useful to better understand weediness, the evolution of herbicide resistance, and to devise new management strategies. The genome will also be useful as another reference genome in the Compositae. To our knowledge, this paper represents the first published draft genome of an agricultural weed.

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June 1, 2021  |  

Genome analysis of a bacterium that causes lameness.

Lameness is a significant problem resulting in millions of dollars in lost revenue annually. In commercial broilers, the most common cause of lameness is bacterial chondronecrosis with osteomyelitis (BCO). We are using a wire flooring model to induce lameness attributable to BCO. We used 16S ribosomal DNA sequencing to determine that Staphylococcus spp. were the main species associated with BCO. Staphylococcus agnetis, which previously had not been isolated from poultry, was the principal species isolated from the majority of the bone lesion samples. Administering S. agnetis in the drinking water to broilers reared on wire flooring increased the incidence of BCO three-fold when compared with broilers drinking tap water (P = 0.001). We found that the minimum effective dose of Staphylococcus agnetis to induce BCO in broilers grown on wire flooring experiment is 105 cfu/ml. We used PacBio and Illumina sequencing to assemble a 2.4 Mbp contig representing the genome and a 34 kbp contig for the largest plasmid of S. agnetis. Annotation of this genome is underway through comparative genomics with other Staphylococcus genomes, and identification of virulence factors. Our goal is to elucidate genetic diversity, toxins, and pathogenicity determinants, for this poorly characterized species. Isolating pathogenic bacterial species, defining their likely route of transmission to broilers, and genomic analyses will contribute substantially to the development of measures for mitigating BCO losses in poultry.

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June 1, 2021  |  

Comparative genome analysis of Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. michiganensis strains provides insights into genetic diversity and virulence.

Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. michiganensis (Cmm) is a gram positive actinomycete, causing bacterial canker of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) a disease that can cause significant losses in tomato production. In this study, we determined the complete genome sequence of 13 California Cmm strains and one saprophytic Clavibacter strain using a combination of Ilumina and PacBio sequencing. The California Cmm strains have genome size (3.2 -3.3 mb) similar to the reference strain NCPPB382 (3.3 mb) with =98% sequence identity. Cmm strains from California share =92% genes (8-10% are noble genes) with the reference Cmm strain NCPPB382. Despite this similarity, we detected significant alternatives in California strains with respect to plasmid number, plasmid composition, and genomic island presence indicating acquisition of unique mechanisms controlling virulence. Plasmids pCM1 and pCM2, that were previously demonstrated to be required for NCPPB382 virulence, also differ in their presence and gene content across Cmm strains. pCM2 is absent in some Cmm strains and that still retain virulence in tomato. Saprophytic Clavibacter possess a novel plasmid, pSCM, and lacks the majority of characterized virulence factors. Genome sequence information was also used to design specific and sensitive primer pairs for Cmm detection. A mechanistic understanding of how genomic changes have impacted Cmm virulence and survival across diverse strains will be necessary for developing a robust disease control strategies for bacterial canker of tomato.

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June 1, 2021  |  

De novo assembly of a complex panicoid grass genome using ultra-long PacBio reads with P6C4 chemistry

Drought is responsible for much of the global losses in crop yields and understanding how plants naturally cope with drought stress is essential for breeding and engineering crops for the changing climate. Resurrection plants desiccate to complete dryness during times of drought, then “come back to life” once water is available making them an excellent model for studying drought tolerance. Understanding the molecular networks governing how resurrection plants handle desiccation will provide targets for crop engineering. Oropetium thomaeum (Oro) is a resurrection plant that also has the smallest known grass genome at 250 Mb compared to Brachypodium distachyon (300 Mb) and rice (350 Mb). Plant genomes, especially grasses, have complex repeat structures such as telomeres, centromeres, and ribosomal gene cassettes, and high heterozygosity, which makes them difficult to assembly using short read next generation sequencing technologies. Ultra-long PacBio reads using the new P6C4 chemistry and the latest 15kb Blue Pippin size-selection protocol to generate 20kb insert libraries that yielded an average read length of 12kb providing ~72X coverage, and 10X coverage with reads over 20kb. The HGAP assembly covers 98% of the genome with a contig N50 of 2.4 Mb, which makes it one of the highest quality and most complete plant genomes assembled to date. Oro has a compact genome structure compared to other grasses with only 16% repeat sequences but has very good collinearity with other grasses. Understanding the genomic mechanisms of extreme desiccation tolerance in resurrection plants like Oro will provide insights for engineering and intelligent breeding of improved food, fuel, and fiber crops.

