WorldWideScience

Sample records for genome-wide nucleosome mapping

  1. Genome-wide nucleosome map and cytosine methylation levels of an ancient human genome

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    Pedersen, Jakob Skou; Valen, Eivind; Velazquez, Amhed Missael Vargas

    2014-01-01

    Epigenetic information is available from contemporary organisms, but is difficult to track back in evolutionary time. Here, we show that genome-wide epigenetic information can be gathered directly from next-generation sequence reads of DNA isolated from ancient remains. Using the genome sequence...... data generated from hair shafts of a 4000-yr-old Paleo-Eskimo belonging to the Saqqaq culture, we generate the first ancient nucleosome map coupled with a genome-wide survey of cytosine methylation levels. The validity of both nucleosome map and methylation levels were confirmed by the recovery...

  2. The DNA-encoded nucleosome organization of a eukaryotic genome.

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    Kaplan, Noam; Moore, Irene K; Fondufe-Mittendorf, Yvonne; Gossett, Andrea J; Tillo, Desiree; Field, Yair; LeProust, Emily M; Hughes, Timothy R; Lieb, Jason D; Widom, Jonathan; Segal, Eran

    2009-03-19

    Nucleosome organization is critical for gene regulation. In living cells this organization is determined by multiple factors, including the action of chromatin remodellers, competition with site-specific DNA-binding proteins, and the DNA sequence preferences of the nucleosomes themselves. However, it has been difficult to estimate the relative importance of each of these mechanisms in vivo, because in vivo nucleosome maps reflect the combined action of all influencing factors. Here we determine the importance of nucleosome DNA sequence preferences experimentally by measuring the genome-wide occupancy of nucleosomes assembled on purified yeast genomic DNA. The resulting map, in which nucleosome occupancy is governed only by the intrinsic sequence preferences of nucleosomes, is similar to in vivo nucleosome maps generated in three different growth conditions. In vitro, nucleosome depletion is evident at many transcription factor binding sites and around gene start and end sites, indicating that nucleosome depletion at these sites in vivo is partly encoded in the genome. We confirm these results with a micrococcal nuclease-independent experiment that measures the relative affinity of nucleosomes for approximately 40,000 double-stranded 150-base-pair oligonucleotides. Using our in vitro data, we devise a computational model of nucleosome sequence preferences that is significantly correlated with in vivo nucleosome occupancy in Caenorhabditis elegans. Our results indicate that the intrinsic DNA sequence preferences of nucleosomes have a central role in determining the organization of nucleosomes in vivo.

  3. DMS-Seq for In Vivo Genome-wide Mapping of Protein-DNA Interactions and Nucleosome Centers.

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    Umeyama, Taichi; Ito, Takashi

    2017-10-03

    Protein-DNA interactions provide the basis for chromatin structure and gene regulation. Comprehensive identification of protein-occupied sites is thus vital to an in-depth understanding of genome function. Dimethyl sulfate (DMS) is a chemical probe that has long been used to detect footprints of DNA-bound proteins in vitro and in vivo. Here, we describe a genomic footprinting method, dimethyl sulfate sequencing (DMS-seq), which exploits the cell-permeable nature of DMS to obviate the need for nuclear isolation. This feature makes DMS-seq simple in practice and removes the potential risk of protein re-localization during nuclear isolation. DMS-seq successfully detects transcription factors bound to cis-regulatory elements and non-canonical chromatin particles in nucleosome-free regions. Furthermore, an unexpected preference of DMS confers on DMS-seq a unique potential to directly detect nucleosome centers without using genetic manipulation. We expect that DMS-seq will serve as a characteristic method for genome-wide interrogation of in vivo protein-DNA interactions. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. Genome-wide maps of alkylation damage, repair, and mutagenesis in yeast reveal mechanisms of mutational heterogeneity.

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    Mao, Peng; Brown, Alexander J; Malc, Ewa P; Mieczkowski, Piotr A; Smerdon, Michael J; Roberts, Steven A; Wyrick, John J

    2017-10-01

    DNA base damage is an important contributor to genome instability, but how the formation and repair of these lesions is affected by the genomic landscape and contributes to mutagenesis is unknown. Here, we describe genome-wide maps of DNA base damage, repair, and mutagenesis at single nucleotide resolution in yeast treated with the alkylating agent methyl methanesulfonate (MMS). Analysis of these maps revealed that base excision repair (BER) of alkylation damage is significantly modulated by chromatin, with faster repair in nucleosome-depleted regions, and slower repair and higher mutation density within strongly positioned nucleosomes. Both the translational and rotational settings of lesions within nucleosomes significantly influence BER efficiency; moreover, this effect is asymmetric relative to the nucleosome dyad axis and is regulated by histone modifications. Our data also indicate that MMS-induced mutations at adenine nucleotides are significantly enriched on the nontranscribed strand (NTS) of yeast genes, particularly in BER-deficient strains, due to higher damage formation on the NTS and transcription-coupled repair of the transcribed strand (TS). These findings reveal the influence of chromatin on repair and mutagenesis of base lesions on a genome-wide scale and suggest a novel mechanism for transcription-associated mutation asymmetry, which is frequently observed in human cancers. © 2017 Mao et al.; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

  5. Genome-wide nucleosome occupancy and DNA methylation profiling of four human cell lines

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    Aaron L. Statham

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available DNA methylation and nucleosome positioning are two key mechanisms that contribute to the epigenetic control of gene expression. During carcinogenesis, the expression of many genes is altered alongside extensive changes in the epigenome, with repressed genes often being associated with local DNA hypermethylation and gain of nucleosomes at their promoters. However the spectrum of alterations that occur at distal regulatory regions has not been extensively studied. To address this we used Nucleosome Occupancy and Methylation sequencing (NOMe-seq to compare the genome-wide DNA methylation and nucleosome occupancy profiles between normal and cancer cell line models of the breast and prostate. Here we describe the bioinformatic pipeline and methods that we developed for the processing and analysis of the NOMe-seq data published by (Taberlay et al., 2014 [1] and deposited in the Gene Expression Omnibus with accession GSE57498.

  6. Genome-Wide Mapping Targets of the Metazoan Chromatin Remodeling Factor NURF Reveals Nucleosome Remodeling at Enhancers, Core Promoters and Gene Insulators.

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    So Yeon Kwon

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available NURF is a conserved higher eukaryotic ISWI-containing chromatin remodeling complex that catalyzes ATP-dependent nucleosome sliding. By sliding nucleosomes, NURF is able to alter chromatin dynamics to control transcription and genome organization. Previous biochemical and genetic analysis of the specificity-subunit of Drosophila NURF (Nurf301/Enhancer of Bithorax (E(bx has defined NURF as a critical regulator of homeotic, heat-shock and steroid-responsive gene transcription. It has been speculated that NURF controls pathway specific transcription by co-operating with sequence-specific transcription factors to remodel chromatin at dedicated enhancers. However, conclusive in vivo demonstration of this is lacking and precise regulatory elements targeted by NURF are poorly defined. To address this, we have generated a comprehensive map of in vivo NURF activity, using MNase-sequencing to determine at base pair resolution NURF target nucleosomes, and ChIP-sequencing to define sites of NURF recruitment. Our data show that, besides anticipated roles at enhancers, NURF interacts physically and functionally with the TRF2/DREF basal transcription factor to organize nucleosomes downstream of active promoters. Moreover, we detect NURF remodeling and recruitment at distal insulator sites, where NURF functionally interacts with and co-localizes with DREF and insulator proteins including CP190 to establish nucleosome-depleted domains. This insulator function of NURF is most apparent at subclasses of insulators that mark the boundaries of chromatin domains, where multiple insulator proteins co-associate. By visualizing the complete repertoire of in vivo NURF chromatin targets, our data provide new insights into how chromatin remodeling can control genome organization and regulatory interactions.

  7. Dynamic nucleosome organization at hox promoters during zebrafish embryogenesis.

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    Steven E Weicksel

    Full Text Available Nucleosome organization at promoter regions plays an important role in regulating gene activity. Genome-wide studies in yeast, flies, worms, mammalian embryonic stem cells and transformed cell lines have found well-positioned nucleosomes flanking a nucleosome depleted region (NDR at transcription start sites. This nucleosome arrangement depends on DNA sequence (cis-elements as well as DNA binding factors and ATP-dependent chromatin modifiers (trans-factors. However, little is understood about how the nascent embryonic genome positions nucleosomes during development. This is particularly intriguing since the embryonic genome must undergo a broad reprogramming event upon fusion of sperm and oocyte. Using four stages of early embryonic zebrafish development, we map nucleosome positions at the promoter region of 37 zebrafish hox genes. We find that nucleosome arrangement at the hox promoters is a progressive process that takes place over several stages. At stages immediately after fertilization, nucleosomes appear to be largely disordered at hox promoter regions. At stages after activation of the embryonic genome, nucleosomes are detectable at hox promoters, with positions becoming more uniform and more highly occupied. Since the genomic sequence is invariant during embryogenesis, this progressive change in nucleosome arrangement suggests that trans-factors play an important role in organizing nucleosomes during embryogenesis. Separating hox genes into expressed and non-expressed groups shows that expressed promoters have better positioned and occupied nucleosomes, as well as distinct NDRs, than non-expressed promoters. Finally, by blocking the retinoic acid-signaling pathway, we disrupt early hox gene transcription, but observe no effect on nucleosome positions, suggesting that active hox transcription is not a driving force behind the arrangement of nucleosomes at the promoters of hox genes during early development.

  8. Functional conservation of nucleosome formation selectively biases presumably neutral molecular variation in yeast genomes.

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    Babbitt, Gregory A; Cotter, C R

    2011-01-01

    One prominent pattern of mutational frequency, long appreciated in comparative genomics, is the bias of purine/pyrimidine conserving substitutions (transitions) over purine/pyrimidine altering substitutions (transversions). Traditionally, this transitional bias has been thought to be driven by the underlying rates of DNA mutation and/or repair. However, recent sequencing studies of mutation accumulation lines in model organisms demonstrate that substitutions generally do not accumulate at rates that would indicate a transitional bias. These observations have called into question a very basic assumption of molecular evolution; that naturally occurring patterns of molecular variation in noncoding regions accurately reflect the underlying processes of randomly accumulating neutral mutation in nuclear genomes. Here, in Saccharomyces yeasts, we report a very strong inverse association (r = -0.951, P < 0.004) between the genome-wide frequency of substitutions and their average energetic effect on nucleosome formation, as predicted by a structurally based energy model of DNA deformation around the nucleosome core. We find that transitions occurring at sites positioned nearest the nucleosome surface, which are believed to function most importantly in nucleosome formation, alter the deformation energy of DNA to the nucleosome core by only a fraction of the energy changes typical of most transversions. When we examined the same substitutions set against random background sequences as well as an existing study reporting substitutions arising in mutation accumulation lines of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we failed to find a similar relationship. These results support the idea that natural selection acting to functionally conserve chromatin organization may contribute significantly to genome-wide transitional bias, even in noncoding regions. Because nucleosome core structure is highly conserved across eukaryotes, our observations may also help to further explain locally elevated

  9. Genome-wide mapping of DNA strand breaks.

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    Frédéric Leduc

    Full Text Available Determination of cellular DNA damage has so far been limited to global assessment of genome integrity whereas nucleotide-level mapping has been restricted to specific loci by the use of specific primers. Therefore, only limited DNA sequences can be studied and novel regions of genomic instability can hardly be discovered. Using a well-characterized yeast model, we describe a straightforward strategy to map genome-wide DNA strand breaks without compromising nucleotide-level resolution. This technique, termed "damaged DNA immunoprecipitation" (dDIP, uses immunoprecipitation and the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP-biotin end-labeling (TUNEL to capture DNA at break sites. When used in combination with microarray or next-generation sequencing technologies, dDIP will allow researchers to map genome-wide DNA strand breaks as well as other types of DNA damage and to establish a clear profiling of altered genes and/or intergenic sequences in various experimental conditions. This mapping technique could find several applications for instance in the study of aging, genotoxic drug screening, cancer, meiosis, radiation and oxidative DNA damage.

  10. Genome-wide function of H2B ubiquitylation in promoter and genic regions.

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    Batta, Kiran; Zhang, Zhenhai; Yen, Kuangyu; Goffman, David B; Pugh, B Franklin

    2011-11-01

    Nucleosomal organization in and around genes may contribute substantially to transcriptional regulation. The contribution of histone modifications to genome-wide nucleosomal organization has not been systematically evaluated. In the present study, we examine the role of H2BK123 ubiquitylation, a key regulator of several histone modifications, on nucleosomal organization at promoter, genic, and transcription termination regions in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Using high-resolution MNase chromatin immunoprecipitation and sequencing (ChIP-seq), we map nucleosome positioning and occupancy in mutants of the H2BK123 ubiquitylation pathway. We found that H2B ubiquitylation-mediated nucleosome formation and/or stability inhibits the assembly of the transcription machinery at normally quiescent promoters, whereas ubiquitylation within highly active gene bodies promotes transcription elongation. This regulation does not proceed through ubiquitylation-regulated histone marks at H3K4, K36, and K79. Our findings suggest that mechanistically similar functions of H2B ubiquitylation (nucleosome assembly) elicit different functional outcomes on genes depending on its positional context in promoters (repressive) versus transcribed regions (activating).

  11. Links between DNA methylation and nucleosome occupancy in the human genome.

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    Collings, Clayton K; Anderson, John N

    2017-01-01

    DNA methylation is an epigenetic modification that is enriched in heterochromatin but depleted at active promoters and enhancers. However, the debate on whether or not DNA methylation is a reliable indicator of high nucleosome occupancy has not been settled. For example, the methylation levels of DNA flanking CTCF sites are higher in linker DNA than in nucleosomal DNA, while other studies have shown that the nucleosome core is the preferred site of methylation. In this study, we make progress toward understanding these conflicting phenomena by implementing a bioinformatics approach that combines MNase-seq and NOMe-seq data and by comprehensively profiling DNA methylation and nucleosome occupancy throughout the human genome. The results demonstrated that increasing methylated CpG density is correlated with nucleosome occupancy in the total genome and within nearly all subgenomic regions. Features with elevated methylated CpG density such as exons, SINE-Alu sequences, H3K36-trimethylated peaks, and methylated CpG islands are among the highest nucleosome occupied elements in the genome, while some of the lowest occupancies are displayed by unmethylated CpG islands and unmethylated transcription factor binding sites. Additionally, outside of CpG islands, the density of CpGs within nucleosomes was shown to be important for the nucleosomal location of DNA methylation with low CpG frequencies favoring linker methylation and high CpG frequencies favoring core particle methylation. Prominent exceptions to the correlations between methylated CpG density and nucleosome occupancy include CpG islands marked by H3K27me3 and CpG-poor heterochromatin marked by H3K9me3, and these modifications, along with DNA methylation, distinguish the major silencing mechanisms of the human epigenome. Thus, the relationship between DNA methylation and nucleosome occupancy is influenced by the density of methylated CpG dinucleotides and by other epigenomic components in chromatin.

  12. Nucleosome Organization in Human Embryonic Stem Cells.

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    Puya G Yazdi

    Full Text Available The fundamental repeating unit of eukaryotic chromatin is the nucleosome. Besides being involved in packaging DNA, nucleosome organization plays an important role in transcriptional regulation and cellular identity. Currently, there is much debate about the major determinants of the nucleosome architecture of a genome and its significance with little being known about its role in stem cells. To address these questions, we performed ultra-deep sequencing of nucleosomal DNA in two human embryonic stem cell lines and integrated our data with numerous epigenomic maps. Our analyses have revealed that the genome is a determinant of nucleosome organization with transcriptionally inactive regions characterized by a "ground state" of nucleosome profiles driven by underlying DNA sequences. DNA sequence preferences are associated with heterogeneous chromatin organization around transcription start sites. Transcription, histone modifications, and DNA methylation alter this "ground state" by having distinct effects on both nucleosome positioning and occupancy. As the transcriptional rate increases, nucleosomes become better positioned. Exons transcribed and included in the final spliced mRNA have distinct nucleosome profiles in comparison to exons not included at exon-exon junctions. Genes marked by the active modification H3K4m3 are characterized by lower nucleosome occupancy before the transcription start site compared to genes marked by the inactive modification H3K27m3, while bivalent domains, genes associated with both marks, lie exactly in the middle. Combinatorial patterns of epigenetic marks (chromatin states are associated with unique nucleosome profiles. Nucleosome organization varies around transcription factor binding in enhancers versus promoters. DNA methylation is associated with increasing nucleosome occupancy and different types of methylations have distinct location preferences within the nucleosome core particle. Finally, computational

  13. nuMap: A Web Platform for Accurate Prediction of Nucleosome Positioning

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    Bader A. Alharbi

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Nucleosome positioning is critical for gene expression and of major biological interest. The high cost of experimentally mapping nucleosomal arrangement signifies the need for computational approaches to predict nucleosome positions at high resolution. Here, we present a web-based application to fulfill this need by implementing two models, YR and W/S schemes, for the translational and rotational positioning of nucleosomes, respectively. Our methods are based on sequence-dependent anisotropic bending that dictates how DNA is wrapped around a histone octamer. This application allows users to specify a number of options such as schemes and parameters for threading calculation and provides multiple layout formats. The nuMap is implemented in Java/Perl/MySQL and is freely available for public use at http://numap.rit.edu. The user manual, implementation notes, description of the methodology and examples are available at the site.

  14. G+C content dominates intrinsic nucleosome occupancy

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    Hughes Timothy R

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The relative preference of nucleosomes to form on individual DNA sequences plays a major role in genome packaging. A wide variety of DNA sequence features are believed to influence nucleosome formation, including periodic dinucleotide signals, poly-A stretches and other short motifs, and sequence properties that influence DNA structure, including base content. It was recently shown by Kaplan et al. that a probabilistic model using composition of all 5-mers within a nucleosome-sized tiling window accurately predicts intrinsic nucleosome occupancy across an entire genome in vitro. However, the model is complicated, and it is not clear which specific DNA sequence properties are most important for intrinsic nucleosome-forming preferences. Results We find that a simple linear combination of only 14 simple DNA sequence attributes (G+C content, two transformations of dinucleotide composition, and the frequency of eleven 4-bp sequences explains nucleosome occupancy in vitro and in vivo in a manner comparable to the Kaplan model. G+C content and frequency of AAAA are the most important features. G+C content is dominant, alone explaining ~50% of the variation in nucleosome occupancy in vitro. Conclusions Our findings provide a dramatically simplified means to predict and understand intrinsic nucleosome occupancy. G+C content may dominate because it both reduces frequency of poly-A-like stretches and correlates with many other DNA structural characteristics. Since G+C content is enriched or depleted at many types of features in diverse eukaryotic genomes, our results suggest that variation in nucleotide composition may have a widespread and direct influence on chromatin structure.

  15. nuMap: a web platform for accurate prediction of nucleosome positioning.

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    Alharbi, Bader A; Alshammari, Thamir H; Felton, Nathan L; Zhurkin, Victor B; Cui, Feng

    2014-10-01

    Nucleosome positioning is critical for gene expression and of major biological interest. The high cost of experimentally mapping nucleosomal arrangement signifies the need for computational approaches to predict nucleosome positions at high resolution. Here, we present a web-based application to fulfill this need by implementing two models, YR and W/S schemes, for the translational and rotational positioning of nucleosomes, respectively. Our methods are based on sequence-dependent anisotropic bending that dictates how DNA is wrapped around a histone octamer. This application allows users to specify a number of options such as schemes and parameters for threading calculation and provides multiple layout formats. The nuMap is implemented in Java/Perl/MySQL and is freely available for public use at http://numap.rit.edu. The user manual, implementation notes, description of the methodology and examples are available at the site. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Production and hosting by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  16. Baculoviruses and nucleosome management

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Volkman, Loy E.

    2015-01-01

    Negatively-supercoiled-ds DNA molecules, including the genomes of baculoviruses, spontaneously wrap around cores of histones to form nucleosomes when present within eukaryotic nuclei. Hence, nucleosome management should be essential for baculovirus genome replication and temporal regulation of transcription, but this has not been documented. Nucleosome mobilization is the dominion of ATP-dependent chromatin-remodeling complexes. SWI/SNF and INO80, two of the best-studied complexes, as well as chromatin modifier TIP60, all contain actin as a subunit. Retrospective analysis of results of AcMNPV time course experiments wherein actin polymerization was blocked by cytochalasin D drug treatment implicate actin-containing chromatin modifying complexes in decatenating baculovirus genomes, shutting down host transcription, and regulating late and very late phases of viral transcription. Moreover, virus-mediated nuclear localization of actin early during infection may contribute to nucleosome management. - Highlights: • Baculoviruses have negatively-supercoiled, circular ds DNA. • Negatively-supercoiled DNA spontaneously forms nucleosomes in the nucleus. • Nucleosomes must be mobilized for replication and transcription to proceed. • Actin-containing chromatin modifiers participate in baculovirus replication

  17. Baculoviruses and nucleosome management

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Volkman, Loy E., E-mail: lvolkman@berkeley.edu

    2015-02-15

    Negatively-supercoiled-ds DNA molecules, including the genomes of baculoviruses, spontaneously wrap around cores of histones to form nucleosomes when present within eukaryotic nuclei. Hence, nucleosome management should be essential for baculovirus genome replication and temporal regulation of transcription, but this has not been documented. Nucleosome mobilization is the dominion of ATP-dependent chromatin-remodeling complexes. SWI/SNF and INO80, two of the best-studied complexes, as well as chromatin modifier TIP60, all contain actin as a subunit. Retrospective analysis of results of AcMNPV time course experiments wherein actin polymerization was blocked by cytochalasin D drug treatment implicate actin-containing chromatin modifying complexes in decatenating baculovirus genomes, shutting down host transcription, and regulating late and very late phases of viral transcription. Moreover, virus-mediated nuclear localization of actin early during infection may contribute to nucleosome management. - Highlights: • Baculoviruses have negatively-supercoiled, circular ds DNA. • Negatively-supercoiled DNA spontaneously forms nucleosomes in the nucleus. • Nucleosomes must be mobilized for replication and transcription to proceed. • Actin-containing chromatin modifiers participate in baculovirus replication.

  18. Multiple distinct stimuli increase measured nucleosome occupancy around human promoters.

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    Chuong D Pham

    Full Text Available Nucleosomes can block access to transcription factors. Thus the precise localization of nucleosomes relative to transcription start sites and other factor binding sites is expected to be a critical component of transcriptional regulation. Recently developed microarray approaches have allowed the rapid mapping of nucleosome positions over hundreds of kilobases (kb of human genomic DNA, although these approaches have not yet been widely used to measure chromatin changes associated with changes in transcription. Here, we use custom tiling microarrays to reveal changes in nucleosome positions and abundance that occur when hormone-bound glucocorticoid receptor (GR binds to sites near target gene promoters in human osteosarcoma cells. The most striking change is an increase in measured nucleosome occupancy at sites spanning ∼1 kb upstream and downstream of transcription start sites, which occurs one hour after addition of hormone, but is lost at 4 hours. Unexpectedly, this increase was seen both on GR-regulated and GR-non-regulated genes. In addition, the human SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling factor (a GR co-activator was found to be important for increased occupancy upon hormone treatment and also for low nucleosome occupancy without hormone. Most surprisingly, similar increases in nucleosome occupancy were also seen on both regulated and non-regulated promoters during differentiation of human myeloid leukemia cells and upon activation of human CD4+ T-cells. These results indicate that dramatic changes in chromatin structure over ∼2 kb of human promoters may occur genomewide and in response to a variety of stimuli, and suggest novel models for transcriptional regulation.

  19. Nucleosome-coupled expression differences in closely-related species

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    Gebbia Marinella

    2011-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Genome-wide nucleosome occupancy is negatively related to the average level of transcription factor motif binding based on studies in yeast and several other model organisms. The degree to which nucleosome-motif interactions relate to phenotypic changes across species is, however, unknown. Results We address this challenge by generating nucleosome positioning and cell cycle expression data for Saccharomyces bayanus and show that differences in nucleosome occupancy reflect cell cycle expression divergence between two yeast species, S. bayanus and S. cerevisiae. Specifically, genes with nucleosome-depleted MBP1 motifs upstream of their coding sequence show periodic expression during the cell cycle, whereas genes with nucleosome-shielded motifs do not. In addition, conserved cell cycle regulatory motifs across these two species are more nucleosome-depleted compared to those that are not conserved, suggesting that the degree of conservation of regulatory sites varies, and is reflected by nucleosome occupancy patterns. Finally, many changes in cell cycle gene expression patterns across species can be correlated to changes in nucleosome occupancy on motifs (rather than to the presence or absence of motifs. Conclusions Our observations suggest that alteration of nucleosome occupancy is a previously uncharacterized feature related to the divergence of cell cycle expression between species.

  20. Sequence periodicity in nucleosomal DNA and intrinsic curvature.

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    Nair, T Murlidharan

    2010-05-17

    Most eukaryotic DNA contained in the nucleus is packaged by wrapping DNA around histone octamers. Histones are ubiquitous and bind most regions of chromosomal DNA. In order to achieve smooth wrapping of the DNA around the histone octamer, the DNA duplex should be able to deform and should possess intrinsic curvature. The deformability of DNA is a result of the non-parallelness of base pair stacks. The stacking interaction between base pairs is sequence dependent. The higher the stacking energy the more rigid the DNA helix, thus it is natural to expect that sequences that are involved in wrapping around the histone octamer should be unstacked and possess intrinsic curvature. Intrinsic curvature has been shown to be dictated by the periodic recurrence of certain dinucleotides. Several genome-wide studies directed towards mapping of nucleosome positions have revealed periodicity associated with certain stretches of sequences. In the current study, these sequences have been analyzed with a view to understand their sequence-dependent structures. Higher order DNA structures and the distribution of molecular bend loci associated with 146 base nucleosome core DNA sequence from C. elegans and chicken have been analyzed using the theoretical model for DNA curvature. The curvature dispersion calculated by cyclically permuting the sequences revealed that the molecular bend loci were delocalized throughout the nucleosome core region and had varying degrees of intrinsic curvature. The higher order structures associated with nucleosomes of C.elegans and chicken calculated from the sequences revealed heterogeneity with respect to the deviation of the DNA axis. The results points to the possibility of context dependent curvature of varying degrees to be associated with nucleosomal DNA.

  1. Nucleosome organizations in induced pluripotent stem cells reprogrammed from somatic cells belonging to three different germ layers.

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    Tao, Yu; Zheng, Weisheng; Jiang, Yonghua; Ding, Guitao; Hou, Xinfeng; Tang, Yitao; Li, Yueying; Gao, Shuai; Chang, Gang; Zhang, Xiaobai; Liu, Wenqiang; Kou, Xiaochen; Wang, Hong; Jiang, Cizhong; Gao, Shaorong

    2014-12-21

    Nucleosome organization determines the chromatin state, which in turn controls gene expression or silencing. Nucleosome remodeling occurs during somatic cell reprogramming, but it is still unclear to what degree the re-established nucleosome organization of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) resembles embryonic stem cells (ESCs), and whether the iPSCs inherit some residual gene expression from the parental fibroblast cells. We generated genome-wide nucleosome maps in mouse ESCs and in iPSCs reprogrammed from somatic cells belonging to three different germ layers using a secondary reprogramming system. Pairwise comparisons showed that the nucleosome organizations in the iPSCs, regardless of the iPSCs' tissue of origin, were nearly identical to the ESCs, but distinct from mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEF). There is a canonical nucleosome arrangement of -1, nucleosome depletion region, +1, +2, +3, and so on nucleosomes around the transcription start sites of active genes whereas only a nucleosome occupies silent transcriptional units. Transcription factor binding sites possessed characteristic nucleosomal architecture, such that their access was governed by the rotational and translational settings of the nucleosome. Interestingly, the tissue-specific genes were highly expressed only in the parental somatic cells of the corresponding iPS cell line before reprogramming, but had a similar expression level in all the resultant iPSCs and ESCs. The re-established nucleosome landscape during nuclear reprogramming provides a conserved setting for accessibility of DNA sequences in mouse pluripotent stem cells. No persistent residual expression program or nucleosome positioning of the parental somatic cells that reflected their tissue of origin was passed on to the resulting mouse iPSCs.

  2. Comparison of HapMap and 1000 Genomes Reference Panels in a Large-Scale Genome-Wide Association Study

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    de Vries, Paul S; Sabater-Lleal, Maria; Chasman, Daniel I

    2017-01-01

    An increasing number of genome-wide association (GWA) studies are now using the higher resolution 1000 Genomes Project reference panel (1000G) for imputation, with the expectation that 1000G imputation will lead to the discovery of additional associated loci when compared to HapMap imputation. In...

  3. Exploring the Link between Nucleosome Occupancy and DNA Methylation

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    Cecilia Lövkvist

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Near promoters, both nucleosomes and CpG sites form characteristic spatial patterns. Previously, nucleosome depleted regions were observed upstream of transcription start sites and nucleosome occupancy was reported to correlate both with CpG density and the level of CpG methylation. Several studies imply a causal link where CpG methylation might induce nucleosome formation, whereas others argue the opposite, i.e., that nucleosome occupancy might influence CpG methylation. Correlations are indeed evident between nucleosomes, CpG density and CpG methylation—at least near promoter sites. It is however less established whether there is an immediate causal relation between nucleosome occupancy and the presence of CpG sites—or if nucleosome occupancy could be influenced by other factors. In this work, we test for such causality in human genomes by analyzing the three quantities both near and away from promoter sites. For data from the human genome we compare promoter regions with given CpG densities with genomic regions without promoters but of similar CpG densities. We find the observed correlation between nucleosome occupancy and CpG density, respectively CpG methylation, to be specific to promoter regions. In other regions along the genome nucleosome occupancy is statistically independent of the positioning of CpGs or their methylation levels. Anti-correlation between CpG density and methylation level is however similarly strong in both regions. On promoters, nucleosome occupancy is more strongly affected by the level of gene expression than CpG density or CpG methylation—calling into question any direct causal relation between nucleosome occupancy and CpG organization. Rather, our results suggest that for organisms with cytosine methylation nucleosome occupancy might be primarily linked to gene expression, with no strong impact on methylation.

  4. A species-specific nucleosomal signature defines a periodic distribution of amino acids in proteins.

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    Quintales, Luis; Soriano, Ignacio; Vázquez, Enrique; Segurado, Mónica; Antequera, Francisco

    2015-04-01

    Nucleosomes are the basic structural units of chromatin. Most of the yeast genome is organized in a pattern of positioned nucleosomes that is stably maintained under a wide range of physiological conditions. In this work, we have searched for sequence determinants associated with positioned nucleosomes in four species of fission and budding yeasts. We show that mononucleosomal DNA follows a highly structured base composition pattern, which differs among species despite the high degree of histone conservation. These nucleosomal signatures are present in transcribed and non-transcribed regions across the genome. In the case of open reading frames, they correctly predict the relative distribution of codons on mononucleosomal DNA, and they also determine a periodicity in the average distribution of amino acids along the proteins. These results establish a direct and species-specific connection between the position of each codon around the histone octamer and protein composition.

  5. Comparison of HapMap and 1000 Genomes Reference Panels in a Large-Scale Genome-Wide Association Study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paul S de Vries

    Full Text Available An increasing number of genome-wide association (GWA studies are now using the higher resolution 1000 Genomes Project reference panel (1000G for imputation, with the expectation that 1000G imputation will lead to the discovery of additional associated loci when compared to HapMap imputation. In order to assess the improvement of 1000G over HapMap imputation in identifying associated loci, we compared the results of GWA studies of circulating fibrinogen based on the two reference panels. Using both HapMap and 1000G imputation we performed a meta-analysis of 22 studies comprising the same 91,953 individuals. We identified six additional signals using 1000G imputation, while 29 loci were associated using both HapMap and 1000G imputation. One locus identified using HapMap imputation was not significant using 1000G imputation. The genome-wide significance threshold of 5×10-8 is based on the number of independent statistical tests using HapMap imputation, and 1000G imputation may lead to further independent tests that should be corrected for. When using a stricter Bonferroni correction for the 1000G GWA study (P-value < 2.5×10-8, the number of loci significant only using HapMap imputation increased to 4 while the number of loci significant only using 1000G decreased to 5. In conclusion, 1000G imputation enabled the identification of 20% more loci than HapMap imputation, although the advantage of 1000G imputation became less clear when a stricter Bonferroni correction was used. More generally, our results provide insights that are applicable to the implementation of other dense reference panels that are under development.

  6. GLIDERS - A web-based search engine for genome-wide linkage disequilibrium between HapMap SNPs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Broxholme John

    2009-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background A number of tools for the examination of linkage disequilibrium (LD patterns between nearby alleles exist, but none are available for quickly and easily investigating LD at longer ranges (>500 kb. We have developed a web-based query tool (GLIDERS: Genome-wide LInkage DisEquilibrium Repository and Search engine that enables the retrieval of pairwise associations with r2 ≥ 0.3 across the human genome for any SNP genotyped within HapMap phase 2 and 3, regardless of distance between the markers. Description GLIDERS is an easy to use web tool that only requires the user to enter rs numbers of SNPs they want to retrieve genome-wide LD for (both nearby and long-range. The intuitive web interface handles both manual entry of SNP IDs as well as allowing users to upload files of SNP IDs. The user can limit the resulting inter SNP associations with easy to use menu options. These include MAF limit (5-45%, distance limits between SNPs (minimum and maximum, r2 (0.3 to 1, HapMap population sample (CEU, YRI and JPT+CHB combined and HapMap build/release. All resulting genome-wide inter-SNP associations are displayed on a single output page, which has a link to a downloadable tab delimited text file. Conclusion GLIDERS is a quick and easy way to retrieve genome-wide inter-SNP associations and to explore LD patterns for any number of SNPs of interest. GLIDERS can be useful in identifying SNPs with long-range LD. This can highlight mis-mapping or other potential association signal localisation problems.

  7. Physical properties of naked DNA influence nucleosome positioning and correlate with transcription start and termination sites in yeast

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Soler-López Montserrat

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background In eukaryotic organisms, DNA is packaged into chromatin structure, where most of DNA is wrapped into nucleosomes. DNA compaction and nucleosome positioning have clear functional implications, since they modulate the accessibility of genomic regions to regulatory proteins. Despite the intensive research effort focused in this area, the rules defining nucleosome positioning and the location of DNA regulatory regions still remain elusive. Results Naked (histone-free and nucleosomal DNA from yeast were digested by microccocal nuclease (MNase and sequenced genome-wide. MNase cutting preferences were determined for both naked and nucleosomal DNAs. Integration of their sequencing profiles with DNA conformational descriptors derived from atomistic molecular dynamic simulations enabled us to extract the physical properties of DNA on a genomic scale and to correlate them with chromatin structure and gene regulation. The local structure of DNA around regulatory regions was found to be unusually flexible and to display a unique pattern of nucleosome positioning. Ab initio physical descriptors derived from molecular dynamics were used to develop a computational method that accurately predicts nucleosome enriched and depleted regions. Conclusions Our experimental and computational analyses jointly demonstrate a clear correlation between sequence-dependent physical properties of naked DNA and regulatory signals in the chromatin structure. These results demonstrate that nucleosome positioning around TSS (Transcription Start Site and TTS (Transcription Termination Site (at least in yeast is strongly dependent on DNA physical properties, which can define a basal regulatory mechanism of gene expression.

  8. Different nucleosomal architectures at early and late replicating origins in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soriano, Ignacio; Morafraile, Esther C; Vázquez, Enrique; Antequera, Francisco; Segurado, Mónica

    2014-09-13

    Eukaryotic genomes are replicated during S phase according to a temporal program. Several determinants control the timing of origin firing, including the chromatin environment and epigenetic modifications. However, how chromatin structure influences the timing of the activation of specific origins is still poorly understood. By performing high-resolution analysis of genome-wide nucleosome positioning we have identified different chromatin architectures at early and late replication origins. These different patterns are already established in G1 and are tightly correlated with the organization of adjacent transcription units. Moreover, specific early and late nucleosomal patterns are fixed robustly, even in rpd3 mutants in which histone acetylation and origin timing have been significantly altered. Nevertheless, higher histone acetylation levels correlate with the local modulation of chromatin structure, leading to increased origin accessibility. In addition, we conducted parallel analyses of replication and nucleosome dynamics that revealed that chromatin structure at origins is modulated during origin activation. Our results show that early and late replication origins present distinctive nucleosomal configurations, which are preferentially associated to different genomic regions. Our data also reveal that origin structure is dynamic and can be locally modulated by histone deacetylation, as well as by origin activation. These data offer novel insight into the contribution of chromatin structure to origin selection and firing in budding yeast.

  9. Role of nucleosome remodeling in neurodevelopmental and intellectual disability disorders

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alberto J Lopez

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available It is becoming increasingly important to understand how epigenetic mechanisms control gene expression during neurodevelopment. Two epigenetic mechanisms that have received considerable attention are DNA methylation and histone acetylation. Human exome sequencing and genome-wide association studies have linked several neurobiological disorders to genes whose products actively regulate DNA methylation and histone acetylation. More recently, a third major epigenetic mechanism, nucleosome remodeling, has been implicated in human developmental and intellectual disability disorders. Nucleosome remodeling is driven primarily through nucleosome remodeling complexes with specialized ATP-dependent enzymes. These enzymes directly interact with DNA or chromatin structure, as well as histone subunits, to restructure the shape and organization of nucleosome positioning to ultimately regulate gene expression. Of particular interest is the neuron-specific Brg1/hBrm Associated Factor (nBAF complex. Mutations in nBAF subunit genes have so far been linked to Coffin-Siris syndrome, Nicolaides-Baraitser syndrome, schizophrenia, and Autism Spectrum Disorder. Together, these human developmental and intellectual disability disorders are powerful examples of the impact of epigenetic modulation on gene expression. This review focuses on the new and emerging role of nucleosome remodeling in neurodevelopmental and intellectual disability disorders and whether nucleosome remodeling affects gene expression required for cognition independently of its role in regulating gene expression required for development.

  10. Role of nucleosome remodeling in neurodevelopmental and intellectual disability disorders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    López, Alberto J; Wood, Marcelo A

    2015-01-01

    It is becoming increasingly important to understand how epigenetic mechanisms control gene expression during neurodevelopment. Two epigenetic mechanisms that have received considerable attention are DNA methylation and histone acetylation. Human exome sequencing and genome-wide association studies have linked several neurobiological disorders to genes whose products actively regulate DNA methylation and histone acetylation. More recently, a third major epigenetic mechanism, nucleosome remodeling, has been implicated in human developmental and intellectual disability (ID) disorders. Nucleosome remodeling is driven primarily through nucleosome remodeling complexes with specialized ATP-dependent enzymes. These enzymes directly interact with DNA or chromatin structure, as well as histone subunits, to restructure the shape and organization of nucleosome positioning to ultimately regulate gene expression. Of particular interest is the neuron-specific Brg1/hBrm Associated Factor (nBAF) complex. Mutations in nBAF subunit genes have so far been linked to Coffin-Siris syndrome (CSS), Nicolaides-Baraitser syndrome (NBS), schizophrenia, and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Together, these human developmental and ID disorders are powerful examples of the impact of epigenetic modulation on gene expression. This review focuses on the new and emerging role of nucleosome remodeling in neurodevelopmental and ID disorders and whether nucleosome remodeling affects gene expression required for cognition independently of its role in regulating gene expression required for development.

  11. Genome-wide mapping of autonomous promoter activity in human cells.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Arensbergen, Joris; FitzPatrick, Vincent D; de Haas, Marcel; Pagie, Ludo; Sluimer, Jasper; Bussemaker, Harmen J; van Steensel, Bas

    2017-02-01

    Previous methods to systematically characterize sequence-intrinsic activity of promoters have been limited by relatively low throughput and the length of the sequences that could be tested. Here we present 'survey of regulatory elements' (SuRE), a method that assays more than 10 8 DNA fragments, each 0.2-2 kb in size, for their ability to drive transcription autonomously. In SuRE, a plasmid library of random genomic fragments upstream of a 20-bp barcode is constructed, and decoded by paired-end sequencing. This library is used to transfect cells, and barcodes in transcribed RNA are quantified by high-throughput sequencing. When applied to the human genome, we achieve 55-fold genome coverage, allowing us to map autonomous promoter activity genome-wide in K562 cells. By computational modeling we delineate subregions within promoters that are relevant for their activity. We show that antisense promoter transcription is generally dependent on the sense core promoter sequences, and that most enhancers and several families of repetitive elements act as autonomous transcription initiation sites.

  12. Mapping the sensory perception of apple using descriptive sensory evaluation in a genome wide association study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amyotte, Beatrice; Bowen, Amy J; Banks, Travis; Rajcan, Istvan; Somers, Daryl J

    2017-01-01

    Breeding apples is a long-term endeavour and it is imperative that new cultivars are selected to have outstanding consumer appeal. This study has taken the approach of merging sensory science with genome wide association analyses in order to map the human perception of apple flavour and texture onto the apple genome. The goal was to identify genomic associations that could be used in breeding apples for improved fruit quality. A collection of 85 apple cultivars was examined over two years through descriptive sensory evaluation by a trained sensory panel. The trained sensory panel scored randomized sliced samples of each apple cultivar for seventeen taste, flavour and texture attributes using controlled sensory evaluation practices. In addition, the apple collection was subjected to genotyping by sequencing for marker discovery. A genome wide association analysis suggested significant genomic associations for several sensory traits including juiciness, crispness, mealiness and fresh green apple flavour. The findings include previously unreported genomic regions that could be used in apple breeding and suggest that similar sensory association mapping methods could be applied in other plants.

  13. Mapping the sensory perception of apple using descriptive sensory evaluation in a genome wide association study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amyotte, Beatrice; Bowen, Amy J.; Banks, Travis; Rajcan, Istvan; Somers, Daryl J.

    2017-01-01

    Breeding apples is a long-term endeavour and it is imperative that new cultivars are selected to have outstanding consumer appeal. This study has taken the approach of merging sensory science with genome wide association analyses in order to map the human perception of apple flavour and texture onto the apple genome. The goal was to identify genomic associations that could be used in breeding apples for improved fruit quality. A collection of 85 apple cultivars was examined over two years through descriptive sensory evaluation by a trained sensory panel. The trained sensory panel scored randomized sliced samples of each apple cultivar for seventeen taste, flavour and texture attributes using controlled sensory evaluation practices. In addition, the apple collection was subjected to genotyping by sequencing for marker discovery. A genome wide association analysis suggested significant genomic associations for several sensory traits including juiciness, crispness, mealiness and fresh green apple flavour. The findings include previously unreported genomic regions that could be used in apple breeding and suggest that similar sensory association mapping methods could be applied in other plants. PMID:28231290

  14. Genome-wide SNP identification, linkage map construction and QTL mapping for seed mineral concentrations and contents in pea (Pisum sativum L.).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Yu; Coyne, Clarice J; Grusak, Michael A; Mazourek, Michael; Cheng, Peng; Main, Dorrie; McGee, Rebecca J

    2017-02-13

    Marker-assisted breeding is now routinely used in major crops to facilitate more efficient cultivar improvement. This has been significantly enabled by the use of next-generation sequencing technology to identify loci and markers associated with traits of interest. While rich in a range of nutritional components, such as protein, mineral nutrients, carbohydrates and several vitamins, pea (Pisum sativum L.), one of the oldest domesticated crops in the world, remains behind many other crops in the availability of genomic and genetic resources. To further improve mineral nutrient levels in pea seeds requires the development of genome-wide tools. The objectives of this research were to develop these tools by: identifying genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) using genotyping by sequencing (GBS); constructing a high-density linkage map and comparative maps with other legumes, and identifying quantitative trait loci (QTL) for levels of boron, calcium, iron, potassium, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, phosphorous, sulfur, and zinc in the seed, as well as for seed weight. In this study, 1609 high quality SNPs were found to be polymorphic between 'Kiflica' and 'Aragorn', two parents of an F 6 -derived recombinant inbred line (RIL) population. Mapping 1683 markers including 75 previously published markers and 1608 SNPs developed from the present study generated a linkage map of size 1310.1 cM. Comparative mapping with other legumes demonstrated that the highest level of synteny was observed between pea and the genome of Medicago truncatula. QTL analysis of the RIL population across two locations revealed at least one QTL for each of the mineral nutrient traits. In total, 46 seed mineral concentration QTLs, 37 seed mineral content QTLs, and 6 seed weight QTLs were discovered. The QTLs explained from 2.4% to 43.3% of the phenotypic variance. The genome-wide SNPs and the genetic linkage map developed in this study permitted QTL identification for pea seed mineral

  15. High-resolution genetic map for understanding the effect of genome-wide recombination rate on nucleotide diversity in watermelon.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reddy, Umesh K; Nimmakayala, Padma; Levi, Amnon; Abburi, Venkata Lakshmi; Saminathan, Thangasamy; Tomason, Yan R; Vajja, Gopinath; Reddy, Rishi; Abburi, Lavanya; Wehner, Todd C; Ronin, Yefim; Karol, Abraham

    2014-09-15

    We used genotyping by sequencing to identify a set of 10,480 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers for constructing a high-resolution genetic map of 1096 cM for watermelon. We assessed the genome-wide variation in recombination rate (GWRR) across the map and found an association between GWRR and genome-wide nucleotide diversity. Collinearity between the map and the genome-wide reference sequence for watermelon was studied to identify inconsistency and chromosome rearrangements. We assessed genome-wide nucleotide diversity, linkage disequilibrium (LD), and selective sweep for wild, semi-wild, and domesticated accessions of Citrullus lanatus var. lanatus to track signals of domestication. Principal component analysis combined with chromosome-wide phylogenetic study based on 1563 SNPs obtained after LD pruning with minor allele frequency of 0.05 resolved the differences between semi-wild and wild accessions as well as relationships among worldwide sweet watermelon. Population structure analysis revealed predominant ancestries for wild, semi-wild, and domesticated watermelons as well as admixture of various ancestries that were important for domestication. Sliding window analysis of Tajima's D across various chromosomes was used to resolve selective sweep. LD decay was estimated for various chromosomes. We identified a strong selective sweep on chromosome 3 consisting of important genes that might have had a role in sweet watermelon domestication. Copyright © 2014 Reddy et al.

  16. Nucleosome Repositioning: A Novel Mechanism for Nicotine- and Cocaine-Induced Epigenetic Changes.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Amber N Brown

    Full Text Available Drugs of abuse modify behavior by altering gene expression in the brain. Gene expression can be regulated by changes in DNA methylation as well as by histone modifications, which alter chromatin structure, DNA compaction and DNA accessibility. In order to better understand the molecular mechanisms directing drug-induced changes in chromatin structure, we examined DNA-nucleosome interactions within promoter regions of 858 genes in human neuroblastoma cells (SH-SY5Y exposed to nicotine or cocaine. Widespread, drug- and time-resolved repositioning of nucleosomes was identified at the transcription start site and promoter region of multiple genes. Nicotine and cocaine produced unique and shared changes in terms of the numbers and types of genes affected, as well as repositioning of nucleosomes at sites which could increase or decrease the probability of gene expression based on DNA accessibility. Half of the drug-induced nucleosome positions approximated a theoretical model of nucleosome occupancy based on physical and chemical characteristics of the DNA sequence, whereas the basal or drug naïve positions were generally DNA sequence independent. Thus we suggest that nucleosome repositioning represents an initial dynamic genome-wide alteration of the transcriptional landscape preceding more selective downstream transcriptional reprogramming, which ultimately characterizes the cell- and tissue-specific responses to drugs of abuse.

  17. Nucleosome dynamics: HMGB1 facilitates nucleosome restructuring and collaborates in estrogen-responsive gene expression

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    William M. Scovell

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The genome in the human cell is extraordinarily compacted in the nucleus. As a result, much of the DNA is inaccessible and functionally inert. Notwithstanding the highly efficient packaging, mechanisms have evolved to render DNA sites accessible that then enable a multitude of factors to carry out ongoing and vital functions. The compaction is derived from DNA complexation within nucleosomes, which can further consolidate into a higher-order chromatin structure. The nucleosome and nucleosomal DNA are not static in nature, but are dynamic, undergoing structural and functional changes as the cell responds to stresses and/or metabolic or environmental cues. We are only beginning to understand the forces and the complexes that engage the nucleosome to unearth the tightly bound and inaccessible DNA sequences and provide an opening to more accessible target sites. In many cases, current findings support a major role for the action of ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling complexes (CRCs in providing an avenue to factor accessibility that leads to the activation of transcription. The estrogen receptor α (ERα does not bind to the estrogen response element (ERE in the canonical nucleosome. However, evidence will be presented that HMGB1 restructures the nucleosome in an ATP-independent manner and also facilitates access and strong binding of ERα to ERE. The features that appear important in the mechanism of action for HMGB1 will be highlighted, in addition to the characteristic features of the restructured nucleosome. These findings, together with previous evidence, suggest a collaborative role for HMGB1 in the step-wise transcription of estrogen-responsive genes. In addition, alternate mechanistic pathways will be discussed, with consideration that “HMGB1 restructuring” of the nucleosome may generally be viewed as a perturbation of the equilibrium of an ensemble of nearly isoenergetic nucleosome states in an energy landscape that is driven by

  18. Genomic consequences of selection and genome-wide association mapping in soybean.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wen, Zixiang; Boyse, John F; Song, Qijian; Cregan, Perry B; Wang, Dechun

    2015-09-03

    Crop improvement always involves selection of specific alleles at genes controlling traits of agronomic importance, likely resulting in detectable signatures of selection within the genome of modern soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.). The identification of these signatures of selection is meaningful from the perspective of evolutionary biology and for uncovering the genetic architecture of agronomic traits. To this end, two populations of soybean, consisting of 342 landraces and 1062 improved lines, were genotyped with the SoySNP50K Illumina BeadChip containing 52,041 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and systematically phenotyped for 9 agronomic traits. A cross-population composite likelihood ratio (XP-CLR) method was used to screen the signals of selective sweeps. A total of 125 candidate selection regions were identified, many of which harbored genes potentially involved in crop improvement. To further investigate whether these candidate regions were in fact enriched for genes affected by selection, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) were conducted on 7 selection traits targeted in soybean breeding (grain yield, plant height, lodging, maturity date, seed coat color, seed protein and oil content) and 2 non-selection traits (pubescence and flower color). Major genomic regions associated with selection traits overlapped with candidate selection regions, whereas no overlap of this kind occurred for the non-selection traits, suggesting that the selection sweeps identified are associated with traits of agronomic importance. Multiple novel loci and refined map locations of known loci related to these traits were also identified. These findings illustrate that comparative genomic analyses, especially when combined with GWAS, are a promising approach to dissect the genetic architecture of complex traits.

  19. An in vitro-identified high-affinity nucleosome-positioning signal is capable of transiently positioning a nucleosome in vivo

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gracey Lia E

    2010-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The physiological function of eukaryotic DNA occurs in the context of nucleosomal arrays that can expose or obscure defined segments of the genome. Certain DNA sequences are capable of strongly positioning a nucleosome in vitro, suggesting the possibility that favorable intrinsic signals might reproducibly structure chromatin segments. As high-throughput sequencing analyses of nucleosome coverage in vitro and in vivo have become possible, a vigorous debate has arisen over the degree to which intrinsic DNA:nucleosome affinities orchestrate the in vivo positions of nucleosomes, thereby controlling physical accessibility of specific sequences in DNA. Results We describe here the in vivo consequences of placing a synthetic high-affinity nucleosome-positioning signal, the 601 sequence, into a DNA plasmid vector in mice. Strikingly, the 601 sequence was sufficient to position nucleosomes during an early phase after introduction of the DNA into the mice (when the plasmid vector transgene was active. This positioning capability was transient, with a loss of strong positioning at a later time point when the transgenes had become silent. Conclusions These results demonstrate an ability of DNA sequences selected solely for nucleosome affinity to organize chromatin in vivo, and the ability of other mechanisms to overcome these interactions in a dynamic nuclear environment.

  20. Genome wide SSR high density genetic map construction from an interspecific cross of Gossypium hirsutum × Gossypium tomentosum

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Muhammad Kashif Riaz eKhan

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available A high density genetic map was constructed using F2 population derived from an interspecific cross of G. hirsutum x G. tomentosum. The map consisted of 3,093 marker loci distributed across all the 26 chromosomes and covered 4,365.3 cM of cotton genome with an average inter-marker distance of 1.48 cM. The maximum length of chromosome was 218.38 cM and the minimum was 122.09 cM with an average length of 167.90 cM. A sub-genome covers more genetic distance (2,189.01 cM with an average inter loci distance of 1.53 cM than D sub-genome which covers a length of 2,176.29 cM with an average distance of 1.43 cM. There were 716 distorted loci in the map accounting for 23.14% and most distorted loci were distributed on D sub-genome (25.06%, which were more than on A sub-genome (21.23%. In our map 49 segregation hotspots (SDR were distributed across the genome with more on D sub-genome as compared to A genome. Two post-polyploidization reciprocal translocations of A2/A3 and A4/A5 were suggested by 7 pairs of duplicate loci. The map constructed through these studies is one of the three densest genetic maps in cotton however; this is the first dense genome wide SSR interspecific genetic map between G. hirsutum and G. tomentosum.

  1. Genome-wide Analysis of Gene Regulation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Chen, Yun

    to protein: through epigenetic modifications, transcription regulators or post-transcriptional controls. The following papers concern several layers of gene regulation with questions answered by different HTS approaches. Genome-wide screening of epigenetic changes by ChIP-seq allowed us to study both spatial...... and temporal alterations of histone modifications (Papers I and II). Coupling the data with machine learning approaches, we established a prediction framework to assess the most informative histone marks as well as their most influential nucleosome positions in predicting the promoter usages. (Papers I...... they regulated or if the sites had global elevated usage rates by multiple TFs. Using RNA-seq, 5’end-seq in combination with depletion of 5’exonuclease as well as nonsensemediated decay (NMD) factors, we systematically analyzed NMD substrates as well as their degradation intermediates in human cells (Paper V...

  2. Genome-wide mapping reveals single-origin chromosome replication in Leishmania, a eukaryotic microbe.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marques, Catarina A; Dickens, Nicholas J; Paape, Daniel; Campbell, Samantha J; McCulloch, Richard

    2015-10-19

    DNA replication initiates on defined genome sites, termed origins. Origin usage appears to follow common rules in the eukaryotic organisms examined to date: all chromosomes are replicated from multiple origins, which display variations in firing efficiency and are selected from a larger pool of potential origins. To ask if these features of DNA replication are true of all eukaryotes, we describe genome-wide origin mapping in the parasite Leishmania. Origin mapping in Leishmania suggests a striking divergence in origin usage relative to characterized eukaryotes, since each chromosome appears to be replicated from a single origin. By comparing two species of Leishmania, we find evidence that such origin singularity is maintained in the face of chromosome fusion or fission events during evolution. Mapping Leishmania origins suggests that all origins fire with equal efficiency, and that the genomic sites occupied by origins differ from related non-origins sites. Finally, we provide evidence that origin location in Leishmania displays striking conservation with Trypanosoma brucei, despite the latter parasite replicating its chromosomes from multiple, variable strength origins. The demonstration of chromosome replication for a single origin in Leishmania, a microbial eukaryote, has implications for the evolution of origin multiplicity and associated controls, and may explain the pervasive aneuploidy that characterizes Leishmania chromosome architecture.

  3. Increasing Nucleosome Occupancy Is Correlated with an Increasing Mutation Rate so Long as DNA Repair Machinery Is Intact

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taylor, Jared F.; Khattab, Omar S.; Chen, Yu-Han; Chen, Yumay; Jacobsen, Steven E.; Wang, Ping H.

    2015-01-01

    Deciphering the multitude of epigenomic and genomic factors that influence the mutation rate is an area of great interest in modern biology. Recently, chromatin has been shown to play a part in this process. To elucidate this relationship further, we integrated our own ultra-deep sequenced human nucleosomal DNA data set with a host of published human genomic and cancer genomic data sets. Our results revealed, that differences in nucleosome occupancy are associated with changes in base-specific mutation rates. Increasing nucleosome occupancy is associated with an increasing transition to transversion ratio and an increased germline mutation rate within the human genome. Additionally, cancer single nucleotide variants and microindels are enriched within nucleosomes and both the coding and non-coding cancer mutation rate increases with increasing nucleosome occupancy. There is an enrichment of cancer indels at the theoretical start (74 bp) and end (115 bp) of linker DNA between two nucleosomes. We then hypothesized that increasing nucleosome occupancy decreases access to DNA by DNA repair machinery and could account for the increasing mutation rate. Such a relationship should not exist in DNA repair knockouts, and we thus repeated our analysis in DNA repair machinery knockouts to test our hypothesis. Indeed, our results revealed no correlation between increasing nucleosome occupancy and increasing mutation rate in DNA repair knockouts. Our findings emphasize the linkage of the genome and epigenome through the nucleosome whose properties can affect genome evolution and genetic aberrations such as cancer. PMID:26308346

  4. Increasing Nucleosome Occupancy Is Correlated with an Increasing Mutation Rate so Long as DNA Repair Machinery Is Intact.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Puya G Yazdi

    Full Text Available Deciphering the multitude of epigenomic and genomic factors that influence the mutation rate is an area of great interest in modern biology. Recently, chromatin has been shown to play a part in this process. To elucidate this relationship further, we integrated our own ultra-deep sequenced human nucleosomal DNA data set with a host of published human genomic and cancer genomic data sets. Our results revealed, that differences in nucleosome occupancy are associated with changes in base-specific mutation rates. Increasing nucleosome occupancy is associated with an increasing transition to transversion ratio and an increased germline mutation rate within the human genome. Additionally, cancer single nucleotide variants and microindels are enriched within nucleosomes and both the coding and non-coding cancer mutation rate increases with increasing nucleosome occupancy. There is an enrichment of cancer indels at the theoretical start (74 bp and end (115 bp of linker DNA between two nucleosomes. We then hypothesized that increasing nucleosome occupancy decreases access to DNA by DNA repair machinery and could account for the increasing mutation rate. Such a relationship should not exist in DNA repair knockouts, and we thus repeated our analysis in DNA repair machinery knockouts to test our hypothesis. Indeed, our results revealed no correlation between increasing nucleosome occupancy and increasing mutation rate in DNA repair knockouts. Our findings emphasize the linkage of the genome and epigenome through the nucleosome whose properties can affect genome evolution and genetic aberrations such as cancer.

