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July 7, 2019

Complete genome sequence of Lactobacillus paracasei L9, a new probiotic strain with high lactic acid-producing capacity.

Lactobaillus paracasei L9 (CGMCC No. 9800) is a new strain with probiotic properties originating from healthy human intestine. Previous studies evidenced that the strain regulates immune modulation and contributes to the production of high amounts of lactic acid. The genome of L. paracasei L9 contains a circular 3076,437-bp chromosome, encoding 3044 CDSs, 15 rRNA genes and 59 tRNA genes. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V.


July 7, 2019

Complete genome sequence of Lactobacillus heilongjiangensis DSM 28069(T): Insight into its probiotic potential.

Lactobacillus heilongjiangensis DSM 28069(T) is a potential probiotic isolated from traditional Chinese pickle. Here we report the complete genome sequence of this strain. The complete genome is 2,790,548bp with the GC content of 37.5% and devoid of plasmids. Sets of genes involved in the biosynthesis of riboflavin and folate were identified in the genome, which revealed its potential application in biotechnological industry. The genome sequence of L. heilongjiangensis DSM 28069(T) now provides the fundamental information for future studies. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V.


July 7, 2019

Complete genome sequence and characterization of the haloacid-degrading Burkholderia caribensis MBA4.

Burkholderia caribensis MBA4 was isolated from soil for its capability to grow on haloacids. This bacterium has a genome size of 9,482,704 bp. Here we report the genome sequences and annotation, together with characteristics of the genome. The complete genome sequence consists of three replicons, comprising 9056 protein-coding genes and 80 RNA genes. Genes responsible for dehalogenation and uptake of haloacids were arranged as an operon. While dehalogenation of haloacetate would produce glycolate, three glycolate operons were identified. Two of these operons contain an upstream glcC regulator gene. It is likely that the expression of one of these operons is responsive to haloacetate. Genes responsible for the metabolism of dehalogenation product of halopropionate were also identified.


July 7, 2019

SMRT sequencing of the Campylobacter coli BfR-CA-9557 genome sequence reveals unique methylation motifs.

Campylobacter species are the most prevalent bacterial pathogen causing acute enteritis worldwide. In contrast to Campylobacter jejuni, about 5 % of Campylobacter coli strains exhibit susceptibility to restriction endonuclease digestion by DpnI cutting specifically 5′-G(m)ATC-3′ motifs. This indicates significant differences in DNA methylation between both microbial species. The goal of the study was to analyze the methylome of a C. coli strain susceptible to DpnI digestion, to identify its methylation motifs and restriction modification systems (RM-systems), and compare them to related organisms like C. jejuni and Helicobacter pylori. Using one SMRT cell and the PacBio RS sequencing technology followed by PacBio Modification and Motif Analysis the complete genome of the DpnI susceptible strain C. coli BfR-CA-9557 was sequenced to 500-fold coverage and assembled into a single contig of 1.7 Mbp. The genome contains a CJIE1-like element prophage and is phylogenetically closer to C. coli clade 1 isolates than clade 3. 45,881 6-methylated adenines (ca. 2.7 % of genome positions) that are predominantly arranged in eight different methylation motifs and 1,788 4-methylated cytosines (ca. 0.1 %) have been detected. Only two of these motifs correspond to known restriction modification motifs. Characteristic for this methylome was the very high fraction of methylation of motifs with mostly above 99 %.Only five dominant methylation motifs have been identified in C. jejuni, which have been associated with known RM-systems. C. coli BFR-CA-9557 shares one (RAATTY) of these, but four ORFs could be assigned to putative Type I RM-systems, seven ORFs to Type II RM-systems and three ORFs to Type IV RM-systems. In accordance with DpnI prescreening RM-system IIP, methylation of GATC motifs was detected in C. coli BfR-CA-9557. A homologous IIP RM-system has been described for H. pylori. The remaining methylation motifs are specific for C. coli BfR-CA-9557 and have been neither detected in C. jejuni nor in H. pylori. The results of this study give us new insights into epigenetics of Campylobacteraceae and provide the groundwork to resolve the function of RM-systems in C. coli.


July 7, 2019

Whole-genome sequence of an evolved Clostridium pasteurianum strain reveals Spo0A deficiency responsible for increased butanol production and superior growth.