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June 1, 2021  |  

A genome assembly of the domestic goat from 70x coverage of single molecule, real-time sequence.

Goat is an important source of milk, meat, and fiber, especially in developing countries. An advantage of goats as livestock is the low maintenance requirements and high adaptability compared to other milk producers. The global population of domestic goats exceeds 800 million. In Africa, goat production is characterized by low productivity levels, and attempts to introduce more productive breeds have met with poor success due in part to nutritional constraints. It has been suggested that incorporation of selective breeding within the herds adapted for survival could represent one approach to improving food security across Africa. A recently produced genome assembly of a Chinese Yunnan breed goat, based on 192 Gb of short reads across a range of insert sizes from 180 bp to 20 kb, reported a contig N50 of 18.7 kb. The scaffold N50 was improved from 2.2 Mb to 3.1 Mb by addition of fosmid end sequence, with an estimated 140 million Ns in gaps and 91% coverage. The assembly has proven somewhat problematic for pursuing genome-wide association analysis with SNP arrays, apparently due in part to errors in ordering of markers using the draft genome. In order to provide a higher quality assembly, we sequenced a highly inbred, San Clemente breed goat genome using 458 SMRT cells on the Pacific Biosciences platform. These cells generated 193.5 Gbases of sequence after processing into subreads, with mean 5110 bases and max subread length of 40.5 kb. This sequence data generated an assembly using the recently reported MHAP error correction approach and Celera Assembler v8.2. The contig N50 was 2.5 Mb, with the largest contig spanning 19.5 Mb. Additional characteristics of the assembly will be presented.

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June 1, 2021  |  

A workflow for the analysis of contigs from the metagenomic shotgun assembly of SMRT Sequencing data

The throughput of SMRT Sequencing and long reads allows microbial communities to be analyzed using a shotgun sequencing approach. Key to leveraging this data is the ability to cluster sequences belonging to the same member of a community. Long reads of up to 40 kb provide a unique capability in identifying those relationships, and pave the way towards finished assemblies of community members. Long reads are highly valuable when samples are more complex and containing lower intra-species variation, such as a larger number of closely related species, or high intra-species variation. Here, we present a collection of tools tailored for the analysis of PacBio metagenomic assemblies. These tools allow for improvements in the assembly results, and greater insight into the complexity of the study communities. Supervised classification is applied to a large set of sequence characteristics (e.g. GC content, raw read coverage, k-mer frequency, and gene prediction information) and to cluster contigs from single or highly related species. Assembly in isolation of the raw data associated with these contigs is shown to improve assembly statistics. A unique feature of SMRT Sequencing is the availability to leverage simultaneously collected base modification / methylation data to aid the clustering of contigs expected to comprise a single or very closely related species. We demonstrate the added value of base modification information to distinguish and study variation within metagenomic samples based on differences in the methylated DNA motifs involved in the restriction modification system. Application of these techniques is demonstrated on a mock community and monkey intestinal microbiome sample.

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June 1, 2021  |  

Genome assembly strategies of the recent polyploid, Coffea arabica.

Arabica coffee, revered for its taste and aroma, has a complex genome. It is an allotetraploid (2n=4x=44) with a genome size of approximately 1.3 Gb, derived from the recent (< 0.6 Mya) hybridization of two diploid progenitors (2n=2x=22), C. canephora (710 Mb) and C. eugenioides (670 Mb). Both parental species diverged recently (< 4.2Mya) and their genomes are highly homologous. To facilitate assembly, a dihaploid plant was chosen for sequencing. Initial genome assembly attempts with short read data produced an assembly covering 1,031 Mb of the C. arabica genome with a contig L50 of 9kb. By implementation of long read PacBio at greater than 50x coverage and cutting-edge PacBio software, a de novo PacBio-only genome assembly was constructed that covers 1,042 Mb of the genome with an L50 of 267 kb. The two assemblies were assessed and compared to determine gene content, chimeric regions, and the ability to separate the parental genomes. A genetic map that contains 600 SSRs is being used for anchoring the contigs and improve the sub-genome differentiation together with the search of sub-genome specific SNPs. PacBio transcriptome sequencing is currently being added to finalize gene annotation of the polished assembly. The finished genome assembly will be used to guide re-sequencing assemblies of parental genomes (C. canephora and C. eugenioides) as well as a template for GBS analysis and whole genome re-sequencing of a set of C. arabica accessions representative of the species diversity. The obtained data will provide powerful genomic tools to enable more efficient coffee breeding strategies for this crop, which is highly susceptible to climate change and is the main source of income for millions of small farmers in producing countries.

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