  5. Local Nucleosome Dynamics Facilitate Chromatin Accessibility in Living Mammalian Cells

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Saera Hihara

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Genome information, which is three-dimensionally organized within cells as chromatin, is searched and read by various proteins for diverse cell functions. Although how the protein factors find their targets remains unclear, the dynamic and flexible nature of chromatin is likely crucial. Using a combined approach of fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, single-nucleosome imaging, and Monte Carlo computer simulations, we demonstrate local chromatin dynamics in living mammalian cells. We show that similar to interphase chromatin, dense mitotic chromosomes also have considerable chromatin accessibility. For both interphase and mitotic chromatin, we observed local fluctuation of individual nucleosomes (∼50 nm movement/30 ms, which is caused by confined Brownian motion. Inhibition of these local dynamics by crosslinking impaired accessibility in the dense chromatin regions. Our findings show that local nucleosome dynamics drive chromatin accessibility. We propose that this local nucleosome fluctuation is the basis for scanning genome information.

  6. Development and Integration of Genome-Wide Polymorphic Microsatellite Markers onto a Reference Linkage Map for Constructing a High-Density Genetic Map of Chickpea.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yash Paul Khajuria

    Full Text Available The identification of informative in silico polymorphic genomic and genic microsatellite markers by comparing the genome and transcriptome sequences of crop genotypes is a rapid, cost-effective and non-laborious approach for large-scale marker validation and genotyping applications, including construction of high-density genetic maps. We designed 1494 markers, including 1016 genomic and 478 transcript-derived microsatellite markers showing in-silico fragment length polymorphism between two parental genotypes (Cicer arietinum ICC4958 and C. reticulatum PI489777 of an inter-specific reference mapping population. High amplification efficiency (87%, experimental validation success rate (81% and polymorphic potential (55% of these microsatellite markers suggest their effective use in various applications of chickpea genetics and breeding. Intra-specific polymorphic potential (48% detected by microsatellite markers in 22 desi and kabuli chickpea genotypes was lower than inter-specific polymorphic potential (59%. An advanced, high-density, integrated and inter-specific chickpea genetic map (ICC4958 x PI489777 having 1697 map positions spanning 1061.16 cM with an average inter-marker distance of 0.625 cM was constructed by assigning 634 novel informative transcript-derived and genomic microsatellite markers on eight linkage groups (LGs of our prior documented, 1063 marker-based genetic map. The constructed genome map identified 88, including four major (7-23 cM longest high-resolution genomic regions on LGs 3, 5 and 8, where the maximum number of novel genomic and genic microsatellite markers were specifically clustered within 1 cM genetic distance. It was for the first time in chickpea that in silico FLP analysis at genome-wide level was carried out and such a large number of microsatellite markers were identified, experimentally validated and further used in genetic mapping. To best of our knowledge, in the presently constructed genetic map, we mapped

  7. Nucleosome breathing and remodeling constrain CRISPR-Cas9 function

    Science.gov (United States)

    Isaac, R Stefan; Jiang, Fuguo; Doudna, Jennifer A; Lim, Wendell A; Narlikar, Geeta J; Almeida, Ricardo

    2016-01-01

    The CRISPR-Cas9 bacterial surveillance system has become a versatile tool for genome editing and gene regulation in eukaryotic cells, yet how CRISPR-Cas9 contends with the barriers presented by eukaryotic chromatin is poorly understood. Here we investigate how the smallest unit of chromatin, a nucleosome, constrains the activity of the CRISPR-Cas9 system. We find that nucleosomes assembled on native DNA sequences are permissive to Cas9 action. However, the accessibility of nucleosomal DNA to Cas9 is variable over several orders of magnitude depending on dynamic properties of the DNA sequence and the distance of the PAM site from the nucleosome dyad. We further find that chromatin remodeling enzymes stimulate Cas9 activity on nucleosomal templates. Our findings imply that the spontaneous breathing of nucleosomal DNA together with the action of chromatin remodelers allow Cas9 to effectively act on chromatin in vivo. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.13450.001 PMID:27130520

  8. Genome-Wide Association Mapping of Crown Rust Resistance in Oat Elite Germplasm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klos, Kathy Esvelt; Yimer, Belayneh A; Babiker, Ebrahiem M; Beattie, Aaron D; Bonman, J Michael; Carson, Martin L; Chong, James; Harrison, Stephen A; Ibrahim, Amir M H; Kolb, Frederic L; McCartney, Curt A; McMullen, Michael; Fetch, Jennifer Mitchell; Mohammadi, Mohsen; Murphy, J Paul; Tinker, Nicholas A

    2017-07-01

    Oat crown rust, caused by f. sp. , is a major constraint to oat ( L.) production in many parts of the world. In this first comprehensive multienvironment genome-wide association map of oat crown rust, we used 2972 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) genotyped on 631 oat lines for association mapping of quantitative trait loci (QTL). Seedling reaction to crown rust in these lines was assessed as infection type (IT) with each of 10 crown rust isolates. Adult plant reaction was assessed in the field in a total of 10 location-years as percentage severity (SV) and as infection reaction (IR) in a 0-to-1 scale. Overall, 29 SNPs on 12 linkage groups were predictive of crown rust reaction in at least one experiment at a genome-wide level of statistical significance. The QTL identified here include those in regions previously shown to be linked with seedling resistance genes , , , , , and and also with adult-plant resistance and adaptation-related QTL. In addition, QTL on linkage groups Mrg03, Mrg08, and Mrg23 were identified in regions not previously associated with crown rust resistance. Evaluation of marker genotypes in a set of crown rust differential lines supported as the identity of . The SNPs with rare alleles associated with lower disease scores may be suitable for use in marker-assisted selection of oat lines for crown rust resistance. Copyright © 2017 Crop Science Society of America.

  9. In vitro reconstitution and biochemical analyses of the Schizosaccharomyces pombe nucleosome

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Koyama, Masako; Nagakura, Wataru; Tanaka, Hiroki; Kujirai, Tomoya; Chikashige, Yuji; Haraguchi, Tokuko; Hiraoka, Yasushi; Kurumizaka, Hitoshi

    2017-01-01

    Schizosaccharomyces pombe, which has a small genome but shares many physiological functions with higher eukaryotes, is a useful single-cell, model eukaryotic organism. In particular, many features concerning chromatin structure and dynamics, including heterochromatin, centromeres, telomeres, and DNA replication origins, are well conserved between S. pombe and higher eukaryotes. However, the S. pombe nucleosome, the fundamental structural unit of chromatin, has not been reconstituted in vitro. In the present study, we established the method to purify S. pombe histones H2A, H2B, H3, and H4, and successfully reconstituted the S. pombe nucleosome in vitro. Our thermal stability assay and micrococcal nuclease treatment assay revealed that the S. pombe nucleosome is markedly unstable and its DNA ends are quite accessible, as compared to the canonical human nucleosome. These findings are important to understand the mechanisms of epigenetic genomic DNA regulation in fission yeast. - Highlights: • S. pombe histones were purified as recombinant proteins. • The recombinant S. pombe histones efficiently form nucleosomes in vitro. • The S. pombe nucleosome has distinct stability and DNA dynamics.

  10. Whole genome re-sequencing reveals genome-wide variations among parental lines of 16 mapping populations in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thudi, Mahendar; Khan, Aamir W; Kumar, Vinay; Gaur, Pooran M; Katta, Krishnamohan; Garg, Vanika; Roorkiwal, Manish; Samineni, Srinivasan; Varshney, Rajeev K

    2016-01-27

    Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is the second most important grain legume cultivated by resource poor farmers in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. In order to harness the untapped genetic potential available for chickpea improvement, we re-sequenced 35 chickpea genotypes representing parental lines of 16 mapping populations segregating for abiotic (drought, heat, salinity), biotic stresses (Fusarium wilt, Ascochyta blight, Botrytis grey mould, Helicoverpa armigera) and nutritionally important (protein content) traits using whole genome re-sequencing approach. A total of 192.19 Gb data, generated on 35 genotypes of chickpea, comprising 973.13 million reads, with an average sequencing depth of ~10 X for each line. On an average 92.18 % reads from each genotype were aligned to the chickpea reference genome with 82.17 % coverage. A total of 2,058,566 unique single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and 292,588 Indels were detected while comparing with the reference chickpea genome. Highest number of SNPs were identified on the Ca4 pseudomolecule. In addition, copy number variations (CNVs) such as gene deletions and duplications were identified across the chickpea parental genotypes, which were minimum in PI 489777 (1 gene deletion) and maximum in JG 74 (1,497). A total of 164,856 line specific variations (144,888 SNPs and 19,968 Indels) with the highest percentage were identified in coding regions in ICC 1496 (21 %) followed by ICCV 97105 (12 %). Of 539 miscellaneous variations, 339, 138 and 62 were inter-chromosomal variations (CTX), intra-chromosomal variations (ITX) and inversions (INV) respectively. Genome-wide SNPs, Indels, CNVs, PAVs, and miscellaneous variations identified in different mapping populations are a valuable resource in genetic research and helpful in locating genes/genomic segments responsible for economically important traits. Further, the genome-wide variations identified in the present study can be used for developing high density SNP arrays for

  11. Genome-wide high-resolution mapping of UV-induced mitotic recombination events in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yi Yin

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and most other eukaryotes, mitotic recombination is important for the repair of double-stranded DNA breaks (DSBs. Mitotic recombination between homologous chromosomes can result in loss of heterozygosity (LOH. In this study, LOH events induced by ultraviolet (UV light are mapped throughout the genome to a resolution of about 1 kb using single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP microarrays. UV doses that have little effect on the viability of diploid cells stimulate crossovers more than 1000-fold in wild-type cells. In addition, UV stimulates recombination in G1-synchronized cells about 10-fold more efficiently than in G2-synchronized cells. Importantly, at high doses of UV, most conversion events reflect the repair of two sister chromatids that are broken at approximately the same position whereas at low doses, most conversion events reflect the repair of a single broken chromatid. Genome-wide mapping of about 380 unselected crossovers, break-induced replication (BIR events, and gene conversions shows that UV-induced recombination events occur throughout the genome without pronounced hotspots, although the ribosomal RNA gene cluster has a significantly lower frequency of crossovers.

  12. A genome-wide, fine-scale map of natural pigmentation variation in Drosophila melanogaster.

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    Héloïse Bastide

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Various approaches can be applied to uncover the genetic basis of natural phenotypic variation, each with their specific strengths and limitations. Here, we use a replicated genome-wide association approach (Pool-GWAS to fine-scale map genomic regions contributing to natural variation in female abdominal pigmentation in Drosophila melanogaster, a trait that is highly variable in natural populations and highly heritable in the laboratory. We examined abdominal pigmentation phenotypes in approximately 8000 female European D. melanogaster, isolating 1000 individuals with extreme phenotypes. We then used whole-genome Illumina sequencing to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs segregating in our sample, and tested these for associations with pigmentation by contrasting allele frequencies between replicate pools of light and dark individuals. We identify two small regions near the pigmentation genes tan and bric-à-brac 1, both corresponding to known cis-regulatory regions, which contain SNPs showing significant associations with pigmentation variation. While the Pool-GWAS approach suffers some limitations, its cost advantage facilitates replication and it can be applied to any non-model system with an available reference genome.

  13. A genome-wide, fine-scale map of natural pigmentation variation in Drosophila melanogaster.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bastide, Héloïse; Betancourt, Andrea; Nolte, Viola; Tobler, Raymond; Stöbe, Petra; Futschik, Andreas; Schlötterer, Christian

    2013-06-01

    Various approaches can be applied to uncover the genetic basis of natural phenotypic variation, each with their specific strengths and limitations. Here, we use a replicated genome-wide association approach (Pool-GWAS) to fine-scale map genomic regions contributing to natural variation in female abdominal pigmentation in Drosophila melanogaster, a trait that is highly variable in natural populations and highly heritable in the laboratory. We examined abdominal pigmentation phenotypes in approximately 8000 female European D. melanogaster, isolating 1000 individuals with extreme phenotypes. We then used whole-genome Illumina sequencing to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) segregating in our sample, and tested these for associations with pigmentation by contrasting allele frequencies between replicate pools of light and dark individuals. We identify two small regions near the pigmentation genes tan and bric-à-brac 1, both corresponding to known cis-regulatory regions, which contain SNPs showing significant associations with pigmentation variation. While the Pool-GWAS approach suffers some limitations, its cost advantage facilitates replication and it can be applied to any non-model system with an available reference genome.

  14. Genome wide characterization of simple sequence repeats in watermelon genome and their application in comparative mapping and genetic diversity analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Huayu; Song, Pengyao; Koo, Dal-Hoe; Guo, Luqin; Li, Yanman; Sun, Shouru; Weng, Yiqun; Yang, Luming

    2016-08-05

    clustered in another group. Furthermore, structure analysis was consistent with the dendrogram indicating the 134 watermelon accessions were classified into two populations. The large number of genome wide SSR markers developed herein from the watermelon genome provides a valuable resource for genetic map construction, QTL exploration, map-based gene cloning and marker-assisted selection in watermelon which has a very narrow genetic base and extremely low polymorphism among cultivated lines. Furthermore, the cross-species transferable SSR markers identified herein should also have practical uses in many applications in species of Cucurbitaceae family whose whole genome sequences are not yet available.

  15. The disequilibrium of nucleosomes distribution along chromosomes plays a functional and evolutionarily role in regulating gene expression

    KAUST Repository

    Cui, Peng

    2011-08-19

    To further understand the relationship between nucleosome-space occupancy (NO) and global transcriptional activity in mammals, we acquired a set of genome-wide nucleosome distribution and transcriptome data from the mouse cerebrum and testis based on ChIP (H3)-seq and RNA-seq, respectively. We identified a nearly consistent NO patterns among three mouse tissues-cerebrum, testis, and ESCs-and found, through clustering analysis for transcriptional activation, that the NO variations among chromosomes are closely associated with distinct expression levels between house-keeping (HK) genes and tissue-specific (TS) genes. Both TS and HK genes form clusters albeit the obvious majority. This feature implies that NO patterns, i.e. nucleosome binding and clustering, are coupled with gene clustering that may be functionally and evolutionarily conserved in regulating gene expression among different cell types. © 2011 Cui et al.

  16. The disequilibrium of nucleosomes distribution along chromosomes plays a functional and evolutionarily role in regulating gene expression.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peng Cui

    Full Text Available To further understand the relationship between nucleosome-space occupancy (NO and global transcriptional activity in mammals, we acquired a set of genome-wide nucleosome distribution and transcriptome data from the mouse cerebrum and testis based on ChIP (H3-seq and RNA-seq, respectively. We identified a nearly consistent NO patterns among three mouse tissues--cerebrum, testis, and ESCs--and found, through clustering analysis for transcriptional activation, that the NO variations among chromosomes are closely associated with distinct expression levels between house-keeping (HK genes and tissue-specific (TS genes. Both TS and HK genes form clusters albeit the obvious majority. This feature implies that NO patterns, i.e. nucleosome binding and clustering, are coupled with gene clustering that may be functionally and evolutionarily conserved in regulating gene expression among different cell types.

  17. The Chd1 Chromatin Remodeler Shifts Nucleosomal DNA Bidirectionally as a Monomer

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Qiu, Yupeng; Levendosky, Robert F.; Chakravarthy, Srinivas; Patel, Ashok; Bowman, Gregory D.; Myong, Sua

    2017-10-01

    Chromatin remodelers catalyze dynamic packaging of the genome by carrying out nucleosome assembly/disassembly, histone exchange, and nucleosome repositioning. Remodeling results in evenly spaced nucleosomes, which requires probing both sides of the nucleosome, yet the way remodelers organize sliding activity to achieve this task is not understood. Here, we show that the monomeric Chd1 remodeler shifts DNA back and forth by dynamically alternating between different segments of the nucleosome. During sliding, Chd1 generates unstable remodeling intermediates that spontaneously relax to a pre-remodeled position. We demonstrate that nucleosome sliding is tightly controlled by two regulatory domains: the DNA-binding domain, which interferes with sliding when its range is limited by a truncated linking segment, and the chromodomains, which play a key role in substrate discrimination. We propose that active interplay of the ATPase motor with the regulatory domains may promote dynamic nucleosome structures uniquely suited for histone exchange and chromatin reorganization during transcription.

  18. Fine mapping of a Phytophthora-resistance gene RpsWY in soybean (Glycine max L.) by high-throughput genome-wide sequencing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, Yanbo; Ma, Qibin; Ren, Hailong; Xia, Qiuju; Song, Enliang; Tan, Zhiyuan; Li, Shuxian; Zhang, Gengyun; Nian, Hai

    2017-05-01

    Using a combination of phenotypic screening, genetic and statistical analyses, and high-throughput genome-wide sequencing, we have finely mapped a dominant Phytophthora resistance gene in soybean cultivar Wayao. Phytophthora root rot (PRR) caused by Phytophthora sojae is one of the most important soil-borne diseases in many soybean-production regions in the world. Identification of resistant gene(s) and incorporating them into elite varieties are an effective way for breeding to prevent soybean from being harmed by this disease. Two soybean populations of 191 F 2 individuals and 196 F 7:8 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) were developed to map Rps gene by crossing a susceptible cultivar Huachun 2 with the resistant cultivar Wayao. Genetic analysis of the F 2 population indicated that PRR resistance in Wayao was controlled by a single dominant gene, temporarily named RpsWY, which was mapped on chromosome 3. A high-density genetic linkage bin map was constructed using 3469 recombination bins of the RILs to explore the candidate genes by the high-throughput genome-wide sequencing. The results of genotypic analysis showed that the RpsWY gene was located in bin 401 between 4466230 and 4502773 bp on chromosome 3 through line 71 and 100 of the RILs. Four predicted genes (Glyma03g04350, Glyma03g04360, Glyma03g04370, and Glyma03g04380) were found at the narrowed region of 36.5 kb in bin 401. These results suggest that the high-throughput genome-wide resequencing is an effective method to fine map PRR candidate genes.

  19. Prediction of nucleosome positioning based on transcription factor binding sites.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xianfu Yi

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: The DNA of all eukaryotic organisms is packaged into nucleosomes, the basic repeating units of chromatin. The nucleosome consists of a histone octamer around which a DNA core is wrapped and the linker histone H1, which is associated with linker DNA. By altering the accessibility of DNA sequences, the nucleosome has profound effects on all DNA-dependent processes. Understanding the factors that influence nucleosome positioning is of great importance for the study of genomic control mechanisms. Transcription factors (TFs have been suggested to play a role in nucleosome positioning in vivo. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here, the minimum redundancy maximum relevance (mRMR feature selection algorithm, the nearest neighbor algorithm (NNA, and the incremental feature selection (IFS method were used to identify the most important TFs that either favor or inhibit nucleosome positioning by analyzing the numbers of transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs in 53,021 nucleosomal DNA sequences and 50,299 linker DNA sequences. A total of nine important families of TFs were extracted from 35 families, and the overall prediction accuracy was 87.4% as evaluated by the jackknife cross-validation test. CONCLUSIONS: Our results are consistent with the notion that TFs are more likely to bind linker DNA sequences than the sequences in the nucleosomes. In addition, our results imply that there may be some TFs that are important for nucleosome positioning but that play an insignificant role in discriminating nucleosome-forming DNA sequences from nucleosome-inhibiting DNA sequences. The hypothesis that TFs play a role in nucleosome positioning is, thus, confirmed by the results of this study.

  20. Coupling of replisome movement with nucleosome dynamics can contribute to the parent-daughter information transfer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bameta, Tripti; Das, Dibyendu; Padinhateeri, Ranjith

    2018-06-01

    Positioning of nucleosomes along the genomic DNA is crucial for many cellular processes that include gene regulation and higher order packaging of chromatin. The question of how nucleosome-positioning information from a parent chromatin gets transferred to the daughter chromatin is highly intriguing. Accounting for experimentally known coupling between replisome movement and nucleosome dynamics, we propose a model that can obtain de novo nucleosome assembly similar to what is observed in recent experiments. Simulating nucleosome dynamics during replication, we argue that short pausing of the replication fork, associated with nucleosome disassembly, can be a event crucial for communicating nucleosome positioning information from parent to daughter. We show that the interplay of timescales between nucleosome disassembly (τp) at the replication fork and nucleosome sliding behind the fork (τs) can give rise to a rich 'phase diagram' having different inherited patterns of nucleosome organization. Our model predicts that only when τp ≥ τs the daughter chromatin can inherit nucleosome positioning of the parent.

  1. Abo1, a conserved bromodomain AAA?ATPase, maintains global nucleosome occupancy and organisation

    OpenAIRE

    Gal, Csenge; Murton, Heather E; Subramanian, Lakxmi; Whale, Alex J; Moore, Karen M; Paszkiewicz, Konrad; Codlin, Sandra; B?hler, J?rg; Creamer, Kevin M; Partridge, Janet F; Allshire, Robin C; Kent, Nicholas A; Whitehall, Simon K

    2015-01-01

    Maintenance of the correct level and organisation of nucleosomes is crucial for genome function. Here, we uncover a role for a conserved bromodomain AAA-ATPase, Abo1, in the maintenance of nucleosome architecture in fission yeast. Cells lacking abo1+ experience both a reduction and mis-positioning of nucleosomes at transcribed sequences in addition to increased intragenic transcription, phenotypes that are hallmarks of defective chromatin re-establishment behind RNA polymerase II. Abo1 is rec...

  2. A haplotype map of genomic variations and genome-wide association studies of agronomic traits in foxtail millet (Setaria italica).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jia, Guanqing; Huang, Xuehui; Zhi, Hui; Zhao, Yan; Zhao, Qiang; Li, Wenjun; Chai, Yang; Yang, Lifang; Liu, Kunyan; Lu, Hengyun; Zhu, Chuanrang; Lu, Yiqi; Zhou, Congcong; Fan, Danlin; Weng, Qijun; Guo, Yunli; Huang, Tao; Zhang, Lei; Lu, Tingting; Feng, Qi; Hao, Hangfei; Liu, Hongkuan; Lu, Ping; Zhang, Ning; Li, Yuhui; Guo, Erhu; Wang, Shujun; Wang, Suying; Liu, Jinrong; Zhang, Wenfei; Chen, Guoqiu; Zhang, Baojin; Li, Wei; Wang, Yongfang; Li, Haiquan; Zhao, Baohua; Li, Jiayang; Diao, Xianmin; Han, Bin

    2013-08-01

    Foxtail millet (Setaria italica) is an important grain crop that is grown in arid regions. Here we sequenced 916 diverse foxtail millet varieties, identified 2.58 million SNPs and used 0.8 million common SNPs to construct a haplotype map of the foxtail millet genome. We classified the foxtail millet varieties into two divergent groups that are strongly correlated with early and late flowering times. We phenotyped the 916 varieties under five different environments and identified 512 loci associated with 47 agronomic traits by genome-wide association studies. We performed a de novo assembly of deeply sequenced genomes of a Setaria viridis accession (the wild progenitor of S. italica) and an S. italica variety and identified complex interspecies and intraspecies variants. We also identified 36 selective sweeps that seem to have occurred during modern breeding. This study provides fundamental resources for genetics research and genetic improvement in foxtail millet.

  3. The Genetics of Winterhardiness in Barley: Perspectives from Genome-Wide Association Mapping

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jarislav von Zitzewitz

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available Winterhardiness is a complex trait that involves low temperature tolerance (LTT, vernalization sensitivity, and photoperiod sensitivity. Quantitative trait loci (QTL for these traits were first identified using biparental mapping populations; candidate genes for all loci have since been identified and characterized. In this research we used a set of 148 accessions consisting of advanced breeding lines from the Oregon barley ( L. subsp breeding program and selected cultivars that were extensively phenotyped and genotyped with single nucleotide polymorphisms. Using these data for genome-wide association mapping we detected the same QTL and genes that have been systematically characterized using biparental populations over nearly two decades of intensive research. In this sample of germplasm, maximum LTT can be achieved with facultative growth habit, which can be predicted using a three-locus haplotype involving , , and . The and LTT QTL explained 25% of the phenotypic variation, offering the prospect that additional gains from selection can be achieved once favorable alleles are fixed at these loci.

  4. Soft skills turned into hard facts: nucleosome remodelling at developmental switches.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chioda, M; Becker, P B

    2010-07-01

    Nucleosome remodelling factors are regulators of DNA accessibility in chromatin and lubricators of all major functions of eukaryotic genomes. Their action is transient and reversible, yet can be decisive for irreversible cell-fate decisions during development. In addition to the well-known local actions of nucleosome remodelling factors during transcription initiation, more global and fundamental roles for remodelling complexes in shaping the epigenome during development are emerging.

  5. Genome-wide SNP identification by high-throughput sequencing and selective mapping allows sequence assembly positioning using a framework genetic linkage map

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xu Xiangming

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Determining the position and order of contigs and scaffolds from a genome assembly within an organism's genome remains a technical challenge in a majority of sequencing projects. In order to exploit contemporary technologies for DNA sequencing, we developed a strategy for whole genome single nucleotide polymorphism sequencing allowing the positioning of sequence contigs onto a linkage map using the bin mapping method. Results The strategy was tested on a draft genome of the fungal pathogen Venturia inaequalis, the causal agent of apple scab, and further validated using sequence contigs derived from the diploid plant genome Fragaria vesca. Using our novel method we were able to anchor 70% and 92% of sequences assemblies for V. inaequalis and F. vesca, respectively, to genetic linkage maps. Conclusions We demonstrated the utility of this approach by accurately determining the bin map positions of the majority of the large sequence contigs from each genome sequence and validated our method by mapping single sequence repeat markers derived from sequence contigs on a full mapping population.

  6. Reconstitution of Nucleosomes with Differentially Isotope-labeled Sister Histones.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liokatis, Stamatios

    2017-03-26

    Asymmetrically modified nucleosomes contain the two copies of a histone (sister histones) decorated with distinct sets of Post-translational Modifications (PTMs). They are newly identified species with unknown means of establishment and functional implications. Current analytical methods are inadequate to detect the copy-specific occurrence of PTMs on the nucleosomal sister histones. This protocol presents a biochemical method for the in vitro reconstitution of nucleosomes containing differentially isotope-labeled sister histones. The generated complex can be also asymmetrically modified, after including a premodified histone pool during refolding of histone subcomplexes. These asymmetric nucleosome preparations can be readily reacted with histone-modifying enzymes to study modification cross-talk mechanisms imposed by the asymmetrically pre-incorporated PTM using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Particularly, the modification reactions in real-time can be mapped independently on the two sister histones by performing different types of NMR correlation experiments, tailored for the respective isotope type. This methodology provides the means to study crosstalk mechanisms that contribute to the formation and propagation of asymmetric PTM patterns on nucleosomal complexes.

  7. Genome-wide mapping of susceptibility to coronary artery disease identifies a novel replicated locus on chromosome 17.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martin Farrall

    2006-05-01

    Full Text Available Coronary artery disease (CAD is a leading cause of death world-wide, and most cases have a complex, multifactorial aetiology that includes a substantial heritable component. Identification of new genes involved in CAD may inform pathogenesis and provide new therapeutic targets. The PROCARDIS study recruited 2,658 affected sibling pairs (ASPs with onset of CAD before age 66 y from four European countries to map susceptibility loci for CAD. ASPs were defined as having CAD phenotype if both had CAD, or myocardial infarction (MI phenotype if both had a MI. In a first study, involving a genome-wide linkage screen, tentative loci were mapped to Chromosomes 3 and 11 with the CAD phenotype (1,464 ASPs, and to Chromosome 17 with the MI phenotype (739 ASPs. In a second study, these loci were examined with a dense panel of grid-tightening markers in an independent set of families (1,194 CAD and 344 MI ASPs. This replication study showed a significant result on Chromosome 17 (MI phenotype; p = 0.009 after adjustment for three independent replication tests. An exclusion analysis suggests that further genes of effect size lambda(sib > 1.24 are unlikely to exist in these populations of European ancestry. To our knowledge, this is the first genome-wide linkage analysis to map, and replicate, a CAD locus. The region on Chromosome 17 provides a compelling target within which to identify novel genes underlying CAD. Understanding the genetic aetiology of CAD may lead to novel preventative and/or therapeutic strategies.

  8. Body maps on the human genome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cherniak, Christopher; Rodriguez-Esteban, Raul

    2013-12-20

    Chromosomes have territories, or preferred locales, in the cell nucleus. When these sites are taken into account, some large-scale structure of the human genome emerges. The synoptic picture is that genes highly expressed in particular topologically compact tissues are not randomly distributed on the genome. Rather, such tissue-specific genes tend to map somatotopically onto the complete chromosome set. They seem to form a "genome homunculus": a multi-dimensional, genome-wide body representation extending across chromosome territories of the entire spermcell nucleus. The antero-posterior axis of the body significantly corresponds to the head-tail axis of the nucleus, and the dorso-ventral body axis to the central-peripheral nucleus axis. This large-scale genomic structure includes thousands of genes. One rationale for a homuncular genome structure would be to minimize connection costs in genetic networks. Somatotopic maps in cerebral cortex have been reported for over a century.

  9. Genome-wide association mapping for yield and other agronomic traits in an elite breeding population of tropical rice (Oryza sativa).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Begum, Hasina; Spindel, Jennifer E; Lalusin, Antonio; Borromeo, Teresita; Gregorio, Glenn; Hernandez, Jose; Virk, Parminder; Collard, Bertrand; McCouch, Susan R

    2015-01-01

    Genome-wide association mapping studies (GWAS) are frequently used to detect QTL in diverse collections of crop germplasm, based on historic recombination events and linkage disequilibrium across the genome. Generally, diversity panels genotyped with high density SNP panels are utilized in order to assay a wide range of alleles and haplotypes and to monitor recombination breakpoints across the genome. By contrast, GWAS have not generally been performed in breeding populations. In this study we performed association mapping for 19 agronomic traits including yield and yield components in a breeding population of elite irrigated tropical rice breeding lines so that the results would be more directly applicable to breeding than those from a diversity panel. The population was genotyped with 71,710 SNPs using genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS), and GWAS performed with the explicit goal of expediting selection in the breeding program. Using this breeding panel we identified 52 QTL for 11 agronomic traits, including large effect QTLs for flowering time and grain length/grain width/grain-length-breadth ratio. We also identified haplotypes that can be used to select plants in our population for short stature (plant height), early flowering time, and high yield, and thus demonstrate the utility of association mapping in breeding populations for informing breeding decisions. We conclude by exploring how the newly identified significant SNPs and insights into the genetic architecture of these quantitative traits can be leveraged to build genomic-assisted selection models.

  10. Characterization of Dnmt1 Binding and DNA Methylation on Nucleosomes and Nucleosomal Arrays.

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    Anna Schrader

    Full Text Available The packaging of DNA into nucleosomes and the organisation into higher order structures of chromatin limits the access of sequence specific DNA binding factors to DNA. In cells, DNA methylation is preferentially occuring in the linker region of nucleosomes, suggesting a structural impact of chromatin on DNA methylation. These observations raise the question whether DNA methyltransferases are capable to recognize the nucleosomal substrates and to modify the packaged DNA. Here, we performed a detailed analysis of nucleosome binding and nucleosomal DNA methylation by the maintenance DNA methyltransferase Dnmt1. Our binding studies show that Dnmt1 has a DNA length sensing activity, binding cooperatively to DNA, and requiring a minimal DNA length of 20 bp. Dnmt1 needs linker DNA to bind to nucleosomes and most efficiently recognizes nucleosomes with symmetric DNA linkers. Footprinting experiments reveal that Dnmt1 binds to both DNA linkers exiting the nucleosome core. The binding pattern correlates with the efficient methylation of DNA linkers. However, the enzyme lacks the ability to methylate nucleosomal CpG sites on mononucleosomes and nucleosomal arrays, unless chromatin remodeling enzymes create a dynamic chromatin state. In addition, our results show that Dnmt1 functionally interacts with specific chromatin remodeling enzymes to enable complete methylation of hemi-methylated DNA in chromatin.

  11. The nucleosome: orchestrating DNA damage signaling and repair within chromatin.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Agarwal, Poonam; Miller, Kyle M

    2016-10-01

    DNA damage occurs within the chromatin environment, which ultimately participates in regulating DNA damage response (DDR) pathways and repair of the lesion. DNA damage activates a cascade of signaling events that extensively modulates chromatin structure and organization to coordinate DDR factor recruitment to the break and repair, whilst also promoting the maintenance of normal chromatin functions within the damaged region. For example, DDR pathways must avoid conflicts between other DNA-based processes that function within the context of chromatin, including transcription and replication. The molecular mechanisms governing the recognition, target specificity, and recruitment of DDR factors and enzymes to the fundamental repeating unit of chromatin, i.e., the nucleosome, are poorly understood. Here we present our current view of how chromatin recognition by DDR factors is achieved at the level of the nucleosome. Emerging evidence suggests that the nucleosome surface, including the nucleosome acidic patch, promotes the binding and activity of several DNA damage factors on chromatin. Thus, in addition to interactions with damaged DNA and histone modifications, nucleosome recognition by DDR factors plays a key role in orchestrating the requisite chromatin response to maintain both genome and epigenome integrity.

  12. Genome-wide mapping of virulence in brown planthopper identifies loci that break down host plant resistance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jing, Shengli; Zhang, Lei; Ma, Yinhua; Liu, Bingfang; Zhao, Yan; Yu, Hangjin; Zhou, Xi; Qin, Rui; Zhu, Lili; He, Guangcun

    2014-01-01

    Insects and plants have coexisted for over 350 million years and their interactions have affected ecosystems and agricultural practices worldwide. Variation in herbivorous insects' virulence to circumvent host resistance has been extensively documented. However, despite decades of investigation, the genetic foundations of virulence are currently unknown. The brown planthopper (Nilaparvata lugens) is the most destructive rice (Oryza sativa) pest in the world. The identification of the resistance gene Bph1 and its introduction in commercial rice varieties prompted the emergence of a new virulent brown planthopper biotype that was able to break the resistance conferred by Bph1. In this study, we aimed to construct a high density linkage map for the brown planthopper and identify the loci responsible for its virulence in order to determine their genetic architecture. Based on genotyping data for hundreds of molecular markers in three mapping populations, we constructed the most comprehensive linkage map available for this species, covering 96.6% of its genome. Fifteen chromosomes were anchored with 124 gene-specific markers. Using genome-wide scanning and interval mapping, the Qhp7 locus that governs preference for Bph1 plants was mapped to a 0.1 cM region of chromosome 7. In addition, two major QTLs that govern the rate of insect growth on resistant rice plants were identified on chromosomes 5 (Qgr5) and 14 (Qgr14). This is the first study to successfully locate virulence in the genome of this important agricultural insect by marker-based genetic mapping. Our results show that the virulence which overcomes the resistance conferred by Bph1 is controlled by a few major genes and that the components of virulence originate from independent genetic characters. The isolation of these loci will enable the elucidation of the molecular mechanisms underpinning the rice-brown planthopper interaction and facilitate the development of durable approaches for controlling this most

  13. Genome-wide mapping of virulence in brown planthopper identifies loci that break down host plant resistance.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shengli Jing

    Full Text Available Insects and plants have coexisted for over 350 million years and their interactions have affected ecosystems and agricultural practices worldwide. Variation in herbivorous insects' virulence to circumvent host resistance has been extensively documented. However, despite decades of investigation, the genetic foundations of virulence are currently unknown. The brown planthopper (Nilaparvata lugens is the most destructive rice (Oryza sativa pest in the world. The identification of the resistance gene Bph1 and its introduction in commercial rice varieties prompted the emergence of a new virulent brown planthopper biotype that was able to break the resistance conferred by Bph1. In this study, we aimed to construct a high density linkage map for the brown planthopper and identify the loci responsible for its virulence in order to determine their genetic architecture. Based on genotyping data for hundreds of molecular markers in three mapping populations, we constructed the most comprehensive linkage map available for this species, covering 96.6% of its genome. Fifteen chromosomes were anchored with 124 gene-specific markers. Using genome-wide scanning and interval mapping, the Qhp7 locus that governs preference for Bph1 plants was mapped to a 0.1 cM region of chromosome 7. In addition, two major QTLs that govern the rate of insect growth on resistant rice plants were identified on chromosomes 5 (Qgr5 and 14 (Qgr14. This is the first study to successfully locate virulence in the genome of this important agricultural insect by marker-based genetic mapping. Our results show that the virulence which overcomes the resistance conferred by Bph1 is controlled by a few major genes and that the components of virulence originate from independent genetic characters. The isolation of these loci will enable the elucidation of the molecular mechanisms underpinning the rice-brown planthopper interaction and facilitate the development of durable approaches for

  14. Rapid detection of structural variation in a human genome using nanochannel-based genome mapping technology

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cao, Hongzhi; Hastie, Alex R.; Cao, Dandan

    2014-01-01

    mutations; however, none of the current detection methods are comprehensive, and currently available methodologies are incapable of providing sufficient resolution and unambiguous information across complex regions in the human genome. To address these challenges, we applied a high-throughput, cost......-effective genome mapping technology to comprehensively discover genome-wide SVs and characterize complex regions of the YH genome using long single molecules (>150 kb) in a global fashion. RESULTS: Utilizing nanochannel-based genome mapping technology, we obtained 708 insertions/deletions and 17 inversions larger...... fosmid data. Of the remaining 270 SVs, 260 are insertions and 213 overlap known SVs in the Database of Genomic Variants. Overall, 609 out of 666 (90%) variants were supported by experimental orthogonal methods or historical evidence in public databases. At the same time, genome mapping also provides...

  15. Regulation of BAZ1A and nucleosome positioning in the nucleus accumbens in response to cocaine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, HaoSheng; Damez-Werno, Diane M; Scobie, Kimberly N; Shao, Ning-Yi; Dias, Caroline; Rabkin, Jacqui; Wright, Katherine N; Mouzon, Ezekiell; Kabbaj, Mohamed; Neve, Rachael; Turecki, Gustavo; Shen, Li; Nestler, Eric J

    2017-06-14

    Chromatin regulation, in particular ATP-dependent chromatin remodelers, have previously been shown to be important in the regulation of reward-related behaviors in animal models of mental illnesses. Here we demonstrate that BAZ1A, an accessory subunit of the ISWI family of chromatin remodeling complexes, is downregulated in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) of mice exposed repeatedly to cocaine and of cocaine-addicted humans. Viral-mediated overexpression of BAZ1A in mouse NAc reduces cocaine reward as assessed by conditioned place preference (CPP), but increases cocaine-induced locomotor activation. Furthermore, we investigate nucleosome repositioning genome-wide by conducting chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP)-sequencing for total H3 in NAc of control mice and after repeated cocaine administration, and find extensive nucleosome occupancy and shift changes across the genome in response to cocaine exposure. These findings implicate BAZ1A in molecular and behavioral plasticity to cocaine and offer new insight into the pathophysiology of cocaine addiction. Copyright © 2017 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Genome-Wide Association Study and Linkage Analysis of the Healthy Aging Index

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Minster, Ryan L; Sanders, Jason L; Singh, Jatinder

    2015-01-01

    BACKGROUND: The Healthy Aging Index (HAI) is a tool for measuring the extent of health and disease across multiple systems. METHODS: We conducted a genome-wide association study and a genome-wide linkage analysis to map quantitative trait loci associated with the HAI and a modified HAI weighted...

  17. Genome Maps, a new generation genome browser.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Medina, Ignacio; Salavert, Francisco; Sanchez, Rubén; de Maria, Alejandro; Alonso, Roberto; Escobar, Pablo; Bleda, Marta; Dopazo, Joaquín

    2013-07-01

    Genome browsers have gained importance as more genomes and related genomic information become available. However, the increase of information brought about by new generation sequencing technologies is, at the same time, causing a subtle but continuous decrease in the efficiency of conventional genome browsers. Here, we present Genome Maps, a genome browser that implements an innovative model of data transfer and management. The program uses highly efficient technologies from the new HTML5 standard, such as scalable vector graphics, that optimize workloads at both server and client sides and ensure future scalability. Thus, data management and representation are entirely carried out by the browser, without the need of any Java Applet, Flash or other plug-in technology installation. Relevant biological data on genes, transcripts, exons, regulatory features, single-nucleotide polymorphisms, karyotype and so forth, are imported from web services and are available as tracks. In addition, several DAS servers are already included in Genome Maps. As a novelty, this web-based genome browser allows the local upload of huge genomic data files (e.g. VCF or BAM) that can be dynamically visualized in real time at the client side, thus facilitating the management of medical data affected by privacy restrictions. Finally, Genome Maps can easily be integrated in any web application by including only a few lines of code. Genome Maps is an open source collaborative initiative available in the GitHub repository (https://github.com/compbio-bigdata-viz/genome-maps). Genome Maps is available at: http://www.genomemaps.org.

  18. Genome-Wide Association Mapping of Flowering and Ripening Periods in Apple

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jorge Urrestarazu

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Deciphering the genetic control of flowering and ripening periods in apple is essential for breeding cultivars adapted to their growing environments. We implemented a large Genome-Wide Association Study (GWAS at the European level using an association panel of 1,168 different apple genotypes distributed over six locations and phenotyped for these phenological traits. The panel was genotyped at a high-density of SNPs using the Axiom®Apple 480 K SNP array. We ran GWAS with a multi-locus mixed model (MLMM, which handles the putatively confounding effect of significant SNPs elsewhere on the genome. Genomic regions were further investigated to reveal candidate genes responsible for the phenotypic variation. At the whole population level, GWAS retained two SNPs as cofactors on chromosome 9 for flowering period, and six for ripening period (four on chromosome 3, one on chromosome 10 and one on chromosome 16 which, together accounted for 8.9 and 17.2% of the phenotypic variance, respectively. For both traits, SNPs in weak linkage disequilibrium were detected nearby, thus suggesting the existence of allelic heterogeneity. The geographic origins and relationships of apple cultivars accounted for large parts of the phenotypic variation. Variation in genotypic frequency of the SNPs associated with the two traits was connected to the geographic origin of the genotypes (grouped as North+East, West and South Europe, and indicated differential selection in different growing environments. Genes encoding transcription factors containing either NAC or MADS domains were identified as major candidates within the small confidence intervals computed for the associated genomic regions. A strong microsynteny between apple and peach was revealed in all the four confidence interval regions. This study shows how association genetics can unravel the genetic control of important horticultural traits in apple, as well as reduce the confidence intervals of the associated

  19. Genome-wide mapping of furfural tolerance genes in Escherichia coli.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glebes, Tirzah Y; Sandoval, Nicholas R; Reeder, Philippa J; Schilling, Katherine D; Zhang, Min; Gill, Ryan T

    2014-01-01

    Advances in genomics have improved the ability to map complex genotype-to-phenotype relationships, like those required for engineering chemical tolerance. Here, we have applied the multiSCale Analysis of Library Enrichments (SCALEs; Lynch et al. (2007) Nat. Method.) approach to map, in parallel, the effect of increased dosage for >10(5) different fragments of the Escherichia coli genome onto furfural tolerance (furfural is a key toxin of lignocellulosic hydrolysate). Only 268 of >4,000 E. coli genes (∼ 6%) were enriched after growth selections in the presence of furfural. Several of the enriched genes were cloned and tested individually for their effect on furfural tolerance. Overexpression of thyA, lpcA, or groESL individually increased growth in the presence of furfural. Overexpression of lpcA, but not groESL or thyA, resulted in increased furfural reduction rate, a previously identified mechanism underlying furfural tolerance. We additionally show that plasmid-based expression of functional LpcA or GroESL is required to confer furfural tolerance. This study identifies new furfural tolerant genes, which can be applied in future strain design efforts focused on the production of fuels and chemicals from lignocellulosic hydrolysate.

  20. Genome-wide mapping of furfural tolerance genes in Escherichia coli.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tirzah Y Glebes

    Full Text Available Advances in genomics have improved the ability to map complex genotype-to-phenotype relationships, like those required for engineering chemical tolerance. Here, we have applied the multiSCale Analysis of Library Enrichments (SCALEs; Lynch et al. (2007 Nat. Method. approach to map, in parallel, the effect of increased dosage for >10(5 different fragments of the Escherichia coli genome onto furfural tolerance (furfural is a key toxin of lignocellulosic hydrolysate. Only 268 of >4,000 E. coli genes (∼ 6% were enriched after growth selections in the presence of furfural. Several of the enriched genes were cloned and tested individually for their effect on furfural tolerance. Overexpression of thyA, lpcA, or groESL individually increased growth in the presence of furfural. Overexpression of lpcA, but not groESL or thyA, resulted in increased furfural reduction rate, a previously identified mechanism underlying furfural tolerance. We additionally show that plasmid-based expression of functional LpcA or GroESL is required to confer furfural tolerance. This study identifies new furfural tolerant genes, which can be applied in future strain design efforts focused on the production of fuels and chemicals from lignocellulosic hydrolysate.

  1. Genome Variation Map: a data repository of genome variations in BIG Data Center

    OpenAIRE

    Song, Shuhui; Tian, Dongmei; Li, Cuiping; Tang, Bixia; Dong, Lili; Xiao, Jingfa; Bao, Yiming; Zhao, Wenming; He, Hang; Zhang, Zhang

    2017-01-01

    Abstract The Genome Variation Map (GVM; http://bigd.big.ac.cn/gvm/) is a public data repository of genome variations. As a core resource in the BIG Data Center, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, GVM dedicates to collect, integrate and visualize genome variations for a wide range of species, accepts submissions of different types of genome variations from all over the world and provides free open access to all publicly available data in support of worldwide research a...

  2. Regulation of Budding Yeast CENP-A levels Prevents Misincorporation at Promoter Nucleosomes and Transcriptional Defects.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Erica M Hildebrand

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available The exclusive localization of the histone H3 variant CENP-A to centromeres is essential for accurate chromosome segregation. Ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis helps to ensure that CENP-A does not mislocalize to euchromatin, which can lead to genomic instability. Consistent with this, overexpression of the budding yeast CENP-A(Cse4 is lethal in cells lacking Psh1, the E3 ubiquitin ligase that targets CENP-A(Cse4 for degradation. To identify additional mechanisms that prevent CENP-A(Cse4 misincorporation and lethality, we analyzed the genome-wide mislocalization pattern of overexpressed CENP-A(Cse4 in the presence and absence of Psh1 by chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by high throughput sequencing. We found that ectopic CENP-A(Cse4 is enriched at promoters that contain histone H2A.Z(Htz1 nucleosomes, but that H2A.Z(Htz1 is not required for CENP-A(Cse4 mislocalization. Instead, the INO80 complex, which removes H2A.Z(Htz1 from nucleosomes, promotes the ectopic deposition of CENP-A(Cse4. Transcriptional profiling revealed gene expression changes in the psh1Δ cells overexpressing CENP-A(Cse4. The down-regulated genes are enriched for CENP-A(Cse4 mislocalization to promoters, while the up-regulated genes correlate with those that are also transcriptionally up-regulated in an htz1Δ strain. Together, these data show that regulating centromeric nucleosome localization is not only critical for maintaining centromere function, but also for ensuring accurate promoter function and transcriptional regulation.

  3. Genomic dark matter: the reliability of short read mapping illustrated by the genome mappability score.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Hayan; Schatz, Michael C

    2012-08-15

    Genome resequencing and short read mapping are two of the primary tools of genomics and are used for many important applications. The current state-of-the-art in mapping uses the quality values and mapping quality scores to evaluate the reliability of the mapping. These attributes, however, are assigned to individual reads and do not directly measure the problematic repeats across the genome. Here, we present the Genome Mappability Score (GMS) as a novel measure of the complexity of resequencing a genome. The GMS is a weighted probability that any read could be unambiguously mapped to a given position and thus measures the overall composition of the genome itself. We have developed the Genome Mappability Analyzer to compute the GMS of every position in a genome. It leverages the parallelism of cloud computing to analyze large genomes, and enabled us to identify the 5-14% of the human, mouse, fly and yeast genomes that are difficult to analyze with short reads. We examined the accuracy of the widely used BWA/SAMtools polymorphism discovery pipeline in the context of the GMS, and found discovery errors are dominated by false negatives, especially in regions with poor GMS. These errors are fundamental to the mapping process and cannot be overcome by increasing coverage. As such, the GMS should be considered in every resequencing project to pinpoint the 'dark matter' of the genome, including of known clinically relevant variations in these regions. The source code and profiles of several model organisms are available at http://gma-bio.sourceforge.net

  4. Genome-Wide Association Studies In Plant Pathosystems: Toward an Ecological Genomics Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Claudia Bartoli

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available The emergence and re-emergence of plant pathogenic microorganisms are processes that imply perturbations in both host and pathogen ecological niches. Global change is largely assumed to drive the emergence of new etiological agents by altering the equilibrium of the ecological habitats which in turn places hosts more in contact with pathogen reservoirs. In this context, the number of epidemics is expected to increase dramatically in the next coming decades both in wild and crop plants. Under these considerations, the identification of the genetic variants underlying natural variation of resistance is a pre-requisite to estimate the adaptive potential of wild plant populations and to develop new breeding resistant cultivars. On the other hand, the prediction of pathogen's genetic determinants underlying disease emergence can help to identify plant resistance alleles. In the genomic era, whole genome sequencing combined with the development of statistical methods led to the emergence of Genome Wide Association (GWA mapping, a powerful tool for detecting genomic regions associated with natural variation of disease resistance in both wild and cultivated plants. However, GWA mapping has been less employed for the detection of genetic variants associated with pathogenicity in microbes. Here, we reviewed GWA studies performed either in plants or in pathogenic microorganisms (bacteria, fungi and oomycetes. In addition, we highlighted the benefits and caveats of the emerging joint GWA mapping approach that allows for the simultaneous identification of genes interacting between genomes of both partners. Finally, based on co-evolutionary processes in wild populations, we highlighted a phenotyping-free joint GWA mapping approach as a promising tool for describing the molecular landscape underlying plant - microbe interactions.

  5. Genome-wide associations of gene expression variation in humans.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Barbara E Stranger

    2005-12-01

    Full Text Available The exploration of quantitative variation in human populations has become one of the major priorities for medical genetics. The successful identification of variants that contribute to complex traits is highly dependent on reliable assays and genetic maps. We have performed a genome-wide quantitative trait analysis of 630 genes in 60 unrelated Utah residents with ancestry from Northern and Western Europe using the publicly available phase I data of the International HapMap project. The genes are located in regions of the human genome with elevated functional annotation and disease interest including the ENCODE regions spanning 1% of the genome, Chromosome 21 and Chromosome 20q12-13.2. We apply three different methods of multiple test correction, including Bonferroni, false discovery rate, and permutations. For the 374 expressed genes, we find many regions with statistically significant association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs with expression variation in lymphoblastoid cell lines after correcting for multiple tests. Based on our analyses, the signal proximal (cis- to the genes of interest is more abundant and more stable than distal and trans across statistical methodologies. Our results suggest that regulatory polymorphism is widespread in the human genome and show that the 5-kb (phase I HapMap has sufficient density to enable linkage disequilibrium mapping in humans. Such studies will significantly enhance our ability to annotate the non-coding part of the genome and interpret functional variation. In addition, we demonstrate that the HapMap cell lines themselves may serve as a useful resource for quantitative measurements at the cellular level.

  6. Genome-Wide Associations of Gene Expression Variation in Humans.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    2005-12-01

    Full Text Available The exploration of quantitative variation in human populations has become one of the major priorities for medical genetics. The successful identification of variants that contribute to complex traits is highly dependent on reliable assays and genetic maps. We have performed a genome-wide quantitative trait analysis of 630 genes in 60 unrelated Utah residents with ancestry from Northern and Western Europe using the publicly available phase I data of the International HapMap project. The genes are located in regions of the human genome with elevated functional annotation and disease interest including the ENCODE regions spanning 1% of the genome, Chromosome 21 and Chromosome 20q12-13.2. We apply three different methods of multiple test correction, including Bonferroni, false discovery rate, and permutations. For the 374 expressed genes, we find many regions with statistically significant association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs with expression variation in lymphoblastoid cell lines after correcting for multiple tests. Based on our analyses, the signal proximal (cis- to the genes of interest is more abundant and more stable than distal and trans across statistical methodologies. Our results suggest that regulatory polymorphism is widespread in the human genome and show that the 5-kb (phase I HapMap has sufficient density to enable linkage disequilibrium mapping in humans. Such studies will significantly enhance our ability to annotate the non-coding part of the genome and interpret functional variation. In addition, we demonstrate that the HapMap cell lines themselves may serve as a useful resource for quantitative measurements at the cellular level.

  7. RPA binds histone H3-H4 and functions in DNA replication-coupled nucleosome assembly.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Shaofeng; Xu, Zhiyun; Leng, He; Zheng, Pu; Yang, Jiayi; Chen, Kaifu; Feng, Jianxun; Li, Qing

    2017-01-27

    DNA replication-coupled nucleosome assembly is essential to maintain genome integrity and retain epigenetic information. Multiple involved histone chaperones have been identified, but how nucleosome assembly is coupled to DNA replication remains elusive. Here we show that replication protein A (RPA), an essential replisome component that binds single-stranded DNA, has a role in replication-coupled nucleosome assembly. RPA directly binds free H3-H4. Assays using a synthetic sequence that mimics freshly unwound single-stranded DNA at replication fork showed that RPA promotes DNA-(H3-H4) complex formation immediately adjacent to double-stranded DNA. Further, an RPA mutant defective in H3-H4 binding exhibited attenuated nucleosome assembly on nascent chromatin. Thus, we propose that RPA functions as a platform for targeting histone deposition to replication fork, through which RPA couples nucleosome assembly with ongoing DNA replication. Copyright © 2017, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

  8. Genome-wide deficiency screen for the genomic regions responsible for heat resistance in Drosophila melanogaster

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Teramura Kouhei

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Temperature adaptation is one of the most important determinants of distribution and population size of organisms in nature. Recently, quantitative trait loci (QTL mapping and gene expression profiling approaches have been used for detecting candidate genes for heat resistance. However, the resolution of QTL mapping is not high enough to examine the individual effects of various genes in each QTL. Heat stress-responsive genes, characterized by gene expression profiling studies, are not necessarily responsible for heat resistance. Some of these genes may be regulated in association with the heat stress response of other genes. Results To evaluate which heat-responsive genes are potential candidates for heat resistance with higher resolution than previous QTL mapping studies, we performed genome-wide deficiency screen for QTL for heat resistance. We screened 439 isogenic deficiency strains from the DrosDel project, covering 65.6% of the Drosophila melanogaster genome in order to map QTL for thermal resistance. As a result, we found 19 QTL for heat resistance, including 3 novel QTL outside the QTL found in previous studies. Conclusion The QTL found in this study encompassed 19 heat-responsive genes found in the previous gene expression profiling studies, suggesting that they were strong candidates for heat resistance. This result provides new insights into the genetic architecture of heat resistance. It also emphasizes the advantages of genome-wide deficiency screen using isogenic deficiency libraries.

  9. The Cac2 subunit is essential for productive histone binding and nucleosome assembly in CAF-1

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mattiroli, Francesca; Gu, Yajie; Balsbaugh, Jeremy L.; Ahn, Natalie G.; Luger, Karolin

    2017-04-18

    Nucleosome assembly following DNA replication controls epigenome maintenance and genome integrity. Chromatin assembly factor 1 (CAF-1) is the histone chaperone responsible for histone (H3-H4)2 deposition following DNA synthesis. Structural and functional details for this chaperone complex and its interaction with histones are slowly emerging. Using hydrogen-deuterium exchange coupled to mass spectrometry, combined with in vitro and in vivo mutagenesis studies, we identified the regions involved in the direct interaction between the yeast CAF-1 subunits, and mapped the CAF-1 domains responsible for H3-H4 binding. The large subunit, Cac1 organizes the assembly of CAF-1. Strikingly, H3-H4 binding is mediated by a composite interface, shaped by Cac1-bound Cac2 and the Cac1 acidic region. Cac2 is indispensable for productive histone binding, while deletion of Cac3 has only moderate effects on H3-H4 binding and nucleosome assembly. These results define direct structural roles for yeast CAF-1 subunits and uncover a previously unknown critical function of the middle subunit in CAF-1.

  10. A novel genome-wide microsatellite resource for species of Eucalyptus with linkage-to-physical correspondence on the reference genome sequence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grattapaglia, Dario; Mamani, Eva M C; Silva-Junior, Orzenil B; Faria, Danielle A

    2015-03-01

    Keystone species in their native ranges, eucalypts, are ecologically and genetically very diverse, growing naturally along extensive latitudinal and altitudinal ranges and variable environments. Besides their ecological importance, eucalypts are also the most widely planted trees for sustainable forestry in the world. We report the development of a novel collection of 535 microsatellites for species of Eucalyptus, 494 designed from ESTs and 41 from genomic libraries. A selected subset of 223 was evaluated for individual identification, parentage testing, and ancestral information content in the two most extensively studied species, Eucalyptus grandis and Eucalyptus globulus. Microsatellites showed high transferability and overlapping allele size range, suggesting they have arisen still in their common ancestor and confirming the extensive genome conservation between these two species. A consensus linkage map with 437 microsatellites, the most comprehensive microsatellite-only genetic map for Eucalyptus, was built by assembling segregation data from three mapping populations and anchored to the Eucalyptus genome. An overall colinearity between recombination-based and physical positioning of 84% of the mapped microsatellites was observed, with some ordering discrepancies and sporadic locus duplications, consistent with the recently described whole genome duplication events in Eucalyptus. The linkage map covered 95.2% of the 605.8-Mbp assembled genome sequence, placing one microsatellite every 1.55 Mbp on average, and an overall estimate of physical to recombination distance of 618 kbp/cM. The genetic parameters estimates together with linkage and physical position data for this large set of microsatellites should assist marker choice for genome-wide population genetics and comparative mapping in Eucalyptus. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  11. Generation of meiomaps of genome-wide recombination and chromosome segregation in human oocytes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ottolini, Christian S; Capalbo, Antonio; Newnham, Louise

    2016-01-01

    We have developed a protocol for the generation of genome-wide maps (meiomaps) of recombination and chromosome segregation for the three products of human female meiosis: the first and second polar bodies (PB1 and PB2) and the corresponding oocyte. PB1 is biopsied and the oocyte is artificially......-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) genome-wide by microarray. Informative maternal heterozygous SNPs are phased using a haploid PB2 or oocyte as a reference. A simple algorithm is then used to identify the maternal haplotypes for each chromosome, in all of the products of meiosis for each oocyte. This allows mapping...