Biodiesel production results in crude glycerol waste from the transesterification of fatty acids (10 % w/w). The solventogenic Clostridium pasteurianum, an anaerobic Firmicute, can produce butanol from glycerol as the sole carbon source. Coupling butanol fermentation with biodiesel production can improve the overall economic viability of biofuels. However, crude glycerol contains growth-inhibiting byproducts which reduce feedstock consumption and solvent production.To obtain a strain with improved characteristics, a random mutagenesis and directed evolution selection technique was used. A wild-type C. pasteurianum (ATCC 6013) culture was chemically mutagenized, and the resulting population underwent 10 days of selection in increasing concentrations of crude glycerol (80-150 g/L). The best-performing mutant (M150B) showed a 91 % increase in butanol production in 100 g/L crude glycerol compared to the wild-type strain, as well as increased growth rate, a higher final optical density, and less production of the side product PDO (1,3-propanediol). Wild-type and M150B strains were sequenced via Single Molecule Real-Time (SMRT) sequencing. Mutations introduced to the M150B genome were identified by sequence comparison to the wild-type and published closed sequences. A major mutation (a deletion) in the gene of the master transcriptional regulator of sporulation, Spo0A, was identified. A spo0A single gene knockout strain was constructed using a double–crossover genome-editing method. The Spo0A-deficient strain showed similar tolerance to crude glycerol as the evolved mutant strain M150B. Methylation patterns on genomic DNA identified by SMRT sequencing were used to transform plasmid DNA to overcome the native C. pasteurianum restriction endonuclease.Solvent production in the absence of Spo0A shows C. pasteurianum differs in solvent-production regulation compared to other solventogenic Clostridium. Growth-associated butanol production shows C. pasteurianum to be an attractive option for further engineering as it may prove a better candidate for butanol production through continuous fermentation.


July 7, 2019

Methylome diversification through changes in DNA methyltransferase sequence specificity.

Epigenetic modifications such as DNA methylation have large effects on gene expression and genome maintenance. Helicobacter pylori, a human gastric pathogen, has a large number of DNA methyltransferase genes, with different strains having unique repertoires. Previous genome comparisons suggested that these methyltransferases often change DNA sequence specificity through domain movement–the movement between and within genes of coding sequences of target recognition domains. Using single-molecule real-time sequencing technology, which detects N6-methyladenines and N4-methylcytosines with single-base resolution, we studied methylated DNA sites throughout the H. pylori genome for several closely related strains. Overall, the methylome was highly variable among closely related strains. Hypermethylated regions were found, for example, in rpoB gene for RNA polymerase. We identified DNA sequence motifs for methylation and then assigned each of them to a specific homology group of the target recognition domains in the specificity-determining genes for Type I and other restriction-modification systems. These results supported proposed mechanisms for sequence-specificity changes in DNA methyltransferases. Knocking out one of the Type I specificity genes led to transcriptome changes, which suggested its role in gene expression. These results are consistent with the concept of evolution driven by DNA methylation, in which changes in the methylome lead to changes in the transcriptome and potentially to changes in phenotype, providing targets for natural or artificial selection.


July 7, 2019

proovread: large-scale high-accuracy PacBio correction through iterative short read consensus.

Today, the base code of DNA is mostly determined through sequencing by synthesis as provided by the Illumina sequencers. Although highly accurate, resulting reads are short, making their analyses challenging. Recently, a new technology, single molecule real-time (SMRT) sequencing, was developed that could address these challenges, as it generates reads of several thousand bases. But, their broad application has been hampered by a high error rate. Therefore, hybrid approaches that use high-quality short reads to correct erroneous SMRT long reads have been developed. Still, current implementations have great demands on hardware, work only in well-defined computing infrastructures and reject a substantial amount of reads. This limits their usability considerably, especially in the case of large sequencing projects.Here we present proovread, a hybrid correction pipeline for SMRT reads, which can be flexibly adapted on existing hardware and infrastructure from a laptop to a high-performance computing cluster. On genomic and transcriptomic test cases covering Escherichia coli, Arabidopsis thaliana and human, proovread achieved accuracies up to 99.9% and outperformed the existing hybrid correction programs. Furthermore, proovread-corrected sequences were longer and the throughput was higher. Thus, proovread combines the most accurate correction results with an excellent adaptability to the available hardware. It will therefore increase the applicability and value of SMRT sequencing.proovread is available at the following URL: http://proovread.bioapps.biozentrum.uni-wuerzburg.de. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.


