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July 7, 2019

Whole-genome sequence of Filimonas lacunae, a bacterium of the family Chitinophagaceae characterized by marked colony growth under a high-CO2 atmosphere.

We report here the genome sequence of Filimonas lacunae, a bacterium of the family Chitinophagaceae characterized by high-CO2-dependent growth. The 7.81-Mb circular genome harbors many genes involved in carbohydrate degradation and related genetic regulation, suggesting the role of the bacterium as a carbohydrate degrader in diverse environments. Copyright © 2016 Shiratori-Takano et al.


July 7, 2019

Challenges, solutions, and quality metrics of personal genome assembly in advancing precision medicine.

Even though each of us shares more than 99% of the DNA sequences in our genome, there are millions of sequence codes or structure in small regions that differ between individuals, giving us different characteristics of appearance or responsiveness to medical treatments. Currently, genetic variants in diseased tissues, such as tumors, are uncovered by exploring the differences between the reference genome and the sequences detected in the diseased tissue. However, the public reference genome was derived with the DNA from multiple individuals. As a result of this, the reference genome is incomplete and may misrepresent the sequence variants of the general population. The more reliable solution is to compare sequences of diseased tissue with its own genome sequence derived from tissue in a normal state. As the price to sequence the human genome has dropped dramatically to around $1000, it shows a promising future of documenting the personal genome for every individual. However, de novo assembly of individual genomes at an affordable cost is still challenging. Thus, till now, only a few human genomes have been fully assembled. In this review, we introduce the history of human genome sequencing and the evolution of sequencing platforms, from Sanger sequencing to emerging “third generation sequencing” technologies. We present the currently available de novo assembly and post-assembly software packages for human genome assembly and their requirements for computational infrastructures. We recommend that a combined hybrid assembly with long and short reads would be a promising way to generate good quality human genome assemblies and specify parameters for the quality assessment of assembly outcomes. We provide a perspective view of the benefit of using personal genomes as references and suggestions for obtaining a quality personal genome. Finally, we discuss the usage of the personal genome in aiding vaccine design and development, monitoring host immune-response, tailoring drug therapy and detecting tumors. We believe the precision medicine would largely benefit from bioinformatics solutions, particularly for personal genome assembly.


July 7, 2019

Genomic characterization of the Atlantic cod sex-locus.

A variety of sex determination mechanisms can be observed in evolutionary divergent teleosts. Sex determination is genetic in Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), however the genomic location or size of its sex-locus is unknown. Here, we characterize the sex-locus of Atlantic cod using whole genome sequence (WGS) data of 227 wild-caught specimens. Analyzing more than 55 million polymorphic loci, we identify 166 loci that are associated with sex. These loci are located in six distinct regions on five different linkage groups (LG) in the genome. The largest of these regions, an approximately 55?Kb region on LG11, contains the majority of genotypes that segregate closely according to a XX-XY system. Genotypes in this region can be used genetically determine sex, whereas those in the other regions are inconsistently sex-linked. The identified region on LG11 and its surrounding genes have no clear sequence homology with genes or regulatory elements associated with sex-determination or differentiation in other species. The functionality of this sex-locus therefore remains unknown. The WGS strategy used here proved adequate for detecting the small regions associated with sex in this species. Our results highlight the evolutionary flexibility in genomic architecture underlying teleost sex-determination and allow practical applications to genetically sex Atlantic cod.


July 7, 2019

The two chromosomes of the mitochondrial genome of a sugarcane cultivar: assembly and recombination analysis using long PacBio reads.

Sugarcane accounts for a large portion of the worlds sugar production. Modern commercial cultivars are complex hybrids of S. officinarum and several other Saccharum species. Historical records identify New Guinea as the origin of S. officinarum and that a small number of plants originating from there were used to generate all modern commercial cultivars. The mitochondrial genome can be a useful way to identify the maternal origin of commercial cultivars. We have used the PacBio RSII to sequence and assemble the mitochondrial genome of a South East Asian commercial cultivar, known as Khon Kaen 3. The long read length of this sequencing technology allowed for the mitochondrial genome to be assembled into two distinct circular chromosomes with all repeat sequences spanned by individual reads. Comparison of five commercial hybrids, two S. officinarum and one S. spontaneum to our assembly reveals no structural rearrangements between our assembly, the commercial hybrids and an S. officinarum from New Guinea. The S. spontaneum, from India, and one sample of S. officinarum (unknown origin) are substantially rearranged and have a large number of homozygous variants. This supports the record that S. officinarum plants from New Guinea are the maternal source of all modern commercial hybrids.