  12. Genomic Characterization of DArT Markers Based on High-Density Linkage Analysis and Physical Mapping to the Eucalyptus Genome

    Science.gov (United States)

    Petroli, César D.; Sansaloni, Carolina P.; Carling, Jason; Steane, Dorothy A.; Vaillancourt, René E.; Myburg, Alexander A.; da Silva, Orzenil Bonfim; Pappas, Georgios Joannis; Kilian, Andrzej; Grattapaglia, Dario

    2012-01-01

    Diversity Arrays Technology (DArT) provides a robust, high throughput, cost-effective method to query thousands of sequence polymorphisms in a single assay. Despite the extensive use of this genotyping platform for numerous plant species, little is known regarding the sequence attributes and genome-wide distribution of DArT markers. We investigated the genomic properties of the 7,680 DArT marker probes of a Eucalyptus array, by sequencing them, constructing a high density linkage map and carrying out detailed physical mapping analyses to the Eucalyptus grandis reference genome. A consensus linkage map with 2,274 DArT markers anchored to 210 microsatellites and a framework map, with improved support for ordering, displayed extensive collinearity with the genome sequence. Only 1.4 Mbp of the 75 Mbp of still unplaced scaffold sequence was captured by 45 linkage mapped but physically unaligned markers to the 11 main Eucalyptus pseudochromosomes, providing compelling evidence for the quality and completeness of the current Eucalyptus genome assembly. A highly significant correspondence was found between the locations of DArT markers and predicted gene models, while most of the 89 DArT probes unaligned to the genome correspond to sequences likely absent in E. grandis, consistent with the pan-genomic feature of this multi-Eucalyptus species DArT array. These comprehensive linkage-to-physical mapping analyses provide novel data regarding the genomic attributes of DArT markers in plant genomes in general and for Eucalyptus in particular. DArT markers preferentially target the gene space and display a largely homogeneous distribution across the genome, thereby providing superb coverage for mapping and genome-wide applications in breeding and diversity studies. Data reported on these ubiquitous properties of DArT markers will be particularly valuable to researchers working on less-studied crop species who already count on DArT genotyping arrays but for which no reference

  13. Genomic characterization of DArT markers based on high-density linkage analysis and physical mapping to the Eucalyptus genome.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    César D Petroli

    Full Text Available Diversity Arrays Technology (DArT provides a robust, high throughput, cost-effective method to query thousands of sequence polymorphisms in a single assay. Despite the extensive use of this genotyping platform for numerous plant species, little is known regarding the sequence attributes and genome-wide distribution of DArT markers. We investigated the genomic properties of the 7,680 DArT marker probes of a Eucalyptus array, by sequencing them, constructing a high density linkage map and carrying out detailed physical mapping analyses to the Eucalyptus grandis reference genome. A consensus linkage map with 2,274 DArT markers anchored to 210 microsatellites and a framework map, with improved support for ordering, displayed extensive collinearity with the genome sequence. Only 1.4 Mbp of the 75 Mbp of still unplaced scaffold sequence was captured by 45 linkage mapped but physically unaligned markers to the 11 main Eucalyptus pseudochromosomes, providing compelling evidence for the quality and completeness of the current Eucalyptus genome assembly. A highly significant correspondence was found between the locations of DArT markers and predicted gene models, while most of the 89 DArT probes unaligned to the genome correspond to sequences likely absent in E. grandis, consistent with the pan-genomic feature of this multi-Eucalyptus species DArT array. These comprehensive linkage-to-physical mapping analyses provide novel data regarding the genomic attributes of DArT markers in plant genomes in general and for Eucalyptus in particular. DArT markers preferentially target the gene space and display a largely homogeneous distribution across the genome, thereby providing superb coverage for mapping and genome-wide applications in breeding and diversity studies. Data reported on these ubiquitous properties of DArT markers will be particularly valuable to researchers working on less-studied crop species who already count on DArT genotyping arrays but for

  14. Genome-wide screen for universal individual identification SNPs based on the HapMap and 1000 Genomes databases.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Erwen; Liu, Changhui; Zheng, Jingjing; Han, Xiaolong; Du, Weian; Huang, Yuanjian; Li, Chengshi; Wang, Xiaoguang; Tong, Dayue; Ou, Xueling; Sun, Hongyu; Zeng, Zhaoshu; Liu, Chao

    2018-04-03

    Differences among SNP panels for individual identification in SNP-selecting and populations led to few common SNPs, compromising their universal applicability. To screen all universal SNPs, we performed a genome-wide SNP mining in multiple populations based on HapMap and 1000Genomes databases. SNPs with high minor allele frequencies (MAF) in 37 populations were selected. With MAF from ≥0.35 to ≥0.43, the number of selected SNPs decreased from 2769 to 0. A total of 117 SNPs with MAF ≥0.39 have no linkage disequilibrium with each other in every population. For 116 of the 117 SNPs, cumulative match probability (CMP) ranged from 2.01 × 10-48 to 1.93 × 10-50 and cumulative exclusion probability (CEP) ranged from 0.9999999996653 to 0.9999999999945. In 134 tested Han samples, 110 of the 117 SNPs remained within high MAF and conformed to Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, with CMP = 4.70 × 10-47 and CEP = 0.999999999862. By analyzing the same number of autosomal SNPs as in the HID-Ion AmpliSeq Identity Panel, i.e. 90 randomized out of the 110 SNPs, our panel yielded preferable CMP and CEP. Taken together, the 110-SNPs panel is advantageous for forensic test, and this study provided plenty of highly informative SNPs for compiling final universal panels.

  15. Quantification and genome-wide mapping of DNA double-strand breaks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grégoire, Marie-Chantal; Massonneau, Julien; Leduc, Frédéric; Arguin, Mélina; Brazeau, Marc-André; Boissonneault, Guylain

    2016-12-01

    DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) represent a major threat to the genetic integrity of the cell. Knowing both their genome-wide distribution and number is important for a better assessment of genotoxicity at a molecular level. Available methods may have underestimated the extent of DSBs as they are based on markers specific to those undergoing active repair or may not be adapted for the large diversity of naturally occurring DNA ends. We have established conditions for an efficient first step of DNA nick and gap repair (NGR) allowing specific determination of DSBs by end labeling with terminal transferase. We used DNA extracted from HeLa cells harboring an I-SceI cassette to induce a targeted nick or DSB and demonstrated by immunocapture of 3'-OH that a prior step of NGR allows specific determination of loci-specific or genome wide DSBs. This method can be applied to the global determination of DSBs using radioactive end labeling and can find several applications aimed at understanding the distribution and kinetics of DSBs formation and repair. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  16. Modulations of DNA Contacts by Linker Histones and Post-translational Modifications Determine the Mobility and Modifiability of Nucleosomal H3 Tails.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stützer, Alexandra; Liokatis, Stamatios; Kiesel, Anja; Schwarzer, Dirk; Sprangers, Remco; Söding, Johannes; Selenko, Philipp; Fischle, Wolfgang

    2016-01-21

    Post-translational histone modifications and linker histone incorporation regulate chromatin structure and genome activity. How these systems interface on a molecular level is unclear. Using biochemistry and NMR spectroscopy, we deduced mechanistic insights into the modification behavior of N-terminal histone H3 tails in different nucleosomal contexts. We find that linker histones generally inhibit modifications of different H3 sites and reduce H3 tail dynamics in nucleosomes. These effects are caused by modulations of electrostatic interactions of H3 tails with linker DNA and largely depend on the C-terminal domains of linker histones. In agreement, linker histone occupancy and H3 tail modifications segregate on a genome-wide level. Charge-modulating modifications such as phosphorylation and acetylation weaken transient H3 tail-linker DNA interactions, increase H3 tail dynamics, and, concomitantly, enhance general modifiability. We propose that alterations of H3 tail-linker DNA interactions by linker histones and charge-modulating modifications execute basal control mechanisms of chromatin function. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. Harnessing the sorghum genome sequence:development of a genome-wide microsattelite (SSR) resource for swift genetic mapping and map based cloning in sorghum

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sorghum is the second cereal crop to have a full genome completely sequenced (Nature (2009), 457:551). This achievement is widely recognized as a scientific milestone for grass genetics and genomics in general. However, the true worth of genetic information lies in translating the sequence informa...

  18. Hematopoietic transcriptional mechanisms: from locus-specific to genome-wide vantage points.

    Science.gov (United States)

    DeVilbiss, Andrew W; Sanalkumar, Rajendran; Johnson, Kirby D; Keles, Sunduz; Bresnick, Emery H

    2014-08-01

    Hematopoiesis is an exquisitely regulated process in which stem cells in the developing embryo and the adult generate progenitor cells that give rise to all blood lineages. Master regulatory transcription factors control hematopoiesis by integrating signals from the microenvironment and dynamically establishing and maintaining genetic networks. One of the most rudimentary aspects of cell type-specific transcription factor function, how they occupy a highly restricted cohort of cis-elements in chromatin, remains poorly understood. Transformative technologic advances involving the coupling of next-generation DNA sequencing technology with the chromatin immunoprecipitation assay (ChIP-seq) have enabled genome-wide mapping of factor occupancy patterns. However, formidable problems remain; notably, ChIP-seq analysis yields hundreds to thousands of chromatin sites occupied by a given transcription factor, and only a fraction of the sites appear to be endowed with critical, non-redundant function. It has become en vogue to map transcription factor occupancy patterns genome-wide, while using powerful statistical tools to establish correlations to inform biology and mechanisms. With the advent of revolutionary genome editing technologies, one can now reach beyond correlations to conduct definitive hypothesis testing. This review focuses on key discoveries that have emerged during the path from single loci to genome-wide analyses, specifically in the context of hematopoietic transcriptional mechanisms. Copyright © 2014 ISEH - International Society for Experimental Hematology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  19. Biallelic and Genome Wide Association Mapping of Germanium Tolerant Loci in Rice (Oryza sativa L..

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    Partha Talukdar

    Full Text Available Rice plants accumulate high concentrations of silicon. Silicon has been shown to be involved in plant growth, high yield, and mitigating biotic and abiotic stresses. However, it has been demonstrated that inorganic arsenic is taken up by rice through silicon transporters under anaerobic conditions, thus the ability to efficiently take up silicon may be considered either a positive or a negative trait in rice. Germanium is an analogue of silicon that produces brown lesions in shoots and leaves, and germanium toxicity has been used to identify mutants in silicon and arsenic transport. In this study, two different genetic mapping methods were performed to determine the loci involved in germanium sensitivity in rice. Genetic mapping in the biparental cross of Bala × Azucena (an F6 population and a genome wide association (GWA study with 350 accessions from the Rice Diversity Panel 1 were conducted using 15 μM of germanic acid. This identified a number of germanium sensitive loci: some co-localised with previously identified quantitative trait loci (QTL for tissue silicon or arsenic concentration, none co-localised with Lsi1 or Lsi6, while one single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP was detected within 200 kb of Lsi2 (these are genes known to transport silicon, whose identity was discovered using germanium toxicity. However, examining candidate genes that are within the genomic region of the loci detected above reveals genes homologous to both Lsi1 and Lsi2, as well as a number of other candidate genes, which are discussed.

  20. Complex exon-intron marking by histone modifications is not determined solely by nucleosome distribution.

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    Pawandeep Dhami

    2010-08-01

    Full Text Available It has recently been shown that nucleosome distribution, histone modifications and RNA polymerase II (Pol II occupancy show preferential association with exons ("exon-intron marking", linking chromatin structure and function to co-transcriptional splicing in a variety of eukaryotes. Previous ChIP-sequencing studies suggested that these marking patterns reflect the nucleosomal landscape. By analyzing ChIP-chip datasets across the human genome in three cell types, we have found that this marking system is far more complex than previously observed. We show here that a range of histone modifications and Pol II are preferentially associated with exons. However, there is noticeable cell-type specificity in the degree of exon marking by histone modifications and, surprisingly, this is also reflected in some histone modifications patterns showing biases towards introns. Exon-intron marking is laid down in the absence of transcription on silent genes, with some marking biases changing or becoming reversed for genes expressed at different levels. Furthermore, the relationship of this marking system with splicing is not simple, with only some histone modifications reflecting exon usage/inclusion, while others mirror patterns of exon exclusion. By examining nucleosomal distributions in all three cell types, we demonstrate that these histone modification patterns cannot solely be accounted for by differences in nucleosome levels between exons and introns. In addition, because of inherent differences between ChIP-chip array and ChIP-sequencing approaches, these platforms report different nucleosome distribution patterns across the human genome. Our findings confound existing views and point to active cellular mechanisms which dynamically regulate histone modification levels and account for exon-intron marking. We believe that these histone modification patterns provide links between chromatin accessibility, Pol II movement and co-transcriptional splicing.

  1. BioNano genome mapping of individual chromosomes supports physical mapping and sequence assembly in complex plant genomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Staňková, Helena; Hastie, Alex R; Chan, Saki; Vrána, Jan; Tulpová, Zuzana; Kubaláková, Marie; Visendi, Paul; Hayashi, Satomi; Luo, Mingcheng; Batley, Jacqueline; Edwards, David; Doležel, Jaroslav; Šimková, Hana

    2016-07-01

    The assembly of a reference genome sequence of bread wheat is challenging due to its specific features such as the genome size of 17 Gbp, polyploid nature and prevalence of repetitive sequences. BAC-by-BAC sequencing based on chromosomal physical maps, adopted by the International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium as the key strategy, reduces problems caused by the genome complexity and polyploidy, but the repeat content still hampers the sequence assembly. Availability of a high-resolution genomic map to guide sequence scaffolding and validate physical map and sequence assemblies would be highly beneficial to obtaining an accurate and complete genome sequence. Here, we chose the short arm of chromosome 7D (7DS) as a model to demonstrate for the first time that it is possible to couple chromosome flow sorting with genome mapping in nanochannel arrays and create a de novo genome map of a wheat chromosome. We constructed a high-resolution chromosome map composed of 371 contigs with an N50 of 1.3 Mb. Long DNA molecules achieved by our approach facilitated chromosome-scale analysis of repetitive sequences and revealed a ~800-kb array of tandem repeats intractable to current DNA sequencing technologies. Anchoring 7DS sequence assemblies obtained by clone-by-clone sequencing to the 7DS genome map provided a valuable tool to improve the BAC-contig physical map and validate sequence assembly on a chromosome-arm scale. Our results indicate that creating genome maps for the whole wheat genome in a chromosome-by-chromosome manner is feasible and that they will be an affordable tool to support the production of improved pseudomolecules. © 2016 The Authors. Plant Biotechnology Journal published by Society for Experimental Biology and The Association of Applied Biologists and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  2. Genome-wide recombination rate variation in a recombination map of cotton.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shen, Chao; Li, Ximei; Zhang, Ruiting; Lin, Zhongxu

    2017-01-01

    Recombination is crucial for genetic evolution, which not only provides new allele combinations but also influences the biological evolution and efficacy of natural selection. However, recombination variation is not well understood outside of the complex species' genomes, and it is particularly unclear in Gossypium. Cotton is the most important natural fibre crop and the second largest oil-seed crop. Here, we found that the genetic and physical maps distances did not have a simple linear relationship. Recombination rates were unevenly distributed throughout the cotton genome, which showed marked changes along the chromosome lengths and recombination was completely suppressed in the centromeric regions. Recombination rates significantly varied between A-subgenome (At) (range = 1.60 to 3.26 centimorgan/megabase [cM/Mb]) and D-subgenome (Dt) (range = 2.17 to 4.97 cM/Mb), which explained why the genetic maps of At and Dt are similar but the physical map of Dt is only half that of At. The translocation regions between A02 and A03 and between A04 and A05, and the inversion regions on A10, D10, A07 and D07 indicated relatively high recombination rates in the distal regions of the chromosomes. Recombination rates were positively correlated with the densities of genes, markers and the distance from the centromere, and negatively correlated with transposable elements (TEs). The gene ontology (GO) categories showed that genes in high recombination regions may tend to response to environmental stimuli, and genes in low recombination regions are related to mitosis and meiosis, which suggested that they may provide the primary driving force in adaptive evolution and assure the stability of basic cell cycle in a rapidly changing environment. Global knowledge of recombination rates will facilitate genetics and breeding in cotton.

  3. Pervasive, Genome-Wide Transcription in the Organelle Genomes of Diverse Plastid-Bearing Protists

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    Matheus Sanitá Lima

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Organelle genomes are among the most sequenced kinds of chromosome. This is largely because they are small and widely used in molecular studies, but also because next-generation sequencing technologies made sequencing easier, faster, and cheaper. However, studies of organelle RNA have not kept pace with those of DNA, despite huge amounts of freely available eukaryotic RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq data. Little is known about organelle transcription in nonmodel species, and most of the available eukaryotic RNA-seq data have not been mined for organelle transcripts. Here, we use publicly available RNA-seq experiments to investigate organelle transcription in 30 diverse plastid-bearing protists with varying organelle genomic architectures. Mapping RNA-seq data to organelle genomes revealed pervasive, genome-wide transcription, regardless of the taxonomic grouping, gene organization, or noncoding content. For every species analyzed, transcripts covered ≥85% of the mitochondrial and/or plastid genomes (all of which were ≤105 kb, indicating that most of the organelle DNA—coding and noncoding—is transcriptionally active. These results follow earlier studies of model species showing that organellar transcription is coupled and ubiquitous across the genome, requiring significant downstream processing of polycistronic transcripts. Our findings suggest that noncoding organelle DNA can be transcriptionally active, raising questions about the underlying function of these transcripts and underscoring the utility of publicly available RNA-seq data for recovering complete genome sequences. If pervasive transcription is also found in bigger organelle genomes (>105 kb and across a broader range of eukaryotes, this could indicate that noncoding organelle RNAs are regulating fundamental processes within eukaryotic cells.

  4. Modulation of the functional association between the HIV-1 intasome and the nucleosome by histone amino-terminal tails.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benleulmi, Mohamed S; Matysiak, Julien; Robert, Xavier; Miskey, Csaba; Mauro, Eric; Lapaillerie, Delphine; Lesbats, Paul; Chaignepain, Stéphane; Henriquez, Daniel R; Calmels, Christina; Oladosu, Oyindamola; Thierry, Eloïse; Leon, Oscar; Lavigne, Marc; Andreola, Marie-Line; Delelis, Olivier; Ivics, Zoltán; Ruff, Marc; Gouet, Patrice; Parissi, Vincent

    2017-11-28

    Stable insertion of the retroviral DNA genome into host chromatin requires the functional association between the intasome (integrase·viral DNA complex) and the nucleosome. The data from the literature suggest that direct protein-protein contacts between integrase and histones may be involved in anchoring the intasome to the nucleosome. Since histone tails are candidates for interactions with the incoming intasomes we have investigated whether they could participate in modulating the nucleosomal integration process. We show here that histone tails are required for an optimal association between HIV-1 integrase (IN) and the nucleosome for efficient integration. We also demonstrate direct interactions between IN and the amino-terminal tail of human histone H4 in vitro. Structure/function studies enabled us to identify amino acids in the carboxy-terminal domain of IN that are important for this interaction. Analysis of the nucleosome-binding properties of catalytically active mutated INs confirmed that their ability to engage the nucleosome for integration in vitro was affected. Pseudovirus particles bearing mutations that affect the IN/H4 association also showed impaired replication capacity due to altered integration and re-targeting of their insertion sites toward dynamic regions of the chromatin with lower nucleosome occupancy. Collectively, our data support a functional association between HIV-1 IN and histone tails that promotes anchoring of the intasome to nucleosomes and optimal integration into chromatin.

  5. Nucleosome Positioning and Epigenetics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schwab, David; Bruinsma, Robijn

    2008-03-01

    The role of chromatin structure in gene regulation has recently taken center stage in the field of epigenetics, phenomena that change the phenotype without changing the DNA sequence. Recent work has also shown that nucleosomes, a complex of DNA wrapped around a histone octamer, experience a sequence dependent energy landscape due to the variation in DNA bend stiffness with sequence composition. In this talk, we consider the role nucleosome positioning might play in the formation of heterochromatin, a compact form of DNA generically responsible for gene silencing. In particular, we discuss how different patterns of nucleosome positions, periodic or random, could either facilitate or suppress heterochromatin stability and formation.

  6. Genome-Wide Association Mapping of Seed Coat Color in Brassica napus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Jia; Xian, Xiaohua; Xu, Xinfu; Qu, Cunmin; Lu, Kun; Li, Jiana; Liu, Liezhao

    2017-07-05

    Seed coat color is an extremely important breeding characteristic of Brassica napus. To elucidate the factors affecting the genetic architecture of seed coat color, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of seed coat color was conducted with a diversity panel comprising 520 B. napus cultivars and inbred lines. In total, 22 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) distributed on 7 chromosomes were found to be associated with seed coat color. The most significant SNPs were found in 2014 near Bn-scaff_15763_1-p233999, only 43.42 kb away from BnaC06g17050D, which is orthologous to Arabidopsis thaliana TRANSPARENT TESTA 12 (TT12), an important gene involved in the transportation of proanthocyanidin precursors into the vacuole. Two of eight repeatedly detected SNPs can be identified and digested by restriction enzymes. Candidate gene mining revealed that the relevant regions of significant SNP loci on the A09 and C08 chromosomes are highly homologous. Moreover, a comparison of the GWAS results to those of previous quantitative trait locus (QTL) studies showed that 11 SNPs were located in the confidence intervals of the QTLs identified in previous studies based on linkage analyses or association mapping. Our results provide insights into the genetic basis of seed coat color in B. napus, and the beneficial allele, SNP information, and candidate genes should be useful for selecting yellow seeds in B. napus breeding.

  7. Genome-wide association mapping of root traits in a japonica rice panel.

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    Brigitte Courtois

    Full Text Available Rice is a crop prone to drought stress in upland and rainfed lowland ecosystems. A deep root system is recognized as the best drought avoidance mechanism. Genome-wide association mapping offers higher resolution for locating quantitative trait loci (QTLs than QTL mapping in biparental populations. We performed an association mapping study for root traits using a panel of 167 japonica accessions, mostly of tropical origin. The panel was genotyped at an average density of one marker per 22.5 kb using genotyping by sequencing technology. The linkage disequilibrium in the panel was high (r(2>0.6, on average, for 20 kb mean distances between markers. The plants were grown in transparent 50 cm × 20 cm × 2 cm Plexiglas nailboard sandwiches filled with 1.5 mm glass beads through which a nutrient solution was circulated. Root system architecture and biomass traits were measured in 30-day-old plants. The panel showed a moderate to high diversity in the various traits, particularly for deep (below 30 cm depth root mass and the number of deep roots. Association analyses were conducted using a mixed model involving both population structure and kinship to control for false positives. Nineteen associations were significant at P<1e-05, and 78 were significant at P<1e-04. The greatest numbers of significant associations were detected for deep root mass and the number of deep roots, whereas no significant associations were found for total root biomass or deep root proportion. Because several QTLs for different traits were co-localized, 51 unique loci were detected; several co-localized with meta-QTLs for root traits, but none co-localized with rice genes known to be involved in root growth. Several likely candidate genes were found in close proximity to these loci. Additional work is necessary to assess whether these markers are relevant in other backgrounds and whether the genes identified are robust candidates.

  8. ATP-Dependent Chromatin Remodeling Factors and Their Roles in Affecting Nucleosome Fiber Composition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexandra Lusser

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling factors of the SNF2 family are key components of the cellular machineries that shape and regulate chromatin structure and function. Members of this group of proteins have broad and heterogeneous functions ranging from controlling gene activity, facilitating DNA damage repair, promoting homologous recombination to maintaining genomic stability. Several chromatin remodeling factors are critical components of nucleosome assembly processes, and recent reports have identified specific functions of distinct chromatin remodeling factors in the assembly of variant histones into chromatin. In this review we will discuss the specific roles of ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling factors in determining nucleosome composition and, thus, chromatin fiber properties.

  9. Genome-Wide Association Mapping of Leaf Rust Response in a Durum Wheat Worldwide Germplasm Collection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aoun, Meriem; Breiland, Matthew; Kathryn Turner, M; Loladze, Alexander; Chao, Shiaoman; Xu, Steven S; Ammar, Karim; Anderson, James A; Kolmer, James A; Acevedo, Maricelis

    2016-11-01

    Leaf rust (caused by Erikss. []) is increasingly impacting durum wheat ( L. var. ) production with the recent appearance of races with virulence to widely grown cultivars in many durum producing areas worldwide. A highly virulent race on durum wheat was recently detected in Kansas. This race may spread to the northern Great Plains, where most of the US durum wheat is produced. The objective of this study was to identify sources of resistance to several races from the United States and Mexico at seedling stage in the greenhouse and at adult stage in field experiments. Genome-wide association study (GWAS) was used to identify single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers associated with leaf rust response in a worldwide durum wheat collection of 496 accessions. Thirteen accessions were resistant across all experiments. Association mapping revealed 88 significant SNPs associated with leaf rust response. Of these, 33 SNPs were located on chromosomes 2A and 2B, and 55 SNPs were distributed across all other chromosomes except for 1B and 7B. Twenty markers were associated with leaf rust response at seedling stage, while 68 markers were associated with leaf rust response at adult plant stage. The current study identified a total of 14 previously uncharacterized loci associated with leaf rust response in durum wheat. The discovery of these loci through association mapping (AM) is a significant step in identifying useful sources of resistance that can be used to broaden the relatively narrow leaf rust resistance spectrum in durum wheat germplasm. Copyright © 2016 Crop Science Society of America.

  10. Low nucleosome occupancy is encoded around functional human transcription factor binding sites

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    Daenen Floris

    2008-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Transcriptional regulation of genes in eukaryotes is achieved by the interactions of multiple transcription factors with arrays of transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs on DNA and with each other. Identification of these TFBSs is an essential step in our understanding of gene regulatory networks, but computational prediction of TFBSs with either consensus or commonly used stochastic models such as Position-Specific Scoring Matrices (PSSMs results in an unacceptably high number of hits consisting of a few true functional binding sites and numerous false non-functional binding sites. This is due to the inability of the models to incorporate higher order properties of sequences including sequences surrounding TFBSs and influencing the positioning of nucleosomes and/or the interactions that might occur between transcription factors. Results Significant improvement can be expected through the development of a new framework for the modeling and prediction of TFBSs that considers explicitly these higher order sequence properties. It would be particularly interesting to include in the new modeling framework the information present in the nucleosome positioning sequences (NPSs surrounding TFBSs, as it can be hypothesized that genomes use this information to encode the formation of stable nucleosomes over non-functional sites, while functional sites have a more open chromatin configuration. In this report we evaluate the usefulness of the latter feature by comparing the nucleosome occupancy probabilities around experimentally verified human TFBSs with the nucleosome occupancy probabilities around false positive TFBSs and in random sequences. Conclusion We present evidence that nucleosome occupancy is remarkably lower around true functional human TFBSs as compared to non-functional human TFBSs, which supports the use of this feature to improve current TFBS prediction approaches in higher eukaryotes.

  11. Pervasive, Genome-Wide Transcription in the Organelle Genomes of Diverse Plastid-Bearing Protists.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sanitá Lima, Matheus; Smith, David Roy

    2017-11-06

    Organelle genomes are among the most sequenced kinds of chromosome. This is largely because they are small and widely used in molecular studies, but also because next-generation sequencing technologies made sequencing easier, faster, and cheaper. However, studies of organelle RNA have not kept pace with those of DNA, despite huge amounts of freely available eukaryotic RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) data. Little is known about organelle transcription in nonmodel species, and most of the available eukaryotic RNA-seq data have not been mined for organelle transcripts. Here, we use publicly available RNA-seq experiments to investigate organelle transcription in 30 diverse plastid-bearing protists with varying organelle genomic architectures. Mapping RNA-seq data to organelle genomes revealed pervasive, genome-wide transcription, regardless of the taxonomic grouping, gene organization, or noncoding content. For every species analyzed, transcripts covered ≥85% of the mitochondrial and/or plastid genomes (all of which were ≤105 kb), indicating that most of the organelle DNA-coding and noncoding-is transcriptionally active. These results follow earlier studies of model species showing that organellar transcription is coupled and ubiquitous across the genome, requiring significant downstream processing of polycistronic transcripts. Our findings suggest that noncoding organelle DNA can be transcriptionally active, raising questions about the underlying function of these transcripts and underscoring the utility of publicly available RNA-seq data for recovering complete genome sequences. If pervasive transcription is also found in bigger organelle genomes (>105 kb) and across a broader range of eukaryotes, this could indicate that noncoding organelle RNAs are regulating fundamental processes within eukaryotic cells. Copyright © 2017 Sanitá Lima and Smith.

  12. Genome-Wide Mapping of 5mC and 5hmC Identified Differentially Modified Genomic Regions in Late-Onset Severe Preeclampsia: A Pilot Study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lisha Zhu

    Full Text Available Preeclampsia (PE is a leading cause of perinatal morbidity and mortality. However, as a common form of PE, the etiology of late-onset PE is elusive. We analyzed 5-methylcytosine (5mC and 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC levels in the placentas of late-onset severe PE patients (n = 4 and normal controls (n = 4 using a (hydroxymethylated DNA immunoprecipitation approach combined with deep sequencing ([h]MeDIP-seq, and the results were verified by (hMeDIP-qPCR. The most significant differentially methylated regions (DMRs were verified by MassARRAY EppiTYPER in an enlarged sample size (n = 20. Bioinformatics analysis identified 714 peaks of 5mC that were associated with 403 genes and 119 peaks of 5hmC that were associated with 61 genes, thus showing significant differences between the PE patients and the controls (>2-fold, p<0.05. Further, only one gene, PTPRN2, had both 5mC and 5hmC changes in patients. The ErbB signaling pathway was enriched in those 403 genes that had significantly different 5mC level between the groups. This genome-wide mapping of 5mC and 5hmC in late-onset severe PE and normal controls demonstrates that both 5mC and 5hmC play epigenetic roles in the regulation of the disease, but work independently. We reveal the genome-wide mapping of DNA methylation and DNA hydroxymethylation in late-onset PE placentas for the first time, and the identified ErbB signaling pathway and the gene PTPRN2 may be relevant to the epigenetic pathogenesis of late-onset PE.

  13. Bioinformatics of genomic association mapping

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vaez Barzani, Ahmad

    2015-01-01

    In this thesis we present an overview of bioinformatics-based approaches for genomic association mapping, with emphasis on human quantitative traits and their contribution to complex diseases. We aim to provide a comprehensive walk-through of the classic steps of genomic association mapping

  14. Data analysis in the post-genome-wide association study era

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qiao-Ling Wang

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Since the first report of a genome-wide association study (GWAS on human age-related macular degeneration, GWAS has successfully been used to discover genetic variants for a variety of complex human diseases and/or traits, and thousands of associated loci have been identified. However, the underlying mechanisms for these loci remain largely unknown. To make these GWAS findings more useful, it is necessary to perform in-depth data mining. The data analysis in the post-GWAS era will include the following aspects: fine-mapping of susceptibility regions to identify susceptibility genes for elucidating the biological mechanism of action; joint analysis of susceptibility genes in different diseases; integration of GWAS, transcriptome, and epigenetic data to analyze expression and methylation quantitative trait loci at the whole-genome level, and find single-nucleotide polymorphisms that influence gene expression and DNA methylation; genome-wide association analysis of disease-related DNA copy number variations. Applying these strategies and methods will serve to strengthen GWAS data to enhance the utility and significance of GWAS in improving understanding of the genetics of complex diseases or traits and translate these findings for clinical applications. Keywords: Genome-wide association study, Data mining, Integrative data analysis, Polymorphism, Copy number variation

  15. Meta-analysis of genome-wide linkage scans of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zhou, K.; Dempfle, A.; Arcos-Burgos, M.; Bakker, S.C.; Banaschewski, T.; Biederman, J; Buitelaar, J.K.; Castellanos, F.X.; Doyle, A.; Ebstein, R.; Ekholm, J.; Forabosco, P.; Franke, F.; Freitag, C.; Friedel, S.; Gill, M.; Hebebrand, J.; Hinney, A.; Jacob, C.; Lesch, K.P.; Loo, S.K.; Lopera, F.; McCracken, J.T.; McGough, J.J.; Meyer, J.; Mick, E.; Miranda, A.; Muenkel, M.; Mulas, F.; Nelson, S.F.; Nguyen, T.T.; Oades, R.D.; Ogdie, M.N.; Palacio, J.D.; Pineda, D.; Reif, A.; Renner, T.J.; Roeyers, H.; Romanos, M.; Rothenberger, A.; Schäfer, H.; Sergeant, J.A.; Sinke, R.J.; Smalley, S.L.; Sonuga-Barke, E.; Steinhausen, H.C.; van der Meulen, E.; Walitza, S.; Warnke, A.; Lewis, C.M.; Faraone, S.V.; Asherson, P.

    2008-01-01

    Genetic contribution to the development of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is well established. Seven independent genome-wide linkage scans have been performed to map loci that increase the risk for ADHD. Although significant linkage signals were identified in some of the studies,

  16. Meta-analysis of genome-wide linkage scans of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zhou, K.; Dempfle, A.; Arcos-Burgos, M.; Bakker, S.C.; Banaschewski, T.; Biederman, J.; Buitelaar, J.K.; Castellanos, F.X.; Doyle, A.; Ebstein, R.P.; Ekholm, J.; Forabosco, P.; Franke, B.; Freitag, C.; Friedel, S.; Gill, M.; Hebebrand, J.; Hinney, A.; Jacob, C.; Lesch, K.P.; Loo, S.K.; Lopera, F.; McCracken, J.T.; McGough, J.J.; Meyer, J.; Mick, E.; Miranda, A.; Muenke, M.; Mulas, F.; Nelson, S.F.; Nguyen, T.T.; Oades, R.D.; Ogdie, M.N.; Palacio, J.D.; Pineda, D.; Reif, A.; Renner, T.J.; Roeyers, H.; Romanos, M.; Rothenberger, A.; Schafer, H.; Sergeant, J.A.; Sinke, R.J.; Smalley, S.L.; Sonuga-Barke, E.J.S.; Steinhausen, H.C.; Meulen, E. van der; Walitza, S.; Warnke, A.; Lewis, C.M.; Faraone, S.V.; Asherson, P.

    2008-01-01

    Genetic contribution to the development of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is well established. Seven independent genome-wide linkage scans have been performed to map loci that increase the risk for ADHD. Although significant linkage signals were identified in some of the studies,

  17. Whole-genome shotgun optical mapping of rhodospirillumrubrum

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Reslewic, Susan; Zhou, Shiguo; Place, Mike; Zhang, Yaoping; Briska, Adam; Goldstein, Steve; Churas, Chris; Runnheim, Rod; Forrest,Dan; Lim, Alex; Lapidus, Alla; Han, Cliff S.; Roberts, Gary P.; Schwartz,David C.

    2004-07-01

    Rhodospirillum rubrum is a phototrophic purple non-sulfur bacterium known for its unique and well-studied nitrogen fixation and carbon monoxide oxidation systems, and as a source of hydrogen and biodegradable plastics production. To better understand this organism and to facilitate assembly of its sequence, three whole-genome restriction maps (Xba I, Nhe I, and Hind III) of R. rubrum strain ATCC 11170 were created by optical mapping. Optical mapping is a system for creating whole-genome ordered restriction maps from randomly sheared genomic DNA molecules extracted directly from cells. During the sequence finishing process, all three optical maps confirmed a putative error in sequence assembly, while the Hind III map acted as a scaffold for high resolution alignment with sequence contigs spanning the whole genome. In addition to highlighting optical mapping's role in the assembly and validation of genome sequence, our work underscores the unique niche in resolution occupied by the optical mapping system. With a resolution ranging from 6.5 kb (previously published) to 45 kb (reported here), optical mapping advances a ''molecular cytogenetics'' approach to solving problems in genomic analysis.

  18. Genome-Wide Association Mapping and Genomic Selection for Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) Forage Quality Traits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Biazzi, Elisa; Nazzicari, Nelson; Pecetti, Luciano; Brummer, E Charles; Palmonari, Alberto; Tava, Aldo; Annicchiarico, Paolo

    2017-01-01

    Genetic progress for forage quality has been poor in alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), the most-grown forage legume worldwide. This study aimed at exploring opportunities for marker-assisted selection (MAS) and genomic selection of forage quality traits based on breeding values of parent plants. Some 154 genotypes from a broadly-based reference population were genotyped by genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS), and phenotyped for leaf-to-stem ratio, leaf and stem contents of protein, neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent lignin (ADL), and leaf and stem NDF digestibility after 24 hours (NDFD), of their dense-planted half-sib progenies in three growing conditions (summer harvest, full irrigation; summer harvest, suspended irrigation; autumn harvest). Trait-marker analyses were performed on progeny values averaged over conditions, owing to modest germplasm × condition interaction. Genomic selection exploited 11,450 polymorphic SNP markers, whereas a subset of 8,494 M. truncatula-aligned markers were used for a genome-wide association study (GWAS). GWAS confirmed the polygenic control of quality traits and, in agreement with phenotypic correlations, indicated substantially different genetic control of a given trait in stems and leaves. It detected several SNPs in different annotated genes that were highly linked to stem protein content. Also, it identified a small genomic region on chromosome 8 with high concentration of annotated genes associated with leaf ADL, including one gene probably involved in the lignin pathway. Three genomic selection models, i.e., Ridge-regression BLUP, Bayes B and Bayesian Lasso, displayed similar prediction accuracy, whereas SVR-lin was less accurate. Accuracy values were moderate (0.3-0.4) for stem NDFD and leaf protein content, modest for leaf ADL and NDFD, and low to very low for the other traits. Along with previous results for the same germplasm set, this study indicates that GBS data can be exploited to improve both quality traits

  19. A genome-wide association study of serum uric acid in African Americans

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gerry Norman P

    2011-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Uric acid is the primary byproduct of purine metabolism. Hyperuricemia is associated with body mass index (BMI, sex, and multiple complex diseases including gout, hypertension (HTN, renal disease, and type 2 diabetes (T2D. Multiple genome-wide association studies (GWAS in individuals of European ancestry (EA have reported associations between serum uric acid levels (SUAL and specific genomic loci. The purposes of this study were: 1 to replicate major signals reported in EA populations; and 2 to use the weak LD pattern in African ancestry population to better localize (fine-map reported loci and 3 to explore the identification of novel findings cognizant of the moderate sample size. Methods African American (AA participants (n = 1,017 from the Howard University Family Study were included in this study. Genotyping was performed using the Affymetrix® Genome-wide Human SNP Array 6.0. Imputation was performed using MACH and the HapMap reference panels for CEU and YRI. A total of 2,400,542 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs were assessed for association with serum uric acid under the additive genetic model with adjustment for age, sex, BMI, glomerular filtration rate, HTN, T2D, and the top two principal components identified in the assessment of admixture and population stratification. Results Four variants in the gene SLC2A9 achieved genome-wide significance for association with SUAL (p-values ranging from 8.88 × 10-9 to 1.38 × 10-9. Fine-mapping of the SLC2A9 signals identified a 263 kb interval of linkage disequilibrium in the HapMap CEU sample. This interval was reduced to 37 kb in our AA and the HapMap YRI samples. Conclusions The most strongly associated locus for SUAL in EA populations was also the most strongly associated locus in this AA sample. This finding provides evidence for the role of SLC2A9 in uric acid metabolism across human populations. Additionally, our findings demonstrate the utility of following-up EA

  20. In silico evidence for sequence-dependent nucleosome sliding

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    Lequieu, Joshua; Schwartz, David C.; de Pablo, Juan J.

    2017-10-18

    Nucleosomes represent the basic building block of chromatin and provide an important mechanism by which cellular processes are controlled. The locations of nucleosomes across the genome are not random but instead depend on both the underlying DNA sequence and the dynamic action of other proteins within the nucleus. These processes are central to cellular function, and the molecular details of the interplay between DNA sequence and nudeosome dynamics remain poorly understood. In this work, we investigate this interplay in detail by relying on a molecular model, which permits development of a comprehensive picture of the underlying free energy surfaces and the corresponding dynamics of nudeosome repositioning. The mechanism of nudeosome repositioning is shown to be strongly linked to DNA sequence and directly related to the binding energy of a given DNA sequence to the histone core. It is also demonstrated that chromatin remodelers can override DNA-sequence preferences by exerting torque, and the histone H4 tail is then identified as a key component by which DNA-sequence, histone modifications, and chromatin remodelers could in fact be coupled.

  1. Characterizing and controlling intrinsic biases of lambda exonuclease in nascent strand sequencing reveals phasing between nucleosomes and G-quadruplex motifs around a subset of human replication origins.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Foulk, Michael S; Urban, John M; Casella, Cinzia; Gerbi, Susan A

    2015-05-01

    Nascent strand sequencing (NS-seq) is used to discover DNA replication origins genome-wide, allowing identification of features for their specification. NS-seq depends on the ability of lambda exonuclease (λ-exo) to efficiently digest parental DNA while leaving RNA-primer protected nascent strands intact. We used genomics and biochemical approaches to determine if λ-exo digests all parental DNA sequences equally. We report that λ-exo does not efficiently digest G-quadruplex (G4) structures in a plasmid. Moreover, λ-exo digestion of nonreplicating genomic DNA (LexoG0) enriches GC-rich DNA and G4 motifs genome-wide. We used LexoG0 data to control for nascent strand-independent λ-exo biases in NS-seq and validated this approach at the rDNA locus. The λ-exo-controlled NS-seq peaks are not GC-rich, and only 35.5% overlap with 6.8% of all G4s, suggesting that G4s are not general determinants for origin specification but may play a role for a subset. Interestingly, we observed a periodic spacing of G4 motifs and nucleosomes around the peak summits, suggesting that G4s may position nucleosomes at this subset of origins. Finally, we demonstrate that use of Na(+) instead of K(+) in the λ-exo digestion buffer reduced the effect of G4s on λ-exo digestion and discuss ways to increase both the sensitivity and specificity of NS-seq. © 2015 Foulk et al.; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

  2. Assessing genome-wide copy number variation in the Han Chinese population.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lu, Jianqi; Lou, Haiyi; Fu, Ruiqing; Lu, Dongsheng; Zhang, Feng; Wu, Zhendong; Zhang, Xi; Li, Changhua; Fang, Baijun; Pu, Fangfang; Wei, Jingning; Wei, Qian; Zhang, Chao; Wang, Xiaoji; Lu, Yan; Yan, Shi; Yang, Yajun; Jin, Li; Xu, Shuhua

    2017-10-01

    Copy number variation (CNV) is a valuable source of genetic diversity in the human genome and a well-recognised cause of various genetic diseases. However, CNVs have been considerably under-represented in population-based studies, particularly the Han Chinese which is the largest ethnic group in the world. To build a representative CNV map for the Han Chinese population. We conducted a genome-wide CNV study involving 451 male Han Chinese samples from 11 geographical regions encompassing 28 dialect groups, representing a less-biased panel compared with the currently available data. We detected CNVs by using 4.2M NimbleGen comparative genomic hybridisation array and whole-genome deep sequencing of 51 samples to optimise the filtering conditions in CNV discovery. A comprehensive Han Chinese CNV map was built based on a set of high-quality variants (positive predictive value >0.8, with sizes ranging from 369 bp to 4.16 Mb and a median of 5907 bp). The map consists of 4012 CNV regions (CNVRs), and more than half are novel to the 30 East Asian CNV Project and the 1000 Genomes Project Phase 3. We further identified 81 CNVRs specific to regional groups, which was indicative of the subpopulation structure within the Han Chinese population. Our data are complementary to public data sources, and the CNV map may facilitate in the identification of pathogenic CNVs and further biomedical research studies involving the Han Chinese population. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

  3. Genome-wide DNA methylation maps in follicular lymphoma cells determined by methylation-enriched bisulfite sequencing.

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    Jeong-Hyeon Choi

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Follicular lymphoma (FL is a form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL that arises from germinal center (GC B-cells. Despite the significant advances in immunotherapy, FL is still not curable. Beyond transcriptional profiling and genomics datasets, there currently is no epigenome-scale dataset or integrative biology approach that can adequately model this disease and therefore identify novel mechanisms and targets for successful prevention and treatment of FL. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We performed methylation-enriched genome-wide bisulfite sequencing of FL cells and normal CD19(+ B-cells using 454 sequencing technology. The methylated DNA fragments were enriched with methyl-binding proteins, treated with bisulfite, and sequenced using the Roche-454 GS FLX sequencer. The total number of bases covered in the human genome was 18.2 and 49.3 million including 726,003 and 1.3 million CpGs in FL and CD19(+ B-cells, respectively. 11,971 and 7,882 methylated regions of interest (MRIs were identified respectively. The genome-wide distribution of these MRIs displayed significant differences between FL and normal B-cells. A reverse trend in the distribution of MRIs between the promoter and the gene body was observed in FL and CD19(+ B-cells. The MRIs identified in FL cells also correlated well with transcriptomic data and ChIP-on-Chip analyses of genome-wide histone modifications such as tri-methyl-H3K27, and tri-methyl-H3K4, indicating a concerted epigenetic alteration in FL cells. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: This study is the first to provide a large scale and comprehensive analysis of the DNA methylation sequence composition and distribution in the FL epigenome. These integrated approaches have led to the discovery of novel and frequent targets of aberrant epigenetic alterations. The genome-wide bisulfite sequencing approach developed here can be a useful tool for profiling DNA methylation in clinical samples.

  4. OpenADAM: an open source genome-wide association data management system for Affymetrix SNP arrays

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sham P C

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Large scale genome-wide association studies have become popular since the introduction of high throughput genotyping platforms. Efficient management of the vast array of data generated poses many challenges. Description We have developed an open source web-based data management system for the large amount of genotype data generated from the Affymetrix GeneChip® Mapping Array and Affymetrix Genome-Wide Human SNP Array platforms. The database supports genotype calling using DM, BRLMM, BRLMM-P or Birdseed algorithms provided by the Affymetrix Power Tools. The genotype and corresponding pedigree data are stored in a relational database for efficient downstream data manipulation and analysis, such as calculation of allele and genotype frequencies, sample identity checking, and export of genotype data in various file formats for analysis using commonly-available software. A novel method for genotyping error estimation is implemented using linkage disequilibrium information from the HapMap project. All functionalities are accessible via a web-based user interface. Conclusion OpenADAM provides an open source database system for management of Affymetrix genome-wide association SNP data.

  5. Validation of rice genome sequence by optical mapping

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pape Louise

    2007-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Rice feeds much of the world, and possesses the simplest genome analyzed to date within the grass family, making it an economically relevant model system for other cereal crops. Although the rice genome is sequenced, validation and gap closing efforts require purely independent means for accurate finishing of sequence build data. Results To facilitate ongoing sequencing finishing and validation efforts, we have constructed a whole-genome SwaI optical restriction map of the rice genome. The physical map consists of 14 contigs, covering 12 chromosomes, with a total genome size of 382.17 Mb; this value is about 11% smaller than original estimates. 9 of the 14 optical map contigs are without gaps, covering chromosomes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 10, and 12 in their entirety – including centromeres and telomeres. Alignments between optical and in silico restriction maps constructed from IRGSP (International Rice Genome Sequencing Project and TIGR (The Institute for Genomic Research genome sequence sources are comprehensive and informative, evidenced by map coverage across virtually all published gaps, discovery of new ones, and characterization of sequence misassemblies; all totalling ~14 Mb. Furthermore, since optical maps are ordered restriction maps, identified discordances are pinpointed on a reliable physical scaffold providing an independent resource for closure of gaps and rectification of misassemblies. Conclusion Analysis of sequence and optical mapping data effectively validates genome sequence assemblies constructed from large, repeat-rich genomes. Given this conclusion we envision new applications of such single molecule analysis that will merge advantages offered by high-resolution optical maps with inexpensive, but short sequence reads generated by emerging sequencing platforms. Lastly, map construction techniques presented here points the way to new types of comparative genome analysis that would focus on discernment of

  6. Chromatin associated mechanisms in base excision repair - nucleosome remodeling and DNA transcription, two key players.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Menoni, Hervé; Di Mascio, Paolo; Cadet, Jean; Dimitrov, Stefan; Angelov, Dimitar

    2017-06-01

    Genomic DNA is prone to a large number of insults by a myriad of endogenous and exogenous agents. The base excision repair (BER) is the major mechanism used by cells for the removal of various DNA lesions spontaneously or environmentally induced and the maintenance of genome integrity. The presence of persistent DNA damage is not compatible with life, since abrogation of BER leads to early embryonic lethality in mice. There are several lines of evidences showing existence of a link between deficient BER, cancer proneness and ageing, thus illustrating the importance of this DNA repair pathway in human health. Although the enzymology of BER mechanisms has been largely elucidated using chemically defined DNA damage substrates and purified proteins, the complex interplay of BER with another vital process like transcription or when DNA is in its natural state (i.e. wrapped in nucleosome and assembled in chromatin fiber is largely unexplored. Cells use chromatin remodeling factors to overcome the general repression associated with the nucleosomal organization. It is broadly accepted that energy-dependent nucleosome remodeling factors disrupt histones-DNA interactions at the expense of ATP hydrolysis to favor transcription as well as DNA repair. Importantly, unlike transcription, BER is not part of a regulated developmental process but represents a maintenance system that should be efficient anytime and anywhere in the genome. In this review we will discuss how BER can deal with chromatin organization to maintain genetic information. Emphasis will be placed on the following challenging question: how BER is initiated within chromatin? Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. Chromosomal mapping of canine-derived BAC clones to the red fox and American mink genomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kukekova, Anna V; Vorobieva, Nadegda V; Beklemisheva, Violetta R; Johnson, Jennifer L; Temnykh, Svetlana V; Yudkin, Dmitry V; Trut, Lyudmila N; Andre, Catherine; Galibert, Francis; Aguirre, Gustavo D; Acland, Gregory M; Graphodatsky, Alexander S

    2009-01-01

    High-quality sequencing of the dog (Canis lupus familiaris) genome has enabled enormous progress in genetic mapping of canine phenotypic variation. The red fox (Vulpes vulpes), another canid species, also exhibits a wide range of variation in coat color, morphology, and behavior. Although the fox genome has not yet been sequenced, canine genomic resources have been used to construct a meiotic linkage map of the red fox genome and begin genetic mapping in foxes. However, a more detailed gene-specific comparative map between the dog and fox genomes is required to establish gene order within homologous regions of dog and fox chromosomes and to refine breakpoints between homologous chromosomes of the 2 species. In the current study, we tested whether canine-derived gene-containing bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) clones can be routinely used to build a gene-specific map of the red fox genome. Forty canine BAC clones were mapped to the red fox genome by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). Each clone was uniquely assigned to a single fox chromosome, and the locations of 38 clones agreed with cytogenetic predictions. These results clearly demonstrate the utility of FISH mapping for construction of a whole-genome gene-specific map of the red fox. The further possibility of using canine BAC clones to map genes in the American mink (Mustela vison) genome was also explored. Much lower success was obtained for this more distantly related farm-bred species, although a few BAC clones were mapped to the predicted chromosomal locations.

  8. A Genome-wide Combinatorial Strategy Dissects Complex Genetic Architecture of Seed Coat Color in Chickpea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bajaj, Deepak; Das, Shouvik; Upadhyaya, Hari D; Ranjan, Rajeev; Badoni, Saurabh; Kumar, Vinod; Tripathi, Shailesh; Gowda, C L Laxmipathi; Sharma, Shivali; Singh, Sube; Tyagi, Akhilesh K; Parida, Swarup K

    2015-01-01

    The study identified 9045 high-quality SNPs employing both genome-wide GBS- and candidate gene-based SNP genotyping assays in 172, including 93 cultivated (desi and kabuli) and 79 wild chickpea accessions. The GWAS in a structured population of 93 sequenced accessions detected 15 major genomic loci exhibiting significant association with seed coat color. Five seed color-associated major genomic loci underlying robust QTLs mapped on a high-density intra-specific genetic linkage map were validated by QTL mapping. The integration of association and QTL mapping with gene haplotype-specific LD mapping and transcript profiling identified novel allelic variants (non-synonymous SNPs) and haplotypes in a MATE secondary transporter gene regulating light/yellow brown and beige seed coat color differentiation in chickpea. The down-regulation and decreased transcript expression of beige seed coat color-associated MATE gene haplotype was correlated with reduced proanthocyanidins accumulation in the mature seed coats of beige than light/yellow brown seed colored desi and kabuli accessions for their coloration/pigmentation. This seed color-regulating MATE gene revealed strong purifying selection pressure primarily in LB/YB seed colored desi and wild Cicer reticulatum accessions compared with the BE seed colored kabuli accessions. The functionally relevant molecular tags identified have potential to decipher the complex transcriptional regulatory gene function of seed coat coloration and for understanding the selective sweep-based seed color trait evolutionary pattern in cultivated and wild accessions during chickpea domestication. The genome-wide integrated approach employed will expedite marker-assisted genetic enhancement for developing cultivars with desirable seed coat color types in chickpea.

  9. Detecting DNA double-stranded breaks in mammalian genomes by linear amplification-mediated high-throughput genome-wide translocation sequencing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, Jiazhi; Meyers, Robin M; Dong, Junchao; Panchakshari, Rohit A; Alt, Frederick W; Frock, Richard L

    2016-05-01

    Unbiased, high-throughput assays for detecting and quantifying DNA double-stranded breaks (DSBs) across the genome in mammalian cells will facilitate basic studies of the mechanisms that generate and repair endogenous DSBs. They will also enable more applied studies, such as those to evaluate the on- and off-target activities of engineered nucleases. Here we describe a linear amplification-mediated high-throughput genome-wide sequencing (LAM-HTGTS) method for the detection of genome-wide 'prey' DSBs via their translocation in cultured mammalian cells to a fixed 'bait' DSB. Bait-prey junctions are cloned directly from isolated genomic DNA using LAM-PCR and unidirectionally ligated to bridge adapters; subsequent PCR steps amplify the single-stranded DNA junction library in preparation for Illumina Miseq paired-end sequencing. A custom bioinformatics pipeline identifies prey sequences that contribute to junctions and maps them across the genome. LAM-HTGTS differs from related approaches because it detects a wide range of broken end structures with nucleotide-level resolution. Familiarity with nucleic acid methods and next-generation sequencing analysis is necessary for library generation and data interpretation. LAM-HTGTS assays are sensitive, reproducible, relatively inexpensive, scalable and straightforward to implement with a turnaround time of <1 week.

  10. Genome-wide association studies of obesity and metabolic syndrome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fall, Tove; Ingelsson, Erik

    2014-01-25

    Until just a few years ago, the genetic determinants of obesity and metabolic syndrome were largely unknown, with the exception of a few forms of monogenic extreme obesity. Since genome-wide association studies (GWAS) became available, large advances have been made. The first single nucleotide polymorphism robustly associated with increased body mass index (BMI) was in 2007 mapped to a gene with for the time unknown function. This gene, now known as fat mass and obesity associated (FTO) has been repeatedly replicated in several ethnicities and is affecting obesity by regulating appetite. Since the first report from a GWAS of obesity, an increasing number of markers have been shown to be associated with BMI, other measures of obesity or fat distribution and metabolic syndrome. This systematic review of obesity GWAS will summarize genome-wide significant findings for obesity and metabolic syndrome and briefly give a few suggestions of what is to be expected in the next few years. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Nucleosome–nucleosome interactions via histone tails and linker DNA regulate nuclear rigidity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shimamoto, Yuta; Tamura, Sachiko; Masumoto, Hiroshi; Maeshima, Kazuhiro

    2017-01-01

    Cells, as well as the nuclei inside them, experience significant mechanical stress in diverse biological processes, including contraction, migration, and adhesion. The structural stability of nuclei must therefore be maintained in order to protect genome integrity. Despite extensive knowledge on nuclear architecture and components, however, the underlying physical and molecular mechanisms remain largely unknown. We address this by subjecting isolated human cell nuclei to microneedle-based quantitative micromanipulation with a series of biochemical perturbations of the chromatin. We find that the mechanical rigidity of nuclei depends on the continuity of the nucleosomal fiber and interactions between nucleosomes. Disrupting these chromatin features by varying cation concentration, acetylating histone tails, or digesting linker DNA results in loss of nuclear rigidity. In contrast, the levels of key chromatin assembly factors, including cohesin, condensin II, and CTCF, and a major nuclear envelope protein, lamin, are unaffected. Together with in situ evidence using living cells and a simple mechanical model, our findings reveal a chromatin-based regulation of the nuclear mechanical response and provide insight into the significance of local and global chromatin structures, such as those associated with interdigitated or melted nucleosomal fibers. PMID:28428255

  12. Genome-Wide Association Mapping of Stem Rust Resistance in Hordeum vulgare subsp. spontaneum.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sallam, Ahmad H; Tyagi, Priyanka; Brown-Guedira, Gina; Muehlbauer, Gary J; Hulse, Alex; Steffenson, Brian J

    2017-10-05

    Stem rust was one of the most devastating diseases of barley in North America. Through the deployment of cultivars with the resistance gene Rpg1 , losses to stem rust have been minimal over the past 70 yr. However, there exist both domestic (QCCJB) and foreign (TTKSK aka isolate Ug99) pathotypes with virulence for this important gene. To identify new sources of stem rust resistance for barley, we evaluated the Wild Barley Diversity Collection (WBDC) (314 ecogeographically diverse accessions of Hordeum vulgare subsp. spontaneum ) for seedling resistance to four pathotypes (TTKSK, QCCJB, MCCFC, and HKHJC) of the wheat stem rust pathogen ( Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici , Pgt ) and one isolate (92-MN-90) of the rye stem rust pathogen ( P. graminis f. sp. secalis , Pgs ). Based on a coefficient of infection, the frequency of resistance in the WBDC was low ranging from 0.6% with HKHJC to 19.4% with 92-MN-90. None of the accessions was resistant to all five cultures of P. graminis A genome-wide association study (GWAS) was conducted to map stem rust resistance loci using 50,842 single-nucleotide polymorphic markers generated by genotype-by-sequencing and ordered using the new barley reference genome assembly. After proper accounting for genetic relatedness and structure among accessions, 45 quantitative trait loci were identified for resistance to P. graminis across all seven barley chromosomes. Three novel loci associated with resistance to TTKSK, QCCJB, MCCFC, and 92-MN-90 were identified on chromosomes 5H and 7H, and two novel loci associated with resistance to HKHJC were identified on chromosomes 1H and 3H. These novel alleles will enhance the diversity of resistance available for cultivated barley. Copyright © 2017 Sallam et al.