July 7, 2019

The genomic landscape of the verrucomicrobial methanotroph Methylacidiphilum fumariolicum SolV.

Aerobic methanotrophs can grow in hostile volcanic environments and use methane as their sole source of energy. The discovery of three verrucomicrobial Methylacidiphilum strains has revealed diverse metabolic pathways used by these methanotrophs, including mechanisms through which methane is oxidized. The basis of a complete understanding of these processes and of how these bacteria evolved and are able to thrive in such extreme environments partially resides in the complete characterization of their genome and its architecture.In this study, we present the complete genome sequence of Methylacidiphilum fumariolicum SolV, obtained using Pacific Biosciences single-molecule real-time (SMRT) sequencing technology. The genome assembles to a single 2.5 Mbp chromosome with an average GC content of 41.5%. The genome contains 2,741 annotated genes and 314 functional subsystems including all key metabolic pathways that are associated with Methylacidiphilum strains, including the CBB pathway for CO2 fixation. However, it does not encode the serine cycle and ribulose monophosphate pathways for carbon fixation. Phylogenetic analysis of the particulate methane mono-oxygenase operon separates the Methylacidiphilum strains from other verrucomicrobial methanotrophs. RNA-Seq analysis of cell cultures growing in three different conditions revealed the deregulation of two out of three pmoCAB operons. In addition, genes involved in nitrogen fixation were upregulated in cell cultures growing in nitrogen fixing conditions, indicating the presence of active nitrogenase. Characterization of the global methylation state of M. fumariolicum SolV revealed methylation of adenines and cytosines mainly in the coding regions of the genome. Methylation of adenines was predominantly associated with 5′-m6ACN4GT-3′ and 5′-CCm6AN5CTC-3′ methyltransferase recognition motifs whereas methylated cytosines were not associated with any specific motif.Our findings provide novel insights into the global methylation state of verrucomicrobial methanotroph M. fumariolicum SolV. However, partial conservation of methyltransferases between M. fumariolicum SolV and M. infernorum V4 indicates potential differences in the global methylation state of Methylacidiphilum strains. Unravelling the M. fumariolicum SolV genome and its epigenetic regulation allow for robust characterization of biological processes that are involved in oxidizing methane. In turn, they offer a better understanding of the evolution, the underlying physiological and ecological properties of SolV and other Methylacidiphilum strains.


July 7, 2019

Genome sequence of Porphyromonas gingivalis strain HG66 (DSM 28984).

Porphyromonas gingivalis is considered a major etiologic agent in adult periodontitis. Gingipains are among its most important virulence factors, but their release is unique in strain HG66. We present the genome sequence of HG66 with a single contig of 2,441,680 bp and a G+C content of 48.1%. Copyright © 2014 Siddiqui et al.


July 7, 2019

Get your high-quality low-cost genome sequence.

The study of whole-genome sequences has become essential for almost all branches of biological research. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has revolutionized the scalability, speed, and resolution of sequencing and brought genomic science within reach of academic laboratories that study non-model organisms. Here, we show that a high-quality draft genome of a eukaryote can be obtained at relatively low cost by exploiting a hybrid combination of sequencing strategies. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.


July 7, 2019

Diversification of bacterial genome content through distinct mechanisms over different timescales.

Bacterial populations often consist of multiple co-circulating lineages. Determining how such population structures arise requires understanding what drives bacterial diversification. Using 616 systematically sampled genomes, we show that Streptococcus pneumoniae lineages are typically characterized by combinations of infrequently transferred stable genomic islands: those moving primarily through transformation, along with integrative and conjugative elements and phage-related chromosomal islands. The only lineage containing extensive unique sequence corresponds to a set of atypical unencapsulated isolates that may represent a distinct species. However, prophage content is highly variable even within lineages, suggesting frequent horizontal transmission that would necessitate rapidly diversifying anti-phage mechanisms to prevent these viruses sweeping through populations. Correspondingly, two loci encoding Type I restriction-modification systems able to change their specificity over short timescales through intragenomic recombination are ubiquitous across the collection. Hence short-term pneumococcal variation is characterized by movement of phage and intragenomic rearrangements, with the slower transfer of stable loci distinguishing lineages.