July 7, 2019

The complete chloroplast genome sequence of the medicinal plant Swertia mussotii using the PacBio RS II platform.

Swertia mussotii is an important medicinal plant that has great economic and medicinal value and is found on the Qinghai Tibetan Plateau. The complete chloroplast (cp) genome of S. mussotii is 153,431 bp in size, with a pair of inverted repeat (IR) regions of 25,761 bp each that separate an large single-copy (LSC) region of 83,567 bp and an a small single-copy (SSC) region of 18,342 bp. The S. mussotii cp genome encodes 84 protein-coding genes, 37 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes, and eight ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes. The identity, number, and GC content of S. mussotii cp genes were similar to those in the genomes of other Gentianales species. Via analysis of the repeat structure, 11 forward repeats, eight palindromic repeats, and one reverse repeat were detected in the S. mussotii cp genome. There are 45 SSRs in the S. mussotii cp genome, the majority of which are mononucleotides found in all other Gentianales species. An entire cp genome comparison study of S. mussotii and two other species in Gentianaceae was conducted. The complete cp genome sequence provides intragenic information for the cp genetic engineering of this medicinal plant.


July 7, 2019

Vibrio natriegens as a fast-growing host for molecular biology.

A rapidly growing bacterial host would be desirable for a range of routine applications in molecular biology and biotechnology. The bacterium Vibrio natriegens has the fastest growth rate of any known organism, with a reported doubling time of <10 min. We report the development of genetic tools and methods to engineer V. natriegens and demonstrate the advantages of using these engineered strains in common biotech processes.


July 7, 2019

Whole genome sequencing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis SB24 isolated from Sabah, Malaysia.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) is the causative agent of tuberculosis (TB) that causes millions of death every year. We have sequenced the genome of M. tuberculosis isolated from cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of a patient diagnosed with tuberculous meningitis (TBM). The isolated strain was referred as M. tuberculosis SB24. Genomic DNA of the M. tuberculosis SB24 was extracted and subjected to whole genome sequencing using PacBio platform. The draft genome size of M. tuberculosis SB24 was determined to be 4,452,489 bp with a G + C content of 65.6%. The whole genome shotgun project has been deposited in NCBI SRA under the accession number SRP076503.


July 7, 2019

Genome sequence and annotation of Colletotrichum higginsianum, a causal agent of crucifer anthracnose disease.

Colletotrichum higginsianum is an ascomycete fungus causing anthracnose disease on numerous cultivated plants in the family Brassicaceae, as well as the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana We report an assembly of the nuclear genome and gene annotation of this pathogen, which was obtained using a combination of PacBio long-read sequencing and optical mapping. Copyright © 2016 Zampounis et al.


July 7, 2019

DBG2OLC: Efficient assembly of large genomes using long erroneous reads of the third generation sequencing technologies.

The highly anticipated transition from next generation sequencing (NGS) to third generation sequencing (3GS) has been difficult primarily due to high error rates and excessive sequencing cost. The high error rates make the assembly of long erroneous reads of large genomes challenging because existing software solutions are often overwhelmed by error correction tasks. Here we report a hybrid assembly approach that simultaneously utilizes NGS and 3GS data to address both issues. We gain advantages from three general and basic design principles: (i) Compact representation of the long reads leads to efficient alignments. (ii) Base-level errors can be skipped; structural errors need to be detected and corrected. (iii) Structurally correct 3GS reads are assembled and polished. In our implementation, preassembled NGS contigs are used to derive the compact representation of the long reads, motivating an algorithmic conversion from a de Bruijn graph to an overlap graph, the two major assembly paradigms. Moreover, since NGS and 3GS data can compensate for each other, our hybrid assembly approach reduces both of their sequencing requirements. Experiments show that our software is able to assemble mammalian-sized genomes orders of magnitude more quickly than existing methods without consuming a lot of memory, while saving about half of the sequencing cost.


July 7, 2019

New Delhi metallo-ß-lactamase-1-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae, Florida, USA(1).

New Delhi metallo-ß-lactamase (NDM)–producing Enterobacteriaceae have swiftly spread worldwide since an initial report in 2008 from a patient who had been transferred from India back home to Sweden (1). Epidemiologically, the global diffusion of NDM-1 producers has been associated with the Indian subcontinent and the Balkan region, which are considered the primary and secondary reservoirs of these pathogens, respectively (1). However, recent reports suggest that countries in the Middle East may constitute another potential reservoir for NDM-1 producers (1). More than 100 NDM-producing isolates have been reported in the United States, most of which were associated with recent travel from the Indian subcontinent (2,3). We report an NDM-1–producing Klebsiella pneumoniae strain that was recovered from a patient who had been transferred from Iran to a hospital in Florida, United States.