  13. Genome-wide identification of regulatory elements and reconstruction of gene regulatory networks of the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii under carbon deprivation.

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    Flavia Vischi Winck

    Full Text Available The unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is a long-established model organism for studies on photosynthesis and carbon metabolism-related physiology. Under conditions of air-level carbon dioxide concentration [CO2], a carbon concentrating mechanism (CCM is induced to facilitate cellular carbon uptake. CCM increases the availability of carbon dioxide at the site of cellular carbon fixation. To improve our understanding of the transcriptional control of the CCM, we employed FAIRE-seq (formaldehyde-assisted Isolation of Regulatory Elements, followed by deep sequencing to determine nucleosome-depleted chromatin regions of algal cells subjected to carbon deprivation. Our FAIRE data recapitulated the positions of known regulatory elements in the promoter of the periplasmic carbonic anhydrase (Cah1 gene, which is upregulated during CCM induction, and revealed new candidate regulatory elements at a genome-wide scale. In addition, time series expression patterns of 130 transcription factor (TF and transcription regulator (TR genes were obtained for cells cultured under photoautotrophic condition and subjected to a shift from high to low [CO2]. Groups of co-expressed genes were identified and a putative directed gene-regulatory network underlying the CCM was reconstructed from the gene expression data using the recently developed IOTA (inner composition alignment method. Among the candidate regulatory genes, two members of the MYB-related TF family, Lcr1 (Low-CO 2 response regulator 1 and Lcr2 (Low-CO2 response regulator 2, may play an important role in down-regulating the expression of a particular set of TF and TR genes in response to low [CO2]. The results obtained provide new insights into the transcriptional control of the CCM and revealed more than 60 new candidate regulatory genes. Deep sequencing of nucleosome-depleted genomic regions indicated the presence of new, previously unknown regulatory elements in the C. reinhardtii genome

  14. A genome-wide RNAi screen reveals MAP kinase phosphatases as key ERK pathway regulators during embryonic stem cell differentiation.

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    Shen-Hsi Yang

    Full Text Available Embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells represent potentially important therapeutic agents in regenerative medicine. Complex interlinked transcriptional and signaling networks control the fate of these cells towards maintenance of pluripotency or differentiation. In this study we have focused on how mouse embryonic stem cells begin to differentiate and lose pluripotency and, in particular, the role that the ERK MAP kinase and GSK3 signaling pathways play in this process. Through a genome-wide siRNA screen we have identified more than 400 genes involved in loss of pluripotency and promoting the onset of differentiation. These genes were functionally associated with the ERK and/or GSK3 pathways, providing an important resource for studying the roles of these pathways in controlling escape from the pluripotent ground state. More detailed analysis identified MAP kinase phosphatases as a focal point of regulation and demonstrated an important role for these enzymes in controlling ERK activation kinetics and subsequently determining early embryonic stem cell fate decisions.

  15. Whole-genome shotgun optical mapping of Rhodospirillum rubrum

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Reslewic, S. [Univ. Wisc.-Madison; Zhou, S. [Univ. Wisc.-Madison; Place, M. [Univ. Wisc.-Madison; Zhang, Y. [Univ. Wisc.-Madison; Briska, A. [Univ. Wisc.-Madison; Goldstein, S. [Univ. Wisc.-Madison; Churas, C. [Univ. Wisc.-Madison; Runnheim, R. [Univ. Wisc.-Madison; Forrest, D. [Univ. Wisc.-Madison; Lim, A. [Univ. Wisc.-Madison; Lapidus, A. [Univ. Wisc.-Madison; Han, C. S. [Univ. Wisc.-Madison; Roberts, G. P. [Univ. Wisc.-Madison; Schwartz, D. C. [Univ. Wisc.-Madison

    2005-09-01

    Rhodospirillum rubrum is a phototrophic purple nonsulfur bacterium known for its unique and well-studied nitrogen fixation and carbon monoxide oxidation systems and as a source of hydrogen and biodegradable plastic production. To better understand this organism and to facilitate assembly of its sequence, three whole-genome restriction endonuclease maps (XbaI, NheI, and HindIII) of R. rubrum strain ATCC 11170 were created by optical mapping. Optical mapping is a system for creating whole-genome ordered restriction endonuclease maps from randomly sheared genomic DNA molecules extracted from cells. During the sequence finishing process, all three optical maps confirmed a putative error in sequence assembly, while the HindIII map acted as a scaffold for high-resolution alignment with sequence contigs spanning the whole genome. In addition to highlighting optical mapping's role in the assembly and confirmation of genome sequence, this work underscores the unique niche in resolution occupied by the optical mapping system. With a resolution ranging from 6.5 kb (previously published) to 45 kb (reported here), optical mapping advances a "molecular cytogenetics" approach to solving problems in genomic analysis.

  16. Genome-wide quantitative trait loci mapping of the human cerebrospinal fluid proteome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sasayama, Daimei; Hattori, Kotaro; Ogawa, Shintaro; Yokota, Yuuki; Matsumura, Ryo; Teraishi, Toshiya; Hori, Hiroaki; Ota, Miho; Yoshida, Sumiko; Kunugi, Hiroshi

    2017-01-01

    Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is virtually the only one accessible source of proteins derived from the central nervous system (CNS) of living humans and possibly reflects the pathophysiology of a variety of neuropsychiatric diseases. However, little is known regarding the genetic basis of variation in protein levels of human CSF. We examined CSF levels of 1,126 proteins in 133 subjects and performed a genome-wide association analysis of 514,227 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to detect protein quantitative trait loci (pQTLs). To be conservative, Spearman's correlation was used to identify an association between genotypes of SNPs and protein levels. A total of 421 cis and 25 trans SNP-protein pairs were significantly correlated at a false discovery rate (FDR) of less than 0.01 (nominal P genome-wide association studies. The present findings suggest that genetic variations play an important role in the regulation of protein expression in the CNS. The obtained database may serve as a valuable resource to understand the genetic bases for CNS protein expression pattern in humans. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  17. The Amaranth Genome: Genome, Transcriptome, and Physical Map Assembly

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. W. Clouse

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Amaranth ( L. is an emerging pseudocereal native to the New World that has garnered increased attention in recent years because of its nutritional quality, in particular its seed protein and more specifically its high levels of the essential amino acid lysine. It belongs to the Amaranthaceae family, is an ancient paleopolyploid that shows disomic inheritance (2 = 32, and has an estimated genome size of 466 Mb. Here we present a high-quality draft genome sequence of the grain amaranth. The genome assembly consisted of 377 Mb in 3518 scaffolds with an N of 371 kb. Repetitive element analysis predicted that 48% of the genome is comprised of repeat sequences, of which -like elements were the most commonly classified retrotransposon. A de novo transcriptome consisting of 66,370 contigs was assembled from eight different amaranth tissue and abiotic stress libraries. Annotation of the genome identified 23,059 protein-coding genes. Seven grain amaranths (, , and and their putative progenitor ( were resequenced. A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP phylogeny supported the classification of as the progenitor species of the grain amaranths. Lastly, we generated a de novo physical map for using the BioNano Genomics’ Genome Mapping platform. The physical map spanned 340 Mb and a hybrid assembly using the BioNano physical maps nearly doubled the N of the assembly to 697 kb. Moreover, we analyzed synteny between amaranth and sugar beet ( L. and estimated, using analysis, the age of the most recent polyploidization event in amaranth.

  18. DNA immunoprecipitation semiconductor sequencing (DIP-SC-seq) as a rapid method to generate genome wide epigenetic signatures

    OpenAIRE

    Thomson, John P.; Fawkes, Angie; Ottaviano, Raffaele; Hunter, Jennifer M.; Shukla, Ruchi; Mjoseng, Heidi K.; Clark, Richard; Coutts, Audrey; Murphy, Lee; Meehan, Richard R.

    2015-01-01

    Modification of DNA resulting in 5-methylcytosine (5 mC) or 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) has been shown to influence the local chromatin environment and affect transcription. Although recent advances in next generation sequencing technology allow researchers to map epigenetic modifications across the genome, such experiments are often time-consuming and cost prohibitive. Here we present a rapid and cost effective method of generating genome wide DNA modification maps utilising commercially ...

  19. The anti-CMS technique for genome-wide mapping of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Yun; Pastor, William A; Zepeda-Martínez, Jorge A; Rao, Anjana

    2012-10-01

    5-Hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) is a recently discovered base in the mammalian genome, produced upon oxidation of 5-methylcytosine (5mC) in a process catalyzed by TET proteins. The biological functions of 5hmC and further oxidation products of 5mC are under intense investigation, as they are likely intermediates in DNA demethylation pathways. Here we describe a novel protocol to profile 5hmC at a genome-wide scale. This approach is based on sodium bisulfite-mediated conversion of 5hmC to cytosine-5-methylenesulfonate (CMS); CMS-containing DNA fragments are then immunoprecipitated using a CMS-specific antiserum. The anti-CMS technique is highly specific with a low background, and is much less dependent on 5hmC density than anti-5hmC immunoprecipitation (IP). Moreover, it does not enrich for CA and CT repeats, as noted for 5hmC DNA IP using antibodies to 5hmC. The anti-CMS protocol takes 3 d to complete.

  20. Impact of genome assembly status on ChIP-Seq and ChIP-PET data mapping

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sachs Laurent

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background ChIP-Seq and ChIP-PET can potentially be used with any genome for genome wide profiling of protein-DNA interaction sites. Unfortunately, it is probable that most genome assemblies will never reach the quality of the human genome assembly. Therefore, it remains to be determined whether ChIP-Seq and ChIP-PET are practicable with genome sequences other than a few (e.g. human and mouse. Findings Here, we used in silico simulations to assess the impact of completeness or fragmentation of genome assemblies on ChIP-Seq and ChIP-PET data mapping. Conclusions Most currently published genome assemblies are suitable for mapping the short sequence tags produced by ChIP-Seq or ChIP-PET.

  1. Gene Silencing Triggers Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 Recruitment to CpG Islands Genome Wide

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Riising, Eva Madi; Vacher-Comet, Itys; Leblanc, Benjamin Olivier

    2014-01-01

    -wide ectopic PRC2 recruitment to endogenous PcG target genes found in other tissues. PRC2 binding analysis shows that it is restricted to nucleosome-free CpG islands (CGIs) of untranscribed genes. Our results show that it is the transcriptional state that governs PRC2 binding, and we propose that it binds...

  2. StereoGene: rapid estimation of genome-wide correlation of continuous or interval feature data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stavrovskaya, Elena D; Niranjan, Tejasvi; Fertig, Elana J; Wheelan, Sarah J; Favorov, Alexander V; Mironov, Andrey A

    2017-10-15

    Genomics features with similar genome-wide distributions are generally hypothesized to be functionally related, for example, colocalization of histones and transcription start sites indicate chromatin regulation of transcription factor activity. Therefore, statistical algorithms to perform spatial, genome-wide correlation among genomic features are required. Here, we propose a method, StereoGene, that rapidly estimates genome-wide correlation among pairs of genomic features. These features may represent high-throughput data mapped to reference genome or sets of genomic annotations in that reference genome. StereoGene enables correlation of continuous data directly, avoiding the data binarization and subsequent data loss. Correlations are computed among neighboring genomic positions using kernel correlation. Representing the correlation as a function of the genome position, StereoGene outputs the local correlation track as part of the analysis. StereoGene also accounts for confounders such as input DNA by partial correlation. We apply our method to numerous comparisons of ChIP-Seq datasets from the Human Epigenome Atlas and FANTOM CAGE to demonstrate its wide applicability. We observe the changes in the correlation between epigenomic features across developmental trajectories of several tissue types consistent with known biology and find a novel spatial correlation of CAGE clusters with donor splice sites and with poly(A) sites. These analyses provide examples for the broad applicability of StereoGene for regulatory genomics. The StereoGene C ++ source code, program documentation, Galaxy integration scripts and examples are available from the project homepage http://stereogene.bioinf.fbb.msu.ru/. favorov@sensi.org. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

  3. Genome-wide signatures of 'rearrangement hotspots' within segmental duplications in humans.

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    Mohammed Uddin

    Full Text Available The primary objective of this study was to create a genome-wide high resolution map (i.e., >100 bp of 'rearrangement hotspots' which can facilitate the identification of regions capable of mediating de novo deletions or duplications in humans. A hierarchical method was employed to fragment segmental duplications (SDs into multiple smaller SD units. Combining an end space free pairwise alignment algorithm with a 'seed and extend' approach, we have exhaustively searched 409 million alignments to detect complex structural rearrangements within the reference-guided assembly of the NA18507 human genome (18× coverage, including the previously identified novel 4.8 Mb sequence from de novo assembly within this genome. We have identified 1,963 rearrangement hotspots within SDs which encompass 166 genes and display an enrichment of duplicated gene nucleotide variants (DNVs. These regions are correlated with increased non-allelic homologous recombination (NAHR event frequency which presumably represents the origin of copy number variations (CNVs and pathogenic duplications/deletions. Analysis revealed that 20% of the detected hotspots are clustered within the proximal and distal SD breakpoints flanked by the pathogenic deletions/duplications that have been mapped for 24 NAHR-mediated genomic disorders. FISH Validation of selected complex regions revealed 94% concordance with in silico localization of the highly homologous derivatives. Other results from this study indicate that intra-chromosomal recombination is enhanced in genic compared with agenic duplicated regions, and that gene desert regions comprising SDs may represent reservoirs for creation of novel genes. The generation of genome-wide signatures of 'rearrangement hotspots', which likely serve as templates for NAHR, may provide a powerful approach towards understanding the underlying mutational mechanism(s for development of constitutional and acquired diseases.

  4. Learning a Weighted Sequence Model of the Nucleosome Core and Linker Yields More Accurate Predictions in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Homo sapiens

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reynolds, Sheila M.; Bilmes, Jeff A.; Noble, William Stafford

    2010-01-01

    DNA in eukaryotes is packaged into a chromatin complex, the most basic element of which is the nucleosome. The precise positioning of the nucleosome cores allows for selective access to the DNA, and the mechanisms that control this positioning are important pieces of the gene expression puzzle. We describe a large-scale nucleosome pattern that jointly characterizes the nucleosome core and the adjacent linkers and is predominantly characterized by long-range oscillations in the mono, di- and tri-nucleotide content of the DNA sequence, and we show that this pattern can be used to predict nucleosome positions in both Homo sapiens and Saccharomyces cerevisiae more accurately than previously published methods. Surprisingly, in both H. sapiens and S. cerevisiae, the most informative individual features are the mono-nucleotide patterns, although the inclusion of di- and tri-nucleotide features results in improved performance. Our approach combines a much longer pattern than has been previously used to predict nucleosome positioning from sequence—301 base pairs, centered at the position to be scored—with a novel discriminative classification approach that selectively weights the contributions from each of the input features. The resulting scores are relatively insensitive to local AT-content and can be used to accurately discriminate putative dyad positions from adjacent linker regions without requiring an additional dynamic programming step and without the attendant edge effects and assumptions about linker length modeling and overall nucleosome density. Our approach produces the best dyad-linker classification results published to date in H. sapiens, and outperforms two recently published models on a large set of S. cerevisiae nucleosome positions. Our results suggest that in both genomes, a comparable and relatively small fraction of nucleosomes are well-positioned and that these positions are predictable based on sequence alone. We believe that the bulk of the

  5. Learning a weighted sequence model of the nucleosome core and linker yields more accurate predictions in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Homo sapiens.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sheila M Reynolds

    2010-07-01

    Full Text Available DNA in eukaryotes is packaged into a chromatin complex, the most basic element of which is the nucleosome. The precise positioning of the nucleosome cores allows for selective access to the DNA, and the mechanisms that control this positioning are important pieces of the gene expression puzzle. We describe a large-scale nucleosome pattern that jointly characterizes the nucleosome core and the adjacent linkers and is predominantly characterized by long-range oscillations in the mono, di- and tri-nucleotide content of the DNA sequence, and we show that this pattern can be used to predict nucleosome positions in both Homo sapiens and Saccharomyces cerevisiae more accurately than previously published methods. Surprisingly, in both H. sapiens and S. cerevisiae, the most informative individual features are the mono-nucleotide patterns, although the inclusion of di- and tri-nucleotide features results in improved performance. Our approach combines a much longer pattern than has been previously used to predict nucleosome positioning from sequence-301 base pairs, centered at the position to be scored-with a novel discriminative classification approach that selectively weights the contributions from each of the input features. The resulting scores are relatively insensitive to local AT-content and can be used to accurately discriminate putative dyad positions from adjacent linker regions without requiring an additional dynamic programming step and without the attendant edge effects and assumptions about linker length modeling and overall nucleosome density. Our approach produces the best dyad-linker classification results published to date in H. sapiens, and outperforms two recently published models on a large set of S. cerevisiae nucleosome positions. Our results suggest that in both genomes, a comparable and relatively small fraction of nucleosomes are well-positioned and that these positions are predictable based on sequence alone. We believe that the

  6. Learning a weighted sequence model of the nucleosome core and linker yields more accurate predictions in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Homo sapiens.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reynolds, Sheila M; Bilmes, Jeff A; Noble, William Stafford

    2010-07-08

    DNA in eukaryotes is packaged into a chromatin complex, the most basic element of which is the nucleosome. The precise positioning of the nucleosome cores allows for selective access to the DNA, and the mechanisms that control this positioning are important pieces of the gene expression puzzle. We describe a large-scale nucleosome pattern that jointly characterizes the nucleosome core and the adjacent linkers and is predominantly characterized by long-range oscillations in the mono, di- and tri-nucleotide content of the DNA sequence, and we show that this pattern can be used to predict nucleosome positions in both Homo sapiens and Saccharomyces cerevisiae more accurately than previously published methods. Surprisingly, in both H. sapiens and S. cerevisiae, the most informative individual features are the mono-nucleotide patterns, although the inclusion of di- and tri-nucleotide features results in improved performance. Our approach combines a much longer pattern than has been previously used to predict nucleosome positioning from sequence-301 base pairs, centered at the position to be scored-with a novel discriminative classification approach that selectively weights the contributions from each of the input features. The resulting scores are relatively insensitive to local AT-content and can be used to accurately discriminate putative dyad positions from adjacent linker regions without requiring an additional dynamic programming step and without the attendant edge effects and assumptions about linker length modeling and overall nucleosome density. Our approach produces the best dyad-linker classification results published to date in H. sapiens, and outperforms two recently published models on a large set of S. cerevisiae nucleosome positions. Our results suggest that in both genomes, a comparable and relatively small fraction of nucleosomes are well-positioned and that these positions are predictable based on sequence alone. We believe that the bulk of the

  7. Genome-wide profiling of transcription factor binding and epigenetic marks in adipocytes by ChIP-seq

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Ronni; Mandrup, Susanne

    2014-01-01

    of the most widely used of these technologies. Using these methods, association of transcription factors, cofactors, and epigenetic marks can be mapped to DNA in a genome-wide manner. Here, we provide a detailed protocol for performing ChIP-seq analyses in preadipocytes and adipocytes. We have focused mainly...

  8. Theoretical analysis of epigenetic cell memory by nucleosome modification

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dodd, Ian B; Micheelsen, Mille A; Sneppen, Kim

    2007-01-01

    to involve positive feedback where modified nucleosomes recruit enzymes that similarly modify nearby nucleosomes. We developed a simplified stochastic model for dynamic nucleosome modification based on the silent mating-type region of the yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. We show that the mechanism can give...

  9. Studies of torsional properties of DNA and nucleosomes using angular optical trapping

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sheinin, Maxim Y.

    DNA in vivo is subjected to torsional stress due to the action of molecular motors and other DNA-binding proteins. Several decades of research have uncovered the fascinating diversity of DNA transformations under torsion and the important role they play in the regulation of vital cellular processes such as transcription and replication. Recent studies have also suggested that torsion can influence the structure and stability of nucleosomes---basic building blocks of the eukaryotic genome. However, our understanding of the impact of torsion is far from being complete due to significant experimental challenges. In this work we have used a powerful single-molecule experimental technique, angular optical trapping, to address several long-standing issues in the field of DNA and nucleosome mechanics. First, we utilized the high resolution and direct torque measuring capability of the angular optical trapping to precisely measure DNA twist-stretch coupling. Second, we characterized DNA melting under tension and torsion. We found that torsionally underwound DNA forms a left-handed structure, significantly more flexible compared to the regular B-DNA. Finally, we performed the first comprehensive investigation of the single nucleosome behavior under torque and force. Importantly, we discovered that positive torque causes significant dimer loss, which can have implications for transcription through chromatin.

  10. Genome-wide association study of susceptibility loci for breast cancer in Sardinian population.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palomba, Grazia; Loi, Angela; Porcu, Eleonora; Cossu, Antonio; Zara, Ilenia; Budroni, Mario; Dei, Mariano; Lai, Sandra; Mulas, Antonella; Olmeo, Nina; Ionta, Maria Teresa; Atzori, Francesco; Cuccuru, Gianmauro; Pitzalis, Maristella; Zoledziewska, Magdalena; Olla, Nazario; Lovicu, Mario; Pisano, Marina; Abecasis, Gonçalo R; Uda, Manuela; Tanda, Francesco; Michailidou, Kyriaki; Easton, Douglas F; Chanock, Stephen J; Hoover, Robert N; Hunter, David J; Schlessinger, David; Sanna, Serena; Crisponi, Laura; Palmieri, Giuseppe

    2015-05-10

    Despite progress in identifying genes associated with breast cancer, many more risk loci exist. Genome-wide association analyses in genetically-homogeneous populations, such as that of Sardinia (Italy), could represent an additional approach to detect low penetrance alleles. We performed a genome-wide association study comparing 1431 Sardinian patients with non-familial, BRCA1/2-mutation-negative breast cancer to 2171 healthy Sardinian blood donors. DNA was genotyped using GeneChip Human Mapping 500 K Arrays or Genome-Wide Human SNP Arrays 6.0. To increase genomic coverage, genotypes of additional SNPs were imputed using data from HapMap Phase II. After quality control filtering of genotype data, 1367 cases (9 men) and 1658 controls (1156 men) were analyzed on a total of 2,067,645 SNPs. Overall, 33 genomic regions (67 candidate SNPs) were associated with breast cancer risk at the p <  0(-6) level. Twenty of these regions contained defined genes, including one already associated with breast cancer risk: TOX3. With a lower threshold for preliminary significance to p < 10(-5), we identified 11 additional SNPs in FGFR2, a well-established breast cancer-associated gene. Ten candidate SNPs were selected, excluding those already associated with breast cancer, for technical validation as well as replication in 1668 samples from the same population. Only SNP rs345299, located in intron 1 of VAV3, remained suggestively associated (p-value, 1.16 x 10(-5)), but it did not associate with breast cancer risk in pooled data from two large, mixed-population cohorts. This study indicated the role of TOX3 and FGFR2 as breast cancer susceptibility genes in BRCA1/2-wild-type breast cancer patients from Sardinian population.

  11. Genome-wide association study of susceptibility loci for breast cancer in Sardinian population

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Palomba, Grazia; Loi, Angela; Porcu, Eleonora; Cossu, Antonio; Zara, Ilenia

    2015-01-01

    Despite progress in identifying genes associated with breast cancer, many more risk loci exist. Genome-wide association analyses in genetically-homogeneous populations, such as that of Sardinia (Italy), could represent an additional approach to detect low penetrance alleles. We performed a genome-wide association study comparing 1431 Sardinian patients with non-familial, BRCA1/2-mutation-negative breast cancer to 2171 healthy Sardinian blood donors. DNA was genotyped using GeneChip Human Mapping 500 K Arrays or Genome-Wide Human SNP Arrays 6.0. To increase genomic coverage, genotypes of additional SNPs were imputed using data from HapMap Phase II. After quality control filtering of genotype data, 1367 cases (9 men) and 1658 controls (1156 men) were analyzed on a total of 2,067,645 SNPs. Overall, 33 genomic regions (67 candidate SNPs) were associated with breast cancer risk at the p < 10 −6 level. Twenty of these regions contained defined genes, including one already associated with breast cancer risk: TOX3. With a lower threshold for preliminary significance to p < 10 −5 , we identified 11 additional SNPs in FGFR2, a well-established breast cancer-associated gene. Ten candidate SNPs were selected, excluding those already associated with breast cancer, for technical validation as well as replication in 1668 samples from the same population. Only SNP rs345299, located in intron 1 of VAV3, remained suggestively associated (p-value, 1.16x10 −5 ), but it did not associate with breast cancer risk in pooled data from two large, mixed-population cohorts. This study indicated the role of TOX3 and FGFR2 as breast cancer susceptibility genes in BRCA1/2-wild-type breast cancer patients from Sardinian population. The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12885-015-1392-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

  12. Annotation of loci from genome-wide association studies using tissue-specific quantitative interaction proteomics

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lundby, Alicia; Rossin, Elizabeth J.; Steffensen, Annette B.; Acha, Moshe Ray; Newton-Cheh, Christopher; Pfeufer, Arne; Lyneh, Stacey N.; Olesen, Soren-Peter; Brunak, Soren; Ellinor, Patrick T.; Jukema, J. Wouter; Trompet, Stella; Ford, Ian; Macfarlane, Peter W.; Krijthe, Bouwe P.; Hofman, Albert; Uitterlinden, Andre G.; Stricker, Bruno H.; Nathoe, Hendrik M.; Spiering, Wilko; Daly, Mark J.; Asselbergs, Ikea W.; van der Harst, Pim; Milan, David J.; de Bakker, Paul I. W.; Lage, Kasper; Olsen, Jesper V.

    Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified thousands of loci associated with complex traits, but it is challenging to pinpoint causal genes in these loci and to exploit subtle association signals. We used tissue-specific quantitative interaction proteomics to map a network of five genes

  13. Disappearance of nucleosome positioning in mitotic chromatin in vivo.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Komura, Jun-ichiro; Ono, Tetsuya

    2005-04-15

    During mitosis, transcription is silenced and most transcription factors are displaced from their recognition sequences. By in vivo footprinting analysis, we have confirmed and extended previous studies showing loss of transcription factors from an RNA polymerase II promoter (c-FOS) and, for the first time, an RNA polymerase III promoter (U6) in HeLa cells. Because little was known about nucleosomal organization in mitotic chromosomes, we performed footprinting analysis for nucleosomes on these promoters in interphase and mitotic cells. During interphase, each of the promoters had a positioned nucleosome in the region intervening between proximal promoter elements and distal enhancer elements, but the strong nucleosome positioning disappeared during mitosis. Thus, the nucleosomal organization that appears to facilitate transcription in interphase cells may be lost in mitotic cells, and nucleosome positioning during mitosis does not seem to be a major component of the epigenetic mechanisms to mark genes for rapid reactivation after this phase.

  14. A BAC-based physical map of the Drosophila buzzatii genome

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gonzalez, Josefa; Nefedov, Michael; Bosdet, Ian; Casals, Ferran; Calvete, Oriol; Delprat, Alejandra; Shin, Heesun; Chiu, Readman; Mathewson, Carrie; Wye, Natasja; Hoskins, Roger A.; Schein, JacquelineE.; de Jong, Pieter; Ruiz, Alfredo

    2005-03-18

    Large-insert genomic libraries facilitate cloning of large genomic regions, allow the construction of clone-based physical maps and provide useful resources for sequencing entire genomes. Drosophilabuzzatii is a representative species of the repleta group in the Drosophila subgenus, which is being widely used as a model in studies of genome evolution, ecological adaptation and speciation. We constructed a Bacterial Artificial Chromosome (BAC) genomic library of D. buzzatii using the shuttle vector pTARBAC2.1. The library comprises 18,353 clones with an average insert size of 152 kb and a {approx}18X expected representation of the D. buzzatii euchromatic genome. We screened the entire library with six euchromatic gene probes and estimated the actual genome representation to be {approx}23X. In addition, we fingerprinted by restriction digestion and agarose gel electrophoresis a sample of 9,555 clones, and assembled them using Finger Printed Contigs (FPC) software and manual editing into 345 contigs (mean of 26 clones per contig) and 670singletons. Finally, we anchored 181 large contigs (containing 7,788clones) to the D. buzzatii salivary gland polytene chromosomes by in situ hybridization of 427 representative clones. The BAC library and a database with all the information regarding the high coverage BAC-based physical map described in this paper are available to the research community.

  15. Using rice genome-wide association studies to identify DNA markers for marker-assisted selection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rice association mapping panels are collections of rice (Oryza sativa L.) accessions developed for genome-wide association (GWA) studies. One of these panels, the Rice Diversity Panel 1 (RDP1) was phenotyped by various research groups for several traits of interest, and more recently, genotyped with...

  16. Genome wide linkage disequilibrium in Chinese asparagus bean (Vigna. unguiculata ssp. sesquipedialis) germplasm: implications for domestication history and genome wide association studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, P; Wu, X; Wang, B; Luo, J; Liu, Y; Ehlers, J D; Close, T J; Roberts, P A; Lu, Z; Wang, S; Li, G

    2012-07-01

    Association mapping of important traits of crop plants relies on first understanding the extent and patterns of linkage disequilibrium (LD) in the particular germplasm being investigated. We characterize here the genetic diversity, population structure and genome wide LD patterns in a set of asparagus bean (Vigna. unguiculata ssp. sesquipedialis) germplasm from China. A diverse collection of 99 asparagus bean and normal cowpea accessions were genotyped with 1127 expressed sequence tag-derived single nucleotide polymorphism markers (SNPs). The proportion of polymorphic SNPs across the collection was relatively low (39%), with an average number of SNPs per locus of 1.33. Bayesian population structure analysis indicated two subdivisions within the collection sampled that generally represented the 'standard vegetable' type (subgroup SV) and the 'non-standard vegetable' type (subgroup NSV), respectively. Level of LD (r(2)) was higher and extent of LD persisted longer in subgroup SV than in subgroup NSV, whereas LD decayed rapidly (0-2 cM) in both subgroups. LD decay distance varied among chromosomes, with the longest (≈ 5 cM) five times longer than the shortest (≈ 1 cM). Partitioning of LD variance into within- and between-subgroup components coupled with comparative LD decay analysis suggested that linkage group 5, 7 and 10 may have undergone the most intensive epistatic selection toward traits favorable for vegetable use. This work provides a first population genetic insight into domestication history of asparagus bean and demonstrates the feasibility of mapping complex traits by genome wide association study in asparagus bean using a currently available cowpea SNPs marker platform.

  17. Unexpected observations after mapping LongSAGE tags to the human genome

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Duret Laurent

    2007-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background SAGE has been used widely to study the expression of known transcripts, but much less to annotate new transcribed regions. LongSAGE produces tags that are sufficiently long to be reliably mapped to a whole-genome sequence. Here we used this property to study the position of human LongSAGE tags obtained from all public libraries. We focused mainly on tags that do not map to known transcripts. Results Using a published error rate in SAGE libraries, we first removed the tags likely to result from sequencing errors. We then observed that an unexpectedly large number of the remaining tags still did not match the genome sequence. Some of these correspond to parts of human mRNAs, such as polyA tails, junctions between two exons and polymorphic regions of transcripts. Another non-negligible proportion can be attributed to contamination by murine transcripts and to residual sequencing errors. After filtering out our data with these screens to ensure that our dataset is highly reliable, we studied the tags that map once to the genome. 31% of these tags correspond to unannotated transcripts. The others map to known transcribed regions, but many of them (nearly half are located either in antisense or in new variants of these known transcripts. Conclusion We performed a comprehensive study of all publicly available human LongSAGE tags, and carefully verified the reliability of these data. We found the potential origin of many tags that did not match the human genome sequence. The properties of the remaining tags imply that the level of sequencing error may have been under-estimated. The frequency of tags matching once the genome sequence but not in an annotated exon suggests that the human transcriptome is much more complex than shown by the current human genome annotations, with many new splicing variants and antisense transcripts. SAGE data is appropriate to map new transcripts to the genome, as demonstrated by the high rate of cross

  18. Genome-wide patterns of copy number variation in the diversified chicken genomes using next-generation sequencing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yi, Guoqiang; Qu, Lujiang; Liu, Jianfeng; Yan, Yiyuan; Xu, Guiyun; Yang, Ning

    2014-11-07

    Copy number variation (CNV) is important and widespread in the genome, and is a major cause of disease and phenotypic diversity. Herein, we performed a genome-wide CNV analysis in 12 diversified chicken genomes based on whole genome sequencing. A total of 8,840 CNV regions (CNVRs) covering 98.2 Mb and representing 9.4% of the chicken genome were identified, ranging in size from 1.1 to 268.8 kb with an average of 11.1 kb. Sequencing-based predictions were confirmed at a high validation rate by two independent approaches, including array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) and quantitative PCR (qPCR). The Pearson's correlation coefficients between sequencing and aCGH results ranged from 0.435 to 0.755, and qPCR experiments revealed a positive validation rate of 91.71% and a false negative rate of 22.43%. In total, 2,214 (25.0%) predicted CNVRs span 2,216 (36.4%) RefSeq genes associated with specific biological functions. Besides two previously reported copy number variable genes EDN3 and PRLR, we also found some promising genes with potential in phenotypic variation. Two genes, FZD6 and LIMS1, related to disease susceptibility/resistance are covered by CNVRs. The highly duplicated SOCS2 may lead to higher bone mineral density. Entire or partial duplication of some genes like POPDC3 may have great economic importance in poultry breeding. Our results based on extensive genetic diversity provide a more refined chicken CNV map and genome-wide gene copy number estimates, and warrant future CNV association studies for important traits in chickens.

  19. Fine mapping of ZNF804A and genome-wide significant evidence for its involvement in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Williams, H J

    2011-04-01

    A recent genome-wide association study (GWAS) reported evidence for association between rs1344706 within ZNF804A (encoding zinc-finger protein 804A) and schizophrenia (P=1.61 × 10(-7)), and stronger evidence when the phenotype was broadened to include bipolar disorder (P=9.96 × 10(-9)). In this study we provide additional evidence for association through meta-analysis of a larger data set (schizophrenia\\/schizoaffective disorder N=18 945, schizophrenia plus bipolar disorder N=21 274 and controls N=38 675). We also sought to better localize the association signal using a combination of de novo polymorphism discovery in exons, pooled de novo polymorphism discovery spanning the genomic sequence of the locus and high-density linkage disequilibrium (LD) mapping. The meta-analysis provided evidence for association between rs1344706 that surpasses widely accepted benchmarks of significance by several orders of magnitude for both schizophrenia (P=2.5 × 10(-11), odds ratio (OR) 1.10, 95% confidence interval 1.07-1.14) and schizophrenia and bipolar disorder combined (P=4.1 × 10(-13), OR 1.11, 95% confidence interval 1.07-1.14). After de novo polymorphism discovery and detailed association analysis, rs1344706 remained the most strongly associated marker in the gene. The allelic association at the ZNF804A locus is now one of the most compelling in schizophrenia to date, and supports the accumulating data suggesting overlapping genetic risk between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

  20. Genome wide association mapping of grain arsenic, copper, molybdenum and zinc in rice (Oryza sativa L. grown at four international field sites.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gareth J Norton

    Full Text Available The mineral concentrations in cereals are important for human health, especially for individuals who consume a cereal subsistence diet. A number of elements, such as zinc, are required within the diet, while some elements are toxic to humans, for example arsenic. In this study we carry out genome-wide association (GWA mapping of grain concentrations of arsenic, copper, molybdenum and zinc in brown rice using an established rice diversity panel of ∼ 300 accessions and 36.9 k single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs. The study was performed across five environments: one field site in Bangladesh, one in China and two in the US, with one of the US sites repeated over two years. GWA mapping on the whole dataset and on separate subpopulations of rice revealed a large number of loci significantly associated with variation in grain arsenic, copper, molybdenum and zinc. Seventeen of these loci were detected in data obtained from grain cultivated in more than one field location, and six co-localise with previously identified quantitative trait loci. Additionally, a number of candidate genes for the uptake or transport of these elements were located near significantly associated SNPs (within 200 kb, the estimated global linkage disequilibrium previously employed in this rice panel. This analysis highlights a number of genomic regions and candidate genes for further analysis as well as the challenges faced when mapping environmentally-variable traits in a highly genetically structured diversity panel.

  1. A Pooled Genome-Wide Association Study of Asperger Syndrome.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Varun Warrier

    Full Text Available Asperger Syndrome (AS is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by impairments in social interaction and communication, alongside the presence of unusually repetitive, restricted interests and stereotyped behaviour. Individuals with AS have no delay in cognitive and language development. It is a subset of Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC, which are highly heritable and has a population prevalence of approximately 1%. Few studies have investigated the genetic basis of AS. To address this gap in the literature, we performed a genome-wide pooled DNA association study to identify candidate loci in 612 individuals (294 cases and 318 controls of Caucasian ancestry, using the Affymetrix GeneChip Human Mapping version 6.0 array. We identified 11 SNPs that had a p-value below 1x10-5. These SNPs were independently genotyped in the same sample. Three of the SNPs (rs1268055, rs7785891 and rs2782448 were nominally significant, though none remained significant after Bonferroni correction. Two of our top three SNPs (rs7785891 and rs2782448 lie in loci previously implicated in ASC. However, investigation of the three SNPs in the ASC genome-wide association dataset from the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium indicated that these three SNPs were not significantly associated with ASC. The effect sizes of the variants were modest, indicating that our study was not sufficiently powered to identify causal variants with precision.

  2. Concept and design of a genome-wide association genotyping array tailored for transplantation-specific studies

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Li, Yun R.; van Setten, Jessica; Verma, Shefali S.

    2015-01-01

    genome-wide genotyping array, the 'TxArray', comprising approximately 782,000 markers with tailored content for deeper capture of variants across HLA, KIR, pharmacogenomic, and metabolic loci important in transplantation. To test concordance and genotyping quality, we genotyped 85 HapMap samples...

  3. Genome-wide development and deployment of informative intron-spanning and intron-length polymorphism markers for genomics-assisted breeding applications in chickpea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Srivastava, Rishi; Bajaj, Deepak; Sayal, Yogesh K; Meher, Prabina K; Upadhyaya, Hari D; Kumar, Rajendra; Tripathi, Shailesh; Bharadwaj, Chellapilla; Rao, Atmakuri R; Parida, Swarup K

    2016-11-01

    The discovery and large-scale genotyping of informative gene-based markers is essential for rapid delineation of genes/QTLs governing stress tolerance and yield component traits in order to drive genetic enhancement in chickpea. A genome-wide 119169 and 110491 ISM (intron-spanning markers) from 23129 desi and 20386 kabuli protein-coding genes and 7454 in silico InDel (insertion-deletion) (1-45-bp)-based ILP (intron-length polymorphism) markers from 3283 genes were developed that were structurally and functionally annotated on eight chromosomes and unanchored scaffolds of chickpea. A much higher amplification efficiency (83%) and intra-specific polymorphic potential (86%) detected by these markers than that of other sequence-based genetic markers among desi and kabuli chickpea accessions was apparent even by a cost-effective agarose gel-based assay. The genome-wide physically mapped 1718 ILP markers assayed a wider level of functional genetic diversity (19-81%) and well-defined phylogenetics among domesticated chickpea accessions. The gene-derived 1424 ILP markers were anchored on a high-density (inter-marker distance: 0.65cM) desi intra-specific genetic linkage map/functional transcript map (ICC 4958×ICC 2263) of chickpea. This reference genetic map identified six major genomic regions harbouring six robust QTLs mapped on five chromosomes, which explained 11-23% seed weight trait variation (7.6-10.5 LOD) in chickpea. The integration of high-resolution QTL mapping with differential expression profiling detected six including one potential serine carboxypeptidase gene with ILP markers (linked tightly to the major seed weight QTLs) exhibiting seed-specific expression as well as pronounced up-regulation especially in seeds of high (ICC 4958) as compared to low (ICC 2263) seed weight mapping parental accessions. The marker information generated in the present study was made publicly accessible through a user-friendly web-resource, "Chickpea ISM-ILP Marker Database

  4. Genomic selection: genome-wide prediction in plant improvement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Desta, Zeratsion Abera; Ortiz, Rodomiro

    2014-09-01

    Association analysis is used to measure relations between markers and quantitative trait loci (QTL). Their estimation ignores genes with small effects that trigger underpinning quantitative traits. By contrast, genome-wide selection estimates marker effects across the whole genome on the target population based on a prediction model developed in the training population (TP). Whole-genome prediction models estimate all marker effects in all loci and capture small QTL effects. Here, we review several genomic selection (GS) models with respect to both the prediction accuracy and genetic gain from selection. Phenotypic selection or marker-assisted breeding protocols can be replaced by selection, based on whole-genome predictions in which phenotyping updates the model to build up the prediction accuracy. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Genome Variation Map: a data repository of genome variations in BIG Data Center.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Shuhui; Tian, Dongmei; Li, Cuiping; Tang, Bixia; Dong, Lili; Xiao, Jingfa; Bao, Yiming; Zhao, Wenming; He, Hang; Zhang, Zhang

    2018-01-04

    The Genome Variation Map (GVM; http://bigd.big.ac.cn/gvm/) is a public data repository of genome variations. As a core resource in the BIG Data Center, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, GVM dedicates to collect, integrate and visualize genome variations for a wide range of species, accepts submissions of different types of genome variations from all over the world and provides free open access to all publicly available data in support of worldwide research activities. Unlike existing related databases, GVM features integration of a large number of genome variations for a broad diversity of species including human, cultivated plants and domesticated animals. Specifically, the current implementation of GVM not only houses a total of ∼4.9 billion variants for 19 species including chicken, dog, goat, human, poplar, rice and tomato, but also incorporates 8669 individual genotypes and 13 262 manually curated high-quality genotype-to-phenotype associations for non-human species. In addition, GVM provides friendly intuitive web interfaces for data submission, browse, search and visualization. Collectively, GVM serves as an important resource for archiving genomic variation data, helpful for better understanding population genetic diversity and deciphering complex mechanisms associated with different phenotypes. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

  6. Genome Variation Map: a data repository of genome variations in BIG Data Center

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tian, Dongmei; Li, Cuiping; Tang, Bixia; Dong, Lili; Xiao, Jingfa; Bao, Yiming; Zhao, Wenming; He, Hang

    2018-01-01

    Abstract The Genome Variation Map (GVM; http://bigd.big.ac.cn/gvm/) is a public data repository of genome variations. As a core resource in the BIG Data Center, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, GVM dedicates to collect, integrate and visualize genome variations for a wide range of species, accepts submissions of different types of genome variations from all over the world and provides free open access to all publicly available data in support of worldwide research activities. Unlike existing related databases, GVM features integration of a large number of genome variations for a broad diversity of species including human, cultivated plants and domesticated animals. Specifically, the current implementation of GVM not only houses a total of ∼4.9 billion variants for 19 species including chicken, dog, goat, human, poplar, rice and tomato, but also incorporates 8669 individual genotypes and 13 262 manually curated high-quality genotype-to-phenotype associations for non-human species. In addition, GVM provides friendly intuitive web interfaces for data submission, browse, search and visualization. Collectively, GVM serves as an important resource for archiving genomic variation data, helpful for better understanding population genetic diversity and deciphering complex mechanisms associated with different phenotypes. PMID:29069473

  7. Genome-Wide Association Mapping of Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus Tolerance in Spring Oat (Avena sativa L..

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bradley J Foresman

    Full Text Available Barley yellow dwarf viruses (BYDVs are responsible for the disease barley yellow dwarf (BYD and affect many cereals including oat (Avena sativa L.. Until recently, the molecular marker technology in oat has not allowed for many marker-trait association studies to determine the genetic mechanisms for tolerance. A genome-wide association study (GWAS was performed on 428 spring oat lines using a recently developed high-density oat single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP array as well as a SNP-based consensus map. Marker-trait associations were performed using a Q-K mixed model approach to control for population structure and relatedness. Six significant SNP-trait associations representing two QTL were found on chromosomes 3C (Mrg17 and 18D (Mrg04. This is the first report of BYDV tolerance QTL on chromosome 3C (Mrg17 and 18D (Mrg04. Haplotypes using the two QTL were evaluated and distinct classes for tolerance were identified based on the number of favorable alleles. A large number of lines carrying both favorable alleles were observed in the panel.

  8. Genome-wide association mapping of resistance to eyespot disease (Pseudocercosporella herpotrichoides) in European winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and fine-mapping of Pch1.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zanke, Christine D; Rodemann, Bernd; Ling, Jie; Muqaddasi, Quddoos H; Plieske, Jörg; Polley, Andreas; Kollers, Sonja; Ebmeyer, Erhard; Korzun, Viktor; Argillier, Odile; Stiewe, Gunther; Zschäckel, Thomas; Ganal, Martin W; Röder, Marion S

    2017-03-01

    Genotypes with recombination events in the Triticum ventricosum introgression on chromosome 7D allowed to fine-map resistance gene Pch1, the main source of eyespot resistance in European winter wheat cultivars. Eyespot (also called Strawbreaker) is a common and serious fungal disease of winter wheat caused by the necrotrophic fungi Oculimacula yallundae and Oculimacula acuformis (former name Pseudocercosporella herpotrichoides). A genome-wide association study (GWAS) for eyespot was performed with 732 microsatellite markers (SSR) and 7761 mapped SNP markers derived from the 90 K iSELECT wheat array using a panel of 168 European winter wheat varieties as well as three spring wheat varieties and phenotypic evaluation of eyespot in field tests in three environments. Best linear unbiased estimations (BLUEs) were calculated across all trials and ranged from 1.20 (most resistant) to 5.73 (most susceptible) with an average value of 4.24 and a heritability of H 2  = 0.91. A total of 108 SSR and 235 SNP marker-trait associations (MTAs) were identified by considering associations with a -log 10 (P value) ≥3.0. Significant MTAs for eyespot-score BLUEs were found on chromosomes 1D, 2A, 2D, 3D, 5A, 5D, 6A, 7A and 7D for the SSR markers and chromosomes 1B, 2A, 2B, 2D, 3B and 7D for the SNP markers. For 18 varieties (10.5%), a highly resistant phenotype was detected that was linked to the presence of the resistance gene Pch1 on chromosome 7D. The identification of genotypes with recombination events in the introgressed genomic segment from Triticum ventricosum harboring the Pch1 resistance gene on chromosome 7DL allowed the fine-mapping of this gene using additional SNP markers and a potential candidate gene Traes_7DL_973A33763 coding for a CC-NBS-LRR class protein was identified.

  9. Structural Mechanisms of Nucleosome Recognition by Linker Histones.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Bing-Rui; Jiang, Jiansheng; Feng, Hanqiao; Ghirlando, Rodolfo; Xiao, T Sam; Bai, Yawen

    2015-08-20

    Linker histones bind to the nucleosome and regulate the structure of chromatin and gene expression. Despite more than three decades of effort, the structural basis of nucleosome recognition by linker histones remains elusive. Here, we report the crystal structure of the globular domain of chicken linker histone H5 in complex with the nucleosome at 3.5 Å resolution, which is validated using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The globular domain sits on the dyad of the nucleosome and interacts with both DNA linkers. Our structure integrates results from mutation analyses and previous cross-linking and fluorescence recovery after photobleach experiments, and it helps resolve the long debate on structural mechanisms of nucleosome recognition by linker histones. The on-dyad binding mode of the H5 globular domain is different from the recently reported off-dyad binding mode of Drosophila linker histone H1. We demonstrate that linker histones with different binding modes could fold chromatin to form distinct higher-order structures. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. Dynamic maps of UV damage formation and repair for the human genome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, Jinchuan; Adebali, Ogun; Adar, Sheera; Sancar, Aziz

    2017-06-27

    Formation and repair of UV-induced DNA damage in human cells are affected by cellular context. To study factors influencing damage formation and repair genome-wide, we developed a highly sensitive single-nucleotide resolution damage mapping method [high-sensitivity damage sequencing (HS-Damage-seq)]. Damage maps of both cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers (CPDs) and pyrimidine-pyrimidone (6-4) photoproducts [(6-4)PPs] from UV-irradiated cellular and naked DNA revealed that the effect of transcription factor binding on bulky adducts formation varies, depending on the specific transcription factor, damage type, and strand. We also generated time-resolved UV damage maps of both CPDs and (6-4)PPs by HS-Damage-seq and compared them to the complementary repair maps of the human genome obtained by excision repair sequencing to gain insight into factors that affect UV-induced DNA damage and repair and ultimately UV carcinogenesis. The combination of the two methods revealed that, whereas UV-induced damage is virtually uniform throughout the genome, repair is affected by chromatin states, transcription, and transcription factor binding, in a manner that depends on the type of DNA damage.

  11. Physical mapping and BAC-end sequence analysis provide initial insights into the flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) genome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ragupathy, Raja; Rathinavelu, Rajkumar; Cloutier, Sylvie

    2011-05-09

    Flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) is an important source of oil rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which have proven health benefits and utility as an industrial raw material. Flax seeds also contain lignans which are associated with reducing the risk of certain types of cancer. Its bast fibres have broad industrial applications. However, genomic tools needed for molecular breeding were non existent. Hence a project, Total Utilization Flax GENomics (TUFGEN) was initiated. We report here the first genome-wide physical map of flax and the generation and analysis of BAC-end sequences (BES) from 43,776 clones, providing initial insights into the genome. The physical map consists of 416 contigs spanning ~368 Mb, assembled from 32,025 fingerprints, representing roughly 54.5% to 99.4% of the estimated haploid genome (370-675 Mb). The N50 size of the contigs was estimated to be ~1,494 kb. The longest contig was ~5,562 kb comprising 437 clones. There were 96 contigs containing more than 100 clones. Approximately 54.6 Mb representing 8-14.8% of the genome was obtained from 80,337 BES. Annotation revealed that a large part of the genome consists of ribosomal DNA (~13.8%), followed by known transposable elements at 6.1%. Furthermore, ~7.4% of sequence was identified to harbour novel repeat elements. Homology searches against flax-ESTs and NCBI-ESTs suggested that ~5.6% of the transcriptome is unique to flax. A total of 4064 putative genomic SSRs were identified and are being developed as novel markers for their use in molecular breeding. The first genome-wide physical map of flax constructed with BAC clones provides a framework for accessing target loci with economic importance for marker development and positional cloning. Analysis of the BES has provided insights into the uniqueness of the flax genome. Compared to other plant genomes, the proportion of rDNA was found to be very high whereas the proportion of known transposable elements was low. The SSRs identified from BES will be

  12. Genome-wide mapping of boundary element-associated factor (BEAF) binding sites in Drosophila melanogaster links BEAF to transcription.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, Nan; Emberly, Eldon; Cuvier, Olivier; Hart, Craig M

    2009-07-01

    Insulator elements play a role in gene regulation that is potentially linked to nuclear organization. Boundary element-associated factors (BEAFs) 32A and 32B associate with hundreds of sites on Drosophila polytene chromosomes. We hybridized DNA isolated by chromatin immunoprecipitation to genome tiling microarrays to construct a genome-wide map of BEAF binding locations. A distinct difference in the association of 32A and 32B with chromatin was noted. We identified 1,820 BEAF peaks and found that more than 85% were less than 300 bp from transcription start sites. Half are between head-to-head gene pairs. BEAF-associated genes are transcriptionally active as judged by the presence of RNA polymerase II, dimethylated histone H3 K4, and the alternative histone H3.3. Forty percent of these genes are also associated with the polymerase negative elongation factor NELF. Like NELF-associated genes, most BEAF-associated genes are highly expressed. Using quantitative reverse transcription-PCR, we found that the expression levels of most BEAF-associated genes decrease in embryos and cultured cells lacking BEAF. These results provide an unexpected link between BEAF and transcription, suggesting that BEAF plays a role in maintaining most associated promoter regions in an environment that facilitates high transcription levels.

  13. Genome-wide association mapping for female fertility traits in Danish and Swedish Holstein cattle

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sahana, G; Guldbrandtsen, B; Bendixen, C

    2010-01-01

    A genome-wide association study was conducted using a mixed model analysis for QTL for fertility traits in Danish and Swedish Holstein cattle. The analysis incorporated 2,531 progeny tested bulls, and a total of 36 387 SNP markers on 29 bovine autosomes were used. Eleven fertility traits were ana...