July 7, 2019

Simultaneous sequencing of oxidized methylcytosines produced by TET/JBP dioxygenases in Coprinopsis cinerea.

TET/JBP enzymes oxidize 5-methylpyrimidines in DNA. In mammals, the oxidized methylcytosines (oxi-mCs) function as epigenetic marks and likely intermediates in DNA demethylation. Here we present a method based on diglucosylation of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) to simultaneously map 5hmC, 5-formylcytosine, and 5-carboxylcytosine at near-base-pair resolution. We have used the method to map the distribution of oxi-mC across the genome of Coprinopsis cinerea, a basidiomycete that encodes 47 TET/JBP paralogs in a previously unidentified class of DNA transposons. Like 5-methylcytosine residues from which they are derived, oxi-mC modifications are enriched at centromeres, TET/JBP transposons, and multicopy paralogous genes that are not expressed, but rarely mark genes whose expression changes between two developmental stages. Our study provides evidence for the emergence of an epigenetic regulatory system through recruitment of selfish elements in a eukaryotic lineage, and describes a method to map all three different species of oxi-mCs simultaneously.


July 7, 2019

Genomic mapping of phosphorothioates reveals partial modification of short consensus sequences.

Bacterial phosphorothioate (PT) DNA modifications are incorporated by Dnd proteins A-E and often function with DndF-H as a restriction-modification (R-M) system, as in Escherichia coli B7A. However, bacteria such as Vibrio cyclitrophicus FF75 lack dndF-H, which points to other PT functions. Here we report two novel, orthogonal technologies to map PTs across the genomes of B7A and FF75 with >90% agreement: single molecule, real-time sequencing and deep sequencing of iodine-induced cleavage at PT (ICDS). In B7A, we detect PT on both strands of GpsAAC/GpsTTC motifs, but with only 12% of 40,701 possible sites modified. In contrast, PT in FF75 occurs as a single-strand modification at CpsCA, again with only 14% of 160,541 sites modified. Single-molecule analysis indicates that modification could be partial at any particular genomic site even with active restriction by DndF-H, with direct interaction of modification proteins with GAAC/GTTC sites demonstrated with oligonucleotides. These results point to highly unusual target selection by PT-modification proteins and rule out known R-M mechanisms.


July 7, 2019

Complete genome determination and analysis of Acholeplasma oculi strain 19L, highlighting the loss of basic genetic features in the Acholeplasmataceae.

BACKGROUND: Acholeplasma oculi belongs to the Acholeplasmataceae family, comprising the genera Acholeplasma and ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma’. Acholeplasmas are ubiquitous saprophytic bacteria. Several isolates are derived from plants or animals, whereas phytoplasmas are characterised as intracellular parasitic pathogens of plant phloem and depend on insect vectors for their spread. The complete genome sequences for eight strains of this family have been resolved so far, all of which were determined depending on clone-based sequencing. RESULTS:The A. oculi strain 19L chromosome was sequenced using two independent approaches. The first approach comprised sequencing by synthesis (Illumina) in combination with Sanger sequencing, while single molecule real time sequencing (PacBio) was used in the second. The genome was determined to be 1,587,120bp in size. Sequencing by synthesis resulted in six large genome fragments, while the single molecule real time sequencing approach yielded one circular chromosome sequence. High-quality sequences were obtained by both strategies differing in six positions, which are interpreted as reliable variations present in the culture population. Our genome analysis revealed 1,471 protein-coding genes and highlighted the absence of the F1FO-type Na+ ATPase system and GroEL/ES chaperone. Comparison of the four available Acholeplasma sequences revealed a core-genome encoding 703 proteins and a pan-genome of 2,867 proteins. CONCLUSIONS:The application of two state-of-the-art sequencing technologies highlights the potential of single molecule real time sequencing for complete genome determination. Comparative genome analyses revealed that the process of losing particular basic genetic features during genome reduction occurs in both genera, as indicated for several phytoplasma strains and at least A. oculi. The loss of the F1FO-type Na+ ATPase system may separate Acholeplasmataceae from other Mollicutes, while the loss of those genes encoding the chaperone GroEL/ES is not a rare exception in this bacterial class.


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