July 7, 2019

Complete genome sequence of Bacillus oceanisediminis 2691, a reservoir of heavy-metal resistance genes.

Ocean sediments are commonly subject to the pollution of various heavy metals. Intracellular heavy metal concentrations in marine microorganisms should be kept within allowable concentrations. Here, we report redundant heavy metal resistance related genes encoding heavy metal-sensing transcriptional regulators (i.e. cadC), heavy metal efflux pumps, and detoxifying enzymes in the complete genome sequence of Bacillus oceanisediminis 2691. By comparing CadC sequences of strain 2691 with those from other bacterial genomes, we demonstrated that each cadC gene located in the chromosome or plasmid of 2691 cells are similar to those of various near or distant microbes, which might shed light on evolutionary trajectories of redundant heavy metal resistance genes. In application aspects, these diverse heavy metal sensing genes can be harnessed as synthetic biological parts, modules, and devices for the development of heavy metal-specific biosensors. Heavy metal bioremediation technologies or platform cells can be also developed based on the marine genomic information of heavy metal resistance and/or detoxification genes in a bacterial isolate from ocean sediments. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.


July 7, 2019

Genomic insight into the host-endosymbiont relationship of Endozoicomonas montiporae CL-33(T) with its coral host.

The bacterial genus Endozoicomonas was commonly detected in healthy corals in many coral-associated bacteria studies in the past decade. Although, it is likely to be a core member of coral microbiota, little is known about its ecological roles. To decipher potential interactions between bacteria and their coral hosts, we sequenced and investigated the first culturable endozoicomonal bacterium from coral, the E. montiporae CL-33(T). Its genome had potential sign of ongoing genome erosion and gene exchange with its host. Testosterone degradation and type III secretion system are commonly present in Endozoicomonas and may have roles to recognize and deliver effectors to their hosts. Moreover, genes of eukaryotic ephrin ligand B2 are present in its genome; presumably, this bacterium could move into coral cells via endocytosis after binding to coral’s Eph receptors. In addition, 7,8-dihydro-8-oxoguanine triphosphatase and isocitrate lyase are possible type III secretion effectors that might help coral to prevent mitochondrial dysfunction and promote gluconeogenesis, especially under stress conditions. Based on all these findings, we inferred that E. montiporae was a facultative endosymbiont that can recognize, translocate, communicate and modulate its coral host.


July 7, 2019

Complete genome sequence of a Rhodococcus species isolated from the winter skate Leucoraja ocellata.

We report here a genome sequence for Rhodococcus sp. isolate UM008 isolated from the renal/interrenal tissue of the winter skate Leucoraja ocellata Genome sequence analysis suggests that Rhodococcus bacteria may act in a novel mutualistic relationship with their elasmobranch host, serving as biocatalysts in the steroidogenic pathway of 1a-hydroxycorticosterone. Copyright © 2016 Wiens et al.


July 7, 2019

Evidence for an opportunistic and endophytic lifestyle of the Bursaphelenchus xylophilus-associated bacteria Serratia marcescens PWN146 isolated from wilting Pinus pinaster.

Pine wilt disease (PWD) results from the interaction of three elements: the pathogenic nematode, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus; the insect-vector, Monochamus sp.; and the host tree, mostly Pinus species. Bacteria isolated from B. xylophilus may be a fourth element in this complex disease. However, the precise role of bacteria in this interaction is unclear as both plant-beneficial and as plant-pathogenic bacteria may be associated with PWD. Using whole genome sequencing and phenotypic characterization, we were able to investigate in more detail the genetic repertoire of Serratia marcescens PWN146, a bacterium associated with B. xylophilus. We show clear evidence that S. marcescens PWN146 is able to withstand and colonize the plant environment, without having any deleterious effects towards a susceptible host (Pinus thunbergii), B. xylophilus nor to the nematode model C. elegans. This bacterium is able to tolerate growth in presence of xenobiotic/organic compounds, and use phenylacetic acid as carbon source. Furthermore, we present a detailed list of S. marcescens PWN146 potentials to interfere with plant metabolism via hormonal pathways and/or nutritional acquisition, and to be competitive against other bacteria and/or fungi in terms of resource acquisition or production of antimicrobial compounds. Further investigation is required to understand the role of bacteria in PWD. We have now reinforced the theory that B. xylophilus-associated bacteria may have a plant origin.


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