  14. Genome-Wide Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms Discovery and High-Density Genetic Map Construction in Cauliflower Using Specific-Locus Amplified Fragment Sequencing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Zhenqing; Gu, Honghui; Sheng, Xiaoguang; Yu, Huifang; Wang, Jiansheng; Huang, Long; Wang, Dan

    2016-01-01

    Molecular markers and genetic maps play an important role in plant genomics and breeding studies. Cauliflower is an important and distinctive vegetable; however, very few molecular resources have been reported for this species. In this study, a novel, specific-locus amplified fragment (SLAF) sequencing strategy was employed for large-scale single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) discovery and high-density genetic map construction in a double-haploid, segregating population of cauliflower. A total of 12.47 Gb raw data containing 77.92 M pair-end reads were obtained after processing and 6815 polymorphic SLAFs between the two parents were detected. The average sequencing depths reached 52.66-fold for the female parent and 49.35-fold for the male parent. Subsequently, these polymorphic SLAFs were used to genotype the population and further filtered based on several criteria to construct a genetic linkage map of cauliflower. Finally, 1776 high-quality SLAF markers, including 2741 SNPs, constituted the linkage map with average data integrity of 95.68%. The final map spanned a total genetic length of 890.01 cM with an average marker interval of 0.50 cM, and covered 364.9 Mb of the reference genome. The markers and genetic map developed in this study could provide an important foundation not only for comparative genomics studies within Brassica oleracea species but also for quantitative trait loci identification and molecular breeding of cauliflower. PMID:27047515

  15. Genome-wide association study identifies six new loci influencing pulse pressure and mean arterial pressure

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    L.V. Wain (Louise); G.C. Verwoert (Germaine); P.F. O'Reilly (Paul); G. Shi (Gang); T. Johnson (Toby); M. Bochud (Murielle); K. Rice (Kenneth); P. Henneman (Peter); A.V. Smith (Albert Vernon); G.B. Ehret (Georg); N. Amin (Najaf); M.G. Larson (Martin); V. Mooser (Vincent); D. Hadley (David); M. Dörr (Marcus); J.C. Bis (Joshua); T. Aspelund (Thor); T. Esko (Tõnu); A.C.J.W. Janssens (Cécile); J.H. Zhao (Jing Hua); S.C. Heath (Simon); M. Laan (Maris); J. Fu (Jingyuan); G. Pistis (Giorgio); J. Luan; G. Lucas (Gavin); N. Pirastu (Nicola); I. Pichler (Irene); A.U. Jackson (Anne); R.J. Webster (Rebecca J.); F.F. Zhang; J. Peden (John); R. Schmidt (Reinhold); T. Tanaka (Toshiko); H. Campbell (Harry); W. Igl (Wilmar); Y. Milaneschi (Yuri); J.J. Hottenga (Jouke Jan); V. Vitart (Veronique); D.I. Chasman (Daniel); S. Trompet (Stella); J.L. Bragg-Gresham (Jennifer L.); B.Z. Alizadeh (Behrooz); J.C. Chambers (John); X. Guo (Xiuqing); T. Lehtimäki (Terho); B. Kuhnel (Brigitte); L.M. Lopez; O. Polasek (Ozren); M. Boban (Mladen); C.P. Nelson (Christopher P.); A.C. Morrison (Alanna); V. Pihur (Vasyl); S.K. Ganesh (Santhi); A. Hofman (Albert); S. Kundu (Suman); F.U.S. Mattace Raso (Francesco); F. Rivadeneira Ramirez (Fernando); E.J.G. Sijbrands (Eric); A.G. Uitterlinden (André); S.J. Hwang; R.S. Vasan (Ramachandran Srini); Y.A. Wang (Ying); S.M. Bergmann (Sven); P. Vollenweider (Peter); G. Waeber (Gérard); J. Laitinen (Jaana); A. Pouta (Anneli); P. Zitting (Paavo); W.L. McArdle (Wendy); H.K. Kroemer (Heyo); U. Völker (Uwe); H. Völzke (Henry); N.L. Glazer (Nicole); K.D. Taylor (Kent); T.B. Harris (Tamara); H. Alavere (Helene); T. Haller (Toomas); A. Keis (Aime); M.L. Tammesoo; Y.S. Aulchenko (Yurii); K-T. Khaw (Kay-Tee); P. Galan (Pilar); S. Hercberg (Serge); G.M. Lathrop (Mark); S. Eyheramendy (Susana); E. Org (Elin); S. Sõber (Siim); X. Lu (Xiaowen); I.M. Nolte (Ilja); B.W.J.H. Penninx (Brenda); T. Corre (Tanguy); C. Masciullo (Corrado); C. Sala (Cinzia); L. Groop (Leif); B.F. Voight (Benjamin); O. Melander (Olle); C.J. O'Donnell (Christopher); V. Salomaa (Veikko); P. d' Adamo (Pio); A. Fabretto (Antonella); F. Faletra (Flavio); S. Ulivi (Shelia); F. Del Greco M (Fabiola); M.F. Facheris (Maurizio); F.S. Collins (Francis); R.N. Bergman (Richard); J.P. Beilby (John); J. Hung (Judy); A.W. Musk (Arthur); M. Mangino (Massimo); S.Y. Shin (So Youn); N. Soranzo (Nicole); H. Watkins (Hugh); A. Goel (Anuj); A. Hamsten (Anders); P. Gider (Pierre); M. Loitfelder (Marisa); M. Zeginigg (Marion); D.G. Hernandez (Dena); S.S. Najjar (Samer); P. Navarro (Pau); S.H. Wild (Sarah); A.M. Corsi (Anna Maria); A. Singleton (Andrew); E.J.C. de Geus (Eco); G.A.H.M. Willemsen (Gonneke); A.N. Parker (Alex); L.M. Rose (Lynda); B.M. Buckley (Brendan M.); D.J. Stott (David. J.); M. Orrù (Marco); M. Uda (Manuela); M.M. van der Klauw (Melanie); X. Li (Xiaohui); J. Scott (James); Y.D.I. Chen (Yii-Der Ida); G.L. Burke (Greg); M. Kähönen (Mika); J. Viikari (Jorma); A. Döring (Angela); T. Meitinger (Thomas); G.S. Davis; J.M. Starr (John); V. Emilsson (Valur); A.S. Plump (Andrew); J.H. Lindeman (Jan H.); P.A.C. 't Hoen (Peter); I.R. König (Inke); J.F. Felix (Janine); R. Clarke; J. Hopewell; H. Ongen (Halit); M.M.B. Breteler (Monique); S. Debette (Stéphanie); A.L. DeStefano (Anita); M. Fornage (Myriam); G.F. Mitchell (Gary); H. Holm (Hilma); K. Stefansson (Kari); G. Thorleifsson (Gudmar); U. Thorsteinsdottir (Unnur); N.J. Samani (Nilesh); M. Preuss (Michael); I. Rudan (Igor); C. Hayward (Caroline); I.J. Deary (Ian); H.E. Wichmann (Heinz Erich); O. Raitakari (Olli); W. Palmas (Walter); J.S. Kooner (Jaspal); R.P. Stolk (Ronald); J.W. Jukema (Jan Wouter); A.F. Wright (Alan); D.I. Boomsma (Dorret); S. Bandinelli (Stefania); U. Gyllensten (Ulf); J.F. Wilson (James); L. Ferrucci (Luigi); M. Farrall (Martin); T.D. Spector (Timothy); L.J. Palmer; J. Tuomilehto (Jaakko); A. Pfeufer (Arne); P. Gasparini (Paolo); D.S. Siscovick (David); D. Altshuler (David); R.J.F. Loos (Ruth); D. Toniolo (Daniela); H. Snieder (Harold); C. Gieger (Christian); P. Meneton (Pierre); N.J. Wareham (Nick); B.A. Oostra (Ben); A. Metspalu (Andres); L.J. Launer (Lenore); R. Rettig (Rainer); D.P. Strachan (David); J.S. Beckmann (Jacques); J.C.M. Witteman (Jacqueline); J.A.P. Willems van Dijk (Ko); E.A. Boerwinkle (Eric); M. Boehnke (Michael); P.M. Ridker (Paul); M.R. Järvelin; A. Chakravarti (Aravinda); J. Erdmann (Jeanette); V. Gudnason (Vilmundur); C. Newton-Cheh (Christopher); D. Levy (Daniel); P. Arora (Pankaj); P. Munroe (Patricia); B.M. Psaty (Bruce); M. Caulfield (Mark); D.C. Rao (Dabeeru C.); P. Elliott (Paul); P. Tikka-Kleemola (Päivi); G.R. Abecasis (Gonçalo); I.E. Barroso (Inês)

    2011-01-01

    textabstractNumerous genetic loci have been associated with systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) in Europeans. We now report genome-wide association studies of pulse pressure (PP) and mean arterial pressure (MAP). In discovery (N = 74,064) and follow-up studies (N =

  16. A first generation BAC-based physical map of the rainbow trout genome

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thorgaard Gary H

    2009-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss are the most-widely cultivated cold freshwater fish in the world and an important model species for many research areas. Coupling great interest in this species as a research model with the need for genetic improvement of aquaculture production efficiency traits justifies the continued development of genomics research resources. Many quantitative trait loci (QTL have been identified for production and life-history traits in rainbow trout. A bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC physical map is needed to facilitate fine mapping of QTL and the selection of positional candidate genes for incorporation in marker-assisted selection (MAS for improving rainbow trout aquaculture production. This resource will also facilitate efforts to obtain and assemble a whole-genome reference sequence for this species. Results The physical map was constructed from DNA fingerprinting of 192,096 BAC clones using the 4-color high-information content fingerprinting (HICF method. The clones were assembled into physical map contigs using the finger-printing contig (FPC program. The map is composed of 4,173 contigs and 9,379 singletons. The total number of unique fingerprinting fragments (consensus bands in contigs is 1,185,157, which corresponds to an estimated physical length of 2.0 Gb. The map assembly was validated by 1 comparison with probe hybridization results and agarose gel fingerprinting contigs; and 2 anchoring large contigs to the microsatellite-based genetic linkage map. Conclusion The production and validation of the first BAC physical map of the rainbow trout genome is described in this paper. We are currently integrating this map with the NCCCWA genetic map using more than 200 microsatellites isolated from BAC end sequences and by identifying BACs that harbor more than 300 previously mapped markers. The availability of an integrated physical and genetic map will enable detailed comparative genome

  17. A Genomic Map of the Effects of Linked Selection in Drosophila.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eyal Elyashiv

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Natural selection at one site shapes patterns of genetic variation at linked sites. Quantifying the effects of "linked selection" on levels of genetic diversity is key to making reliable inference about demography, building a null model in scans for targets of adaptation, and learning about the dynamics of natural selection. Here, we introduce the first method that jointly infers parameters of distinct modes of linked selection, notably background selection and selective sweeps, from genome-wide diversity data, functional annotations and genetic maps. The central idea is to calculate the probability that a neutral site is polymorphic given local annotations, substitution patterns, and recombination rates. Information is then combined across sites and samples using composite likelihood in order to estimate genome-wide parameters of distinct modes of selection. In addition to parameter estimation, this approach yields a map of the expected neutral diversity levels along the genome. To illustrate the utility of our approach, we apply it to genome-wide resequencing data from 125 lines in Drosophila melanogaster and reliably predict diversity levels at the 1Mb scale. Our results corroborate estimates of a high fraction of beneficial substitutions in proteins and untranslated regions (UTR. They allow us to distinguish between the contribution of sweeps and other modes of selection around amino acid substitutions and to uncover evidence for pervasive sweeps in untranslated regions (UTRs. Our inference further suggests a substantial effect of other modes of linked selection and of adaptation in particular. More generally, we demonstrate that linked selection has had a larger effect in reducing diversity levels and increasing their variance in D. melanogaster than previously appreciated.

  18. A Genomic Map of the Effects of Linked Selection in Drosophila.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elyashiv, Eyal; Sattath, Shmuel; Hu, Tina T; Strutsovsky, Alon; McVicker, Graham; Andolfatto, Peter; Coop, Graham; Sella, Guy

    2016-08-01

    Natural selection at one site shapes patterns of genetic variation at linked sites. Quantifying the effects of "linked selection" on levels of genetic diversity is key to making reliable inference about demography, building a null model in scans for targets of adaptation, and learning about the dynamics of natural selection. Here, we introduce the first method that jointly infers parameters of distinct modes of linked selection, notably background selection and selective sweeps, from genome-wide diversity data, functional annotations and genetic maps. The central idea is to calculate the probability that a neutral site is polymorphic given local annotations, substitution patterns, and recombination rates. Information is then combined across sites and samples using composite likelihood in order to estimate genome-wide parameters of distinct modes of selection. In addition to parameter estimation, this approach yields a map of the expected neutral diversity levels along the genome. To illustrate the utility of our approach, we apply it to genome-wide resequencing data from 125 lines in Drosophila melanogaster and reliably predict diversity levels at the 1Mb scale. Our results corroborate estimates of a high fraction of beneficial substitutions in proteins and untranslated regions (UTR). They allow us to distinguish between the contribution of sweeps and other modes of selection around amino acid substitutions and to uncover evidence for pervasive sweeps in untranslated regions (UTRs). Our inference further suggests a substantial effect of other modes of linked selection and of adaptation in particular. More generally, we demonstrate that linked selection has had a larger effect in reducing diversity levels and increasing their variance in D. melanogaster than previously appreciated.

  19. Genome-wide association mapping for stripe rust (Puccinia striiformis F. sp. tritici) in US Pacific Northwest winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Naruoka, Y; Garland-Campbell, K A; Carter, A H

    2015-06-01

    Potential novel and known QTL for race-specific all-stage and adult plant resistance to stripe rust were identified by genome-wide association mapping in the US PNW winter wheat accessions. Stripe rust (Puccinia striiformis F. sp. tritici; also known as yellow rust) is a globally devastating disease of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and a major threat to wheat production in the US Pacific Northwest (PNW), therefore both adult plant and all-stage resistance have been introduced into the winter wheat breeding programs in the PNW. The goal of this study was to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) and molecular markers for these resistances through genome-wide association (GWAS) mapping in winter wheat accessions adapted to the PNW. Stripe rust response for adult plants was evaluated in naturally occurring epidemics in a total of nine environments in Washington State, USA. Seedling response was evaluated with three races under artificial inoculation in the greenhouse. The panel was genotyped with the 9K Illumina Wheat single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array and additional markers linked to previously reported genes and QTL for stripe rust resistance. The population was grouped into three sub-populations. Markers linked to Yr17 and previously reported QTL for stripe rust resistance were identified on chromosomes 1B, 2A, and 2B. Potentially novel QTL associated with race-specific seedling response were identified on chromosomes 1B and 1D. Potentially novel QTL associated with adult plant response were located on chromosomes 2A, 2B, 3B, 4A, and 4B. Stripe rust was reduced when multiple alleles for resistance were present. The resistant allele frequencies were different among sub-populations in the panel. This information provides breeders with germplasm and closely linked markers for stripe rust resistance to facilitate the transfer of multiple loci for durable stripe rust resistance into wheat breeding lines and cultivars.

  20. Algorithms and Complexity Results for Genome Mapping Problems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rajaraman, Ashok; Zanetti, Joao Paulo Pereira; Manuch, Jan; Chauve, Cedric

    2017-01-01

    Genome mapping algorithms aim at computing an ordering of a set of genomic markers based on local ordering information such as adjacencies and intervals of markers. In most genome mapping models, markers are assumed to occur uniquely in the resulting map. We introduce algorithmic questions that consider repeats, i.e., markers that can have several occurrences in the resulting map. We show that, provided with an upper bound on the copy number of repeated markers and with intervals that span full repeat copies, called repeat spanning intervals, the problem of deciding if a set of adjacencies and repeat spanning intervals admits a genome representation is tractable if the target genome can contain linear and/or circular chromosomal fragments. We also show that extracting a maximum cardinality or weight subset of repeat spanning intervals given a set of adjacencies that admits a genome realization is NP-hard but fixed-parameter tractable in the maximum copy number and the number of adjacent repeats, and tractable if intervals contain a single repeated marker.

  1. Modifiers of notch transcriptional activity identified by genome-wide RNAi

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Firnhaber Christopher B

    2010-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The Notch signaling pathway regulates a diverse array of developmental processes, and aberrant Notch signaling can lead to diseases, including cancer. To obtain a more comprehensive understanding of the genetic network that integrates into Notch signaling, we performed a genome-wide RNAi screen in Drosophila cell culture to identify genes that modify Notch-dependent transcription. Results Employing complementary data analyses, we found 399 putative modifiers: 189 promoting and 210 antagonizing Notch activated transcription. These modifiers included several known Notch interactors, validating the robustness of the assay. Many novel modifiers were also identified, covering a range of cellular localizations from the extracellular matrix to the nucleus, as well as a large number of proteins with unknown function. Chromatin-modifying proteins represent a major class of genes identified, including histone deacetylase and demethylase complex components and other chromatin modifying, remodeling and replacement factors. A protein-protein interaction map of the Notch-dependent transcription modifiers revealed that a large number of the identified proteins interact physically with these core chromatin components. Conclusions The genome-wide RNAi screen identified many genes that can modulate Notch transcriptional output. A protein interaction map of the identified genes highlighted a network of chromatin-modifying enzymes and remodelers that regulate Notch transcription. Our results open new avenues to explore the mechanisms of Notch signal regulation and the integration of this pathway into diverse cellular processes.

  2. Genome-wide alterations of the DNA replication program during tumor progression

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arneodo, A.; Goldar, A.; Argoul, F.; Hyrien, O.; Audit, B.

    2016-08-01

    Oncogenic stress is a major driving force in the early stages of cancer development. Recent experimental findings reveal that, in precancerous lesions and cancers, activated oncogenes may induce stalling and dissociation of DNA replication forks resulting in DNA damage. Replication timing is emerging as an important epigenetic feature that recapitulates several genomic, epigenetic and functional specificities of even closely related cell types. There is increasing evidence that chromosome rearrangements, the hallmark of many cancer genomes, are intimately associated with the DNA replication program and that epigenetic replication timing changes often precede chromosomic rearrangements. The recent development of a novel methodology to map replication fork polarity using deep sequencing of Okazaki fragments has provided new and complementary genome-wide replication profiling data. We review the results of a wavelet-based multi-scale analysis of genomic and epigenetic data including replication profiles along human chromosomes. These results provide new insight into the spatio-temporal replication program and its dynamics during differentiation. Here our goal is to bring to cancer research, the experimental protocols and computational methodologies for replication program profiling, and also the modeling of the spatio-temporal replication program. To illustrate our purpose, we report very preliminary results obtained for the chronic myelogeneous leukemia, the archetype model of cancer. Finally, we discuss promising perspectives on using genome-wide DNA replication profiling as a novel efficient tool for cancer diagnosis, prognosis and personalized treatment.

  3. Anti-nucleosome antibodies complexed to nucleosomal antigens show anti-DNA reactivity and bind to rat glomerular basement membrane in vivo.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kramers, C; Hylkema, M N; van Bruggen, M C; van de Lagemaat, R; Dijkman, H B; Assmann, K J; Smeenk, R J; Berden, J H

    1994-01-01

    Histones can mediate the binding of DNA and anti-DNA to the glomerular basement membrane (GBM). In ELISA histone/DNA/anti-DNA complexes are able to bind to heparan sulfate (HS), an intrinsic constituent of the GBM. We questioned whether histone containing immune complexes are able to bind to the GBM, and if so, whether the ligand in the GBM is HS. Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) complexed to nucleosomal antigens and noncomplexed mAbs were isolated from culture supernatants of four IgG anti-nuclear mAbs. All noncomplexed mAbs showed strong anti-nucleosome reactivity in ELISA. One of them showed in addition anti-DNA reactivity in noncomplexed form. The other three mAbs only showed anti-DNA reactivity when they were complexed to nucleosomal antigens. After renal perfusion a fine granular binding of complexed mAbs to the glomerular capillary wall and activation of complement was observed in immunofluorescence, whereas noncomplexed mAbs did not bind. Immuno-electron microscopy showed binding of complexes to the whole width of the GBM. When HS in the GBM was removed by renal heparinase perfusion the binding of complexed mAb decreased, but did not disappear completely. We conclude that anti-nucleosome mAbs, which do not bind DNA, become DNA reactive once complexed to nucleosomal antigens. These complexed mAbs can bind to the GBM. The binding ligand in the GBM is partly, but not solely, HS. Binding to the GBM of immune complexes containing nucleosomal material might be an important event in the pathogenesis of lupus nephritis. Images PMID:8040312

  4. Genome-Wide Mapping of Structural Variations Reveals a Copy Number Variant That Determines Reproductive Morphology in Cucumber

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zhang, Z.; Mao, L.; Chen, Junshi; Bu, F.; Li, G.; Sun, J.; Li, S.; Sun, H.; Jiao, C.; Blakely, R.; Pan, J.; Cai, R.; Luo, R.; Peer, Van de Y.; Jacobsen, E.; Fei, Z.; Huang, S.

    2015-01-01

    Structural variations (SVs) represent a major source of genetic diversity. However, the functional impact and formation mechanisms of SVs in plant genomes remain largely unexplored. Here, we report a nucleotide-resolution SV map of cucumber (Cucumis sativas) that comprises 26,788 SVs based on deep

  5. Linker histones: novel insights into structure-specific recognition of the nucleosome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cutter, Amber R; Hayes, Jeffrey J

    2017-04-01

    Linker histones (H1s) are a primary component of metazoan chromatin, fulfilling numerous functions, both in vitro and in vivo, including stabilizing the wrapping of DNA around the nucleosome, promoting folding and assembly of higher order chromatin structures, influencing nucleosome spacing on DNA, and regulating specific gene expression. However, many molecular details of how H1 binds to nucleosomes and recognizes unique structural features on the nucleosome surface remain undefined. Numerous, confounding studies are complicated not only by experimental limitations, but the use of different linker histone isoforms and nucleosome constructions. This review summarizes the decades of research that has resulted in several models of H1 association with nucleosomes, with a focus on recent advances that suggest multiple modes of H1 interaction in chromatin, while highlighting the remaining questions.

  6. GWAMA: software for genome-wide association meta-analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mägi Reedik

    2010-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Despite the recent success of genome-wide association studies in identifying novel loci contributing effects to complex human traits, such as type 2 diabetes and obesity, much of the genetic component of variation in these phenotypes remains unexplained. One way to improving power to detect further novel loci is through meta-analysis of studies from the same population, increasing the sample size over any individual study. Although statistical software analysis packages incorporate routines for meta-analysis, they are ill equipped to meet the challenges of the scale and complexity of data generated in genome-wide association studies. Results We have developed flexible, open-source software for the meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies. The software incorporates a variety of error trapping facilities, and provides a range of meta-analysis summary statistics. The software is distributed with scripts that allow simple formatting of files containing the results of each association study and generate graphical summaries of genome-wide meta-analysis results. Conclusions The GWAMA (Genome-Wide Association Meta-Analysis software has been developed to perform meta-analysis of summary statistics generated from genome-wide association studies of dichotomous phenotypes or quantitative traits. Software with source files, documentation and example data files are freely available online at http://www.well.ox.ac.uk/GWAMA.

  7. RatMap--rat genome tools and data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Petersen, Greta; Johnson, Per; Andersson, Lars; Klinga-Levan, Karin; Gómez-Fabre, Pedro M; Ståhl, Fredrik

    2005-01-01

    The rat genome database RatMap (http://ratmap.org or http://ratmap.gen.gu.se) has been one of the main resources for rat genome information since 1994. The database is maintained by CMB-Genetics at Goteborg University in Sweden and provides information on rat genes, polymorphic rat DNA-markers and rat quantitative trait loci (QTLs), all curated at RatMap. The database is under the supervision of the Rat Gene and Nomenclature Committee (RGNC); thus much attention is paid to rat gene nomenclature. RatMap presents information on rat idiograms, karyotypes and provides a unified presentation of the rat genome sequence and integrated rat linkage maps. A set of tools is also available to facilitate the identification and characterization of rat QTLs, as well as the estimation of exon/intron number and sizes in individual rat genes. Furthermore, comparative gene maps of rat in regard to mouse and human are provided.

  8. Genome-wide association study identifies six new loci influencing pulse pressure and mean arterial pressure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wain, Louise V; Verwoert, Germaine C; O’Reilly, Paul F; Shi, Gang; Johnson, Toby; Johnson, Andrew D; Bochud, Murielle; Rice, Kenneth M; Henneman, Peter; Smith, Albert V; Ehret, Georg B; Amin, Najaf; Larson, Martin G; Mooser, Vincent; Hadley, David; Dörr, Marcus; Bis, Joshua C; Aspelund, Thor; Esko, Tõnu; Janssens, A Cecile JW; Zhao, Jing Hua; Heath, Simon; Laan, Maris; Fu, Jingyuan; Pistis, Giorgio; Luan, Jian’an; Arora, Pankaj; Lucas, Gavin; Pirastu, Nicola; Pichler, Irene; Jackson, Anne U; Webster, Rebecca J; Zhang, Feng; Peden, John F; Schmidt, Helena; Tanaka, Toshiko; Campbell, Harry; Igl, Wilmar; Milaneschi, Yuri; Hotteng, Jouke-Jan; Vitart, Veronique; Chasman, Daniel I; Trompet, Stella; Bragg-Gresham, Jennifer L; Alizadeh, Behrooz Z; Chambers, John C; Guo, Xiuqing; Lehtimäki, Terho; Kühnel, Brigitte; Lopez, Lorna M; Polašek, Ozren; Boban, Mladen; Nelson, Christopher P; Morrison, Alanna C; Pihur, Vasyl; Ganesh, Santhi K; Hofman, Albert; Kundu, Suman; Mattace-Raso, Francesco US; Rivadeneira, Fernando; Sijbrands, Eric JG; Uitterlinden, Andre G; Hwang, Shih-Jen; Vasan, Ramachandran S; Wang, Thomas J; Bergmann, Sven; Vollenweider, Peter; Waeber, Gérard; Laitinen, Jaana; Pouta, Anneli; Zitting, Paavo; McArdle, Wendy L; Kroemer, Heyo K; Völker, Uwe; Völzke, Henry; Glazer, Nicole L; Taylor, Kent D; Harris, Tamara B; Alavere, Helene; Haller, Toomas; Keis, Aime; Tammesoo, Mari-Liis; Aulchenko, Yurii; Barroso, Inês; Khaw, Kay-Tee; Galan, Pilar; Hercberg, Serge; Lathrop, Mark; Eyheramendy, Susana; Org, Elin; Sõber, Siim; Lu, Xiaowen; Nolte, Ilja M; Penninx, Brenda W; Corre, Tanguy; Masciullo, Corrado; Sala, Cinzia; Groop, Leif; Voight, Benjamin F; Melander, Olle; O’Donnell, Christopher J; Salomaa, Veikko; d’Adamo, Adamo Pio; Fabretto, Antonella; Faletra, Flavio; Ulivi, Sheila; Del Greco, M Fabiola; Facheris, Maurizio; Collins, Francis S; Bergman, Richard N; Beilby, John P; Hung, Joseph; Musk, A William; Mangino, Massimo; Shin, So-Youn; Soranzo, Nicole; Watkins, Hugh; Goel, Anuj; Hamsten, Anders; Gider, Pierre; Loitfelder, Marisa; Zeginigg, Marion; Hernandez, Dena; Najjar, Samer S; Navarro, Pau; Wild, Sarah H; Corsi, Anna Maria; Singleton, Andrew; de Geus, Eco JC; Willemsen, Gonneke; Parker, Alex N; Rose, Lynda M; Buckley, Brendan; Stott, David; Orru, Marco; Uda, Manuela; van der Klauw, Melanie M; Zhang, Weihua; Li, Xinzhong; Scott, James; Chen, Yii-Der Ida; Burke, Gregory L; Kähönen, Mika; Viikari, Jorma; Döring, Angela; Meitinger, Thomas; Davies, Gail; Starr, John M; Emilsson, Valur; Plump, Andrew; Lindeman, Jan H; ’t Hoen, Peter AC; König, Inke R; Felix, Janine F; Clarke, Robert; Hopewell, Jemma C; Ongen, Halit; Breteler, Monique; Debette, Stéphanie; DeStefano, Anita L; Fornage, Myriam; Mitchell, Gary F; Smith, Nicholas L; Holm, Hilma; Stefansson, Kari; Thorleifsson, Gudmar; Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur; Samani, Nilesh J; Preuss, Michael; Rudan, Igor; Hayward, Caroline; Deary, Ian J; Wichmann, H-Erich; Raitakari, Olli T; Palmas, Walter; Kooner, Jaspal S; Stolk, Ronald P; Jukema, J Wouter; Wright, Alan F; Boomsma, Dorret I; Bandinelli, Stefania; Gyllensten, Ulf B; Wilson, James F; Ferrucci, Luigi; Schmidt, Reinhold; Farrall, Martin; Spector, Tim D; Palmer, Lyle J; Tuomilehto, Jaakko; Pfeufer, Arne; Gasparini, Paolo; Siscovick, David; Altshuler, David; Loos, Ruth JF; Toniolo, Daniela; Snieder, Harold; Gieger, Christian; Meneton, Pierre; Wareham, Nicholas J; Oostra, Ben A; Metspalu, Andres; Launer, Lenore; Rettig, Rainer; Strachan, David P; Beckmann, Jacques S; Witteman, Jacqueline CM; Erdmann, Jeanette; van Dijk, Ko Willems; Boerwinkle, Eric; Boehnke, Michael; Ridker, Paul M; Jarvelin, Marjo-Riitta; Chakravarti, Aravinda; Abecasis, Goncalo R; Gudnason, Vilmundur; Newton-Cheh, Christopher; Levy, Daniel; Munroe, Patricia B; Psaty, Bruce M; Caulfield, Mark J; Rao, Dabeeru C

    2012-01-01

    Numerous genetic loci influence systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) in Europeans 1-3. We now report genome-wide association studies of pulse pressure (PP) and mean arterial pressure (MAP). In discovery (N=74,064) and follow-up studies (N=48,607), we identified at genome-wide significance (P= 2.7×10-8 to P=2.3×10-13) four novel PP loci (at 4q12 near CHIC2/PDGFRAI, 7q22.3 near PIK3CG, 8q24.12 in NOV, 11q24.3 near ADAMTS-8), two novel MAP loci (3p21.31 in MAP4, 10q25.3 near ADRB1) and one locus associated with both traits (2q24.3 near FIGN) which has recently been associated with SBP in east Asians. For three of the novel PP signals, the estimated effect for SBP was opposite to that for DBP, in contrast to the majority of common SBP- and DBP-associated variants which show concordant effects on both traits. These findings indicate novel genetic mechanisms underlying blood pressure variation, including pathways that may differentially influence SBP and DBP. PMID:21909110

  9. Removal of histone tails from nucleosome dissects the physical mechanisms of salt-induced aggregation, linker histone H1-induced compaction, and 30-nm fiber formation of the nucleosome array

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hizume, Kohji; Nakai, Tonau; Araki, Sumiko; Prieto, Eloise; Yoshikawa, Kenichi; Takeyasu, Kunio

    2009-01-01

    In order to reveal the roles of histone tails in the formation of higher-order chromatin structures, we employed atomic force microscopy (AFM), and an in vitro reconstitution system to examine the properties of reconstituted chromatin composed of tail-less histones and a long DNA (106-kb plasmid) template. The tail-less nucleosomes did not aggregate at high salt concentrations or with an excess amount of core histones, in contrast with the behavior of nucleosomal arrays composed of nucleosomes containing normal, N-terminal tails. Analysis of our nucleosome distributions reveals that the attractive interaction between tail-less nucleosomes is weakened. Addition of linker histone H1 into the tail-less nucleosomal array failed to promote the formation of 30 nm chromatin fibers that are usually formed in the normal nucleosomal array. These results demonstrate that the attractive interaction between nucleosomes via histone tails plays a critical role in the formation of the uniform 30-nm chromatin fiber.

  10. High-Resolution Genome-Wide Linkage Mapping Identifies Susceptibility Loci for BMI in the Chinese Population

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zhang, Dong Feng; Pang, Zengchang; Li, Shuxia

    2012-01-01

    The genetic loci affecting the commonly used BMI have been intensively investigated using linkage approaches in multiple populations. This study aims at performing the first genome-wide linkage scan on BMI in the Chinese population in mainland China with hypothesis that heterogeneity in genetic...... linkage could exist in different ethnic populations. BMI was measured from 126 dizygotic twins in Qingdao municipality who were genotyped using high-resolution Affymetrix Genome-Wide Human SNP arrays containing about 1 million single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Nonparametric linkage analysis...... in western countries. Multiple loci showing suggestive linkage were found on chromosome 1 (lod score 2.38 at 242 cM), chromosome 8 (2.48 at 95 cM), and chromosome 14 (2.2 at 89.4 cM). The strong linkage identified in the Chinese subjects that is consistent with that found in populations of European origin...

  11. Genome-wide identification of direct HBx genomic targets

    KAUST Repository

    Guerrieri, Francesca

    2017-02-17

    Background The Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) HBx regulatory protein is required for HBV replication and involved in HBV-related carcinogenesis. HBx interacts with chromatin modifying enzymes and transcription factors to modulate histone post-translational modifications and to regulate viral cccDNA transcription and cellular gene expression. Aiming to identify genes and non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) directly targeted by HBx, we performed a chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-Seq) to analyse HBV recruitment on host cell chromatin in cells replicating HBV. Results ChIP-Seq high throughput sequencing of HBx-bound fragments was used to obtain a high-resolution, unbiased, mapping of HBx binding sites across the genome in HBV replicating cells. Protein-coding genes and ncRNAs involved in cell metabolism, chromatin dynamics and cancer were enriched among HBx targets together with genes/ncRNAs known to modulate HBV replication. The direct transcriptional activation of genes/miRNAs that potentiate endocytosis (Ras-related in brain (RAB) GTPase family) and autophagy (autophagy related (ATG) genes, beclin-1, miR-33a) and the transcriptional repression of microRNAs (miR-138, miR-224, miR-576, miR-596) that directly target the HBV pgRNA and would inhibit HBV replication, contribute to HBx-mediated increase of HBV replication. Conclusions Our ChIP-Seq analysis of HBx genome wide chromatin recruitment defined the repertoire of genes and ncRNAs directly targeted by HBx and led to the identification of new mechanisms by which HBx positively regulates cccDNA transcription and HBV replication.

  12. Novel Genes Affecting the Interaction between the Cabbage Whitefly and Arabidopsis Uncovered by Genome-Wide Association Mapping.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Colette Broekgaarden

    Full Text Available Plants have evolved a variety of ways to defend themselves against biotic attackers. This has resulted in the presence of substantial variation in defense mechanisms among plants, even within a species. Genome-wide association (GWA mapping is a useful tool to study the genetic architecture of traits, but has so far only had limited exploitation in studies of plant defense. Here, we study the genetic architecture of defense against the phloem-feeding insect cabbage whitefly (Aleyrodes proletella in Arabidopsis thaliana. We determined whitefly performance, i.e. the survival and reproduction of whitefly females, on 360 worldwide selected natural accessions and subsequently performed GWA mapping using 214,051 SNPs. Substantial variation for whitefly adult survival and oviposition rate (number of eggs laid per female per day was observed between the accessions. We identified 39 candidate SNPs for either whitefly adult survival or oviposition rate, all with relatively small effects, underpinning the complex architecture of defense traits. Among the corresponding candidate genes, i.e. genes in linkage disequilibrium (LD with candidate SNPs, none have previously been identified as a gene playing a role in the interaction between plants and phloem-feeding insects. Whitefly performance on knock-out mutants of a number of candidate genes was significantly affected, validating the potential of GWA mapping for novel gene discovery in plant-insect interactions. Our results show that GWA analysis is a very useful tool to gain insight into the genetic architecture of plant defense against herbivorous insects, i.e. we identified and validated several genes affecting whitefly performance that have not previously been related to plant defense against herbivorous insects.

  13. Nencki Genomics Database--Ensembl funcgen enhanced with intersections, user data and genome-wide TFBS motifs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krystkowiak, Izabella; Lenart, Jakub; Debski, Konrad; Kuterba, Piotr; Petas, Michal; Kaminska, Bozena; Dabrowski, Michal

    2013-01-01

    We present the Nencki Genomics Database, which extends the functionality of Ensembl Regulatory Build (funcgen) for the three species: human, mouse and rat. The key enhancements over Ensembl funcgen include the following: (i) a user can add private data, analyze them alongside the public data and manage access rights; (ii) inside the database, we provide efficient procedures for computing intersections between regulatory features and for mapping them to the genes. To Ensembl funcgen-derived data, which include data from ENCODE, we add information on conserved non-coding (putative regulatory) sequences, and on genome-wide occurrence of transcription factor binding site motifs from the current versions of two major motif libraries, namely, Jaspar and Transfac. The intersections and mapping to the genes are pre-computed for the public data, and the result of any procedure run on the data added by the users is stored back into the database, thus incrementally increasing the body of pre-computed data. As the Ensembl funcgen schema for the rat is currently not populated, our database is the first database of regulatory features for this frequently used laboratory animal. The database is accessible without registration using the mysql client: mysql -h database.nencki-genomics.org -u public. Registration is required only to add or access private data. A WSDL webservice provides access to the database from any SOAP client, including the Taverna Workbench with a graphical user interface.

  14. Routes to DNA Accessibility: Alternative Pathways for Nucleosome Unwinding

    OpenAIRE

    Schlingman, Daniel J.; Mack, Andrew H.; Kamenetska, Masha; Mochrie, Simon G.J.; Regan, Lynne

    2014-01-01

    The dynamic packaging of DNA into chromatin is a key determinant of eukaryotic gene regulation and epigenetic inheritance. Nucleosomes are the basic unit of chromatin, and therefore the accessible states of the nucleosome must be the starting point for mechanistic models regarding these essential processes. Although the existence of different unwound nucleosome states has been hypothesized, there have been few studies of these states. The consequences of multiple states are far reaching. Thes...

  15. Nucleotide diversity maps reveal variation in diversity among wheat genomes and chromosomes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    McGuire Patrick E

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background A genome-wide assessment of nucleotide diversity in a polyploid species must minimize the inclusion of homoeologous sequences into diversity estimates and reliably allocate individual haplotypes into their respective genomes. The same requirements complicate the development and deployment of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP markers in polyploid species. We report here a strategy that satisfies these requirements and deploy it in the sequencing of genes in cultivated hexaploid wheat (Triticum aestivum, genomes AABBDD and wild tetraploid wheat (Triticum turgidum ssp. dicoccoides, genomes AABB from the putative site of wheat domestication in Turkey. Data are used to assess the distribution of diversity among and within wheat genomes and to develop a panel of SNP markers for polyploid wheat. Results Nucleotide diversity was estimated in 2114 wheat genes and was similar between the A and B genomes and reduced in the D genome. Within a genome, diversity was diminished on some chromosomes. Low diversity was always accompanied by an excess of rare alleles. A total of 5,471 SNPs was discovered in 1791 wheat genes. Totals of 1,271, 1,218, and 2,203 SNPs were discovered in 488, 463, and 641 genes of wheat putative diploid ancestors, T. urartu, Aegilops speltoides, and Ae. tauschii, respectively. A public database containing genome-specific primers, SNPs, and other information was constructed. A total of 987 genes with nucleotide diversity estimated in one or more of the wheat genomes was placed on an Ae. tauschii genetic map, and the map was superimposed on wheat deletion-bin maps. The agreement between the maps was assessed. Conclusions In a young polyploid, exemplified by T. aestivum, ancestral species are the primary source of genetic diversity. Low effective recombination due to self-pollination and a genetic mechanism precluding homoeologous chromosome pairing during polyploid meiosis can lead to the loss of diversity from large

  16. Transcription factor binding sites prediction based on modified nucleosomes.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammad Talebzadeh

    Full Text Available In computational methods, position weight matrices (PWMs are commonly applied for transcription factor binding site (TFBS prediction. Although these matrices are more accurate than simple consensus sequences to predict actual binding sites, they usually produce a large number of false positive (FP predictions and so are impoverished sources of information. Several studies have employed additional sources of information such as sequence conservation or the vicinity to transcription start sites to distinguish true binding regions from random ones. Recently, the spatial distribution of modified nucleosomes has been shown to be associated with different promoter architectures. These aligned patterns can facilitate DNA accessibility for transcription factors. We hypothesize that using data from these aligned and periodic patterns can improve the performance of binding region prediction. In this study, we propose two effective features, "modified nucleosomes neighboring" and "modified nucleosomes occupancy", to decrease FP in binding site discovery. Based on these features, we designed a logistic regression classifier which estimates the probability of a region as a TFBS. Our model learned each feature based on Sp1 binding sites on Chromosome 1 and was tested on the other chromosomes in human CD4+T cells. In this work, we investigated 21 histone modifications and found that only 8 out of 21 marks are strongly correlated with transcription factor binding regions. To prove that these features are not specific to Sp1, we combined the logistic regression classifier with the PWM, and created a new model to search TFBSs on the genome. We tested the model using transcription factors MAZ, PU.1 and ELF1 and compared the results to those using only the PWM. The results show that our model can predict Transcription factor binding regions more successfully. The relative simplicity of the model and capability of integrating other features make it a superior method

  17. Genome-Wide Fine-Scale Recombination Rate Variation in Drosophila melanogaster

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Yun S.

    2012-01-01

    Estimating fine-scale recombination maps of Drosophila from population genomic data is a challenging problem, in particular because of the high background recombination rate. In this paper, a new computational method is developed to address this challenge. Through an extensive simulation study, it is demonstrated that the method allows more accurate inference, and exhibits greater robustness to the effects of natural selection and noise, compared to a well-used previous method developed for studying fine-scale recombination rate variation in the human genome. As an application, a genome-wide analysis of genetic variation data is performed for two Drosophila melanogaster populations, one from North America (Raleigh, USA) and the other from Africa (Gikongoro, Rwanda). It is shown that fine-scale recombination rate variation is widespread throughout the D. melanogaster genome, across all chromosomes and in both populations. At the fine-scale, a conservative, systematic search for evidence of recombination hotspots suggests the existence of a handful of putative hotspots each with at least a tenfold increase in intensity over the background rate. A wavelet analysis is carried out to compare the estimated recombination maps in the two populations and to quantify the extent to which recombination rates are conserved. In general, similarity is observed at very broad scales, but substantial differences are seen at fine scales. The average recombination rate of the X chromosome appears to be higher than that of the autosomes in both populations, and this pattern is much more pronounced in the African population than the North American population. The correlation between various genomic features—including recombination rates, diversity, divergence, GC content, gene content, and sequence quality—is examined using the wavelet analysis, and it is shown that the most notable difference between D. melanogaster and humans is in the correlation between recombination and

  18. Physical mapping and BAC-end sequence analysis provide initial insights into the flax (Linum usitatissimum L. genome

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cloutier Sylvie

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Flax (Linum usitatissimum L. is an important source of oil rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which have proven health benefits and utility as an industrial raw material. Flax seeds also contain lignans which are associated with reducing the risk of certain types of cancer. Its bast fibres have broad industrial applications. However, genomic tools needed for molecular breeding were non existent. Hence a project, Total Utilization Flax GENomics (TUFGEN was initiated. We report here the first genome-wide physical map of flax and the generation and analysis of BAC-end sequences (BES from 43,776 clones, providing initial insights into the genome. Results The physical map consists of 416 contigs spanning ~368 Mb, assembled from 32,025 fingerprints, representing roughly 54.5% to 99.4% of the estimated haploid genome (370-675 Mb. The N50 size of the contigs was estimated to be ~1,494 kb. The longest contig was ~5,562 kb comprising 437 clones. There were 96 contigs containing more than 100 clones. Approximately 54.6 Mb representing 8-14.8% of the genome was obtained from 80,337 BES. Annotation revealed that a large part of the genome consists of ribosomal DNA (~13.8%, followed by known transposable elements at 6.1%. Furthermore, ~7.4% of sequence was identified to harbour novel repeat elements. Homology searches against flax-ESTs and NCBI-ESTs suggested that ~5.6% of the transcriptome is unique to flax. A total of 4064 putative genomic SSRs were identified and are being developed as novel markers for their use in molecular breeding. Conclusion The first genome-wide physical map of flax constructed with BAC clones provides a framework for accessing target loci with economic importance for marker development and positional cloning. Analysis of the BES has provided insights into the uniqueness of the flax genome. Compared to other plant genomes, the proportion of rDNA was found to be very high whereas the proportion of known transposable

  19. Genetically contextual effects of smoking on genome wide DNA methylation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dogan, Meeshanthini V; Beach, Steven R H; Philibert, Robert A

    2017-09-01

    Smoking is the leading cause of death in the United States. It exerts its effects by increasing susceptibility to a variety of complex disorders among those who smoke, and if pregnant, to their unborn children. In prior efforts to understand the epigenetic mechanisms through which this increased vulnerability is conveyed, a number of investigators have conducted genome wide methylation analyses. Unfortunately, secondary to methodological limitations, these studies were unable to examine methylation in gene regions with significant amounts of genetic variation. Using genome wide genetic and epigenetic data from the Framingham Heart Study, we re-examined the relationship of smoking status to genome wide methylation status. When only methylation status is considered, smoking was significantly associated with differential methylation in 310 genes that map to a variety of biological process and cellular differentiation pathways. However, when SNP effects on the magnitude of smoking associated methylation changes are also considered, cis and trans-interaction effects were noted at a total of 266 and 4353 genes with no marked enrichment for any biological pathways. Furthermore, the SNP variation participating in the significant interaction effects is enriched for loci previously associated with complex medical illnesses. The enlarged scope of the methylome shown to be affected by smoking may better explicate the mediational pathways linking smoking with a myriad of smoking related complex syndromes. Additionally, these results strongly suggest that combined epigenetic and genetic data analyses may be critical for a more complete understanding of the relationship between environmental variables, such as smoking, and pathophysiological outcomes. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  20. Understanding the development of human bladder cancer by using a whole-organ genomic mapping strategy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Majewski, Tadeusz; Lee, Sangkyou; Jeong, Joon; Yoon, Dong-Sup; Kram, Andrzej; Kim, Mi-Sook; Tuziak, Tomasz; Bondaruk, Jolanta; Lee, Sooyong; Park, Weon-Seo; Tang, Kuang S; Chung, Woonbok; Shen, Lanlan; Ahmed, Saira S; Johnston, Dennis A; Grossman, H Barton; Dinney, Colin P; Zhou, Jain-Hua; Harris, R Alan; Snyder, Carrie; Filipek, Slawomir; Narod, Steven A; Watson, Patrice; Lynch, Henry T; Gazdar, Adi; Bar-Eli, Menashe; Wu, Xifeng F; McConkey, David J; Baggerly, Keith; Issa, Jean-Pierre; Benedict, William F; Scherer, Steven E; Czerniak, Bogdan

    2008-07-01

    The search for the genomic sequences involved in human cancers can be greatly facilitated by maps of genomic imbalances identifying the involved chromosomal regions, particularly those that participate in the development of occult preneoplastic conditions that progress to clinically aggressive invasive cancer. The integration of such regions with human genome sequence variation may provide valuable clues about their overall structure and gene content. By extension, such knowledge may help us understand the underlying genetic components involved in the initiation and progression of these cancers. We describe the development of a genome-wide map of human bladder cancer that tracks its progression from in situ precursor conditions to invasive disease. Testing for allelic losses using a genome-wide panel of 787 microsatellite markers was performed on multiple DNA samples, extracted from the entire mucosal surface of the bladder and corresponding to normal urothelium, in situ preneoplastic lesions, and invasive carcinoma. Using this approach, we matched the clonal allelic losses in distinct chromosomal regions to specific phases of bladder neoplasia and produced a detailed genetic map of bladder cancer development. These analyses revealed three major waves of genetic changes associated with growth advantages of successive clones and reflecting a stepwise conversion of normal urothelial cells into cancer cells. The genetic changes map to six regions at 3q22-q24, 5q22-q31, 9q21-q22, 10q26, 13q14, and 17p13, which may represent critical hits driving the development of bladder cancer. Finally, we performed high-resolution mapping using single nucleotide polymorphism markers within one region on chromosome 13q14, containing the model tumor suppressor gene RB1, and defined a minimal deleted region associated with clonal expansion of in situ neoplasia. These analyses provided new insights on the involvement of several non-coding sequences mapping to the region and identified

  1. Unfolding of core nucleosomes by PARP-1 revealed by spFRET microscopy

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    Daniel Sultanov

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available DNA accessibility to various protein complexes is essential for various processes in the cell and is affected by nucleosome structure and dynamics. Protein factor PARP-1 (poly(ADP-ribose polymerase 1 increases the accessibility of DNA in chromatin to repair proteins and transcriptional machinery, but the mechanism and extent of this chromatin reorganization are unknown. Here we report on the effects of PARP-1 on single nucleosomes revealed by spFRET (single-particle Förster Resonance Energy Transfer microscopy. PARP-1 binding to a double-strand break in the vicinity of a nucleosome results in a significant increase of the distance between the adjacent gyres of nucleosomal DNA. This partial uncoiling of the entire nucleosomal DNA occurs without apparent loss of histones and is reversed after poly(ADP-ribosylation of PARP-1. Thus PARP-1-nucleosome interactions result in reversible, partial uncoiling of the entire nucleosomal DNA.

  2. Genome-Wide DNA Methylation Profiles of Phlegm-Dampness Constitution

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Haiqiang Yao

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Background/Aims: Metabolic diseases are leading health concerns in today’s global society. In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM, one body type studied is the phlegm-dampness constitution (PC, which predisposes individuals to complex metabolic disorders. Genomic studies have revealed the potential metabolic disorders and the molecular features of PC. The role of epigenetics in the regulation of PC, however, is unknown. Methods: We analyzed a genome-wide DNA methylation in 12 volunteers using Illumina Infinium Human Methylation450 BeadChip on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs. Eight volunteers had PC and 4 had balanced constitutions. Results: Methylation data indicated a genome-scale hyper-methylation pattern in PC. We located 288 differentially methylated probes (DMPs. A total of 256 genes were mapped, and some of these were metabolic-related. SQSTM1, DLGAP2 and DAB1 indicated diabetes mellitus; HOXC4 and SMPD3, obesity; and GRWD1 and ATP10A, insulin resistance. According to Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA, differentially methylated genes were abundant in multiple metabolic pathways. Conclusion: Our results suggest the potential risk for metabolic disorders in individuals with PC. We also explain the clinical characteristics of PC with DNA methylation features.

  3. Microbial genome sequencing using optical mapping and Illumina sequencing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Introduction Optical mapping is a technique in which strands of genomic DNA are digested with one or more restriction enzymes, and a physical map of the genome constructed from the resulting image. In outline, genomic DNA is extracted from a pure culture, linearly arrayed on a specialized glass sli...

  4. Genome-wide association mapping and agronomic impact of cowpea root architecture.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burridge, James D; Schneider, Hannah M; Huynh, Bao-Lam; Roberts, Philip A; Bucksch, Alexander; Lynch, Jonathan P

    2017-02-01

    Genetic analysis of data produced by novel root phenotyping tools was used to establish relationships between cowpea root traits and performance indicators as well between root traits and Striga tolerance. Selection and breeding for better root phenotypes can improve acquisition of soil resources and hence crop production in marginal environments. We hypothesized that biologically relevant variation is measurable in cowpea root architecture. This study implemented manual phenotyping (shovelomics) and automated image phenotyping (DIRT) on a 189-entry diversity panel of cowpea to reveal biologically important variation and genome regions affecting root architecture phenes. Significant variation in root phenes was found and relatively high heritabilities were detected for root traits assessed manually (0.4 for nodulation and 0.8 for number of larger laterals) as well as repeatability traits phenotyped via DIRT (0.5 for a measure of root width and 0.3 for a measure of root tips). Genome-wide association study identified 11 significant quantitative trait loci (QTL) from manually scored root architecture traits and 21 QTL from root architecture traits phenotyped by DIRT image analysis. Subsequent comparisons of results from this root study with other field studies revealed QTL co-localizations between root traits and performance indicators including seed weight per plant, pod number, and Striga (Striga gesnerioides) tolerance. The data suggest selection for root phenotypes could be employed by breeding programs to improve production in multiple constraint environments.

  5. Genome-wide association mapping reveals a rich genetic architecture of stripe rust resistance loci in emmer wheat (Triticum turgidum ssp. dicoccum).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Weizhen; Maccaferri, Marco; Chen, Xianming; Laghetti, Gaetano; Pignone, Domenico; Pumphrey, Michael; Tuberosa, Roberto

    2017-11-01

    SNP-based genome scanning in worldwide domesticated emmer germplasm showed high genetic diversity, rapid linkage disequilibrium decay and 51 loci for stripe rust resistance, a large proportion of which were novel. Cultivated emmer wheat (Triticum turgidum ssp. dicoccum), one of the oldest domesticated crops in the world, is a potentially rich reservoir of variation for improvement of resistance/tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses in wheat. Resistance to stripe rust (Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici) in emmer wheat has been under-investigated. Here, we employed genome-wide association (GWAS) mapping with a mixed linear model to dissect effective stripe rust resistance loci in a worldwide collection of 176 cultivated emmer wheat accessions. Adult plants were tested in six environments and seedlings were evaluated with five races from the United States and one from Italy under greenhouse conditions. Five accessions were resistant across all experiments. The panel was genotyped with the wheat 90,000 Illumina iSelect single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array and 5106 polymorphic SNP markers with mapped positions were obtained. A high level of genetic diversity and fast linkage disequilibrium decay were observed. In total, we identified 14 loci associated with field resistance in multiple environments. Thirty-seven loci were significantly associated with all-stage (seedling) resistance and six of them were effective against multiple races. Of the 51 total loci, 29 were mapped distantly from previously reported stripe rust resistance genes or quantitative trait loci and represent newly discovered resistance loci. Our results suggest that GWAS is an effective method for characterizing genes in cultivated emmer wheat and confirm that emmer wheat is a rich source of stripe rust resistance loci that can be used for wheat improvement.

  6. Single-molecule optical genome mapping of a human HapMap and a colorectal cancer cell line.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Teo, Audrey S M; Verzotto, Davide; Yao, Fei; Nagarajan, Niranjan; Hillmer, Axel M

    2015-01-01

    Next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies have changed our understanding of the variability of the human genome. However, the identification of genome structural variations based on NGS approaches with read lengths of 35-300 bases remains a challenge. Single-molecule optical mapping technologies allow the analysis of DNA molecules of up to 2 Mb and as such are suitable for the identification of large-scale genome structural variations, and for de novo genome assemblies when combined with short-read NGS data. Here we present optical mapping data for two human genomes: the HapMap cell line GM12878 and the colorectal cancer cell line HCT116. High molecular weight DNA was obtained by embedding GM12878 and HCT116 cells, respectively, in agarose plugs, followed by DNA extraction under mild conditions. Genomic DNA was digested with KpnI and 310,000 and 296,000 DNA molecules (≥ 150 kb and 10 restriction fragments), respectively, were analyzed per cell line using the Argus optical mapping system. Maps were aligned to the human reference by OPTIMA, a new glocal alignment method. Genome coverage of 6.8× and 5.7× was obtained, respectively; 2.9× and 1.7× more than the coverage obtained with previously available software. Optical mapping allows the resolution of large-scale structural variations of the genome, and the scaffold extension of NGS-based de novo assemblies. OPTIMA is an efficient new alignment method; our optical mapping data provide a resource for genome structure analyses of the human HapMap reference cell line GM12878, and the colorectal cancer cell line HCT116.

  7. Comprehensive evaluation of genome-wide 5-hydroxymethylcytosine profiling approaches in human DNA.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Skvortsova, Ksenia; Zotenko, Elena; Luu, Phuc-Loi; Gould, Cathryn M; Nair, Shalima S; Clark, Susan J; Stirzaker, Clare

    2017-01-01

    The discovery that 5-methylcytosine (5mC) can be oxidized to 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) by the ten-eleven translocation (TET) proteins has prompted wide interest in the potential role of 5hmC in reshaping the mammalian DNA methylation landscape. The gold-standard bisulphite conversion technologies to study DNA methylation do not distinguish between 5mC and 5hmC. However, new approaches to mapping 5hmC genome-wide have advanced rapidly, although it is unclear how the different methods compare in accurately calling 5hmC. In this study, we provide a comparative analysis on brain DNA using three 5hmC genome-wide approaches, namely whole-genome bisulphite/oxidative bisulphite sequencing (WG Bis/OxBis-seq), Infinium HumanMethylation450 BeadChip arrays coupled with oxidative bisulphite (HM450K Bis/OxBis) and antibody-based immunoprecipitation and sequencing of hydroxymethylated DNA (hMeDIP-seq). We also perform loci-specific TET-assisted bisulphite sequencing (TAB-seq) for validation of candidate regions. We show that whole-genome single-base resolution approaches are advantaged in providing precise 5hmC values but require high sequencing depth to accurately measure 5hmC, as this modification is commonly in low abundance in mammalian cells. HM450K arrays coupled with oxidative bisulphite provide a cost-effective representation of 5hmC distribution, at CpG sites with 5hmC levels >~10%. However, 5hmC analysis is restricted to the genomic location of the probes, which is an important consideration as 5hmC modification is commonly enriched at enhancer elements. Finally, we show that the widely used hMeDIP-seq method provides an efficient genome-wide profile of 5hmC and shows high correlation with WG Bis/OxBis-seq 5hmC distribution in brain DNA. However, in cell line DNA with low levels of 5hmC, hMeDIP-seq-enriched regions are not detected by WG Bis/OxBis or HM450K, either suggesting misinterpretation of 5hmC calls by hMeDIP or lack of sensitivity of the latter methods. We

  8. Genome-wide DNA polymorphism analyses using VariScan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vilella Albert J

    2006-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background DNA sequence polymorphisms analysis can provide valuable information on the evolutionary forces shaping nucleotide variation, and provides an insight into the functional significance of genomic regions. The recent ongoing genome projects will radically improve our capabilities to detect specific genomic regions shaped by natural selection. Current available methods and software, however, are unsatisfactory for such genome-wide analysis. Results We have developed methods for the analysis of DNA sequence polymorphisms at the genome-wide scale. These methods, which have been tested on a coalescent-simulated and actual data files from mouse and human, have been implemented in the VariScan software package version 2.0. Additionally, we have also incorporated a graphical-user interface. The main features of this software are: i exhaustive population-genetic analyses including those based on the coalescent theory; ii analysis adapted to the shallow data generated by the high-throughput genome projects; iii use of genome annotations to conduct a comprehensive analyses separately for different functional regions; iv identification of relevant genomic regions by the sliding-window and wavelet-multiresolution approaches; v visualization of the results integrated with current genome annotations in commonly available genome browsers. Conclusion VariScan is a powerful and flexible suite of software for the analysis of DNA polymorphisms. The current version implements new algorithms, methods, and capabilities, providing an important tool for an exhaustive exploratory analysis of genome-wide DNA polymorphism data.

  9. Genome-Wide Association Mapping for Intelligence in Military Working Dogs: Canine Cohort, Canine Intelligence Assessment Regimen, Genome-Wide Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) Typing, and Unsupervised Classification Algorithm for Genome-Wide Association Data Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-09-01

    SNP Array v2. A ‘proof-of-concept’ advanced data mining algorithm for unsupervised analysis of genome-wide association study (GWAS) dataset was... Opal F AUS Yes U141 Peggs F AUS Yes U142 Taxi F AUS Yes U143 Riso MI MAL Yes U144 Szarik MI GSD Yes U145 Astor MI MAL Yes U146 Roy MC MAL Yes... mining of genetic studies in general, and especially GWAS. As a proof-of-concept, a classification analysis of the WG SNP typing dataset of a

  10. A novel statistic for genome-wide interaction analysis.

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    Xuesen Wu

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available Although great progress in genome-wide association studies (GWAS has been made, the significant SNP associations identified by GWAS account for only a few percent of the genetic variance, leading many to question where and how we can find the missing heritability. There is increasing interest in genome-wide interaction analysis as a possible source of finding heritability unexplained by current GWAS. However, the existing statistics for testing interaction have low power for genome-wide interaction analysis. To meet challenges raised by genome-wide interactional analysis, we have developed a novel statistic for testing interaction between two loci (either linked or unlinked. The null distribution and the type I error rates of the new statistic for testing interaction are validated using simulations. Extensive power studies show that the developed statistic has much higher power to detect interaction than classical logistic regression. The results identified 44 and 211 pairs of SNPs showing significant evidence of interactions with FDR<0.001 and 0.001genome-wide interaction analysis is a valuable tool for finding remaining missing heritability unexplained by the current GWAS, and the developed novel statistic is able to search significant interaction between SNPs across the genome. Real data analysis showed that the results of genome-wide interaction analysis can be replicated in two independent studies.

  11. Dissecting genomic hotspots underlying seed protein, oil, and sucrose content in an interspecific mapping population of soybean using high-density linkage mapping.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patil, Gunvant; Vuong, Tri D; Kale, Sandip; Valliyodan, Babu; Deshmukh, Rupesh; Zhu, Chengsong; Wu, Xiaolei; Bai, Yonghe; Yungbluth, Dennis; Lu, Fang; Kumpatla, Siva; Grover Shannon, J; Varshney, Rajeev K; Nguyen, Henry T

    2018-04-04

    The cultivated [Glycine max (L) Merr.] and wild [Glycine soja Siebold & Zucc.] soybean species comprise wide variation in seed composition traits. Compared to wild soybean, cultivated soybean contains low protein, high oil and high sucrose. In this study, an inter-specific population was derived from a cross between G. max (Williams 82) and G. soja (PI 483460B). This recombinant inbred line (RIL) population of 188 lines was sequenced at 0.3x depth. Based on 91,342 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), recombination events in RILs were defined, and a high-resolution bin map was developed (4,070 bins). In addition to bin mapping, QTL analysis for protein, oil and sucrose was performed using 3,343 polymorphic SNPs (3K-SNP), derived from Illumina Infinium BeadChip sequencing platform. The QTL regions from both platforms were compared and a significant concordance was observed between bin and 3K-SNP markers. Importantly, the bin map derived from next generation sequencing technology enhanced mapping resolution (from 1325 Kb to 50 Kb). A total of 5, 9 and 4 QTLs were identified for protein, oil and sucrose content, respectively and some of the QTLs coincided with soybean domestication related genomic loci. The major QTL for protein and oil was mapped on Chr. 20 (qPro_20) and suggested negative correlation between oil and protein. In terms of sucrose content, a novel and major QTL was identified on Chr. 8 (qSuc_08) and harbors putative genes involved in sugar transport. In addition, genome-wide association (GWAS) using 91,342 SNPs confirmed the genomic loci derived from QTL mapping. A QTL based haplotype using whole genome resequencing of 106 diverse soybean lines identified unique allelic variation in wild soybean that could be utilized to widen the genetic base in cultivated soybean. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

  12. Annotation of loci from genome-wide association studies using tissue-specific quantitative interaction proteomics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lundby, Alicia; Rossin, Elizabeth J.; Steffensen, Annette B.

    2014-01-01

    Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified thousands of loci associated with complex traits, but it is challenging to pinpoint causal genes in these loci and to exploit subtle association signals. We used tissue-specific quantitative interaction proteomics to map a network of five genes...... involved in the Mendelian disorder long QT syndrome (LOTS). We integrated the LOTS network with GWAS loci from the corresponding common complex trait, QT-interval variation, to identify candidate genes that were subsequently confirmed in Xenopus laevis oocytes and zebrafish. We used the LOTS protein...... network to filter weak GWAS signals by identifying single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in proximity to genes in the network supported by strong proteomic evidence. Three SNPs passing this filter reached genome-wide significance after replication genotyping. Overall, we present a general strategy...

  13. The nucleosome assembly activity of NAP1 is enhanced by Alien.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eckey, Maren; Hong, Wei; Papaioannou, Maria; Baniahmad, Aria

    2007-05-01

    The assembly of nucleosomes into chromatin is essential for the compaction of DNA and inactivation of the DNA template to modulate and repress gene expression. The nucleosome assembly protein 1, NAP1, assembles nucleosomes independent of DNA synthesis and was shown to enhance coactivator-mediated gene expression, suggesting a role for NAP1 in transcriptional regulation. Here, we show that Alien, known to harbor characteristics of a corepressor of nuclear hormone receptors such as of the vitamin D receptor (VDR), binds in vivo and in vitro to NAP1 and modulates its activity by enhancing NAP1-mediated nucleosome assembly on DNA. Furthermore, Alien reduces the accessibility of the histones H3 and H4 for NAP1-promoted assembly reaction. This indicates that Alien sustains and reinforces the formation of nucleosomes. Employing deletion mutants of Alien suggests that different regions of Alien are involved in enhancement of NAP1-mediated nucleosome assembly and in inhibiting the accessibility of the histones H3 and H4. In addition, we provide evidence that Alien is associated with chromatin and with micrococcus nuclease-prepared nucleosome fractions and interacts with the histones H3 and H4. Furthermore, chromatin immunoprecipitation and reimmunoprecipitation experiments suggest that NAP1 and Alien localize to the endogenous CYP24 promoter in vivo, a VDR target gene. Based on these findings, we present here a novel pathway linking corepressor function with nucleosome assembly activity.

  14. Generation of a BAC-based physical map of the melon genome

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Puigdomènech Pere

    2010-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Cucumis melo (melon belongs to the Cucurbitaceae family, whose economic importance among horticulture crops is second only to Solanaceae. Melon has high intra-specific genetic variation, morphologic diversity and a small genome size (450 Mb, which make this species suitable for a great variety of molecular and genetic studies that can lead to the development of tools for breeding varieties of the species. A number of genetic and genomic resources have already been developed, such as several genetic maps and BAC genomic libraries. These tools are essential for the construction of a physical map, a valuable resource for map-based cloning, comparative genomics and assembly of whole genome sequencing data. However, no physical map of any Cucurbitaceae has yet been developed. A project has recently been started to sequence the complete melon genome following a whole-genome shotgun strategy, which makes use of massive sequencing data. A BAC-based melon physical map will be a useful tool to help assemble and refine the draft genome data that is being produced. Results A melon physical map was constructed using a 5.7 × BAC library and a genetic map previously developed in our laboratories. High-information-content fingerprinting (HICF was carried out on 23,040 BAC clones, digesting with five restriction enzymes and SNaPshot labeling, followed by contig assembly with FPC software. The physical map has 1,355 contigs and 441 singletons, with an estimated physical length of 407 Mb (0.9 × coverage of the genome and the longest contig being 3.2 Mb. The anchoring of 845 BAC clones to 178 genetic markers (100 RFLPs, 76 SNPs and 2 SSRs also allowed the genetic positioning of 183 physical map contigs/singletons, representing 55 Mb (12% of the melon genome, to individual chromosomal loci. The melon FPC database is available for download at http://melonomics.upv.es/static/files/public/physical_map/. Conclusions Here we report the construction

  15. Electrostatic mechanism of nucleosomal array folding revealed by computer simulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Jian; Zhang, Qing; Schlick, Tamar

    2005-06-07

    Although numerous experiments indicate that the chromatin fiber displays salt-dependent conformations, the associated molecular mechanism remains unclear. Here, we apply an irregular Discrete Surface Charge Optimization (DiSCO) model of the nucleosome with all histone tails incorporated to describe by Monte Carlo simulations salt-dependent rearrangements of a nucleosomal array with 12 nucleosomes. The ensemble of nucleosomal array conformations display salt-dependent condensation in good agreement with hydrodynamic measurements and suggest that the array adopts highly irregular 3D zig-zag conformations at high (physiological) salt concentrations and transitions into the extended "beads-on-a-string" conformation at low salt. Energy analyses indicate that the repulsion among linker DNA leads to this extended form, whereas internucleosome attraction drives the folding at high salt. The balance between these two contributions determines the salt-dependent condensation. Importantly, the internucleosome and linker DNA-nucleosome attractions require histone tails; we find that the H3 tails, in particular, are crucial for stabilizing the moderately folded fiber at physiological monovalent salt.

  16. Investigating Drought Tolerance in Chickpea Using Genome-Wide Association Mapping and Genomic Selection Based on Whole-Genome Resequencing Data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Yongle; Ruperao, Pradeep; Batley, Jacqueline; Edwards, David; Khan, Tanveer; Colmer, Timothy D; Pang, Jiayin; Siddique, Kadambot H M; Sutton, Tim

    2018-01-01

    Drought tolerance is a complex trait that involves numerous genes. Identifying key causal genes or linked molecular markers can facilitate the fast development of drought tolerant varieties. Using a whole-genome resequencing approach, we sequenced 132 chickpea varieties and advanced breeding lines and found more than 144,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). We measured 13 yield and yield-related traits in three drought-prone environments of Western Australia. The genotypic effects were significant for all traits, and many traits showed highly significant correlations, ranging from 0.83 between grain yield and biomass to -0.67 between seed weight and seed emergence rate. To identify candidate genes, the SNP and trait data were incorporated into the SUPER genome-wide association study (GWAS) model, a modified version of the linear mixed model. We found that several SNPs from auxin-related genes, including auxin efflux carrier protein (PIN3), p-glycoprotein, and nodulin MtN21/EamA-like transporter, were significantly associated with yield and yield-related traits under drought-prone environments. We identified four genetic regions containing SNPs significantly associated with several different traits, which was an indication of pleiotropic effects. We also investigated the possibility of incorporating the GWAS results into a genomic selection (GS) model, which is another approach to deal with complex traits. Compared to using all SNPs, application of the GS model using subsets of SNPs significantly associated with the traits under investigation increased the prediction accuracies of three yield and yield-related traits by more than twofold. This has important implication for implementing GS in plant breeding programs.

  17. Genome-wide survey and developmental expression mapping of zebrafish SET domain-containing genes.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiao-Jian Sun

    Full Text Available SET domain-containing proteins represent an evolutionarily conserved family of epigenetic regulators, which are responsible for most histone lysine methylation. Since some of these genes have been revealed to be essential for embryonic development, we propose that the zebrafish, a vertebrate model organism possessing many advantages for developmental studies, can be utilized to study the biological functions of these genes and the related epigenetic mechanisms during early development. To this end, we have performed a genome-wide survey of zebrafish SET domain genes. 58 genes total have been identified. Although gene duplication events give rise to several lineage-specific paralogs, clear reciprocal orthologous relationship reveals high conservation between zebrafish and human SET domain genes. These data were further subject to an evolutionary analysis ranging from yeast to human, leading to the identification of putative clusters of orthologous groups (COGs of this gene family. By means of whole-mount mRNA in situ hybridization strategy, we have also carried out a developmental expression mapping of these genes. A group of maternal SET domain genes, which are implicated in the programming of histone modification states in early development, have been identified and predicted to be responsible for all known sites of SET domain-mediated histone methylation. Furthermore, some genes show specific expression patterns in certain tissues at certain stages, suggesting the involvement of epigenetic mechanisms in the development of these systems. These results provide a global view of zebrafish SET domain histone methyltransferases in evolutionary and developmental dimensions and pave the way for using zebrafish to systematically study the roles of these genes during development.

  18. Combining genomic and proteomic approaches for epigenetics research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Han, Yumiao; Garcia, Benjamin A

    2014-01-01

    Epigenetics is the study of changes in gene expression or cellular phenotype that do not change the DNA sequence. In this review, current methods, both genomic and proteomic, associated with epigenetics research are discussed. Among them, chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) followed by sequencing and other ChIP-based techniques are powerful techniques for genome-wide profiling of DNA-binding proteins, histone post-translational modifications or nucleosome positions. However, mass spectrometry-based proteomics is increasingly being used in functional biological studies and has proved to be an indispensable tool to characterize histone modifications, as well as DNA–protein and protein–protein interactions. With the development of genomic and proteomic approaches, combination of ChIP and mass spectrometry has the potential to expand our knowledge of epigenetics research to a higher level. PMID:23895656

  19. Genomic features shaping the landscape of meiotic double-strand-break hotspots in maize.

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, Yan; Wang, Minghui; Dukowic-Schulze, Stefanie; Zhou, Adele; Tiang, Choon-Lin; Shilo, Shay; Sidhu, Gaganpreet K; Eichten, Steven; Bradbury, Peter; Springer, Nathan M; Buckler, Edward S; Levy, Avraham A; Sun, Qi; Pillardy, Jaroslaw; Kianian, Penny M A; Kianian, Shahryar F; Chen, Changbin; Pawlowski, Wojciech P

    2017-11-14

    Meiotic recombination is the most important source of genetic variation in higher eukaryotes. It is initiated by formation of double-strand breaks (DSBs) in chromosomal DNA in early meiotic prophase. The DSBs are subsequently repaired, resulting in crossovers (COs) and noncrossovers (NCOs). Recombination events are not distributed evenly along chromosomes but cluster at recombination hotspots. How specific sites become hotspots is poorly understood. Studies in yeast and mammals linked initiation of meiotic recombination to active chromatin features present upstream from genes, such as absence of nucleosomes and presence of trimethylation of lysine 4 in histone H3 (H3K4me3). Core recombination components are conserved among eukaryotes, but it is unclear whether this conservation results in universal characteristics of recombination landscapes shared by a wide range of species. To address this question, we mapped meiotic DSBs in maize, a higher eukaryote with a large genome that is rich in repetitive DNA. We found DSBs in maize to be frequent in all chromosome regions, including sites lacking COs, such as centromeres and pericentromeric regions. Furthermore, most DSBs are formed in repetitive DNA, predominantly Gypsy retrotransposons, and only one-quarter of DSB hotspots are near genes. Genic and nongenic hotspots differ in several characteristics, and only genic DSBs contribute to crossover formation. Maize hotspots overlap regions of low nucleosome occupancy but show only limited association with H3K4me3 sites. Overall, maize DSB hotspots exhibit distribution patterns and characteristics not reported previously in other species. Understanding recombination patterns in maize will shed light on mechanisms affecting dynamics of the plant genome.

  20. Genome-wide mapping in a house mouse hybrid zone reveals hybrid sterility loci and Dobzhansky-Muller interactions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Turner, Leslie M; Harr, Bettina

    2014-12-09

    Mapping hybrid defects in contact zones between incipient species can identify genomic regions contributing to reproductive isolation and reveal genetic mechanisms of speciation. The house mouse features a rare combination of sophisticated genetic tools and natural hybrid zones between subspecies. Male hybrids often show reduced fertility, a common reproductive barrier between incipient species. Laboratory crosses have identified sterility loci, but each encompasses hundreds of genes. We map genetic determinants of testis weight and testis gene expression using offspring of mice captured in a hybrid zone between M. musculus musculus and M. m. domesticus. Many generations of admixture enables high-resolution mapping of loci contributing to these sterility-related phenotypes. We identify complex interactions among sterility loci, suggesting multiple, non-independent genetic incompatibilities contribute to barriers to gene flow in the hybrid zone.

  1. Mapping the space of genomic signatures.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lila Kari

    Full Text Available We propose a computational method to measure and visualize interrelationships among any number of DNA sequences allowing, for example, the examination of hundreds or thousands of complete mitochondrial genomes. An "image distance" is computed for each pair of graphical representations of DNA sequences, and the distances are visualized as a Molecular Distance Map: Each point on the map represents a DNA sequence, and the spatial proximity between any two points reflects the degree of structural similarity between the corresponding sequences. The graphical representation of DNA sequences utilized, Chaos Game Representation (CGR, is genome- and species-specific and can thus act as a genomic signature. Consequently, Molecular Distance Maps could inform species identification, taxonomic classifications and, to a certain extent, evolutionary history. The image distance employed, Structural Dissimilarity Index (DSSIM, implicitly compares the occurrences of oligomers of length up to k (herein k = 9 in DNA sequences. We computed DSSIM distances for more than 5 million pairs of complete mitochondrial genomes, and used Multi-Dimensional Scaling (MDS to obtain Molecular Distance Maps that visually display the sequence relatedness in various subsets, at different taxonomic levels. This general-purpose method does not require DNA sequence alignment and can thus be used to compare similar or vastly different DNA sequences, genomic or computer-generated, of the same or different lengths. We illustrate potential uses of this approach by applying it to several taxonomic subsets: phylum Vertebrata, (superkingdom Protista, classes Amphibia-Insecta-Mammalia, class Amphibia, and order Primates. This analysis of an extensive dataset confirms that the oligomer composition of full mtDNA sequences can be a source of taxonomic information. This method also correctly finds the mtDNA sequences most closely related to that of the anatomically modern human (the Neanderthal

  2. Genome-Wide Approaches to Drosophila Heart Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Manfred Frasch

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available The development of the dorsal vessel in Drosophila is one of the first systems in which key mechanisms regulating cardiogenesis have been defined in great detail at the genetic and molecular level. Due to evolutionary conservation, these findings have also provided major inputs into studies of cardiogenesis in vertebrates. Many of the major components that control Drosophila cardiogenesis were discovered based on candidate gene approaches and their functions were defined by employing the outstanding genetic tools and molecular techniques available in this system. More recently, approaches have been taken that aim to interrogate the entire genome in order to identify novel components and describe genomic features that are pertinent to the regulation of heart development. Apart from classical forward genetic screens, the availability of the thoroughly annotated Drosophila genome sequence made new genome-wide approaches possible, which include the generation of massive numbers of RNA interference (RNAi reagents that were used in forward genetic screens, as well as studies of the transcriptomes and proteomes of the developing heart under normal and experimentally manipulated conditions. Moreover, genome-wide chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments have been performed with the aim to define the full set of genomic binding sites of the major cardiogenic transcription factors, their relevant target genes, and a more complete picture of the regulatory network that drives cardiogenesis. This review will give an overview on these genome-wide approaches to Drosophila heart development and on computational analyses of the obtained information that ultimately aim to provide a description of this process at the systems level.

  3. Mapping and characterizing N6-methyladenine in eukaryotic genomes using single molecule real-time sequencing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Shijia; Beaulaurier, John; Deikus, Gintaras; Wu, Tao; Strahl, Maya; Hao, Ziyang; Luo, Guanzheng; Gregory, James A; Chess, Andrew; He, Chuan; Xiao, Andrew; Sebra, Robert; Schadt, Eric E; Fang, Gang

    2018-05-15

    N6-methyladenine (m6dA) has been discovered as a novel form of DNA methylation prevalent in eukaryotes, however, methods for high resolution mapping of m6dA events are still lacking. Single-molecule real-time (SMRT) sequencing has enabled the detection of m6dA events at single-nucleotide resolution in prokaryotic genomes, but its application to detecting m6dA in eukaryotic genomes has not been rigorously examined. Herein, we identified unique characteristics of eukaryotic m6dA methylomes that fundamentally differ from those of prokaryotes. Based on these differences, we describe the first approach for mapping m6dA events using SMRT sequencing specifically designed for the study of eukaryotic genomes, and provide appropriate strategies for designing experiments and carrying out sequencing in future studies. We apply the novel approach to study two eukaryotic genomes. For green algae, we construct the first complete genome-wide map of m6dA at single nucleotide and single molecule resolution. For human lymphoblastoid cells (hLCLs), joint analyses of SMRT sequencing and independent sequencing data suggest that putative m6dA events are enriched in the promoters of young, full length LINE-1 elements (L1s). These analyses demonstrate a general method for rigorous mapping and characterization of m6dA events in eukaryotic genomes. Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

  4. Nature of the Nucleosomal Barrier to RNA Polymerase II | Center for Cancer Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    In the cell, RNA polymerase II (pol II) efficiently transcribes DNA packaged into nucleosomes, but in vitro encounters with the nucleosomes induce catalytic inactivation (arrest) of the pol II core enzyme. To determine potential mechanisms making nucleosomes transparent to transcription in vivo, we analyzed the nature of the nucleosome-induced arrest. We found that the arrests

  5. A role for FACT in repopulation of nucleosomes at inducible genes.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Warren P Voth

    Full Text Available Xenobiotic drugs induce Pleiotropic Drug Resistance (PDR genes via the orthologous Pdr1/Pdr3 transcription activators. We previously identified the Mediator transcription co-activator complex as a key target of Pdr1 orthologs and demonstrated that Pdr1 interacts directly with the Gal11/Med15 subunit of the Mediator complex. Based on an interaction between Pdr1 and the FACT complex, we show that strains with spt16 or pob3 mutations are sensitive to xenobiotic drugs and display diminished PDR gene induction. Although FACT acts during the activation of some genes by assisting in the nucleosomes eviction at promoters, PDR promoters already contain nucleosome-depleted regions (NDRs before induction. To determine the function of FACT at PDR genes, we examined the kinetics of RNA accumulation and changes in nucleosome occupancy following exposure to a xenobiotic drug in wild type and FACT mutant yeast strains. In the presence of normal FACT, PDR genes are transcribed within 5 minutes of xenobiotic stimulation and transcription returns to basal levels by 30-40 min. Nucleosomes are constitutively depleted in the promoter regions, are lost from the open reading frames during transcription, and the ORFs are wholly repopulated with nucleosomes as transcription ceases. While FACT mutations cause minor delays in activation of PDR genes, much more pronounced and significant defects in nucleosome repopulation in the ORFs are observed in FACT mutants upon transcription termination. FACT therefore has a major role in nucleosome redeposition following cessation of transcription at the PDR genes, the opposite of its better-known function in nucleosome disassembly.

  6. Genome wide SNP discovery in flax through next generation sequencing of reduced representation libraries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kumar Santosh

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Flax (Linum usitatissimum L. is a significant fibre and oilseed crop. Current flax molecular markers, including isozymes, RAPDs, AFLPs and SSRs are of limited use in the construction of high density linkage maps and for association mapping applications due to factors such as low reproducibility, intense labour requirements and/or limited numbers. We report here on the use of a reduced representation library strategy combined with next generation Illumina sequencing for rapid and large scale discovery of SNPs in eight flax genotypes. SNP discovery was performed through in silico analysis of the sequencing data against the whole genome shotgun sequence assembly of flax genotype CDC Bethune. Genotyping-by-sequencing of an F6-derived recombinant inbred line population provided validation of the SNPs. Results Reduced representation libraries of eight flax genotypes were sequenced on the Illumina sequencing platform resulting in sequence coverage ranging from 4.33 to 15.64X (genome equivalents. Depending on the relatedness of the genotypes and the number and length of the reads, between 78% and 93% of the reads mapped onto the CDC Bethune whole genome shotgun sequence assembly. A total of 55,465 SNPs were discovered with the largest number of SNPs belonging to the genotypes with the highest mapping coverage percentage. Approximately 84% of the SNPs discovered were identified in a single genotype, 13% were shared between any two genotypes and the remaining 3% in three or more. Nearly a quarter of the SNPs were found in genic regions. A total of 4,706 out of 4,863 SNPs discovered in Macbeth were validated using genotyping-by-sequencing of 96 F6 individuals from a recombinant inbred line population derived from a cross between CDC Bethune and Macbeth, corresponding to a validation rate of 96.8%. Conclusions Next generation sequencing of reduced representation libraries was successfully implemented for genome-wide SNP discovery from

  7. Genome-Wide Linkage and Association Analysis Identifies Major Gene Loci for Guttural Pouch Tympany in Arabian and German Warmblood Horses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Metzger, Julia; Ohnesorge, Bernhard; Distl, Ottmar

    2012-01-01

    Equine guttural pouch tympany (GPT) is a hereditary condition affecting foals in their first months of life. Complex segregation analyses in Arabian and German warmblood horses showed the involvement of a major gene as very likely. Genome-wide linkage and association analyses including a high density marker set of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were performed to map the genomic region harbouring the potential major gene for GPT. A total of 85 Arabian and 373 German warmblood horses were genotyped on the Illumina equine SNP50 beadchip. Non-parametric multipoint linkage analyses showed genome-wide significance on horse chromosomes (ECA) 3 for German warmblood at 16–26 Mb and 34–55 Mb and for Arabian on ECA15 at 64–65 Mb. Genome-wide association analyses confirmed the linked regions for both breeds. In Arabian, genome-wide association was detected at 64 Mb within the region with the highest linkage peak on ECA15. For German warmblood, signals for genome-wide association were close to the peak region of linkage at 52 Mb on ECA3. The odds ratio for the SNP with the highest genome-wide association was 0.12 for the Arabian. In conclusion, the refinement of the regions with the Illumina equine SNP50 beadchip is an important step to unravel the responsible mutations for GPT. PMID:22848553

  8. A high-density Diversity Arrays Technology (DArT microarray for genome-wide genotyping in Eucalyptus

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Myburg Alexander A

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background A number of molecular marker technologies have allowed important advances in the understanding of the genetics and evolution of Eucalyptus, a genus that includes over 700 species, some of which are used worldwide in plantation forestry. Nevertheless, the average marker density achieved with current technologies remains at the level of a few hundred markers per population. Furthermore, the transferability of markers produced with most existing technology across species and pedigrees is usually very limited. High throughput, combined with wide genome coverage and high transferability are necessary to increase the resolution, speed and utility of molecular marker technology in eucalypts. We report the development of a high-density DArT genome profiling resource and demonstrate its potential for genome-wide diversity analysis and linkage mapping in several species of Eucalyptus. Findings After testing several genome complexity reduction methods we identified the PstI/TaqI method as the most effective for Eucalyptus and developed 18 genomic libraries from PstI/TaqI representations of 64 different Eucalyptus species. A total of 23,808 cloned DNA fragments were screened and 13,300 (56% were found to be polymorphic among 284 individuals. After a redundancy analysis, 6,528 markers were selected for the operational array and these were supplemented with 1,152 additional clones taken from a library made from the E. grandis tree whose genome has been sequenced. Performance validation for diversity studies revealed 4,752 polymorphic markers among 174 individuals. Additionally, 5,013 markers showed segregation when screened using six inter-specific mapping pedigrees, with an average of 2,211 polymorphic markers per pedigree and a minimum of 859 polymorphic markers that were shared between any two pedigrees. Conclusions This operational DArT array will deliver 1,000-2,000 polymorphic markers for linkage mapping in most eucalypt pedigrees

  9. Genome wide association mapping for the tolerance to the polyamine oxidase inhibitor guazatine in Arabidopsis thaliana

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kostadin Evgeniev eAtanasov

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available Guazatine is a potent inhibitor of polyamine oxidase (PAO activity. In agriculture, guazatine is used as non-systemic contact fungicide efficient in the protection of cereals and citrus fruits against disease. The composition of guazatine is complex, mainly constituted by a mixture of synthetic guanidated polyamines (polyaminoguanidines. Here we have studied the effects from exposure to guazatine in the weed Arabidopsis thaliana. We report that micromolar concentrations of guazatine are sufficient to inhibit growth of Arabidopsis seedlings and induce chlorosis, whereas germination is barely affected. We observed the occurrence of quantitative variation in the response to guazatine between 107 randomly chosen Arabidopsis accessions. This enabled us to undertake genome-wide association (GWA mapping that identified a locus on chromosome one associated with guazatine tolerance. CHLOROPHYLLASE 1 (CLH1 within this locus was studied as candidate gene, together with its paralog (CLH2. The analysis of independent clh1-2, clh1-3, clh2-3, clh2-2 and double clh1-2 clh2-3 mutant alleles indicated that CLH1 and/or CLH2 loss-of-function or expression down-regulation promote guazatine tolerance in Arabidopsis. We report a natural mechanism by which Arabidopsis populations can overcome toxicity by the fungicide guazatine.

  10. Investigating Drought Tolerance in Chickpea Using Genome-Wide Association Mapping and Genomic Selection Based on Whole-Genome Resequencing Data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yongle Li

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Drought tolerance is a complex trait that involves numerous genes. Identifying key causal genes or linked molecular markers can facilitate the fast development of drought tolerant varieties. Using a whole-genome resequencing approach, we sequenced 132 chickpea varieties and advanced breeding lines and found more than 144,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs. We measured 13 yield and yield-related traits in three drought-prone environments of Western Australia. The genotypic effects were significant for all traits, and many traits showed highly significant correlations, ranging from 0.83 between grain yield and biomass to -0.67 between seed weight and seed emergence rate. To identify candidate genes, the SNP and trait data were incorporated into the SUPER genome-wide association study (GWAS model, a modified version of the linear mixed model. We found that several SNPs from auxin-related genes, including auxin efflux carrier protein (PIN3, p-glycoprotein, and nodulin MtN21/EamA-like transporter, were significantly associated with yield and yield-related traits under drought-prone environments. We identified four genetic regions containing SNPs significantly associated with several different traits, which was an indication of pleiotropic effects. We also investigated the possibility of incorporating the GWAS results into a genomic selection (GS model, which is another approach to deal with complex traits. Compared to using all SNPs, application of the GS model using subsets of SNPs significantly associated with the traits under investigation increased the prediction accuracies of three yield and yield-related traits by more than twofold. This has important implication for implementing GS in plant breeding programs.

  11. Genome-Wide Association Mapping for Cell Wall Composition and Properties in Temperate Grasses

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bellucci, Andrea

    with a wide range of chemical bounds. At present the interest in plant cell wall is growing due to the possibility to convert ligno-cellulosic biomass (e.g. agricultural residues) into bioethanol but also for the benefits to human health of some cell wall constituents found in cereals, in particular beta......-glucans. Plant cell wall biosynthesis is regulated by a large number of genes and regulatory factors but very few of these are known and characterized. This PhD project aimed to the identification of putative candidate genes involved in plant cell wall composition and properties using a genome wide (GWAS......) approach. The species investigate were wheat, barley and B. distachyon, considered a model plant for temperate cereals. Agronomical traits as yield and plant height were also included in the analysis along with cell wall composition and saccharification properties. Several marker-trait associations were...

  12. Genome-wide conserved non-coding microsatellite (CNMS) marker-based integrative genetical genomics for quantitative dissection of seed weight in chickpea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bajaj, Deepak; Saxena, Maneesha S; Kujur, Alice; Das, Shouvik; Badoni, Saurabh; Tripathi, Shailesh; Upadhyaya, Hari D; Gowda, C L L; Sharma, Shivali; Singh, Sube; Tyagi, Akhilesh K; Parida, Swarup K

    2015-03-01

    Phylogenetic footprinting identified 666 genome-wide paralogous and orthologous CNMS (conserved non-coding microsatellite) markers from 5'-untranslated and regulatory regions (URRs) of 603 protein-coding chickpea genes. The (CT)n and (GA)n CNMS carrying CTRMCAMV35S and GAGA8BKN3 regulatory elements, respectively, are abundant in the chickpea genome. The mapped genic CNMS markers with robust amplification efficiencies (94.7%) detected higher intraspecific polymorphic potential (37.6%) among genotypes, implying their immense utility in chickpea breeding and genetic analyses. Seventeen differentially expressed CNMS marker-associated genes showing strong preferential and seed tissue/developmental stage-specific expression in contrasting genotypes were selected to narrow down the gene targets underlying seed weight quantitative trait loci (QTLs)/eQTLs (expression QTLs) through integrative genetical genomics. The integration of transcript profiling with seed weight QTL/eQTL mapping, molecular haplotyping, and association analyses identified potential molecular tags (GAGA8BKN3 and RAV1AAT regulatory elements and alleles/haplotypes) in the LOB-domain-containing protein- and KANADI protein-encoding transcription factor genes controlling the cis-regulated expression for seed weight in the chickpea. This emphasizes the potential of CNMS marker-based integrative genetical genomics for the quantitative genetic dissection of complex seed weight in chickpea. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology.

  13. Inducible nucleosome depletion at OREBP-binding-sites by hypertonic stress.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Edith H Y Tong

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Osmotic Response Element-Binding Protein (OREBP, also known as TonEBP or NFAT5, is a unique transcription factor. It is hitherto the only known mammalian transcription factor that regulates hypertonic stress-induced gene transcription. In addition, unlike other monomeric members of the NFAT family, OREBP exists as a homodimer and it is the only transcription factor known to bind naked DNA targets by complete encirclement in vitro. Nevertheless, how OREBP interacts with target DNA, also known as ORE/TonE, and how it elicits gene transcription in vivo, remains unknown. METHODOLOGY: Using hypertonic induction of the aldose reductase (AR gene activation as a model, we showed that OREs contained dynamic nucleosomes. Hypertonic stress induced a rapid and reversible loss of nucleosome(s around the OREs. The loss of nucleosome(s was found to be initiated by an OREBP-independent mechanism, but was significantly potentiated in the presence of OREBP. Furthermore, hypertonic induction of AR gene was associated with an OREBP-dependent hyperacetylation of histones that spanned the 5' upstream sequences and at least some exons of the gene. Nevertheless, nucleosome loss was not regulated by the acetylation status of histone. SIGNIFICANCE: Our findings offer novel insights into the mechanism of OREBP-dependent transcriptional regulation and provide a basis for understanding how histone eviction and transcription factor recruitment are coupled.

  14. Simultaneous analysis of all SNPs in genome-wide and re-sequencing association studies.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Clive J Hoggart

    2008-07-01

    Full Text Available Testing one SNP at a time does not fully realise the potential of genome-wide association studies to identify multiple causal variants, which is a plausible scenario for many complex diseases. We show that simultaneous analysis of the entire set of SNPs from a genome-wide study to identify the subset that best predicts disease outcome is now feasible, thanks to developments in stochastic search methods. We used a Bayesian-inspired penalised maximum likelihood approach in which every SNP can be considered for additive, dominant, and recessive contributions to disease risk. Posterior mode estimates were obtained for regression coefficients that were each assigned a prior with a sharp mode at zero. A non-zero coefficient estimate was interpreted as corresponding to a significant SNP. We investigated two prior distributions and show that the normal-exponential-gamma prior leads to improved SNP selection in comparison with single-SNP tests. We also derived an explicit approximation for type-I error that avoids the need to use permutation procedures. As well as genome-wide analyses, our method is well-suited to fine mapping with very dense SNP sets obtained from re-sequencing and/or imputation. It can accommodate quantitative as well as case-control phenotypes, covariate adjustment, and can be extended to search for interactions. Here, we demonstrate the power and empirical type-I error of our approach using simulated case-control data sets of up to 500 K SNPs, a real genome-wide data set of 300 K SNPs, and a sequence-based dataset, each of which can be analysed in a few hours on a desktop workstation.

  15. Acetylation curtails nucleosome binding, not stable nucleosome remodeling, by FoxO1

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hatta, M.; Liu, F.; Cirillo, L.A.

    2009-01-01

    Transcriptional activity of FoxO factors is controlled through the actions of multiple growth factors signaling through protein kinase B, whereby phosphorylation of FoxO factors inhibits FoxO-mediated transactivation by promoting nuclear export. Phosphorylation of FoxO factors is enhanced by p300-mediated acetylation, which decreases their affinity for DNA. The negative effect of acetylation on FoxO DNA binding, together with nuclear FoxO mobility, is eliminated by over-expression of the de-acetylase Sirt1, suggesting that acetylation mobilizes FoxO factors in chromatin for inducible gene expression. Here, we show that acetylation significantly curtails the affinity of FoxO1 for its binding sites in nucleosomal DNA but has no effect on either stable nucleosome binding or remodeling by this factor. We suggest that, while acetylation provides a first, essential step toward mobilizing FoxO factors for inducible gene repression, additional mechanisms exist for overcoming their inherent capacity to stably bind and remodel nuclear chromatin.

  16. Genome-wide association mapping of leaf metabolic profiles for dissecting complex traits in maize.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riedelsheimer, Christian; Lisec, Jan; Czedik-Eysenberg, Angelika; Sulpice, Ronan; Flis, Anna; Grieder, Christoph; Altmann, Thomas; Stitt, Mark; Willmitzer, Lothar; Melchinger, Albrecht E

    2012-06-05

    The diversity of metabolites found in plants is by far greater than in most other organisms. Metabolic profiling techniques, which measure many of these compounds simultaneously, enabled investigating the regulation of metabolic networks and proved to be useful for predicting important agronomic traits. However, little is known about the genetic basis of metabolites in crops such as maize. Here, a set of 289 diverse maize inbred lines was genotyped with 56,110 SNPs and assayed for 118 biochemical compounds in the leaves of young plants, as well as for agronomic traits of mature plants in field trials. Metabolite concentrations had on average a repeatability of 0.73 and showed a correlation pattern that largely reflected their functional grouping. Genome-wide association mapping with correction for population structure and cryptic relatedness identified for 26 distinct metabolites strong associations with SNPs, explaining up to 32.0% of the observed genetic variance. On nine chromosomes, we detected 15 distinct SNP-metabolite associations, each of which explained more then 15% of the genetic variance. For lignin precursors, including p-coumaric acid and caffeic acid, we found strong associations (P values to ) with a region on chromosome 9 harboring cinnamoyl-CoA reductase, a key enzyme in monolignol synthesis and a target for improving the quality of lignocellulosic biomass by genetic engineering approaches. Moreover, lignin precursors correlated significantly with lignin content, plant height, and dry matter yield, suggesting that metabolites represent promising connecting links for narrowing the genotype-phenotype gap of complex agronomic traits.

  17. An advanced coarse-grained nucleosome core particle model for computer simulations of nucleosome-nucleosome interactions under varying ionic conditions.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yanping Fan

    Full Text Available In the eukaryotic cell nucleus, DNA exists as chromatin, a compact but dynamic complex with histone proteins. The first level of DNA organization is the linear array of nucleosome core particles (NCPs. The NCP is a well-defined complex of 147 bp DNA with an octamer of histones. Interactions between NCPs are of paramount importance for higher levels of chromatin compaction. The polyelectrolyte nature of the NCP implies that nucleosome-nucleosome interactions must exhibit a great influence from both the ionic environment as well as the positively charged and highly flexible N-terminal histone tails, protruding out from the NCP. The large size of the system precludes a modelling analysis of chromatin at an all-atom level and calls for coarse-grained approximations. Here, a model of the NCP that include the globular histone core and the flexible histone tails described by one particle per each amino acid and taking into account their net charge is proposed. DNA wrapped around the histone core was approximated at the level of two base pairs represented by one bead (bases and sugar plus four beads of charged phosphate groups. Computer simulations, using a Langevin thermostat, in a dielectric continuum with explicit monovalent (K(+, divalent (Mg(2+ or trivalent (Co(NH(3(6 (3+ cations were performed for systems with one or ten NCPs. Increase of the counterion charge results in a switch from repulsive NCP-NCP interaction in the presence of K(+, to partial aggregation with Mg(2+ and to strong mutual attraction of all 10 NCPs in the presence of CoHex(3+. The new model reproduced experimental results and the structure of the NCP-NCP contacts is in agreement with available data. Cation screening, ion-ion correlations and tail bridging contribute to the NCP-NCP attraction and the new NCP model accounts for these interactions.

  18. PICMI: mapping point mutations on genomes.

    KAUST Repository

    Le Pera, Loredana; Marcatili, Paolo; Tramontano, Anna

    2010-01-01

    MOTIVATION: Several international collaborations and local projects are producing extensive catalogues of genomic variations that are supplementing existing collections such as the OMIM catalogue. The flood of this type of data will keep increasing and, especially, it will be relevant to a wider user base, including not only molecular biologists, geneticists and bioinformaticians, but also clinical researchers. Mapping the observed variations, sometimes only described at the amino acid level, on a genome, identifying whether they affect a gene and-if so-whether they also affect different isoforms of the same gene, is a time consuming and often frustrating task. RESULTS: The PICMI server is an easy to use tool for quickly mapping one or more amino acid or nucleotide variations on a genome and its products, including alternatively spliced isoforms. AVAILABILITY: The server is available at www.biocomputing.it/picmi.

  19. PICMI: mapping point mutations on genomes.

    KAUST Repository

    Le Pera, Loredana

    2010-10-12

    MOTIVATION: Several international collaborations and local projects are producing extensive catalogues of genomic variations that are supplementing existing collections such as the OMIM catalogue. The flood of this type of data will keep increasing and, especially, it will be relevant to a wider user base, including not only molecular biologists, geneticists and bioinformaticians, but also clinical researchers. Mapping the observed variations, sometimes only described at the amino acid level, on a genome, identifying whether they affect a gene and-if so-whether they also affect different isoforms of the same gene, is a time consuming and often frustrating task. RESULTS: The PICMI server is an easy to use tool for quickly mapping one or more amino acid or nucleotide variations on a genome and its products, including alternatively spliced isoforms. AVAILABILITY: The server is available at www.biocomputing.it/picmi.

  20. Genome-Wide Association of Copy Number Polymorphisms and Kidney Function.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Man Li

    Full Text Available Genome-wide association studies (GWAS using single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs have identified more than 50 loci associated with estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR, a measure of kidney function. However, significant SNPs account for a small proportion of eGFR variability. Other forms of genetic variation have not been comprehensively evaluated for association with eGFR. In this study, we assess whether changes in germline DNA copy number are associated with GFR estimated from serum creatinine, eGFRcrea. We used hidden Markov models (HMMs to identify copy number polymorphic regions (CNPs from high-throughput SNP arrays for 2,514 African (AA and 8,645 European ancestry (EA participants in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC study. Separately for the EA and AA cohorts, we used Bayesian Gaussian mixture models to estimate copy number at regions identified by the HMM or previously reported in the HapMap Project. We identified 312 and 464 autosomal CNPs among individuals of EA and AA, respectively. Multivariate models adjusted for SNP-derived covariates of population structure identified one CNP in the EA cohort near genome-wide statistical significance (Bonferroni-adjusted p = 0.067 located on chromosome 5 (876-880kb. Overall, our findings suggest a limited role of CNPs in explaining eGFR variability.

  1. Genome-wide association study of multiplex schizophrenia pedigrees

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Levinson, Douglas F; Shi, Jianxin; Wang, Kai

    2012-01-01

    The authors used a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of multiply affected families to investigate the association of schizophrenia to common single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and rare copy number variants (CNVs).......The authors used a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of multiply affected families to investigate the association of schizophrenia to common single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and rare copy number variants (CNVs)....

  2. Genome-wide mapping of transcription start sites yields novel insights into the primary transcriptome of Pseudomonas putida

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    D'Arrigo, Isotta; Bojanovic, Klara; Yang, Xiaochen

    2016-01-01

    was examined using an in vivo assay with GFP-fusion vectors and shown to function via a translational repression mechanism. Furthermore, 56 novel intergenic small RNAs and 8 putative actuaton transcripts were detected, as well as 8 novel open reading frames (ORFs). This study illustrates how global mapping...... of TSSs can yield novel insights into the transcriptional features and RNA output of bacterial genomes....

  3. Genetic Architecture of Aluminum Tolerance in Rice (Oryza sativa) Determined through Genome-Wide Association Analysis and QTL Mapping

    Science.gov (United States)

    Famoso, Adam N.; Zhao, Keyan; Clark, Randy T.; Tung, Chih-Wei; Wright, Mark H.; Bustamante, Carlos; Kochian, Leon V.; McCouch, Susan R.

    2011-01-01

    Aluminum (Al) toxicity is a primary limitation to crop productivity on acid soils, and rice has been demonstrated to be significantly more Al tolerant than other cereal crops. However, the mechanisms of rice Al tolerance are largely unknown, and no genes underlying natural variation have been reported. We screened 383 diverse rice accessions, conducted a genome-wide association (GWA) study, and conducted QTL mapping in two bi-parental populations using three estimates of Al tolerance based on root growth. Subpopulation structure explained 57% of the phenotypic variation, and the mean Al tolerance in Japonica was twice that of Indica. Forty-eight regions associated with Al tolerance were identified by GWA analysis, most of which were subpopulation-specific. Four of these regions co-localized with a priori candidate genes, and two highly significant regions co-localized with previously identified QTLs. Three regions corresponding to induced Al-sensitive rice mutants (ART1, STAR2, Nrat1) were identified through bi-parental QTL mapping or GWA to be involved in natural variation for Al tolerance. Haplotype analysis around the Nrat1 gene identified susceptible and tolerant haplotypes explaining 40% of the Al tolerance variation within the aus subpopulation, and sequence analysis of Nrat1 identified a trio of non-synonymous mutations predictive of Al sensitivity in our diversity panel. GWA analysis discovered more phenotype–genotype associations and provided higher resolution, but QTL mapping identified critical rare and/or subpopulation-specific alleles not detected by GWA analysis. Mapping using Indica/Japonica populations identified QTLs associated with transgressive variation where alleles from a susceptible aus or indica parent enhanced Al tolerance in a tolerant Japonica background. This work supports the hypothesis that selectively introgressing alleles across subpopulations is an efficient approach for trait enhancement in plant breeding programs and

  4. INE: a rice genome database with an integrated map view.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sakata, K; Antonio, B A; Mukai, Y; Nagasaki, H; Sakai, Y; Makino, K; Sasaki, T

    2000-01-01

    The Rice Genome Research Program (RGP) launched a large-scale rice genome sequencing in 1998 aimed at decoding all genetic information in rice. A new genome database called INE (INtegrated rice genome Explorer) has been developed in order to integrate all the genomic information that has been accumulated so far and to correlate these data with the genome sequence. A web interface based on Java applet provides a rapid viewing capability in the database. The first operational version of the database has been completed which includes a genetic map, a physical map using YAC (Yeast Artificial Chromosome) clones and PAC (P1-derived Artificial Chromosome) contigs. These maps are displayed graphically so that the positional relationships among the mapped markers on each chromosome can be easily resolved. INE incorporates the sequences and annotations of the PAC contig. A site on low quality information ensures that all submitted sequence data comply with the standard for accuracy. As a repository of rice genome sequence, INE will also serve as a common database of all sequence data obtained by collaborating members of the International Rice Genome Sequencing Project (IRGSP). The database can be accessed at http://www. dna.affrc.go.jp:82/giot/INE. html or its mirror site at http://www.staff.or.jp/giot/INE.html

  5. Systematic identification of fragile sites via genome-wide location analysis of γ-H2AX

    Science.gov (United States)

    Szilard, Rachel K.; Jacques, Pierre-Étienne; Laramée, Louise; Cheng, Benjamin; Galicia, Sarah; Bataille, Alain R.; Yeung, ManTek; Mendez, Megan; Bergeron, Maxime; Robert, François; Durocher, Daniel

    2011-01-01

    Phosphorylation of histone H2AX is an early response to DNA damage in eukaryotes. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, DNA damage or replication fork stalling results in histone H2A phosphorylation to yield γ-H2A (yeast γ-H2AX) in a Mec1 (ATR)- and Tel1 (ATM)- dependent manner. Here, we describe the genome-wide location analysis of γ-H2A as a strategy to identify loci prone to engage the Mec1 and Tel1 pathways. Remarkably, γ-H2A enrichment overlaps with loci prone to replication fork stalling and is caused by the action of Mec1 and Tel1, indicating that these loci are prone to breakage. Moreover, about half the sites enriched for γ-H2A map to repressed protein-coding genes, and histone deacetylases are necessary for formation of γ-H2A at these loci. Finally, our work indicates that high resolution mapping of γ-H2AX is a fruitful route to map fragile sites in eukaryotic genomes. PMID:20139982

  6. Adiponectin Concentrations: A Genome-wide Association Study

    OpenAIRE

    Jee, Sun Ha; Sull, Jae Woong; Lee, Jong-Eun; Shin, Chol; Park, Jongkeun; Kimm, Heejin; Cho, Eun-Young; Shin, Eun-Soon; Yun, Ji Eun; Park, Ji Wan; Kim, Sang Yeun; Lee, Sun Ju; Jee, Eun Jung; Baik, Inkyung; Kao, Linda

    2010-01-01

    Adiponectin is associated with obesity and insulin resistance. To date, there has been no genome-wide association study (GWAS) of adiponectin levels in Asians. Here we present a GWAS of a cohort of Korean volunteers. A total of 4,001 subjects were genotyped by using a genome-wide marker panel in a two-stage design (979 subjects initially and 3,022 in a second stage). Another 2,304 subjects were used for follow-up replication studies with selected markers. In the discovery phase, the top SNP a...

  7. Optimization and quality control of genome-wide Hi-C library preparation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Xiang-Yuan; He, Chao; Ye, Bing-Yu; Xie, De-Jian; Shi, Ming-Lei; Zhang, Yan; Shen, Wen-Long; Li, Ping; Zhao, Zhi-Hu

    2017-09-20

    Highest-throughput chromosome conformation capture (Hi-C) is one of the key assays for genome- wide chromatin interaction studies. It is a time-consuming process that involves many steps and many different kinds of reagents, consumables, and equipments. At present, the reproducibility is unsatisfactory. By optimizing the key steps of the Hi-C experiment, such as crosslinking, pretreatment of digestion, inactivation of restriction enzyme, and in situ ligation etc., we established a robust Hi-C procedure and prepared two biological replicates of Hi-C libraries from the GM12878 cells. After preliminary quality control by Sanger sequencing, the two replicates were high-throughput sequenced. The bioinformatics analysis of the raw sequencing data revealed the mapping-ability and pair-mate rate of the raw data were around 90% and 72%, respectively. Additionally, after removal of self-circular ligations and dangling-end products, more than 96% of the valid pairs were reached. Genome-wide interactome profiling shows clear topological associated domains (TADs), which is consistent with previous reports. Further correlation analysis showed that the two biological replicates strongly correlate with each other in terms of both bin coverage and all bin pairs. All these results indicated that the optimized Hi-C procedure is robust and stable, which will be very helpful for the wide applications of the Hi-C assay.

  8. Genome-wide mapping of Painting of fourth on Drosophila melanogaster salivary gland polytene chromosomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johansson, Anna-Mia; Larsson, Jan

    2014-12-01

    The protein Painting of fourth (POF) in Drosophila melanogaster specifically targets and stimulates expression output from the heterochromatic 4th chromosome, thereby representing an autosome specific protein [1,2]. Despite the high specificity for chromosome 4 genes, POF is occasionally observed binding to the cytological region 2L:31 in males and females [3] and two loci on the X-chromosome, PoX1 and PoX2 only in females [4]. Here we provide a detailed description of the experimental design and analysis of the tiling array data presented by Lundberg and colleagues in G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics 2013 [4], where the female specific POF binding to PoX1 and PoX2 loci on the X chromosome was reported. We show the genome-wide high resolution binding profile of the POF protein where these different POF binding sites are detected. The complete data set is available at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/ (accession: GSE45402).

  9. Genome-wide distribution and organization of microsatellites in plants: an insight into marker development in Brachypodium.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Humira Sonah

    Full Text Available Plant genomes are complex and contain large amounts of repetitive DNA including microsatellites that are distributed across entire genomes. Whole genome sequences of several monocot and dicot plants that are available in the public domain provide an opportunity to study the origin, distribution and evolution of microsatellites, and also facilitate the development of new molecular markers. In the present investigation, a genome-wide analysis of microsatellite distribution in monocots (Brachypodium, sorghum and rice and dicots (Arabidopsis, Medicago and Populus was performed. A total of 797,863 simple sequence repeats (SSRs were identified in the whole genome sequences of six plant species. Characterization of these SSRs revealed that mono-nucleotide repeats were the most abundant repeats, and that the frequency of repeats decreased with increase in motif length both in monocots and dicots. However, the frequency of SSRs was higher in dicots than in monocots both for nuclear and chloroplast genomes. Interestingly, GC-rich repeats were the dominant repeats only in monocots, with the majority of them being present in the coding region. These coding GC-rich repeats were found to be involved in different biological processes, predominantly binding activities. In addition, a set of 22,879 SSR markers that were validated by e-PCR were developed and mapped on different chromosomes in Brachypodium for the first time, with a frequency of 101 SSR markers per Mb. Experimental validation of 55 markers showed successful amplification of 80% SSR markers in 16 Brachypodium accessions. An online database 'BraMi' (Brachypodium microsatellite markers of these genome-wide SSR markers was developed and made available in the public domain. The observed differential patterns of SSR marker distribution would be useful for studying microsatellite evolution in a monocot-dicot system. SSR markers developed in this study would be helpful for genomic studies in Brachypodium

  10. In vivo genome-wide profiling of RNA secondary structure reveals novel regulatory features.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ding, Yiliang; Tang, Yin; Kwok, Chun Kit; Zhang, Yu; Bevilacqua, Philip C; Assmann, Sarah M

    2014-01-30

    RNA structure has critical roles in processes ranging from ligand sensing to the regulation of translation, polyadenylation and splicing. However, a lack of genome-wide in vivo RNA structural data has limited our understanding of how RNA structure regulates gene expression in living cells. Here we present a high-throughput, genome-wide in vivo RNA structure probing method, structure-seq, in which dimethyl sulphate methylation of unprotected adenines and cytosines is identified by next-generation sequencing. Application of this method to Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings yielded the first in vivo genome-wide RNA structure map at nucleotide resolution for any organism, with quantitative structural information across more than 10,000 transcripts. Our analysis reveals a three-nucleotide periodic repeat pattern in the structure of coding regions, as well as a less-structured region immediately upstream of the start codon, and shows that these features are strongly correlated with translation efficiency. We also find patterns of strong and weak secondary structure at sites of alternative polyadenylation, as well as strong secondary structure at 5' splice sites that correlates with unspliced events. Notably, in vivo structures of messenger RNAs annotated for stress responses are poorly predicted in silico, whereas mRNA structures of genes related to cell function maintenance are well predicted. Global comparison of several structural features between these two categories shows that the mRNAs associated with stress responses tend to have more single-strandedness, longer maximal loop length and higher free energy per nucleotide, features that may allow these RNAs to undergo conformational changes in response to environmental conditions. Structure-seq allows the RNA structurome and its biological roles to be interrogated on a genome-wide scale and should be applicable to any organism.

  11. Identification of Major Quantitative Trait Loci for Seed Oil Content in Soybeans by Combining Linkage and Genome-Wide Association Mapping.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cao, Yongce; Li, Shuguang; Wang, Zili; Chang, Fangguo; Kong, Jiejie; Gai, Junyi; Zhao, Tuanjie

    2017-01-01

    Soybean oil is the most widely produced vegetable oil in the world and its content in soybean seed is an important quality trait in breeding programs. More than 100 quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for soybean oil content have been identified. However, most of them are genotype specific and/or environment sensitive. Here, we used both a linkage and association mapping methodology to dissect the genetic basis of seed oil content of Chinese soybean cultivars in various environments in the Jiang-Huai River Valley. One recombinant inbred line (RIL) population (NJMN-RIL), with 104 lines developed from a cross between M8108 and NN1138-2 , was planted in five environments to investigate phenotypic data, and a new genetic map with 2,062 specific-locus amplified fragment markers was constructed to map oil content QTLs. A derived F 2 population between MN-5 (a line of NJMN-RIL) and NN1138-2 was also developed to confirm one major QTL. A soybean breeding germplasm population (279 lines) was established to perform a genome-wide association study (GWAS) using 59,845 high-quality single nucleotide polymorphism markers. In the NJMN-RIL population, 8 QTLs were found that explained a range of phenotypic variance from 6.3 to 26.3% in certain planting environments. Among them, qOil-5-1, qOil-10-1 , and qOil-14-1 were detected in different environments, and qOil-5-1 was further confirmed using the secondary F 2 population. Three loci located on chromosomes 5 and 20 were detected in a 2-year long GWAS, and one locus that overlapped with qOil-5-1 was found repeatedly and treated as the same locus. qOil-5-1 was further localized to a linkage disequilibrium block region of approximately 440 kb. These results will not only increase our understanding of the genetic control of seed oil content in soybean, but will also be helpful in marker-assisted selection for breeding high seed oil content soybean and gene cloning to elucidate the mechanisms of seed oil content.

  12. Genome-Wide Association Study for Autism Spectrum Disorder in Taiwanese Han Population.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Po-Hsiu Kuo

    Full Text Available Autism spectrum disorder (ASD is a neurodevelopmental disorder with strong genetic components. Several recent genome-wide association (GWA studies in Caucasian samples have reported a number of gene regions and loci correlated with the risk of ASD--albeit with very little consensus across studies.A two-stage GWA study was employed to identify common genetic variants for ASD in the Taiwanese Han population. The discovery stage included 315 patients with ASD and 1,115 healthy controls, using the Affymetrix SNP array 6.0 platform for genotyping. Several gene regions were then selected for fine-mapping and top markers were examined in extended samples. Single marker, haplotype, gene-based, and pathway analyses were conducted for associations.Seven SNPs had p-values ranging from 3.4~9.9*10-6, but none reached the genome-wide significant level. Five of them were mapped to three known genes (OR2M4, STYK1, and MNT with significant empirical gene-based p-values in OR2M4 (p = 3.4*10(-5 and MNT (p = 0.0008. Results of the fine-mapping study showed single-marker associations in the GLIS1 (rs12082358 and rs12080993 and NAALADL2 (rs3914502 and rs2222447 genes, and gene-based associations for the OR2M3-OR2T5 (olfactory receptor genes, p = 0.02, and GLIPR1/KRR1 gene regions (p = 0.015. Pathway analyses revealed important pathways for ASD, such as olfactory and G protein-coupled receptors signaling pathways.We reported Taiwanese Han specific susceptibility genes and variants for ASD. However, further replication in other Asian populations is warranted to validate our findings. Investigation in the biological functions of our reported genetic variants might also allow for better understanding on the underlying pathogenesis of autism.

  13. Genome-wide conserved consensus transcription factor binding motifs are hyper-methylated

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Down Thomas A

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background DNA methylation can regulate gene expression by modulating the interaction between DNA and proteins or protein complexes. Conserved consensus motifs exist across the human genome ("predicted transcription factor binding sites": "predicted TFBS" but the large majority of these are proven by chromatin immunoprecipitation and high throughput sequencing (ChIP-seq not to be biological transcription factor binding sites ("empirical TFBS". We hypothesize that DNA methylation at conserved consensus motifs prevents promiscuous or disorderly transcription factor binding. Results Using genome-wide methylation maps of the human heart and sperm, we found that all conserved consensus motifs as well as the subset of those that reside outside CpG islands have an aggregate profile of hyper-methylation. In contrast, empirical TFBS with conserved consensus motifs have a profile of hypo-methylation. 40% of empirical TFBS with conserved consensus motifs resided in CpG islands whereas only 7% of all conserved consensus motifs were in CpG islands. Finally we further identified a minority subset of TF whose profiles are either hypo-methylated or neutral at their respective conserved consensus motifs implicating that these TF may be responsible for establishing or maintaining an un-methylated DNA state, or whose binding is not regulated by DNA methylation. Conclusions Our analysis supports the hypothesis that at least for a subset of TF, empirical binding to conserved consensus motifs genome-wide may be controlled by DNA methylation.

  14. The Nucleosome Assembly Activity of NAP1 Is Enhanced by Alien▿

    OpenAIRE

    Eckey, Maren; Hong, Wei; Papaioannou, Maria; Baniahmad, Aria

    2007-01-01

    The assembly of nucleosomes into chromatin is essential for the compaction of DNA and inactivation of the DNA template to modulate and repress gene expression. The nucleosome assembly protein 1, NAP1, assembles nucleosomes independent of DNA synthesis and was shown to enhance coactivator-mediated gene expression, suggesting a role for NAP1 in transcriptional regulation. Here, we show that Alien, known to harbor characteristics of a corepressor of nuclear hormone receptors such as of the vitam...

  15. Genome-wide evolutionary dynamics of influenza B viruses on a global scale.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pinky Langat

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The global-scale epidemiology and genome-wide evolutionary dynamics of influenza B remain poorly understood compared with influenza A viruses. We compiled a spatio-temporally comprehensive dataset of influenza B viruses, comprising over 2,500 genomes sampled worldwide between 1987 and 2015, including 382 newly-sequenced genomes that fill substantial gaps in previous molecular surveillance studies. Our contributed data increase the number of available influenza B virus genomes in Europe, Africa and Central Asia, improving the global context to study influenza B viruses. We reveal Yamagata-lineage diversity results from co-circulation of two antigenically-distinct groups that also segregate genetically across the entire genome, without evidence of intra-lineage reassortment. In contrast, Victoria-lineage diversity stems from geographic segregation of different genetic clades, with variability in the degree of geographic spread among clades. Differences between the lineages are reflected in their antigenic dynamics, as Yamagata-lineage viruses show alternating dominance between antigenic groups, while Victoria-lineage viruses show antigenic drift of a single lineage. Structural mapping of amino acid substitutions on trunk branches of influenza B gene phylogenies further supports these antigenic differences and highlights two potential mechanisms of adaptation for polymerase activity. Our study provides new insights into the epidemiological and molecular processes shaping influenza B virus evolution globally.

  16. Genome-wide evolutionary dynamics of influenza B viruses on a global scale

    Science.gov (United States)

    Langat, Pinky; Bowden, Thomas A.; Edwards, Stephanie; Gall, Astrid; Rambaut, Andrew; Daniels, Rodney S.; Russell, Colin A.; Pybus, Oliver G.; McCauley, John

    2017-01-01

    The global-scale epidemiology and genome-wide evolutionary dynamics of influenza B remain poorly understood compared with influenza A viruses. We compiled a spatio-temporally comprehensive dataset of influenza B viruses, comprising over 2,500 genomes sampled worldwide between 1987 and 2015, including 382 newly-sequenced genomes that fill substantial gaps in previous molecular surveillance studies. Our contributed data increase the number of available influenza B virus genomes in Europe, Africa and Central Asia, improving the global context to study influenza B viruses. We reveal Yamagata-lineage diversity results from co-circulation of two antigenically-distinct groups that also segregate genetically across the entire genome, without evidence of intra-lineage reassortment. In contrast, Victoria-lineage diversity stems from geographic segregation of different genetic clades, with variability in the degree of geographic spread among clades. Differences between the lineages are reflected in their antigenic dynamics, as Yamagata-lineage viruses show alternating dominance between antigenic groups, while Victoria-lineage viruses show antigenic drift of a single lineage. Structural mapping of amino acid substitutions on trunk branches of influenza B gene phylogenies further supports these antigenic differences and highlights two potential mechanisms of adaptation for polymerase activity. Our study provides new insights into the epidemiological and molecular processes shaping influenza B virus evolution globally. PMID:29284042

  17. The enrichment of TATA box and the scarcity of depleted proximal nucleosome in the promoters of duplicated yeast genes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Yuseob; Lee, Jang H; Babbitt, Gregory A

    2010-01-01

    Population genetic theory of gene duplication suggests that the preservation of duplicate copies requires functional divergence upon duplication. Genes that can be readily modified to produce new gene expression patterns may thus be duplicated often. In yeast, genes exhibit dichotomous expression patterns based on their promoter architectures. The expression of genes that contain TATA box or occupied proximal nucleosome (OPN) tends to be variable and respond to external signals. On the other hand, genes without TATA box or with depleted proximal nucleosome (DPN) are expressed constitutively. We find that recent duplicates in the yeast genome are heavily biased to be TATA box containing genes and not to be DPN genes. This suggests that variably expressed genes, due to the functional organization in their promoters, have higher duplicability than constitutively expressed genes.

  18. Nucleosome Assembly Dynamics Involve Spontaneous Fluctuations in the Handedness of Tetrasomes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rifka Vlijm

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available DNA wrapping around histone octamers generates nucleosomes, the basic compaction unit of eukaryotic chromatin. Nucleosome stability is carefully tuned to maintain DNA accessibility in transcription, replication, and repair. Using freely orbiting magnetic tweezers, which measure the twist and length of single DNA molecules, we monitor the real-time loading of tetramers or complete histone octamers onto DNA by Nucleosome Assembly Protein-1 (NAP1. Remarkably, we find that tetrasomes exhibit spontaneous flipping between a preferentially occupied left-handed state (ΔLk = −0.73 and a right-handed state (ΔLk = +1.0, separated by a free energy difference of 2.3 kBT (1.5 kcal/mol. This flipping occurs without concomitant changes in DNA end-to-end length. The application of weak positive torque converts left-handed tetrasomes into right-handed tetrasomes, whereas nucleosomes display more gradual conformational changes. Our findings reveal unexpected dynamical rearrangements of the nucleosomal structure, suggesting that chromatin can serve as a “twist reservoir,” offering a mechanistic explanation for the regulation of DNA supercoiling in chromatin.

  19. A genome-wide map of hyper-edited RNA reveals numerous new sites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Porath, Hagit T.; Carmi, Shai; Levanon, Erez Y.

    2014-01-01

    Adenosine-to-inosine editing is one of the most frequent post-transcriptional modifications, manifested as A-to-G mismatches when comparing RNA sequences with their source DNA. Recently, a number of RNA-seq data sets have been screened for the presence of A-to-G editing, and hundreds of thousands of editing sites identified. Here we show that existing screens missed the majority of sites by ignoring reads with excessive (‘hyper’) editing that do not easily align to the genome. We show that careful alignment and examination of the unmapped reads in RNA-seq studies reveal numerous new sites, usually many more than originally discovered, and in precisely those regions that are most heavily edited. Specifically, we discover 327,096 new editing sites in the heavily studied Illumina Human BodyMap data and more than double the number of detected sites in several published screens. We also identify thousands of new sites in mouse, rat, opossum and fly. Our results establish that hyper-editing events account for the majority of editing sites. PMID:25158696

  20. Circulatory nucleosome levels are significantly increased in early and late-onset preeclampsia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhong, Xiao Yan; Gebhardt, Stefan; Hillermann, Renate; Tofa, Kashefa Carelse; Holzgreve, Wolfgang; Hahn, Sinuhe

    2005-08-01

    Elevations in circulatory DNA, as measured by real-time PCR, have been observed in pregnancies with manifest preeclampsia. Recent reports have indicated that circulatory nucleosome levels are elevated in the periphery of cancer patients. We have now examined whether circulatory nucleosome levels are similarly elevated in cases with preeclampsia. Maternal plasma samples were prepared from 17 cases with early onset preeclampsia (34 weeks gestation) with 10 matched normotensive controls. Levels of circulatory nucleosomes were quantified by commercial ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay). The level of circulatory nucleosomes was significantly elevated in both study preeclampsia groups, compared to the matched normotensive control group (p = 0.000 and p = 0.001, respectively). Our data suggests that preeclampsia is associated with the elevated presence of circulatory nucleosomes, and that this phenomenon occurs in both early- and late-onset forms of the disorder. Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  1. Genome-wide scans for delineation of candidate genes regulating seed-protein content in chickpea

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hari Deo eUpadhyaya

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Identification of potential genes/alleles governing complex seed-protein content (SPC trait is essential in marker-assisted breeding for quality trait improvement of chickpea. Henceforth, the present study utilized an integrated genomics-assisted breeding strategy encompassing trait association analysis, selective genotyping in traditional bi-parental mapping population and differential expression profiling for the first-time to understand the complex genetic architecture of quantitative SPC trait in chickpea. For GWAS (genome-wide association study, high-throughput genotyping information of 16376 genome-based SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphism discovered from a structured population of 336 sequenced desi and kabuli accessions [with 150-200 kb LD (linkage disequilibrium decay] was utilized. This led to identification of seven most effective genomic loci (genes associated [10 to 20% with 41% combined PVE (phenotypic variation explained] with SPC trait in chickpea. Regardless of the diverse desi and kabuli genetic backgrounds, a comparable level of association potential of the identified seven genomic loci with SPC trait was observed. Five SPC-associated genes were validated successfully in parental accessions and homozygous individuals of an intra-specific desi RIL (recombinant inbred line mapping population (ICC 12299 x ICC 4958 by selective genotyping. The seed-specific expression, including differential up-regulation (> 4-fold of six SPC-associated genes particularly in accessions, parents and homozygous individuals of the aforementioned mapping population with high level of contrasting seed-protein content (21-22% was evident. Collectively, the integrated genomic approach delineated diverse naturally occurring novel functional SNP allelic variants in six potential candidate genes regulating SPC trait in chickpea. Of these, a non-synonymous SNP allele-carrying zinc finger transcription factor gene exhibiting strong association with SPC trait

  2. Genome-wide association links candidate genes to resistance to Plum Pox Virus in apricot (Prunus armeniaca).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mariette, Stéphanie; Wong Jun Tai, Fabienne; Roch, Guillaume; Barre, Aurélien; Chague, Aurélie; Decroocq, Stéphane; Groppi, Alexis; Laizet, Yec'han; Lambert, Patrick; Tricon, David; Nikolski, Macha; Audergon, Jean-Marc; Abbott, Albert G; Decroocq, Véronique

    2016-01-01

    In fruit tree species, many important traits have been characterized genetically by using single-family descent mapping in progenies segregating for the traits. However, most mapped loci have not been sufficiently resolved to the individual genes due to insufficient progeny sizes for high resolution mapping and the previous lack of whole-genome sequence resources of the study species. To address this problem for Plum Pox Virus (PPV) candidate resistance gene identification in Prunus species, we implemented a genome-wide association (GWA) approach in apricot. This study exploited the broad genetic diversity of the apricot (Prunus armeniaca) germplasm containing resistance to PPV, next-generation sequence-based genotyping, and the high-quality peach (Prunus persica) genome reference sequence for single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) identification. The results of this GWA study validated previously reported PPV resistance quantitative trait loci (QTL) intervals, highlighted other potential resistance loci, and resolved each to a limited set of candidate genes for further study. This work substantiates the association genetics approach for resolution of QTL to candidate genes in apricot and suggests that this approach could simplify identification of other candidate genes for other marked trait intervals in this germplasm. © 2015 INRA, UMR 1332 BFP New Phytologist © 2015 New Phytologist Trust.

  3. Stabilization of Nucleosomes by Histone Tails and by FACT Revealed by spFRET Microscopy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria E. Valieva

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available A correct chromatin structure is important for cell viability and is tightly regulated by numerous factors. Human protein complex FACT (facilitates chromatin transcription is an essential factor involved in chromatin transcription and cancer development. Here FACT-dependent changes in the structure of single nucleosomes were studied with single-particle Förster resonance energy transfer (spFRET microscopy using nucleosomes labeled with a donor-acceptor pair of fluorophores, which were attached to the adjacent gyres of DNA near the contact between H2A-H2B dimers. Human FACT and its version without the C-terminal domain (CTD and the high mobility group (HMG domain of the structure-specific recognition protein 1 (SSRP1 subunit did not change the structure of the nucleosomes, while FACT without the acidic C-terminal domains of the suppressor of Ty 16 (Spt16 and the SSRP1 subunits caused nucleosome aggregation. Proteolytic removal of histone tails significantly disturbed the nucleosome structure, inducing partial unwrapping of nucleosomal DNA. Human FACT reduced DNA unwrapping and stabilized the structure of tailless nucleosomes. CTD and/or HMG domains of SSRP1 are required for this FACT activity. In contrast, previously it has been shown that yeast FACT unfolds (reorganizes nucleosomes using the CTD domain of SSRP1-like Pol I-binding protein 3 subunit (Pob3. Thus, yeast and human FACT complexes likely utilize the same domains for nucleosome reorganization and stabilization, respectively, and these processes are mechanistically similar.

  4. Genome-wide distribution of genetic diversity and linkage disequilibrium in a mass-selected population of maritime pine

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-01-01

    Background The accessibility of high-throughput genotyping technologies has contributed greatly to the development of genomic resources in non-model organisms. High-density genotyping arrays have only recently been developed for some economically important species such as conifers. The potential for using genomic technologies in association mapping and breeding depends largely on the genome wide patterns of diversity and linkage disequilibrium in current breeding populations. This study aims to deepen our knowledge regarding these issues in maritime pine, the first species used for reforestation in south western Europe. Results Using a new map merging algorithm, we first established a 1,712 cM composite linkage map (comprising 1,838 SNP markers in 12 linkage groups) by bringing together three already available genetic maps. Using rigorous statistical testing based on kernel density estimation and resampling we identified cold and hot spots of recombination. In parallel, 186 unrelated trees of a mass-selected population were genotyped using a 12k-SNP array. A total of 2,600 informative SNPs allowed to describe historical recombination, genetic diversity and genetic structure of this recently domesticated breeding pool that forms the basis of much of the current and future breeding of this species. We observe very low levels of population genetic structure and find no evidence that artificial selection has caused a reduction in genetic diversity. By combining these two pieces of information, we provided the map position of 1,671 SNPs corresponding to 1,192 different loci. This made it possible to analyze the spatial pattern of genetic diversity (H e ) and long distance linkage disequilibrium (LD) along the chromosomes. We found no particular pattern in the empirical variogram of H e across the 12 linkage groups and, as expected for an outcrossing species with large effective population size, we observed an almost complete lack of long distance LD. Conclusions These

  5. Mapping copy number variation by population-scale genome sequencing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mills, Ryan E.; Walter, Klaudia; Stewart, Chip

    2011-01-01

    Genomic structural variants (SVs) are abundant in humans, differing from other forms of variation in extent, origin and functional impact. Despite progress in SV characterization, the nucleotide resolution architecture of most SVs remains unknown. We constructed a map of unbalanced SVs (that is......, copy number variants) based on whole genome DNA sequencing data from 185 human genomes, integrating evidence from complementary SV discovery approaches with extensive experimental validations. Our map encompassed 22,025 deletions and 6,000 additional SVs, including insertions and tandem duplications...

  6. Genome-wide association mapping identifies the genetic basis of discrete and quantitative variation in sexual weaponry in a wild sheep population.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnston, Susan E; McEwan, John C; Pickering, Natalie K; Kijas, James W; Beraldi, Dario; Pilkington, Jill G; Pemberton, Josephine M; Slate, Jon

    2011-06-01

    Understanding the genetic architecture of phenotypic variation in natural populations is a fundamental goal of evolutionary genetics. Wild Soay sheep (Ovis aries) have an inherited polymorphism for horn morphology in both sexes, controlled by a single autosomal locus, Horns. The majority of males have large normal horns, but a small number have vestigial, deformed horns, known as scurs; females have either normal horns, scurs or no horns (polled). Given that scurred males and polled females have reduced fitness within each sex, it is counterintuitive that the polymorphism persists within the population. Therefore, identifying the genetic basis of horn type will provide a vital foundation for understanding why the different morphs are maintained in the face of natural selection. We conducted a genome-wide association study using ∼36000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and determined the main candidate for Horns as RXFP2, an autosomal gene with a known involvement in determining primary sex characters in humans and mice. Evidence from additional SNPs in and around RXFP2 supports a new model of horn-type inheritance in Soay sheep, and for the first time, sheep with the same horn phenotype but different underlying genotypes can be identified. In addition, RXFP2 was shown to be an additive quantitative trait locus (QTL) for horn size in normal-horned males, accounting for up to 76% of additive genetic variation in this trait. This finding contrasts markedly from genome-wide association studies of quantitative traits in humans and some model species, where it is often observed that mapped loci only explain a modest proportion of the overall genetic variation. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  7. Genome-wide screening and identification of antigens for rickettsial vaccine development

    Science.gov (United States)

    The capacity to identify immunogens for vaccine development by genome-wide screening has been markedly enhanced by the availability of complete microbial genome sequences coupled to rapid proteomic and bioinformatic analysis. Critical to this genome-wide screening is in vivo testing in the context o...

  8. Genome-wide association study identified CNP12587 region underlying height variation in Chinese females.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yin-Ping Zhang

    Full Text Available Human height is a highly heritable trait considered as an important factor for health. There has been limited success in identifying the genetic factors underlying height variation. We aim to identify sequence variants associated with adult height by a genome-wide association study of copy number variants (CNVs in Chinese.Genome-wide CNV association analyses were conducted in 1,625 unrelated Chinese adults and sex specific subgroup for height variation, respectively. Height was measured with a stadiometer. Affymetrix SNP6.0 genotyping platform was used to identify copy number polymorphisms (CNPs. We constructed a genomic map containing 1,009 CNPs in Chinese individuals and performed a genome-wide association study of CNPs with height.We detected 10 significant association signals for height (p<0.05 in the whole population, 9 and 11 association signals for Chinese female and male population, respectively. A copy number polymorphism (CNP12587, chr18:54081842-54086942, p = 2.41 × 10(-4 was found to be significantly associated with height variation in Chinese females even after strict Bonferroni correction (p = 0.048. Confirmatory real time PCR experiments lent further support for CNV validation. Compared to female subjects with two copies of the CNP, carriers of three copies had an average of 8.1% decrease in height. An important candidate gene, ubiquitin-protein ligase NEDD4-like (NEDD4L, was detected at this region, which plays important roles in bone metabolism by binding to bone formation regulators.Our findings suggest the important genetic variants underlying height variation in Chinese.

  9. Quality control and conduct of genome-wide association meta-analyses

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Winkler, Thomas W; Day, Felix R; Croteau-Chonka, Damien C

    2014-01-01

    Rigorous organization and quality control (QC) are necessary to facilitate successful genome-wide association meta-analyses (GWAMAs) of statistics aggregated across multiple genome-wide association studies. This protocol provides guidelines for (i) organizational aspects of GWAMAs, and for (ii) QC...

  10. Genome-wide association study of pathological gambling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lang, M; Leménager, T; Streit, F; Fauth-Bühler, M; Frank, J; Juraeva, D; Witt, S H; Degenhardt, F; Hofmann, A; Heilmann-Heimbach, S; Kiefer, F; Brors, B; Grabe, H-J; John, U; Bischof, A; Bischof, G; Völker, U; Homuth, G; Beutel, M; Lind, P A; Medland, S E; Slutske, W S; Martin, N G; Völzke, H; Nöthen, M M; Meyer, C; Rumpf, H-J; Wurst, F M; Rietschel, M; Mann, K F

    2016-08-01

    Pathological gambling is a behavioural addiction with negative economic, social, and psychological consequences. Identification of contributing genes and pathways may improve understanding of aetiology and facilitate therapy and prevention. Here, we report the first genome-wide association study of pathological gambling. Our aims were to identify pathways involved in pathological gambling, and examine whether there is a genetic overlap between pathological gambling and alcohol dependence. Four hundred and forty-five individuals with a diagnosis of pathological gambling according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders were recruited in Germany, and 986 controls were drawn from a German general population sample. A genome-wide association study of pathological gambling comprising single marker, gene-based, and pathway analyses, was performed. Polygenic risk scores were generated using data from a German genome-wide association study of alcohol dependence. No genome-wide significant association with pathological gambling was found for single markers or genes. Pathways for Huntington's disease (P-value=6.63×10(-3)); 5'-adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase signalling (P-value=9.57×10(-3)); and apoptosis (P-value=1.75×10(-2)) were significant. Polygenic risk score analysis of the alcohol dependence dataset yielded a one-sided nominal significant P-value in subjects with pathological gambling, irrespective of comorbid alcohol dependence status. The present results accord with previous quantitative formal genetic studies which showed genetic overlap between non-substance- and substance-related addictions. Furthermore, pathway analysis suggests shared pathology between Huntington's disease and pathological gambling. This finding is consistent with previous imaging studies. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

  11. Radiation hybrid maps of the D-genome of Aegilops tauschii and their application in sequence assembly of large and complex plant genomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kumar, Ajay; Seetan, Raed; Mergoum, Mohamed; Tiwari, Vijay K; Iqbal, Muhammad J; Wang, Yi; Al-Azzam, Omar; Šimková, Hana; Luo, Ming-Cheng; Dvorak, Jan; Gu, Yong Q; Denton, Anne; Kilian, Andrzej; Lazo, Gerard R; Kianian, Shahryar F

    2015-10-16

    The large and complex genome of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L., ~17 Gb) requires high resolution genome maps with saturated marker scaffolds to anchor and orient BAC contigs/ sequence scaffolds for whole genome assembly. Radiation hybrid (RH) mapping has proven to be an excellent tool for the development of such maps for it offers much higher and more uniform marker resolution across the length of the chromosome compared to genetic mapping and does not require marker polymorphism per se, as it is based on presence (retention) vs. absence (deletion) marker assay. In this study, a 178 line RH panel was genotyped with SSRs and DArT markers to develop the first high resolution RH maps of the entire D-genome of Ae. tauschii accession AL8/78. To confirm map order accuracy, the AL8/78-RH maps were compared with:1) a DArT consensus genetic map constructed using more than 100 bi-parental populations, 2) a RH map of the D-genome of reference hexaploid wheat 'Chinese Spring', and 3) two SNP-based genetic maps, one with anchored D-genome BAC contigs and another with anchored D-genome sequence scaffolds. Using marker sequences, the RH maps were also anchored with a BAC contig based physical map and draft sequence of the D-genome of Ae. tauschii. A total of 609 markers were mapped to 503 unique positions on the seven D-genome chromosomes, with a total map length of 14,706.7 cR. The average distance between any two marker loci was 29.2 cR which corresponds to 2.1 cM or 9.8 Mb. The average mapping resolution across the D-genome was estimated to be 0.34 Mb (Mb/cR) or 0.07 cM (cM/cR). The RH maps showed almost perfect agreement with several published maps with regard to chromosome assignments of markers. The mean rank correlations between the position of markers on AL8/78 maps and the four published maps, ranged from 0.75 to 0.92, suggesting a good agreement in marker order. With 609 mapped markers, a total of 2481 deletions for the whole D-genome were detected with an average

  12. Physical mapping in highly heterozygous genomes: a physical contig map of the Pinot Noir grapevine cultivar

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jurman Irena

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Most of the grapevine (Vitis vinifera L. cultivars grown today are those selected centuries ago, even though grapevine is one of the most important fruit crops in the world. Grapevine has therefore not benefited from the advances in modern plant breeding nor more recently from those in molecular genetics and genomics: genes controlling important agronomic traits are practically unknown. A physical map is essential to positionally clone such genes and instrumental in a genome sequencing project. Results We report on the first whole genome physical map of grapevine built using high information content fingerprinting of 49,104 BAC clones from the cultivar Pinot Noir. Pinot Noir, as most grape varieties, is highly heterozygous at the sequence level. This resulted in the two allelic haplotypes sometimes assembling into separate contigs that had to be accommodated in the map framework or in local expansions of contig maps. We performed computer simulations to assess the effects of increasing levels of sequence heterozygosity on BAC fingerprint assembly and showed that the experimental assembly results are in full agreement with the theoretical expectations, given the heterozygosity levels reported for grape. The map is anchored to a dense linkage map consisting of 994 markers. 436 contigs are anchored to the genetic map, covering 342 of the 475 Mb that make up the grape haploid genome. Conclusions We have developed a resource that makes it possible to access the grapevine genome, opening the way to a new era both in grape genetics and breeding and in wine making. The effects of heterozygosity on the assembly have been analyzed and characterized by using several complementary approaches which could be easily transferred to the study of other genomes which present the same features.

  13. Nucleosome Assembly Dynamics Involve Spontaneous Fluctuations in the Handedness of Tetrasomes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vlijm, R.; Lee, M.; Lipfert, J.; Lusser, A.; Dekker, C.; Dekker, N.H.

    2015-01-01

    DNA wrapping around histone octamers generates nucleosomes, the basic compaction unit of eukaryotic chromatin. Nucleosome stability is carefully tuned to maintain DNA accessibility in transcription, replication, and repair. Using freely orbiting magnetic tweezers, which measure the twist and length

  14. Discovery and fine-mapping of adiposity loci using high density imputation of genome-wide association studies in individuals of African ancestry: African Ancestry Anthropometry Genetics Consortium.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ng, Maggie C Y; Graff, Mariaelisa; Lu, Yingchang; Justice, Anne E; Mudgal, Poorva; Liu, Ching-Ti; Young, Kristin; Yanek, Lisa R; Feitosa, Mary F; Wojczynski, Mary K; Rand, Kristin; Brody, Jennifer A; Cade, Brian E; Dimitrov, Latchezar; Duan, Qing; Guo, Xiuqing; Lange, Leslie A; Nalls, Michael A; Okut, Hayrettin; Tajuddin, Salman M; Tayo, Bamidele O; Vedantam, Sailaja; Bradfield, Jonathan P; Chen, Guanjie; Chen, Wei-Min; Chesi, Alessandra; Irvin, Marguerite R; Padhukasahasram, Badri; Smith, Jennifer A; Zheng, Wei; Allison, Matthew A; Ambrosone, Christine B; Bandera, Elisa V; Bartz, Traci M; Berndt, Sonja I; Bernstein, Leslie; Blot, William J; Bottinger, Erwin P; Carpten, John; Chanock, Stephen J; Chen, Yii-Der Ida; Conti, David V; Cooper, Richard S; Fornage, Myriam; Freedman, Barry I; Garcia, Melissa; Goodman, Phyllis J; Hsu, Yu-Han H; Hu, Jennifer; Huff, Chad D; Ingles, Sue A; John, Esther M; Kittles, Rick; Klein, Eric; Li, Jin; McKnight, Barbara; Nayak, Uma; Nemesure, Barbara; Ogunniyi, Adesola; Olshan, Andrew; Press, Michael F; Rohde, Rebecca; Rybicki, Benjamin A; Salako, Babatunde; Sanderson, Maureen; Shao, Yaming; Siscovick, David S; Stanford, Janet L; Stevens, Victoria L; Stram, Alex; Strom, Sara S; Vaidya, Dhananjay; Witte, John S; Yao, Jie; Zhu, Xiaofeng; Ziegler, Regina G; Zonderman, Alan B; Adeyemo, Adebowale; Ambs, Stefan; Cushman, Mary; Faul, Jessica D; Hakonarson, Hakon; Levin, Albert M; Nathanson, Katherine L; Ware, Erin B; Weir, David R; Zhao, Wei; Zhi, Degui; Arnett, Donna K; Grant, Struan F A; Kardia, Sharon L R; Oloapde, Olufunmilayo I; Rao, D C; Rotimi, Charles N; Sale, Michele M; Williams, L Keoki; Zemel, Babette S; Becker, Diane M; Borecki, Ingrid B; Evans, Michele K; Harris, Tamara B; Hirschhorn, Joel N; Li, Yun; Patel, Sanjay R; Psaty, Bruce M; Rotter, Jerome I; Wilson, James G; Bowden, Donald W; Cupples, L Adrienne; Haiman, Christopher A; Loos, Ruth J F; North, Kari E

    2017-04-01

    Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified >300 loci associated with measures of adiposity including body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-hip ratio (adjusted for BMI, WHRadjBMI), but few have been identified through screening of the African ancestry genomes. We performed large scale meta-analyses and replications in up to 52,895 individuals for BMI and up to 23,095 individuals for WHRadjBMI from the African Ancestry Anthropometry Genetics Consortium (AAAGC) using 1000 Genomes phase 1 imputed GWAS to improve coverage of both common and low frequency variants in the low linkage disequilibrium African ancestry genomes. In the sex-combined analyses, we identified one novel locus (TCF7L2/HABP2) for WHRadjBMI and eight previously established loci at P African ancestry individuals. An additional novel locus (SPRYD7/DLEU2) was identified for WHRadjBMI when combined with European GWAS. In the sex-stratified analyses, we identified three novel loci for BMI (INTS10/LPL and MLC1 in men, IRX4/IRX2 in women) and four for WHRadjBMI (SSX2IP, CASC8, PDE3B and ZDHHC1/HSD11B2 in women) in individuals of African ancestry or both African and European ancestry. For four of the novel variants, the minor allele frequency was low (African ancestry sex-combined and sex-stratified analyses, 26 BMI loci and 17 WHRadjBMI loci contained ≤ 20 variants in the credible sets that jointly account for 99% posterior probability of driving the associations. The lead variants in 13 of these loci had a high probability of being causal. As compared to our previous HapMap imputed GWAS for BMI and WHRadjBMI including up to 71,412 and 27,350 African ancestry individuals, respectively, our results suggest that 1000 Genomes imputation showed modest improvement in identifying GWAS loci including low frequency variants. Trans-ethnic meta-analyses further improved fine mapping of putative causal variants in loci shared between the African and European ancestry populations.

  15. Accurate typing of short tandem repeats from genome-wide sequencing data and its applications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fungtammasan, Arkarachai; Ananda, Guruprasad; Hile, Suzanne E; Su, Marcia Shu-Wei; Sun, Chen; Harris, Robert; Medvedev, Paul; Eckert, Kristin; Makova, Kateryna D

    2015-05-01

    Short tandem repeats (STRs) are implicated in dozens of human genetic diseases and contribute significantly to genome variation and instability. Yet profiling STRs from short-read sequencing data is challenging because of their high sequencing error rates. Here, we developed STR-FM, short tandem repeat profiling using flank-based mapping, a computational pipeline that can detect the full spectrum of STR alleles from short-read data, can adapt to emerging read-mapping algorithms, and can be applied to heterogeneous genetic samples (e.g., tumors, viruses, and genomes of organelles). We used STR-FM to study STR error rates and patterns in publicly available human and in-house generated ultradeep plasmid sequencing data sets. We discovered that STRs sequenced with a PCR-free protocol have up to ninefold fewer errors than those sequenced with a PCR-containing protocol. We constructed an error correction model for genotyping STRs that can distinguish heterozygous alleles containing STRs with consecutive repeat numbers. Applying our model and pipeline to Illumina sequencing data with 100-bp reads, we could confidently genotype several disease-related long trinucleotide STRs. Utilizing this pipeline, for the first time we determined the genome-wide STR germline mutation rate from a deeply sequenced human pedigree. Additionally, we built a tool that recommends minimal sequencing depth for accurate STR genotyping, depending on repeat length and sequencing read length. The required read depth increases with STR length and is lower for a PCR-free protocol. This suite of tools addresses the pressing challenges surrounding STR genotyping, and thus is of wide interest to researchers investigating disease-related STRs and STR evolution. © 2015 Fungtammasan et al.; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

  16. Genome-wide association genetics of an adaptive trait in lodgepole pine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parchman, Thomas L; Gompert, Zachariah; Mudge, Joann; Schilkey, Faye D; Benkman, Craig W; Buerkle, C Alex

    2012-06-01

    Pine cones that remain closed and retain seeds until fire causes the cones to open (cone serotiny) represent a key adaptive trait in a variety of pine species. In lodgepole pine, there is substantial geographical variation in serotiny across the Rocky Mountain region. This variation in serotiny has evolved as a result of geographically divergent selection, with consequences that extend to forest communities and ecosystems. An understanding of the genetic architecture of this trait is of interest owing to the wide-reaching ecological consequences of serotiny and also because of the repeated evolution of the trait across the genus. Here, we present and utilize an inexpensive and time-effective method for generating population genomic data. The method uses restriction enzymes and PCR amplification to generate a library of fragments that can be sequenced with a high level of multiplexing. We obtained data for more than 95,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms across 98 serotinous and nonserotinous lodgepole pines from three populations. We used a Bayesian generalized linear model (GLM) to test for an association between genotypic variation at these loci and serotiny. The probability of serotiny varied by genotype at 11 loci, and the association between genotype and serotiny at these loci was consistent in each of the three populations of pines. Genetic variation across these 11 loci explained 50% of the phenotypic variation in serotiny. Our results provide a first genome-wide association map of serotiny in pines and demonstrate an inexpensive and efficient method for generating population genomic data. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  17. Application of Genome Wide Association and Genomic Prediction for Improvement of Cacao Productivity and Resistance to Black and Frosty Pod Diseases

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. Alberto Romero Navarro

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Chocolate is a highly valued and palatable confectionery product. Chocolate is primarily made from the processed seeds of the tree species Theobroma cacao. Cacao cultivation is highly relevant for small-holder farmers throughout the tropics, yet its productivity remains limited by low yields and widespread pathogens. A panel of 148 improved cacao clones was assembled based on productivity and disease resistance, and phenotypic single-tree replicated clonal evaluation was performed for 8 years. Using high-density markers, the diversity of clones was expressed relative to 10 known ancestral cacao populations, and significant effects of ancestry were observed in productivity and disease resistance. Genome-wide association (GWA was performed, and six markers were significantly associated with frosty pod disease resistance. In addition, genomic selection was performed, and consistent with the observed extensive linkage disequilibrium, high predictive ability was observed at low marker densities for all traits. Finally, quantitative trait locus mapping and differential expression analysis of two cultivars with contrasting disease phenotypes were performed to identify genes underlying frosty pod disease resistance, identifying a significant quantitative trait locus and 35 differentially expressed genes using two independent differential expression analyses. These results indicate that in breeding populations of heterozygous and recently admixed individuals, mapping approaches can be used for low complexity traits like pod color cacao, or in other species single gene disease resistance, however genomic selection for quantitative traits remains highly effective relative to mapping. Our results can help guide the breeding process for sustainable improved cacao productivity.

  18. Genome-wide generation and use of informative intron-spanning and intron-length polymorphism markers for high-throughput genetic analysis in rice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Badoni, Saurabh; Das, Sweta; Sayal, Yogesh K.; Gopalakrishnan, S.; Singh, Ashok K.; Rao, Atmakuri R.; Agarwal, Pinky; Parida, Swarup K.; Tyagi, Akhilesh K.

    2016-01-01

    We developed genome-wide 84634 ISM (intron-spanning marker) and 16510 InDel-fragment length polymorphism-based ILP (intron-length polymorphism) markers from genes physically mapped on 12 rice chromosomes. These genic markers revealed much higher amplification-efficiency (80%) and polymorphic-potential (66%) among rice accessions even by a cost-effective agarose gel-based assay. A wider level of functional molecular diversity (17–79%) and well-defined precise admixed genetic structure was assayed by 3052 genome-wide markers in a structured population of indica, japonica, aromatic and wild rice. Six major grain weight QTLs (11.9–21.6% phenotypic variation explained) were mapped on five rice chromosomes of a high-density (inter-marker distance: 0.98 cM) genetic linkage map (IR 64 x Sonasal) anchored with 2785 known/candidate gene-derived ISM and ILP markers. The designing of multiple ISM and ILP markers (2 to 4 markers/gene) in an individual gene will broaden the user-preference to select suitable primer combination for efficient assaying of functional allelic variation/diversity and realistic estimation of differential gene expression profiles among rice accessions. The genomic information generated in our study is made publicly accessible through a user-friendly web-resource, “Oryza ISM-ILP marker” database. The known/candidate gene-derived ISM and ILP markers can be enormously deployed to identify functionally relevant trait-associated molecular tags by optimal-resource expenses, leading towards genomics-assisted crop improvement in rice. PMID:27032371

  19. High-resolution genetic maps of Eucalyptus improve Eucalyptus grandis genome assembly.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bartholomé, Jérôme; Mandrou, Eric; Mabiala, André; Jenkins, Jerry; Nabihoudine, Ibouniyamine; Klopp, Christophe; Schmutz, Jeremy; Plomion, Christophe; Gion, Jean-Marc

    2015-06-01

    Genetic maps are key tools in genetic research as they constitute the framework for many applications, such as quantitative trait locus analysis, and support the assembly of genome sequences. The resequencing of the two parents of a cross between Eucalyptus urophylla and Eucalyptus grandis was used to design a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array of 6000 markers evenly distributed along the E. grandis genome. The genotyping of 1025 offspring enabled the construction of two high-resolution genetic maps containing 1832 and 1773 markers with an average marker interval of 0.45 and 0.5 cM for E. grandis and E. urophylla, respectively. The comparison between genetic maps and the reference genome highlighted 85% of collinear regions. A total of 43 noncollinear regions and 13 nonsynthetic regions were detected and corrected in the new genome assembly. This improved version contains 4943 scaffolds totalling 691.3 Mb of which 88.6% were captured by the 11 chromosomes. The mapping data were also used to investigate the effect of population size and number of markers on linkage mapping accuracy. This study provides the most reliable linkage maps for Eucalyptus and version 2.0 of the E. grandis genome. © 2014 CIRAD. New Phytologist © 2014 New Phytologist Trust.

  20. Genome-Wide Association Mapping of Fusarium Head Blight Resistance in Wheat using Genotyping-by-Sequencing

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    Marcio P. Arruda

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Fusarium head blight (FHB is one of the most important wheat ( L. diseases worldwide, and host resistance displays complex genetic control. A genome-wide association study (GWAS was performed on 273 winter wheat breeding lines from the midwestern and eastern regions of the United States to identify chromosomal regions associated with FHB resistance. Genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS was used to identify 19,992 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs covering all 21 wheat chromosomes. Marker–trait associations were performed with different statistical models, the most appropriate being a compressed mixed linear model (cMLM controlling for relatedness and population structure. Ten significant SNP–trait associations were detected on chromosomes 4A, 6A, 7A, 1D, 4D, and 7D, and multiple SNPs were associated with on chromosome 3B. Although combination of favorable alleles of these SNPs resulted in lower levels of severity (SEV, incidence (INC, and deoxynivalenol concentration (DON, lines carrying multiple beneficial alleles were in very low frequency for most traits. These SNPs can now be used for creating new breeding lines with different combinations of favorable alleles. This is one of the first GWAS using genomic resources from the International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium (IWGSC.

  1. Genome mapping and characterization of the Anopheles gambiae heterochromatin

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sharakhova Maria V

    2010-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Heterochromatin plays an important role in chromosome function and gene regulation. Despite the availability of polytene chromosomes and genome sequence, the heterochromatin of the major malaria vector Anopheles gambiae has not been mapped and characterized. Results To determine the extent of heterochromatin within the An. gambiae genome, genes were physically mapped to the euchromatin-heterochromatin transition zone of polytene chromosomes. The study found that a minimum of 232 genes reside in 16.6 Mb of mapped heterochromatin. Gene ontology analysis revealed that heterochromatin is enriched in genes with DNA-binding and regulatory activities. Immunostaining of the An. gambiae chromosomes with antibodies against Drosophila melanogaster heterochromatin protein 1 (HP1 and the nuclear envelope protein lamin Dm0 identified the major invariable sites of the proteins' localization in all regions of pericentric heterochromatin, diffuse intercalary heterochromatin, and euchromatic region 9C of the 2R arm, but not in the compact intercalary heterochromatin. To better understand the molecular differences among chromatin types, novel Bayesian statistical models were developed to analyze genome features. The study found that heterochromatin and euchromatin differ in gene density and the coverage of retroelements and segmental duplications. The pericentric heterochromatin had the highest coverage of retroelements and tandem repeats, while intercalary heterochromatin was enriched with segmental duplications. We also provide evidence that the diffuse intercalary heterochromatin has a higher coverage of DNA transposable elements, minisatellites, and satellites than does the compact intercalary heterochromatin. The investigation of 42-Mb assembly of unmapped genomic scaffolds showed that it has molecular characteristics similar to cytologically mapped heterochromatin. Conclusions Our results demonstrate that Anopheles polytene chromosomes

  2. Using DNase Hi-C techniques to map global and local three-dimensional genome architecture at high resolution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Wenxiu; Ay, Ferhat; Lee, Choli; Gulsoy, Gunhan; Deng, Xinxian; Cook, Savannah; Hesson, Jennifer; Cavanaugh, Christopher; Ware, Carol B; Krumm, Anton; Shendure, Jay; Blau, C Anthony; Disteche, Christine M; Noble, William S; Duan, ZhiJun

    2018-06-01

    The folding and three-dimensional (3D) organization of chromatin in the nucleus critically impacts genome function. The past decade has witnessed rapid advances in genomic tools for delineating 3D genome architecture. Among them, chromosome conformation capture (3C)-based methods such as Hi-C are the most widely used techniques for mapping chromatin interactions. However, traditional Hi-C protocols rely on restriction enzymes (REs) to fragment chromatin and are therefore limited in resolution. We recently developed DNase Hi-C for mapping 3D genome organization, which uses DNase I for chromatin fragmentation. DNase Hi-C overcomes RE-related limitations associated with traditional Hi-C methods, leading to improved methodological resolution. Furthermore, combining this method with DNA capture technology provides a high-throughput approach (targeted DNase Hi-C) that allows for mapping fine-scale chromatin architecture at exceptionally high resolution. Hence, targeted DNase Hi-C will be valuable for delineating the physical landscapes of cis-regulatory networks that control gene expression and for characterizing phenotype-associated chromatin 3D signatures. Here, we provide a detailed description of method design and step-by-step working protocols for these two methods. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  3. Genome-wide association study of clinical dimensions of schizophrenia

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fanous, Ayman H; Zhou, Baiyu; Aggen, Steven H

    2012-01-01

    Multiple sources of evidence suggest that genetic factors influence variation in clinical features of schizophrenia. The authors present the first genome-wide association study (GWAS) of dimensional symptom scores among individuals with schizophrenia.......Multiple sources of evidence suggest that genetic factors influence variation in clinical features of schizophrenia. The authors present the first genome-wide association study (GWAS) of dimensional symptom scores among individuals with schizophrenia....

  4. GWIS: Genome-Wide Inferred Statistics for Functions of Multiple Phenotypes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Nieuwboer, H.A.; Pool, R.; Dolan, C.V.; Boomsma, D.I.; Nivard, M.G.

    2016-01-01

    Here we present a method of genome-wide inferred study (GWIS) that provides an approximation of genome-wide association study (GWAS) summary statistics for a variable that is a function of phenotypes for which GWAS summary statistics, phenotypic means, and covariances are available. A GWIS can be

  5. Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies identifies eight new loci for type 2 diabetes in east Asians

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cho, Yoon Shin; Chen, Chien-Hsiun; Hu, Cheng

    2012-01-01

    We conducted a three-stage genetic study to identify susceptibility loci for type 2 diabetes (T2D) in east Asian populations. We followed our stage 1 meta-analysis of eight T2D genome-wide association studies (6,952 cases with T2D and 11,865 controls) with a stage 2 in silico replication analysis...... (5,843 cases and 4,574 controls) and a stage 3 de novo replication analysis (12,284 cases and 13,172 controls). The combined analysis identified eight new T2D loci reaching genome-wide significance, which mapped in or near GLIS3, PEPD, FITM2-R3HDML-HNF4A, KCNK16, MAEA, GCC1-PAX4, PSMD6 and ZFAND3...

  6. Genome-Wide Detection and Analysis of Multifunctional Genes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pritykin, Yuri; Ghersi, Dario; Singh, Mona

    2015-01-01

    Many genes can play a role in multiple biological processes or molecular functions. Identifying multifunctional genes at the genome-wide level and studying their properties can shed light upon the complexity of molecular events that underpin cellular functioning, thereby leading to a better understanding of the functional landscape of the cell. However, to date, genome-wide analysis of multifunctional genes (and the proteins they encode) has been limited. Here we introduce a computational approach that uses known functional annotations to extract genes playing a role in at least two distinct biological processes. We leverage functional genomics data sets for three organisms—H. sapiens, D. melanogaster, and S. cerevisiae—and show that, as compared to other annotated genes, genes involved in multiple biological processes possess distinct physicochemical properties, are more broadly expressed, tend to be more central in protein interaction networks, tend to be more evolutionarily conserved, and are more likely to be essential. We also find that multifunctional genes are significantly more likely to be involved in human disorders. These same features also hold when multifunctionality is defined with respect to molecular functions instead of biological processes. Our analysis uncovers key features about multifunctional genes, and is a step towards a better genome-wide understanding of gene multifunctionality. PMID:26436655

  7. A genome wide survey of SNP variation reveals the genetic structure of sheep breeds.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    James W Kijas

    Full Text Available The genetic structure of sheep reflects their domestication and subsequent formation into discrete breeds. Understanding genetic structure is essential for achieving genetic improvement through genome-wide association studies, genomic selection and the dissection of quantitative traits. After identifying the first genome-wide set of SNP for sheep, we report on levels of genetic variability both within and between a diverse sample of ovine populations. Then, using cluster analysis and the partitioning of genetic variation, we demonstrate sheep are characterised by weak phylogeographic structure, overlapping genetic similarity and generally low differentiation which is consistent with their short evolutionary history. The degree of population substructure was, however, sufficient to cluster individuals based on geographic origin and known breed history. Specifically, African and Asian populations clustered separately from breeds of European origin sampled from Australia, New Zealand, Europe and North America. Furthermore, we demonstrate the presence of stratification within some, but not all, ovine breeds. The results emphasize that careful documentation of genetic structure will be an essential prerequisite when mapping the genetic basis of complex traits. Furthermore, the identification of a subset of SNP able to assign individuals into broad groupings demonstrates even a small panel of markers may be suitable for applications such as traceability.

  8. Genome-wide linkage meta-analysis identifies susceptibility loci at 2q34 and 13q31.3 for genetic generalized epilepsies

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Leu, Costin; de Kovel, Carolien G F; Zara, Federico

    2012-01-01

    Purpose: Genetic generalized epilepsies (GGEs) have a lifetime prevalence of 0.3% with heritability estimates of 80%. A considerable proportion of families with siblings affected by GGEs presumably display an oligogenic inheritance. The present genome-wide linkage meta-analysis aimed to map: (1) ...

  9. PEPIS: A Pipeline for Estimating Epistatic Effects in Quantitative Trait Locus Mapping and Genome-Wide Association Studies.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wenchao Zhang

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available The term epistasis refers to interactions between multiple genetic loci. Genetic epistasis is important in regulating biological function and is considered to explain part of the 'missing heritability,' which involves marginal genetic effects that cannot be accounted for in genome-wide association studies. Thus, the study of epistasis is of great interest to geneticists. However, estimating epistatic effects for quantitative traits is challenging due to the large number of interaction effects that must be estimated, thus significantly increasing computing demands. Here, we present a new web server-based tool, the Pipeline for estimating EPIStatic genetic effects (PEPIS, for analyzing polygenic epistatic effects. The PEPIS software package is based on a new linear mixed model that has been used to predict the performance of hybrid rice. The PEPIS includes two main sub-pipelines: the first for kinship matrix calculation, and the second for polygenic component analyses and genome scanning for main and epistatic effects. To accommodate the demand for high-performance computation, the PEPIS utilizes C/C++ for mathematical matrix computing. In addition, the modules for kinship matrix calculations and main and epistatic-effect genome scanning employ parallel computing technology that effectively utilizes multiple computer nodes across our networked cluster, thus significantly improving the computational speed. For example, when analyzing the same immortalized F2 rice population genotypic data examined in a previous study, the PEPIS returned identical results at each analysis step with the original prototype R code, but the computational time was reduced from more than one month to about five minutes. These advances will help overcome the bottleneck frequently encountered in genome wide epistatic genetic effect analysis and enable accommodation of the high computational demand. The PEPIS is publically available at http://bioinfo.noble.org/PolyGenic_QTL/.

  10. PEPIS: A Pipeline for Estimating Epistatic Effects in Quantitative Trait Locus Mapping and Genome-Wide Association Studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Wenchao; Dai, Xinbin; Wang, Qishan; Xu, Shizhong; Zhao, Patrick X

    2016-05-01

    The term epistasis refers to interactions between multiple genetic loci. Genetic epistasis is important in regulating biological function and is considered to explain part of the 'missing heritability,' which involves marginal genetic effects that cannot be accounted for in genome-wide association studies. Thus, the study of epistasis is of great interest to geneticists. However, estimating epistatic effects for quantitative traits is challenging due to the large number of interaction effects that must be estimated, thus significantly increasing computing demands. Here, we present a new web server-based tool, the Pipeline for estimating EPIStatic genetic effects (PEPIS), for analyzing polygenic epistatic effects. The PEPIS software package is based on a new linear mixed model that has been used to predict the performance of hybrid rice. The PEPIS includes two main sub-pipelines: the first for kinship matrix calculation, and the second for polygenic component analyses and genome scanning for main and epistatic effects. To accommodate the demand for high-performance computation, the PEPIS utilizes C/C++ for mathematical matrix computing. In addition, the modules for kinship matrix calculations and main and epistatic-effect genome scanning employ parallel computing technology that effectively utilizes multiple computer nodes across our networked cluster, thus significantly improving the computational speed. For example, when analyzing the same immortalized F2 rice population genotypic data examined in a previous study, the PEPIS returned identical results at each analysis step with the original prototype R code, but the computational time was reduced from more than one month to about five minutes. These advances will help overcome the bottleneck frequently encountered in genome wide epistatic genetic effect analysis and enable accommodation of the high computational demand. The PEPIS is publically available at http://bioinfo.noble.org/PolyGenic_QTL/.

  11. Genome-Wide Association Study (GWAS) and Genome-Wide Environment Interaction Study (GWEIS) of Depressive Symptoms in African American and Hispanic/Latina Women

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dunn, Erin C.; Wiste, Anna; Radmanesh, Farid; Almli, Lynn M.; Gogarten, Stephanie M.; Sofer, Tamar; Faul, Jessica D.; Kardia, Sharon L.R.; Smith, Jennifer A.; Weir, David R.; Zhao, Wei; Soare, Thomas W.; Mirza, Saira S.; Hek, Karin; Tiemeier, Henning W.; Goveas, Joseph S.; Sarto, Gloria E.; Snively, Beverly M.; Cornelis, Marilyn; Koenen, Karestan C.; Kraft, Peter; Purcell, Shaun; Ressler, Kerry J.; Rosand, Jonathan; Wassertheil-Smoller, Sylvia; Smoller, Jordan W.

    2016-01-01

    Background Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have been unable to identify variants linked to depression. We hypothesized that examining depressive symptoms and considering gene-environment interaction (G×E) might improve efficiency for gene discovery. We therefore conducted a GWAS and genome-wide environment interaction study (GWEIS) of depressive symptoms. Methods Using data from the SHARe cohort of the Women’s Health Initiative, comprising African Americans (n=7179) and Hispanics/Latinas (n=3138), we examined genetic main effects and G×E with stressful life events and social support. We also conducted a heritability analysis using genome-wide complex trait analysis (GCTA). Replication was attempted in four independent cohorts. Results No SNPs achieved genome-wide significance for main effects in either discovery sample. The top signals in African Americans were rs73531535 (located 20kb from GPR139, p=5.75×10−8) and rs75407252 (intronic to CACNA2D3, p=6.99×10−7). In Hispanics/Latinas, the top signals were rs2532087 (located 27kb from CD38, p=2.44×10−7) and rs4542757 (intronic to DCC, p=7.31×10−7). In the GWEIS with stressful life events, one interaction signal was genome-wide significant in African Americans (rs4652467; p=4.10×10−10; located 14kb from CEP350). This interaction was not observed in a smaller replication cohort. Although heritability estimates for depressive symptoms and stressful life events were each less than 10%, they were strongly genetically correlated (rG=0.95), suggesting that common variation underlying depressive symptoms and stressful life event exposure, though modest on their own, were highly overlapping in this sample. Conclusions Our results underscore the need for larger samples, more GWEIS, and greater investigation into genetic and environmental determinants of depressive symptoms in minorities. PMID:27038408

  12. Genome-wide analysis of WRKY transcription factors in Solanum lycopersicum.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Shengxiong; Gao, Yongfeng; Liu, Jikai; Peng, Xiaoli; Niu, Xiangli; Fei, Zhangjun; Cao, Shuqing; Liu, Yongsheng

    2012-06-01

    The WRKY transcription factors have been implicated in multiple biological processes in plants, especially in regulating defense against biotic and abiotic stresses. However, little information is available about the WRKYs in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). The recent release of the whole-genome sequence of tomato allowed us to perform a genome-wide investigation for tomato WRKY proteins, and to compare these positively identified proteins with their orthologs in model plants, such as Arabidopsis and rice. In the present study, based on the recently released tomato whole-genome sequences, we identified 81 SlWRKY genes that were classified into three main groups, with the second group further divided into five subgroups. Depending on WRKY domains' sequences derived from tomato, Arabidopsis and rice, construction of a phylogenetic tree demonstrated distinct clustering and unique gene expansion of WRKY genes among the three species. Genome mapping analysis revealed that tomato WRKY genes were enriched on several chromosomes, especially on chromosome 5, and 16 % of the family members were tandemly duplicated genes. The tomato WRKYs from each group were shown to share similar motif compositions. Furthermore, tomato WRKY genes showed distinct temporal and spatial expression patterns in different developmental processes and in response to various biotic and abiotic stresses. The expression of 18 selected tomato WRKY genes in response to drought and salt stresses and Pseudomonas syringae invasion, respectively, was validated by quantitative RT-PCR. Our results will provide a platform for functional identification and molecular breeding study of WRKY genes in tomato and probably other Solanaceae plants.

  13. Single-molecule approach to bacterial genomic comparisons via optical mapping.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhou, Shiguo [Univ. Wisc.-Madison; Kile, A. [Univ. Wisc.-Madison; Bechner, M. [Univ. Wisc.-Madison; Kvikstad, E. [Univ. Wisc.-Madison; Deng, W. [Univ. Wisc.-Madison; Wei, J. [Univ. Wisc.-Madison; Severin, J. [Univ. Wisc.-Madison; Runnheim, R. [Univ. Wisc.-Madison; Churas, C. [Univ. Wisc.-Madison; Forrest, D. [Univ. Wisc.-Madison; Dimalanta, E. [Univ. Wisc.-Madison; Lamers, C. [Univ. Wisc.-Madison; Burland, V. [Univ. Wisc.-Madison; Blattner, F. R. [Univ. Wisc.-Madison; Schwartz, David C. [Univ. Wisc.-Madison

    2004-01-01

    Modern comparative genomics has been established, in part, by the sequencing and annotation of a broad range of microbial species. To gain further insights, new sequencing efforts are now dealing with the variety of strains or isolates that gives a species definition and range; however, this number vastly outstrips our ability to sequence them. Given the availability of a large number of microbial species, new whole genome approaches must be developed to fully leverage this information at the level of strain diversity that maximize discovery. Here, we describe how optical mapping, a single-molecule system, was used to identify and annotate chromosomal alterations between bacterial strains represented by several species. Since whole-genome optical maps are ordered restriction maps, sequenced strains of Shigella flexneri serotype 2a (2457T and 301), Yersinia pestis (CO 92 and KIM), and Escherichia coli were aligned as maps to identify regions of homology and to further characterize them as possible insertions, deletions, inversions, or translocations. Importantly, an unsequenced Shigella flexneri strain (serotype Y strain AMC[328Y]) was optically mapped and aligned with two sequenced ones to reveal one novel locus implicated in serotype conversion and several other loci containing insertion sequence elements or phage-related gene insertions. Our results suggest that genomic rearrangements and chromosomal breakpoints are readily identified and annotated against a prototypic sequenced strain by using the tools of optical mapping.

  14. The size of the nucleosome

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bohr, Jakob; Olsen, Kasper

    2011-01-01

    is a necessity when allowing for transient tensile stresses during the reorganization of DNA, e.g., during the reposition, or sliding, of a nucleosome along the DNA double helix. The mathematical model we apply is based on a tubular description of double helices assuming hard walls. When the base...

  15. Alignment of Escherichia coli K12 DNA sequences to a genomic restriction map.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rudd, K E; Miller, W; Ostell, J; Benson, D A

    1990-01-25

    We use the extensive published information describing the genome of Escherichia coli and new restriction map alignment software to align DNA sequence, genetic, and physical maps. Restriction map alignment software is used which considers restriction maps as strings analogous to DNA or protein sequences except that two values, enzyme name and DNA base address, are associated with each position on the string. The resulting alignments reveal a nearly linear relationship between the physical and genetic maps of the E. coli chromosome. Physical map comparisons with the 1976, 1980, and 1983 genetic maps demonstrate a better fit with the more recent maps. The results of these alignments are genomic kilobase coordinates, orientation and rank of the alignment that best fits the genetic data. A statistical measure based on extreme value distribution is applied to the alignments. Additional computer analyses allow us to estimate the accuracy of the published E. coli genomic restriction map, simulate rearrangements of the bacterial chromosome, and search for repetitive DNA. The procedures we used are general enough to be applicable to other genome mapping projects.

  16. Fine-scale maps of recombination rates and hotspots in the mouse genome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brunschwig, Hadassa; Levi, Liat; Ben-David, Eyal; Williams, Robert W; Yakir, Benjamin; Shifman, Sagiv

    2012-07-01

    Recombination events are not uniformly distributed and often cluster in narrow regions known as recombination hotspots. Several studies using different approaches have dramatically advanced our understanding of recombination hotspot regulation. Population genetic data have been used to map and quantify hotspots in the human genome. Genetic variation in recombination rates and hotspots usage have been explored in human pedigrees, mouse intercrosses, and by sperm typing. These studies pointed to the central role of the PRDM9 gene in hotspot modulation. In this study, we used single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from whole-genome resequencing and genotyping studies of mouse inbred strains to estimate recombination rates across the mouse genome and identified 47,068 historical hotspots--an average of over 2477 per chromosome. We show by simulation that inbred mouse strains can be used to identify positions of historical hotspots. Recombination hotspots were found to be enriched for the predicted binding sequences for different alleles of the PRDM9 protein. Recombination rates were on average lower near transcription start sites (TSS). Comparing the inferred historical recombination hotspots with the recent genome-wide mapping of double-strand breaks (DSBs) in mouse sperm revealed a significant overlap, especially toward the telomeres. Our results suggest that inbred strains can be used to characterize and study the dynamics of historical recombination hotspots. They also strengthen previous findings on mouse recombination hotspots, and specifically the impact of sequence variants in Prdm9.

  17. A Genome-Wide Breast Cancer Scan in African Americans

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-06-01

    SNPs from the African American breast cancer scan to COGs , a European collaborative study which is has designed a SNP array with that will be genotyped...Award Number: W81XWH-08-1-0383 TITLE: A Genome-wide Breast Cancer Scan in African Americans PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Christopher A...SUBTITLE A Genome-wide Breast Cancer Scan in African Americans 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER W81XWH-08-1-0383 5c. PROGRAM

  18. Split photosystem protein, linear-mapping topology, and growth of structural complexity in the plastid genome of chromera velia

    KAUST Repository

    Janouškovec, Jan

    2013-08-22

    The canonical photosynthetic plastid genomes consist of a single circular-mapping chromosome that encodes a highly conserved protein core, involved in photosynthesis and ATP generation. Here, we demonstrate that the plastid genome of the photosynthetic relative of apicomplexans, Chromera velia, departs from this view in several unique ways. Core photosynthesis proteins PsaA and AtpB have been broken into two fragments, which we show are independently transcribed, oligoU-tailed, translated, and assembled into functional photosystem I and ATP synthase complexes. Genome-wide transcription profiles support expression of many other highly modified proteins, including several that contain extensions amounting to hundreds of amino acids in length. Canonical gene clusters and operons have been fragmented and reshuffled into novel putative transcriptional units. Massive genomic coverage by paired-end reads, coupled with pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and polymerase chain reaction, consistently indicate that the C. velia plastid genome is linear-mapping, a unique state among all plastids. Abundant intragenomic duplication probably mediated by recombination can explain protein splits, extensions, and genome linearization and is perhaps the key driving force behind the many features that defy the conventional ways of plastid genome architecture and function. © The Author 2013.

  19. A brief histone in time: understanding the combinatorial functions of histone PTMs in the nucleosome context.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ng, Marlee K; Cheung, Peter

    2016-02-01

    It has been over 50 years since Allfrey et al. proposed that histone acetylation regulates RNA synthesis, and the study of histone modifications has progressed at an extraordinary pace for the past two decades. In this review, we provide a perspective on some key events and advances in our understanding of histone modifications. We also highlight reagents and tools from past to present that facilitated progress in this research field. Using histone H3 phosphorylation as an underlying thread, we review the rationale that led to the proposal of the histone code hypothesis, as well as examples that illustrate the concepts of combinatorial histone modifications and cross-talk pathways. We further highlight the importance of investigating these mechanisms in the context of nucleosomes rather than just at the histone level and present current and developing approaches for such studies. Overall, research on histone modifications has yielded great mechanistic insights into the regulation of genomic functions, and extending these studies using nucleosomes will further elucidate the complexity of these pathways in a more physiologically relevant context.

  20. Extracellular histones, cell-free DNA, or nucleosomes: differences in immunostimulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marsman, Gerben; Zeerleder, Sacha; Luken, Brenda M

    2016-12-08

    In inflammation, extensive cell death may occur, which results in the release of chromatin components into the extracellular environment. Individually, the purified chromatin components double stranded (ds)DNA and histones have been demonstrated, both in vitro and in vivo, to display various immunostimulatory effects, for example, histones induce cytotoxicity and proinflammatory signaling through toll-like receptor (TLR)2 and 4, while DNA induces signaling through TLR9 and intracellular nucleic acid sensing mechanisms. However, DNA and histones are organized in nucleosomes in the nucleus, and evidence suggests that nucleosomes are released as such in inflammation. The cytotoxicity and proinflammatory signaling induced by nucleosomes have not been studied as extensively as the separate effects brought about by histones and dsDNA, and there appear to be some marked differences. Remarkably, little distinction between the different forms in which histones circulate has been made throughout literature. This is partly due to the limitations of existing techniques to differentiate between histones in their free or DNA-bound form. Here we review the current understanding of immunostimulation induced by extracellular histones, dsDNA and nucleosomes, and discuss the importance of techniques that in their detection differentiate between these different chromatin components.

  1. Comparative mapping in intraspecific populations uncovers a high degree of macrosynteny between A- and B-genome diploid species of peanut

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guo Yufang

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Cultivated peanut or groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L. is an important oilseed crop with an allotetraploid genome (AABB, 2n = 4x = 40. Both the low level of genetic variation within the cultivated gene pool and its polyploid nature limit the utilization of molecular markers to explore genome structure and facilitate genetic improvement. Nevertheless, a wealth of genetic diversity exists in diploid Arachis species (2n = 2x = 20, which represent a valuable gene pool for cultivated peanut improvement. Interspecific populations have been used widely for genetic mapping in diploid species of Arachis. However, an intraspecific mapping strategy was essential to detect chromosomal rearrangements among species that could be obscured by mapping in interspecific populations. To develop intraspecific reference linkage maps and gain insights into karyotypic evolution within the genus, we comparatively mapped the A- and B-genome diploid species using intraspecific F2 populations. Exploring genome organization among diploid peanut species by comparative mapping will enhance our understanding of the cultivated tetraploid peanut genome. Moreover, new sources of molecular markers that are highly transferable between species and developed from expressed genes will be required to construct saturated genetic maps for peanut. Results A total of 2,138 EST-SSR (expressed sequence tag-simple sequence repeat markers were developed by mining a tetraploid peanut EST assembly including 101,132 unigenes (37,916 contigs and 63,216 singletons derived from 70,771 long-read (Sanger and 270,957 short-read (454 sequences. A set of 97 SSR markers were also developed by mining 9,517 genomic survey sequences of Arachis. An SSR-based intraspecific linkage map was constructed using an F2 population derived from a cross between K 9484 (PI 298639 and GKBSPSc 30081 (PI 468327 in the B-genome species A. batizocoi. A high degree of macrosynteny was observed

  2. Definition of the zebrafish genome using flow cytometry and cytogenetic mapping

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhou Yi

    2007-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The zebrafish (Danio rerio is an important vertebrate model organism system for biomedical research. The syntenic conservation between the zebrafish and human genome allows one to investigate the function of human genes using the zebrafish model. To facilitate analysis of the zebrafish genome, genetic maps have been constructed and sequence annotation of a reference zebrafish genome is ongoing. However, the duplicative nature of teleost genomes, including the zebrafish, complicates accurate assembly and annotation of a representative genome sequence. Cytogenetic approaches provide "anchors" that can be integrated with accumulating genomic data. Results Here, we cytogenetically define the zebrafish genome by first estimating the size of each linkage group (LG chromosome using flow cytometry, followed by the cytogenetic mapping of 575 bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC clones onto metaphase chromosomes. Of the 575 BAC clones, 544 clones localized to apparently unique chromosomal locations. 93.8% of these clones were assigned to a specific LG chromosome location using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH and compared to the LG chromosome assignment reported in the zebrafish genome databases. Thirty-one BAC clones localized to multiple chromosomal locations in several different hybridization patterns. From these data, a refined second generation probe panel for each LG chromosome was also constructed. Conclusion The chromosomal mapping of the 575 large-insert DNA clones allows for these clones to be integrated into existing zebrafish mapping data. An accurately annotated zebrafish reference genome serves as a valuable resource for investigating the molecular basis of human diseases using zebrafish mutant models.

  3. Genome-wide association studies and resting heart rate

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Oskari Kilpeläinen, Tuomas

    2016-01-01

    Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have revolutionized the search for genetic variants regulating resting heart rate. In the last 10 years, GWASs have led to the identification of at least 21 novel heart rate loci. These discoveries have provided valuable insights into the mechanisms...... and pathways that regulate heart rate and link heart rate to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. GWASs capture majority of genetic variation in a population sample by utilizing high-throughput genotyping chips measuring genotypes for up to several millions of SNPs across the genome in thousands...... of individuals. This allows the identification of the strongest heart rate associated signals at genome-wide level. While GWASs provide robust statistical evidence of the association of a given genetic locus with heart rate, they are only the starting point for detailed follow-up studies to locate the causal...

  4. A second generation genetic map of the bumblebee Bombus terrestris (Linnaeus, 1758 reveals slow genome and chromosome evolution in the Apidae

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kube Michael

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The bumblebee Bombus terrestris is an ecologically and economically important pollinator and has become an important biological model system. To study fundamental evolutionary questions at the genomic level, a high resolution genetic linkage map is an essential tool for analyses ranging from quantitative trait loci (QTL mapping to genome assembly and comparative genomics. We here present a saturated linkage map and match it with the Apis mellifera genome using homologous markers. This genome-wide comparison allows insights into structural conservations and rearrangements and thus the evolution on a chromosomal level. Results The high density linkage map covers ~ 93% of the B. terrestris genome on 18 linkage groups (LGs and has a length of 2'047 cM with an average marker distance of 4.02 cM. Based on a genome size of ~ 430 Mb, the recombination rate estimate is 4.76 cM/Mb. Sequence homologies of 242 homologous markers allowed to match 15 B. terrestris with A. mellifera LGs, five of them as composites. Comparing marker orders between both genomes we detect over 14% of the genome to be organized in synteny and 21% in rearranged blocks on the same homologous LG. Conclusions This study demonstrates that, despite the very high recombination rates of both A. mellifera and B. terrestris and a long divergence time of about 100 million years, the genomes' genetic architecture is highly conserved. This reflects a slow genome evolution in these bees. We show that data on genome organization and conserved molecular markers can be used as a powerful tool for comparative genomics and evolutionary studies, opening up new avenues of research in the Apidae.

  5. Crowding-induced transcriptional bursts dictate polymerase and nucleosome density profiles along genes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van den Berg, A.A.; Depken, S.M.

    2017-01-01

    During eukaryotic transcription, RNA polymerase (RNAP) translocates along DNA molecules covered with nucleosomes and other DNA binding proteins. Though the interactions between a single nucleosome and RNAP are by now fairly well understood, this understanding has not been synthesized into a

  6. Identification of New Resistance Loci to African Stem Rust Race TTKSK in Tetraploid Wheats Based on Linkage and Genome-Wide Association Mapping.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laidò, Giovanni; Panio, Giosuè; Marone, Daniela; Russo, Maria A; Ficco, Donatella B M; Giovanniello, Valentina; Cattivelli, Luigi; Steffenson, Brian; de Vita, Pasquale; Mastrangelo, Anna M

    2015-01-01

    Stem rust, caused by Puccinia graminis Pers. f. sp. tritici Eriks. and E. Henn. (Pgt), is one of the most destructive diseases of wheat. Races of the pathogen in the "Ug99 lineage" are of international concern due to their virulence for widely used stem rust resistance genes and their spread throughout Africa. Disease resistant cultivars provide one of the best means for controlling stem rust. To identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) conferring resistance to African stem rust race TTKSK at the seedling stage, we evaluated an association mapping (AM) panel consisting of 230 tetraploid wheat accessions under greenhouse conditions. A high level of phenotypic variation was observed in response to race TTKSK in the AM panel, allowing for genome-wide association mapping of resistance QTL in wild, landrace, and cultivated tetraploid wheats. Thirty-five resistance QTL were identified on all chromosomes, and seventeen are of particular interest as identified by multiple associations. Many of the identified resistance loci were coincident with previously identified rust resistance genes; however, nine on chromosomes 1AL, 2AL, 4AL, 5BL, and 7BS may be novel. To validate AM results, a biparental population of 146 recombinant inbred lines was also considered, which derived from a cross between the resistant cultivar "Cirillo" and susceptible "Neodur." The stem rust resistance of Cirillo was conferred by a single gene on the distal region of chromosome arm 6AL in an interval map coincident with the resistance gene Sr13, and confirmed one of the resistance loci identified by AM. A search for candidate resistance genes was carried out in the regions where QTL were identified, and many of them corresponded to NBS-LRR genes and protein kinases with LRR domains. The results obtained in the present study are of great interest as a high level of genetic variability for resistance to race TTKSK was described in a germplasm panel comprising most of the tetraploid wheat sub-species.

  7. Toward allotetraploid cotton genome assembly: integration of a high-density molecular genetic linkage map with DNA sequence information

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-01

    Background Cotton is the world’s most important natural textile fiber and a significant oilseed crop. Decoding cotton genomes will provide the ultimate reference and resource for research and utilization of the species. Integration of high-density genetic maps with genomic sequence information will largely accelerate the process of whole-genome assembly in cotton. Results In this paper, we update a high-density interspecific genetic linkage map of allotetraploid cultivated cotton. An additional 1,167 marker loci have been added to our previously published map of 2,247 loci. Three new marker types, InDel (insertion-deletion) and SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) developed from gene information, and REMAP (retrotransposon-microsatellite amplified polymorphism), were used to increase map density. The updated map consists of 3,414 loci in 26 linkage groups covering 3,667.62 cM with an average inter-locus distance of 1.08 cM. Furthermore, genome-wide sequence analysis was finished using 3,324 informative sequence-based markers and publicly-available Gossypium DNA sequence information. A total of 413,113 EST and 195 BAC sequences were physically anchored and clustered by 3,324 sequence-based markers. Of these, 14,243 ESTs and 188 BACs from different species of Gossypium were clustered and specifically anchored to the high-density genetic map. A total of 2,748 candidate unigenes from 2,111 ESTs clusters and 63 BACs were mined for functional annotation and classification. The 337 ESTs/genes related to fiber quality traits were integrated with 132 previously reported cotton fiber quality quantitative trait loci, which demonstrated the important roles in fiber quality of these genes. Higher-level sequence conservation between different cotton species and between the A- and D-subgenomes in tetraploid cotton was found, indicating a common evolutionary origin for orthologous and paralogous loci in Gossypium. Conclusion This study will serve as a valuable genomic resource

  8. Understanding the connection between epigenetic DNA methylation and nucleosome positioning from computer simulations.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guillem Portella

    Full Text Available Cytosine methylation is one of the most important epigenetic marks that regulate the process of gene expression. Here, we have examined the effect of epigenetic DNA methylation on nucleosomal stability using molecular dynamics simulations and elastic deformation models. We found that methylation of CpG steps destabilizes nucleosomes, especially when these are placed in sites where the DNA minor groove faces the histone core. The larger stiffness of methylated CpG steps is a crucial factor behind the decrease in nucleosome stability. Methylation changes the positioning and phasing of the nucleosomal DNA, altering the accessibility of DNA to regulatory proteins, and accordingly gene functionality. Our theoretical calculations highlight a simple physical-based explanation on the foundations of epigenetic signaling.

  9. Adiponectin Concentrations: A Genome-wide Association Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jee, Sun Ha; Sull, Jae Woong; Lee, Jong-Eun; Shin, Chol; Park, Jongkeun; Kimm, Heejin; Cho, Eun-Young; Shin, Eun-Soon; Yun, Ji Eun; Park, Ji Wan; Kim, Sang Yeun; Lee, Sun Ju; Jee, Eun Jung; Baik, Inkyung; Kao, Linda; Yoon, Sungjoo Kim; Jang, Yangsoo; Beaty, Terri H.

    2010-01-01

    Adiponectin is associated with obesity and insulin resistance. To date, there has been no genome-wide association study (GWAS) of adiponectin levels in Asians. Here we present a GWAS of a cohort of Korean volunteers. A total of 4,001 subjects were genotyped by using a genome-wide marker panel in a two-stage design (979 subjects initially and 3,022 in a second stage). Another 2,304 subjects were used for follow-up replication studies with selected markers. In the discovery phase, the top SNP associated with mean log adiponectin was rs3865188 in CDH13 on chromosome 16 (p = 1.69 × 10−15 in the initial sample, p = 6.58 × 10−39 in the second genome-wide sample, and p = 2.12 × 10−32 in the replication sample). The meta-analysis p value for rs3865188 in all 6,305 individuals was 2.82 × 10−83. The association of rs3865188 with high-molecular-weight adiponectin (p = 7.36 × 10−58) was even stronger in the third sample. A reporter assay that evaluated the effects of a CDH13 promoter SNP in complete linkage disequilibrium with rs3865188 revealed that the major allele increased expression 2.2-fold. This study clearly shows that genetic variants in CDH13 influence adiponectin levels in Korean adults. PMID:20887962

  10. Construction of high resolution genetic linkage maps to improve the soybean genome sequence assembly Glyma1.01

    Science.gov (United States)

    A landmark in soybean research, Glyma1.01, the first whole genome sequence of variety Williams 82 (Glycine max L. Merr.) was completed in 2010 and is widely used. However, because the assembly was primarily built based on the linkage maps constructed with a limited number of markers and recombinant...

  11. Nucleosomes and histones are present in glomerular deposits in human lupus nephritis

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    vanBruggen, MCJ; Kramers, C; Walgreen, B; Elema, JD; Kallenberg, CGM; vandenBorn, J; Smeenk, RJT; Assmann, KJM; Muller, S; Monestier, M; Berden, JHM

    Background. Recently we showed that antinuclear autoantibodies complexed to nucleosomes can bind to heparan sulphate (HS) in the glomerular basement membrane (GEM) via the histone part of the nucleosome. Histones have been identified in glomerular deposits in human and murine lupus nephritis. In

  12. Genome-Wide Association Mapping of Loci Associated with Plant Growth and Forage Production under Salt Stress in Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiang-Ping Liu

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Salinity tolerance is highly desirable to sustain alfalfa production in marginal lands that have been rendered saline. In this study, we used a diverse panel of 198 alfalfa accessions for mapping loci associated with plant growth and forage production under salt stress using genome-wide association studies (GWAS. The plants were genotyped using genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS. A greenhouse procedure was used for phenotyping four agronomic and physiological traits affected by salt stress, including dry weight (DW, plant height (PH, leaf chlorophyll content (LCC, and stomatal conductance (SC. For each trait, a stress susceptibility index (SSI was used to evaluate plant performance under stressed and non-stressed conditions. Marker-trait association identified a total of 42 markers significantly associated with salt tolerance. They were located on all chromosomes except chromosome 2 based on the alignment of their flanking sequences to the reference genome (Medicago truncatula. Of those identified, 13 were associated with multiple traits. Several loci identified in the present study were also identified in previous reports. BLAST search revealed that 19 putative candidate genes linked to 24 significant markers. Among them, B3 DNA-binding protein, Thiaminepyrophosphokinase and IQ calmodulin-binding motif protein were identified among multiple traits in the present and previous studies. With further investigation, these markers and candidates would be useful for developing markers for marker-assisted selection in breeding programs to improve alfalfa cultivars with enhanced tolerance to salt stress.

  13. Genome-wide association study identifies five new schizophrenia loci.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Ripke, Stephan

    2011-10-01

    We examined the role of common genetic variation in schizophrenia in a genome-wide association study of substantial size: a stage 1 discovery sample of 21,856 individuals of European ancestry and a stage 2 replication sample of 29,839 independent subjects. The combined stage 1 and 2 analysis yielded genome-wide significant associations with schizophrenia for seven loci, five of which are new (1p21.3, 2q32.3, 8p23.2, 8q21.3 and 10q24.32-q24.33) and two of which have been previously implicated (6p21.32-p22.1 and 18q21.2). The strongest new finding (P = 1.6 × 10(-11)) was with rs1625579 within an intron of a putative primary transcript for MIR137 (microRNA 137), a known regulator of neuronal development. Four other schizophrenia loci achieving genome-wide significance contain predicted targets of MIR137, suggesting MIR137-mediated dysregulation as a previously unknown etiologic mechanism in schizophrenia. In a joint analysis with a bipolar disorder sample (16,374 affected individuals and 14,044 controls), three loci reached genome-wide significance: CACNA1C (rs4765905, P = 7.0 × 10(-9)), ANK3 (rs10994359, P = 2.5 × 10(-8)) and the ITIH3-ITIH4 region (rs2239547, P = 7.8 × 10(-9)).

  14. Multiple aspects of ATP-dependent nucleosome translocation by RSC and Mi-2 are directed by the underlying DNA sequence.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joke J F A van Vugt

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Chromosome structure, DNA metabolic processes and cell type identity can all be affected by changing the positions of nucleosomes along chromosomal DNA, a reaction that is catalysed by SNF2-type ATP-driven chromatin remodelers. Recently it was suggested that in vivo, more than 50% of the nucleosome positions can be predicted simply by DNA sequence, especially within promoter regions. This seemingly contrasts with remodeler induced nucleosome mobility. The ability of remodeling enzymes to mobilise nucleosomes over short DNA distances is well documented. However, the nucleosome translocation processivity along DNA remains elusive. Furthermore, it is unknown what determines the initial direction of movement and how new nucleosome positions are adopted. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We have used AFM imaging and high resolution PAGE of mononucleosomes on 600 and 2500 bp DNA molecules to analyze ATP-dependent nucleosome repositioning by native and recombinant SNF2-type enzymes. We report that the underlying DNA sequence can control the initial direction of translocation, translocation distance, as well as the new positions adopted by nucleosomes upon enzymatic mobilization. Within a strong nucleosomal positioning sequence both recombinant Drosophila Mi-2 (CHD-type and native RSC from yeast (SWI/SNF-type repositioned the nucleosome at 10 bp intervals, which are intrinsic to the positioning sequence. Furthermore, RSC-catalyzed nucleosome translocation was noticeably more efficient when beyond the influence of this sequence. Interestingly, under limiting ATP conditions RSC preferred to position the nucleosome with 20 bp intervals within the positioning sequence, suggesting that native RSC preferentially translocates nucleosomes with 15 to 25 bp DNA steps. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Nucleosome repositioning thus appears to be influenced by both remodeler intrinsic and DNA sequence specific properties that interplay to define ATPase

  15. ChIP on SNP-chip for genome-wide analysis of human histone H4 hyperacetylation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Porter Christopher J

    2007-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background SNP microarrays are designed to genotype Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs. These microarrays report hybridization of DNA fragments and therefore can be used for the purpose of detecting genomic fragments. Results Here, we demonstrate that a SNP microarray can be effectively used in this way to perform chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP on chip as an alternative to tiling microarrays. We illustrate this novel application by mapping whole genome histone H4 hyperacetylation in human myoblasts and myotubes. We detect clusters of hyperacetylated histone H4, often spanning across up to 300 kilobases of genomic sequence. Using complementary genome-wide analyses of gene expression by DNA microarray we demonstrate that these clusters of hyperacetylated histone H4 tend to be associated with expressed genes. Conclusion The use of a SNP array for a ChIP-on-chip application (ChIP on SNP-chip will be of great value to laboratories whose interest is the determination of general rules regarding the relationship of specific chromatin modifications to transcriptional status throughout the genome and to examine the asymmetric modification of chromatin at heterozygous loci.

  16. Integration of linkage maps for the Amphidiploid Brassica napus and comparative mapping with Arabidopsis and Brassica rapa

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Delourme Régine

    2011-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The large number of genetic linkage maps representing Brassica chromosomes constitute a potential platform for studying crop traits and genome evolution within Brassicaceae. However, the alignment of existing maps remains a major challenge. The integration of these genetic maps will enhance genetic resolution, and provide a means to navigate between sequence-tagged loci, and with contiguous genome sequences as these become available. Results We report the first genome-wide integration of Brassica maps based on an automated pipeline which involved collation of genome-wide genotype data for sequence-tagged markers scored on three extensively used amphidiploid Brassica napus (2n = 38 populations. Representative markers were selected from consolidated maps for each population, and skeleton bin maps were generated. The skeleton maps for the three populations were then combined to generate an integrated map for each LG, comparing two different approaches, one encapsulated in JoinMap and the other in MergeMap. The BnaWAIT_01_2010a integrated genetic map was generated using JoinMap, and includes 5,162 genetic markers mapped onto 2,196 loci, with a total genetic length of 1,792 cM. The map density of one locus every 0.82 cM, corresponding to 515 Kbp, increases by at least three-fold the locus and marker density within the original maps. Within the B. napus integrated map we identified 103 conserved collinearity blocks relative to Arabidopsis, including five previously unreported blocks. The BnaWAIT_01_2010a map was used to investigate the integrity and conservation of order proposed for genome sequence scaffolds generated from the constituent A genome of Brassica rapa. Conclusions Our results provide a comprehensive genetic integration of the B. napus genome from a range of sources, which we anticipate will provide valuable information for rapeseed and Canola research.

  17. FGWAS: Functional genome wide association analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Chao; Thompson, Paul; Wang, Yalin; Yu, Yang; Zhang, Jingwen; Kong, Dehan; Colen, Rivka R; Knickmeyer, Rebecca C; Zhu, Hongtu

    2017-10-01

    Functional phenotypes (e.g., subcortical surface representation), which commonly arise in imaging genetic studies, have been used to detect putative genes for complexly inherited neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders. However, existing statistical methods largely ignore the functional features (e.g., functional smoothness and correlation). The aim of this paper is to develop a functional genome-wide association analysis (FGWAS) framework to efficiently carry out whole-genome analyses of functional phenotypes. FGWAS consists of three components: a multivariate varying coefficient model, a global sure independence screening procedure, and a test procedure. Compared with the standard multivariate regression model, the multivariate varying coefficient model explicitly models the functional features of functional phenotypes through the integration of smooth coefficient functions and functional principal component analysis. Statistically, compared with existing methods for genome-wide association studies (GWAS), FGWAS can substantially boost the detection power for discovering important genetic variants influencing brain structure and function. Simulation studies show that FGWAS outperforms existing GWAS methods for searching sparse signals in an extremely large search space, while controlling for the family-wise error rate. We have successfully applied FGWAS to large-scale analysis of data from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative for 708 subjects, 30,000 vertices on the left and right hippocampal surfaces, and 501,584 SNPs. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  18. Polytene chromosomal maps of 11 Drosophila species: the order of genomic scaffolds inferred from genetic and physical maps.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schaeffer, Stephen W; Bhutkar, Arjun; McAllister, Bryant F; Matsuda, Muneo; Matzkin, Luciano M; O'Grady, Patrick M; Rohde, Claudia; Valente, Vera L S; Aguadé, Montserrat; Anderson, Wyatt W; Edwards, Kevin; Garcia, Ana C L; Goodman, Josh; Hartigan, James; Kataoka, Eiko; Lapoint, Richard T; Lozovsky, Elena R; Machado, Carlos A; Noor, Mohamed A F; Papaceit, Montserrat; Reed, Laura K; Richards, Stephen; Rieger, Tania T; Russo, Susan M; Sato, Hajime; Segarra, Carmen; Smith, Douglas R; Smith, Temple F; Strelets, Victor; Tobari, Yoshiko N; Tomimura, Yoshihiko; Wasserman, Marvin; Watts, Thomas; Wilson, Robert; Yoshida, Kiyohito; Markow, Therese A; Gelbart, William M; Kaufman, Thomas C

    2008-07-01

    The sequencing of the 12 genomes of members of the genus Drosophila was taken as an opportunity to reevaluate the genetic and physical maps for 11 of the species, in part to aid in the mapping of assembled scaffolds. Here, we present an overview of the importance of cytogenetic maps to Drosophila biology and to the concepts of chromosomal evolution. Physical and genetic markers were used to anchor the genome assembly scaffolds to the polytene chromosomal maps for each species. In addition, a computational approach was used to anchor smaller scaffolds on the basis of the analysis of syntenic blocks. We present the chromosomal map data from each of the 11 sequenced non-Drosophila melanogaster species as a series of sections. Each section reviews the history of the polytene chromosome maps for each species, presents the new polytene chromosome maps, and anchors the genomic scaffolds to the cytological maps using genetic and physical markers. The mapping data agree with Muller's idea that the majority of Drosophila genes are syntenic. Despite the conservation of genes within homologous chromosome arms across species, the karyotypes of these species have changed through the fusion of chromosomal arms followed by subsequent rearrangement events.

  19. The Nucleosome Acidic Patch Regulates the H2B K123 Monoubiquitylation Cascade and Transcription Elongation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christine E Cucinotta

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available Eukaryotes regulate gene expression and other nuclear processes through the posttranslational modification of histones. In S. cerevisiae, the mono-ubiquitylation of histone H2B on lysine 123 (H2B K123ub affects nucleosome stability, broadly influences gene expression and other DNA-templated processes, and is a prerequisite for additional conserved histone modifications that are associated with active transcription, namely the methylation of lysine residues in H3. While the enzymes that promote these chromatin marks are known, regions of the nucleosome required for the recruitment of these enzymes are undefined. To identify histone residues required for H2B K123ub, we exploited a functional interaction between the ubiquitin-protein ligase, Rkr1/Ltn1, and H2B K123ub in S. cerevisiae. Specifically, we performed a synthetic lethal screen with cells lacking RKR1 and a comprehensive library of H2A and H2B residue substitutions, and identified H2A residues that are required for H2B K123ub. Many of these residues map to the nucleosome acidic patch. The substitutions in the acidic patch confer varying histone modification defects downstream of H2B K123ub, indicating that this region contributes differentially to multiple histone modifications. Interestingly, substitutions in the acidic patch result in decreased recruitment of H2B K123ub machinery to active genes and defects in transcription elongation and termination. Together, our findings reveal a role for the nucleosome acidic patch in recruitment of histone modification machinery and maintenance of transcriptional integrity.

  20. Meta-analysis of genome-wide association from genomic prediction models

    Science.gov (United States)

    A limitation of many genome-wide association studies (GWA) in animal breeding is that there are many loci with small effect sizes; thus, larger sample sizes (N) are required to guarantee suitable power of detection. To increase sample size, results from different GWA can be combined in a meta-analys...

  1. Radiation hybrid mapping as one of the main methods of the creation of high resolution maps of human and animal genomes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sulimova, G.E.; Kompanijtsev, A.A.; Mojsyak, E.V.; Rakhmanaliev, Eh.R.; Klimov, E.A.; Udina, I.G.; Zakharov, I.A.

    2000-01-01

    Radiation hybrid mapping (RH mapping) is considered as one of the main method of constructing physical maps of mammalian genomes. In introduction, theoretical prerequisites of developing of the RH mapping and statistical methods of data analysis are discussed. Comparative characteristics of universal commercial panels of the radiation hybrid somatic cells (RH panels) are shown. In experimental part of the work, RH mapping is used to localize nucleotide sequences adjacent to Not I sites of human chromosome 3 with the aim to integrate contig map of Nor I clones to comprehensive maps of human genome. Five nucleotide sequences adjacent to the sites of integration of papilloma virus in human genome and expressed in the cells of cervical cancer involved localized. It is demonstrated that the region 13q14.3-q21.1 was enriched with nucleotide sequences involved in the processes of carcinogenesis. RH mapping can be considered as one of the most perspective applications of modern radiation biology in the field of molecular genetics, that is, in constructing physical maps of mammalian genomes with high resolution level [ru

  2. GenomeVx: simple web-based creation of editable circular chromosome maps.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Conant, Gavin C; Wolfe, Kenneth H

    2008-03-15

    We describe GenomeVx, a web-based tool for making editable, publication-quality, maps of mitochondrial and chloroplast genomes and of large plasmids. These maps show the location of genes and chromosomal features as well as a position scale. The program takes as input either raw feature positions or GenBank records. In the latter case, features are automatically extracted and colored, an example of which is given. Output is in the Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) and can be edited by programs such as Adobe Illustrator. GenomeVx is available at http://wolfe.gen.tcd.ie/GenomeVx

  3. Revisiting the classification of curtoviruses based on genome-wide pairwise identity

    KAUST Repository

    Varsani, Arvind; Martin, Darren Patrick; Navas-Castillo, Jesú s; Moriones, Enrique; Herná ndez-Zepeda, Cecilia; Idris, Ali; Murilo Zerbini, F.; Brown, Judith K.

    2014-01-01

    Members of the genus Curtovirus (family Geminiviridae) are important pathogens of many wild and cultivated plant species. Until recently, relatively few full curtovirus genomes have been characterised. However, with the 19 full genome sequences now available in public databases, we revisit the proposed curtovirus species and strain classification criteria. Using pairwise identities coupled with phylogenetic evidence, revised species and strain demarcation guidelines have been instituted. Specifically, we have established 77% genome-wide pairwise identity as a species demarcation threshold and 94% genome-wide pairwise identity as a strain demarcation threshold. Hence, whereas curtovirus sequences with >77% genome-wide pairwise identity would be classified as belonging to the same species, those sharing >94% identity would be classified as belonging to the same strain. We provide step-by-step guidelines to facilitate the classification of newly discovered curtovirus full genome sequences and a set of defined criteria for naming new species and strains. The revision yields three curtovirus species: Beet curly top virus (BCTV), Spinach severe surly top virus (SpSCTV) and Horseradish curly top virus (HrCTV). © 2014 Springer-Verlag Wien.

  4. Revisiting the classification of curtoviruses based on genome-wide pairwise identity

    KAUST Repository

    Varsani, Arvind

    2014-01-25

    Members of the genus Curtovirus (family Geminiviridae) are important pathogens of many wild and cultivated plant species. Until recently, relatively few full curtovirus genomes have been characterised. However, with the 19 full genome sequences now available in public databases, we revisit the proposed curtovirus species and strain classification criteria. Using pairwise identities coupled with phylogenetic evidence, revised species and strain demarcation guidelines have been instituted. Specifically, we have established 77% genome-wide pairwise identity as a species demarcation threshold and 94% genome-wide pairwise identity as a strain demarcation threshold. Hence, whereas curtovirus sequences with >77% genome-wide pairwise identity would be classified as belonging to the same species, those sharing >94% identity would be classified as belonging to the same strain. We provide step-by-step guidelines to facilitate the classification of newly discovered curtovirus full genome sequences and a set of defined criteria for naming new species and strains. The revision yields three curtovirus species: Beet curly top virus (BCTV), Spinach severe surly top virus (SpSCTV) and Horseradish curly top virus (HrCTV). © 2014 Springer-Verlag Wien.

  5. Genome-Wide Association Study Reveals Natural Variations Contributing to Drought Resistance in Crops

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hongwei Wang

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Crops are often cultivated in regions where they will face environmental adversities; resulting in substantial yield loss which can ultimately lead to food and societal problems. Thus, significant efforts have been made to breed stress tolerant cultivars in an attempt to minimize these problems and to produce more stability with respect to crop yields across broad geographies. Since stress tolerance is a complex and multi-genic trait, advancements with classical breeding approaches have been challenging. On the other hand, molecular breeding, which is based on transgenics, marker-assisted selection and genome editing technologies; holds great promise to enable farmers to better cope with these challenges. However, identification of the key genetic components underlying the trait is critical and will serve as the foundation for future crop genetic improvement. Recently, genome-wide association studies have made significant contributions to facilitate the discovery of natural variation contributing to stress tolerance in crops. From these studies, the identified loci can serve as targets for genomic selection or editing to enable the molecular design of new cultivars. Here, we summarize research progress on this issue and focus on the genetic basis of drought tolerance as revealed by genome-wide association studies and quantitative trait loci mapping. Although many favorable loci have been identified, elucidation of their molecular mechanisms contributing to increased stress tolerance still remains a challenge. Thus, continuous efforts are still required to functionally dissect this complex trait through comprehensive approaches, such as system biological studies. It is expected that proper application of the acquired knowledge will enable the development of stress tolerant cultivars; allowing agricultural production to become more sustainable under dynamic environmental conditions.

  6. a potential source of spurious associations in genome-wide ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    2010-04-01

    Apr 1, 2010 ... Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) examine the entire human genome with the goal of identifying genetic variants. (usually single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)) that are associated with phenotypic traits such as disease status and drug response. The discordance of significantly associated ...

  7. Evaluating genome-wide DNA methylation changes in mice by Methylation Specific Digital Karyotyping

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maruoka Shuichiro

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The study of genome-wide DNA methylation changes has become more accessible with the development of various array-based technologies though when studying species other than human the choice of applications are limited and not always within reach. In this study, we adapted and tested the applicability of Methylation Specific Digital Karyotyping (MSDK, a non-array based method, for the prospective analysis of epigenetic changes after perinatal nutritional modifications in a mouse model of allergic airway disease. MSDK is a sequenced based method that allows a comprehensive and unbiased methylation profiling. The method generates 21 base pairs long sequence tags derived from specific locations in the genome. The resulting tag frequencies determine in a quantitative manner the methylation level of the corresponding loci. Results Genomic DNA from whole lung was isolated and subjected to MSDK analysis using the methylation-sensitive enzyme Not I as the mapping enzyme and Nla III as the fragmenting enzyme. In a pair wise comparison of the generated mouse MSDK libraries we identified 158 loci that are significantly differentially methylated (P-value = 0.05 after perinatal dietary changes in our mouse model. Quantitative methylation specific PCR and sequence analysis of bisulfate modified genomic DNA confirmed changes in methylation at specific loci. Differences in genomic MSDK tag counts for a selected set of genes, correlated well with changes in transcription levels as measured by real-time PCR. Furthermore serial analysis of gene expression profiling demonstrated a dramatic difference in expressed transcripts in mice exposed to perinatal nutritional changes. Conclusion The genome-wide methylation survey applied in this study allowed for an unbiased methylation profiling revealing subtle changes in DNA methylation in mice maternally exposed to dietary changes in methyl-donor content. The MSDK method is applicable for mouse models

  8. A genome-wide association study of seed protein and oil content in soybean.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hwang, Eun-Young; Song, Qijian; Jia, Gaofeng; Specht, James E; Hyten, David L; Costa, Jose; Cregan, Perry B

    2014-01-02

    Association analysis is an alternative to conventional family-based methods to detect the location of gene(s) or quantitative trait loci (QTL) and provides relatively high resolution in terms of defining the genome position of a gene or QTL. Seed protein and oil concentration are quantitative traits which are determined by the interaction among many genes with small to moderate genetic effects and their interaction with the environment. In this study, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) was performed to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) controlling seed protein and oil concentration in 298 soybean germplasm accessions exhibiting a wide range of seed protein and oil content. A total of 55,159 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were genotyped using various methods including Illumina Infinium and GoldenGate assays and 31,954 markers with minor allele frequency >0.10 were used to estimate linkage disequilibrium (LD) in heterochromatic and euchromatic regions. In euchromatic regions, the mean LD (r2) rapidly declined to 0.2 within 360 Kbp, whereas the mean LD declined to 0.2 at 9,600 Kbp in heterochromatic regions. The GWAS results identified 40 SNPs in 17 different genomic regions significantly associated with seed protein. Of these, the five SNPs with the highest associations and seven adjacent SNPs were located in the 27.6-30.0 Mbp region of Gm20. A major seed protein QTL has been previously mapped to the same location and potential candidate genes have recently been identified in this region. The GWAS results also detected 25 SNPs in 13 different genomic regions associated with seed oil. Of these markers, seven SNPs had a significant association with both protein and oil. This research indicated that GWAS not only identified most of the previously reported QTL controlling seed protein and oil, but also resulted in narrower genomic regions than the regions reported as containing these QTL. The narrower GWAS-defined genome regions will allow more precise

  9. A BAC/BIBAC-based physical map of chickpea, Cicer arietinum L

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abbo Shahal

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L. is the third most important pulse crop worldwide. Despite its importance, relatively little is known about its genome. The availability of a genome-wide physical map allows rapid fine mapping of QTL, development of high-density genome maps, and sequencing of the entire genome. However, no such a physical map has been developed in chickpea. Results We present a genome-wide, BAC/BIBAC-based physical map of chickpea developed by fingerprint analysis. Four chickpea BAC and BIBAC libraries, two of which were constructed in this study, were used. A total of 67,584 clones were fingerprinted, and 64,211 (~11.7 × of the fingerprints validated and used in the physical map assembly. The physical map consists of 1,945 BAC/BIBAC contigs, with each containing an average of 28.3 clones and having an average physical length of 559 kb. The contigs collectively span approximately 1,088 Mb. By using the physical map, we identified the BAC/BIBAC contigs containing or closely linked to QTL4.1 for resistance to Didymella rabiei (RDR and QTL8 for days to first flower (DTF, thus further verifying the physical map and confirming its utility in fine mapping and cloning of QTL. Conclusion The physical map represents the first genome-wide, BAC/BIBAC-based physical map of chickpea. This map, along with other genomic resources previously developed in the species and the genome sequences of related species (soybean, Medicago and Lotus, will provide a foundation necessary for many areas of advanced genomics research in chickpea and other legume species. The inclusion of transformation-ready BIBACs in the map greatly facilitates its utility in functional analysis of the legume genomes.

  10. Genome-wide association study of smoking initiation and current smoking

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vink, Jacqueline M; Smit, August B; de Geus, Eco J C

    2009-01-01

    For the identification of genes associated with smoking initiation and current smoking, genome-wide association analyses were carried out in 3497 subjects. Significant genes that replicated in three independent samples (n = 405, 5810, and 1648) were visualized into a biologically meaningful network......) and cell-adhesion molecules (e.g., CDH23). We conclude that a network-based genome-wide association approach can identify genes influencing smoking behavior....

  11. Genotype Imputation for Latinos Using the HapMap and 1000 Genomes Project Reference Panels

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiaoyi eGao

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available Genotype imputation is a vital tool in genome-wide association studies (GWAS and meta-analyses of multiple GWAS results. Imputation enables researchers to increase genomic coverage and to pool data generated using different genotyping platforms. HapMap samples are often employed as the reference panel. More recently, the 1000 Genomes Project resource is becoming the primary source for reference panels. Multiple GWAS and meta-analyses are targeting Latinos, the most populous and fastest growing minority group in the US. However, genotype imputation resources for Latinos are rather limited compared to individuals of European ancestry at present, largely because of the lack of good reference data. One choice of reference panel for Latinos is one derived from the population of Mexican individuals in Los Angeles contained in the HapMap Phase 3 project and the 1000 Genomes Project. However, a detailed evaluation of the quality of the imputed genotypes derived from the public reference panels has not yet been reported. Using simulation studies, the Illumina OmniExpress GWAS data from the Los Angles Latino Eye Study and the MACH software package, we evaluated the accuracy of genotype imputation in Latinos. Our results show that the 1000 Genomes Project AMR+CEU+YRI reference panel provides the highest imputation accuracy for Latinos, and that also including Asian samples in the panel can reduce imputation accuracy. We also provide the imputation accuracy for each autosomal chromosome using the 1000 Genomes Project panel for Latinos. Our results serve as a guide to future imputation-based analysis in Latinos.

  12. Routes to DNA accessibility: alternative pathways for nucleosome unwinding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schlingman, Daniel J; Mack, Andrew H; Kamenetska, Masha; Mochrie, Simon G J; Regan, Lynne

    2014-07-15

    The dynamic packaging of DNA into chromatin is a key determinant of eukaryotic gene regulation and epigenetic inheritance. Nucleosomes are the basic unit of chromatin, and therefore the accessible states of the nucleosome must be the starting point for mechanistic models regarding these essential processes. Although the existence of different unwound nucleosome states has been hypothesized, there have been few studies of these states. The consequences of multiple states are far reaching. These states will behave differently in all aspects, including their interactions with chromatin remodelers, histone variant exchange, and kinetic properties. Here, we demonstrate the existence of two distinct states of the unwound nucleosome, which are accessible at physiological forces and ionic strengths. Using optical tweezers, we measure the rates of unwinding and rewinding for these two states and show that the rewinding rates from each state are different. In addition, we show that the probability of unwinding into each state is dependent on the applied force and ionic strength. Our results demonstrate not only that multiple unwound states exist but that their accessibility can be differentially perturbed, suggesting possible roles for these states in gene regulation. For example, different histone variants or modifications may facilitate or suppress access to DNA by promoting unwinding into one state or the other. We anticipate that the two unwound states reported here will be the basis for future models of eukaryotic transcriptional control. Copyright © 2014 Biophysical Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. A genome-wide association study of aging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walter, Stefan; Atzmon, Gil; Demerath, Ellen W; Garcia, Melissa E; Kaplan, Robert C; Kumari, Meena; Lunetta, Kathryn L; Milaneschi, Yuri; Tanaka, Toshiko; Tranah, Gregory J; Völker, Uwe; Yu, Lei; Arnold, Alice; Benjamin, Emelia J; Biffar, Reiner; Buchman, Aron S; Boerwinkle, Eric; Couper, David; De Jager, Philip L; Evans, Denis A; Harris, Tamara B; Hoffmann, Wolfgang; Hofman, Albert; Karasik, David; Kiel, Douglas P; Kocher, Thomas; Kuningas, Maris; Launer, Lenore J; Lohman, Kurt K; Lutsey, Pamela L; Mackenbach, Johan; Marciante, Kristin; Psaty, Bruce M; Reiman, Eric M; Rotter, Jerome I; Seshadri, Sudha; Shardell, Michelle D; Smith, Albert V; van Duijn, Cornelia; Walston, Jeremy; Zillikens, M Carola; Bandinelli, Stefania; Baumeister, Sebastian E; Bennett, David A; Ferrucci, Luigi; Gudnason, Vilmundur; Kivimaki, Mika; Liu, Yongmei; Murabito, Joanne M; Newman, Anne B; Tiemeier, Henning; Franceschini, Nora

    2011-11-01

    Human longevity and healthy aging show moderate heritability (20%-50%). We conducted a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies from 9 studies from the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology Consortium for 2 outcomes: (1) all-cause mortality, and (2) survival free of major disease or death. No single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) was a genome-wide significant predictor of either outcome (p < 5 × 10(-8)). We found 14 independent SNPs that predicted risk of death, and 8 SNPs that predicted event-free survival (p < 10(-5)). These SNPs are in or near genes that are highly expressed in the brain (HECW2, HIP1, BIN2, GRIA1), genes involved in neural development and function (KCNQ4, LMO4, GRIA1, NETO1) and autophagy (ATG4C), and genes that are associated with risk of various diseases including cancer and Alzheimer's disease. In addition to considerable overlap between the traits, pathway and network analysis corroborated these findings. These findings indicate that variation in genes involved in neurological processes may be an important factor in regulating aging free of major disease and achieving longevity. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  14. Gigwa-Genotype investigator for genome-wide analyses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sempéré, Guilhem; Philippe, Florian; Dereeper, Alexis; Ruiz, Manuel; Sarah, Gautier; Larmande, Pierre

    2016-06-06

    Exploring the structure of genomes and analyzing their evolution is essential to understanding the ecological adaptation of organisms. However, with the large amounts of data being produced by next-generation sequencing, computational challenges arise in terms of storage, search, sharing, analysis and visualization. This is particularly true with regards to studies of genomic variation, which are currently lacking scalable and user-friendly data exploration solutions. Here we present Gigwa, a web-based tool that provides an easy and intuitive way to explore large amounts of genotyping data by filtering it not only on the basis of variant features, including functional annotations, but also on genotype patterns. The data storage relies on MongoDB, which offers good scalability properties. Gigwa can handle multiple databases and may be deployed in either single- or multi-user mode. In addition, it provides a wide range of popular export formats. The Gigwa application is suitable for managing large amounts of genomic variation data. Its user-friendly web interface makes such processing widely accessible. It can either be simply deployed on a workstation or be used to provide a shared data portal for a given community of researchers.

  15. Genome-Wide Association Analysis of Age-Dependent Egg Weights in Chickens

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhuang Liu

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Egg weight (EW is an economically-important trait and displays a consecutive increase with the hen's age. Because extremely large eggs cause a range of problems in the poultry industry, we performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS in order to identify genomic variations that are associated with EW. We utilized the Affymetrix 600 K high density SNP array in a population of 1,078 hens at seven time points from day at first egg to 80 weeks age (EW80. Results reveal that a 90 Kb genomic region (169.42 Mb ~ 169.51 Mb in GGA1 is significantly associated with EW36 and is also potentially associated with egg weight at 28, 56, and 66 week of age. The leading SNP could account for 3.66% of the phenotypic variation, while two promising genes (DLEU7 and MIR15A can be mapped to this narrow significant region and may affect EW in a pleiotropic manner. In addition, one gene (CECR2 on GGA1 and two genes (MEIS1 and SPRED2 on GGA3, which involved in the processes of embryogenesis and organogenesis, were also considered to be candidates related to first egg weight (FEW and EW56, respectively. Findings in our study could provide worthy theoretical basis to generate eggs of ideal size based on marker assisted breeding selection.

  16. Genome-wide Association Study Identifies New Loci for Resistance to Leptosphaeria maculans in Canola

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Harsh Raman

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available Blackleg, caused by Leptosphaeria maculans, is a significant disease which affects the sustainable production of canola. This study reports a genome-wide association study based on 18,804 polymorphic SNPs to identify loci associated with qualitative and quantitative resistance to L. maculans. Genomic regions delimited with 503 significant SNP markers, that are associated with resistance evaluated using 12 single spore isolates and pathotypes from four canola stubble were identified. Several significant associations were detected at known disease resistance loci including in the vicinity of recently cloned Rlm2/LepR3 genes, and at new loci on chromosomes A01/C01, A02/C02, A03/C03, A05/C05, A06, A08, and A09. In addition, we validated statistically significant associations on A01, A07 and A10 in four genetic mapping populations, demonstrating that GWAS marker loci are indeed associated with resistance to L. maculans. One of the novel loci identified for the first time, Rlm12, conveys adult plant resistance and mapped within 13.2 kb from Arabidopsis R gene of TIR-NBS class. We showed that resistance loci are located in the vicinity of R genes of A. thaliana and B. napus on the sequenced genome of B. napus cv. Darmor-bzh. Significantly associated SNP markers provide a valuable tool to enrich germplasm for favorable alleles in order to improve the level of resistance to L. maculans in canola.

  17. Recent advances in the genome-wide study of DNA replication origins in yeast

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chong ePeng

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available DNA replication, one of the central events in the cell cycle, is the basis of biological inheritance. In order to be duplicated, a DNA double helix must be opened at defined sites, which are called DNA replication origins (ORIs. Unlike in bacteria, where replication initiates from a single replication origin, multiple origins are utilized in the eukaryotic genome. Among them, the ORIs in budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe have been best characterized. In recent years, advances in DNA microarray and next-generation sequencing technologies have increased the number of yeast species involved in ORIs research dramatically. The ORIs in some nonconventional yeast species such as Kluyveromyces lactis and Pichia pastoris have also been genome-widely identified. Relevant databases of replication origins in yeast were constructed, then the comparative genomic analysis can be carried out. Here, we review several experimental approaches that have been used to map replication origins in yeast and some of the available web resources related to yeast ORIs. We also discuss the sequence characteristics and chromosome structures of ORIs in the four yeast species, which can be utilized to improve the replication origins prediction.

  18. Recent advances in the genome-wide study of DNA replication origins in yeast

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peng, Chong; Luo, Hao; Zhang, Xi; Gao, Feng

    2015-01-01

    DNA replication, one of the central events in the cell cycle, is the basis of biological inheritance. In order to be duplicated, a DNA double helix must be opened at defined sites, which are called DNA replication origins (ORIs). Unlike in bacteria, where replication initiates from a single replication origin, multiple origins are utilized in the eukaryotic genomes. Among them, the ORIs in budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe have been best characterized. In recent years, advances in DNA microarray and next-generation sequencing technologies have increased the number of yeast species involved in ORIs research dramatically. The ORIs in some non-conventional yeast species such as Kluyveromyces lactis and Pichia pastoris have also been genome-widely identified. Relevant databases of replication origins in yeast were constructed, then the comparative genomic analysis can be carried out. Here, we review several experimental approaches that have been used to map replication origins in yeast and some of the available web resources related to yeast ORIs. We also discuss the sequence characteristics and chromosome structures of ORIs in the four yeast species, which can be utilized to improve yeast replication origins prediction. PMID:25745419

  19. Genome-wide association study of Tourette's syndrome

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Scharf, J. M.; Yu, D.; Mathews, C. A.; Neale, B. M.; Stewart, S. E.; Fagerness, J. A.; Evans, P.; Gamazon, E.; Edlund, C. K.; Service, S. K.; Tikhomirov, A.; Osiecki, L.; Illmann, C.; Pluzhnikov, A.; Konkashbaev, A.; Davis, L. K.; Han, B.; Crane, J.; Moorjani, P.; Crenshaw, A. T.; Parkin, M. A.; Reus, V. I.; Lowe, T. L.; Rangel-Lugo, M.; Chouinard, S.; Dion, Y.; Girard, S.; Cath, D. C.; Smit, J. H.; King, R. A.; Fernandez, T. V.; Leckman, J. F.; Kidd, K. K.; Kidd, J. R.; Pakstis, A. J.; State, M. W.; Herrera, L. D.; Romero, R.; Fournier, E.; Sandor, P.; Barr, C. L.; Phan, N.; Gross-Tsur, V.; Benarroch, F.; Pollak, Y.; Budman, C. L.; Bruun, R. D.; Erenberg, G.; Naarden, A. L.; Hoekstra, P. J.

    2013-01-01

    Tourette's syndrome (TS) is a developmental disorder that has one of the highest familial recurrence rates among neuropsychiatric diseases with complex inheritance. However, the identification of definitive TS susceptibility genes remains elusive. Here, we report the first genome-wide association

  20. Agronomic and seed quality traits dissected by genome-wide association mapping in Brassica napus

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Niklas eKörber

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available In Brassica napus breeding, traits related to commercial success are of highest importance for plant breeders. However, such traits can only be assessed in an advanced developmental stage. % as well as require high experimental effort due to their quantitative inheritance and the importance of genotype*environment interaction. Molecular markers genetically linked to such traits have the potential to accelerate the breeding process of B. napus by marker-assisted selection. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to identify (i genome regions associated with the examined agronomic and seed quality traits, (ii the interrelationship of population structure and the detected associations, and (iii candidate genes for the revealed associations. The diversity set used in this study consisted of 405 Brassica napus inbred lines which were genotyped using a 6K single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP array and phenotyped for agronomic and seed quality traits in field trials. In a genome-wide association study, we detected a total of 112 associations between SNPs and the seed quality traits as well as 46 SNP-trait associations for the agronomic traits with a P-value 100 and a sequence identity of > 70 % to A. thaliana or B. rapa could be found for the agronomic SNP-trait associations and 187 hits of potential candidate genes for the seed quality SNP-trait associations.

  1. Interaction of influenza virus proteins with nucleosomes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Garcia-Robles, Inmaculada; Akarsu, Hatice; Mueller, Christoph W.; Ruigrok, Rob W.H.; Baudin, Florence

    2005-01-01

    During influenza virus infection, transcription and replication of the viral RNA take place in the cell nucleus. Directly after entry in the nucleus the viral ribonucleoproteins (RNPs, the viral subunits containing vRNA, nucleoprotein and the viral polymerase) are tightly associated with the nuclear matrix. Here, we have analysed the binding of RNPs, M1 and NS2/NEP proteins to purified nucleosomes, reconstituted histone octamers and purified single histones. RNPs and M1 both bind to the chromatin components but at two different sites, RNP to the histone tails and M1 to the globular domain of the histone octamer. NS2/NEP did not bind to nucleosomes at all. The possible consequences of these findings for nuclear release of newly made RNPs and for other processes during the infection cycle are discussed

  2. An extended anchored linkage map and virtual mapping for the american mink genome based on homology to human and dog

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Anistoroaei, Razvan Marian; Ansari, S.; Farid, A.

    2009-01-01

    hybridization (FISH) and/or by means of human/dog/mink comparative homology. The average interval between markers is 8.5 cM and the linkage groups collectively span 1340 cM. In addition, 217 and 275 mink microsatellites have been placed on human and dog genomes, respectively. In conjunction with the existing...... comparative human/dog/mink data, these assignments represent useful virtual maps for the American mink genome. Comparison of the current human/dog assembled sequential map with the existing Zoo-FISH-based human/dog/mink maps helped to refine the human/dog/mink comparative map. Furthermore, comparison...... of the human and dog genome assemblies revealed a number of large synteny blocks, some of which are corroborated by data from the mink linkage map....

  3. Local Genealogies in a Linear Mixed Model for Genome-wide Association Mapping in Complex Pedigreed Populations

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sahana, Goutam; Mailund, Thomas; Lund, Mogens Sandø

    2011-01-01

    be extended to incorporate other effects in a straightforward and rigorous fashion. Here, we present a complementary approach, called ‘GENMIX (genealogy based mixed model)’ which combines advantages from two powerful GWAS methods: genealogy-based haplotype grouping and MMA. Subjects and Methods: We validated......Introduction: The state-of-the-art for dealing with multiple levels of relationship among the samples in genome-wide association studies (GWAS) is unified mixed model analysis (MMA). This approach is very flexible, can be applied to both family-based and population-based samples, and can...

  4. Polytene Chromosomes - A Portrait of Functional Organization of the Drosophila Genome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zykova, Tatyana Yu; Levitsky, Victor G; Belyaeva, Elena S; Zhimulev, Igor F

    2018-04-01

    This mini-review is devoted to the problem genetic meaning of main polytene chromosome structures - bands and interbands. Generally, densely packed chromatin forms black bands, moderately condensed regions form grey loose bands, whereas decondensed regions of the genome appear as interbands. Recent progress in the annotation of the Drosophila genome and epigenome has made it possible to compare the banding pattern and the structural organization of genes, as well as their activity. This was greatly aided by our ability to establish the borders of bands and interbands on the physical map, which allowed to perform comprehensive side-by-side comparisons of cytology, genetic and epigenetic maps and to uncover the association between the morphological structures and the functional domains of the genome. These studies largely conclude that interbands 5'-ends of housekeeping genes that are active across all cell types. Interbands are enriched with proteins involved in transcription and nucleosome remodeling, as well as with active histone modifications. Notably, most of the replication origins map to interband regions. As for grey loose bands adjacent to interbands, they typically host the bodies of house-keeping genes. Thus, the bipartite structure composed of an interband and an adjacent grey band functions as a standalone genetic unit. Finally, black bands harbor tissue-specific genes with narrow temporal and tissue expression profiles. Thus, the uniform and permanent activity of interbands combined with the inactivity of genes in bands forms the basis of the universal banding pattern observed in various Drosophila tissues.

  5. Genome-wide Meta-analysis on the Sense of Smell Among US Older Adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dong, Jing; Yang, Jingyun; Tranah, Greg; Franceschini, Nora; Parimi, Neeta; Alkorta-Aranburu, Gorka; Xu, Zongli; Alonso, Alvaro; Cummings, Steven R; Fornage, Myriam; Huang, Xuemei; Kritchevsky, Stephen; Liu, Yongmei; London, Stephanie; Niu, Liang; Wilson, Robert S; De Jager, Philip L; Yu, Lei; Singleton, Andrew B; Harris, Tamara; Mosley, Thomas H; Pinto, Jayant M; Bennett, David A; Chen, Honglei

    2015-11-01

    Olfactory dysfunction is common among older adults and affects their safety, nutrition, quality of life, and mortality. More importantly, the decreased sense of smell is an early symptom of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson disease (PD) and Alzheimer disease. However, the genetic determinants for the sense of smell have been poorly investigated. We here performed the first genome-wide meta-analysis on the sense of smell among 6252 US older adults of European descent from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study, the Health, Aging, and Body Composition (Health ABC) study, and the Religious Orders Study and the Rush Memory and Aging Project (ROS/MAP). Genome-wide association study analysis was performed first by individual cohorts and then meta-analyzed using fixed-effect models with inverse variance weights. Although no SNPs reached genome-wide statistical significance, we identified 13 loci with suggestive evidence for an association with the sense of smell (Pmeta < 1 × 10). Of these, 2 SNPs at chromosome 17q21.31 (rs199443 in NSF, P = 3.02 × 10; and rs2732614 in KIAA1267-LRRC37A, P = 6.65 × 10) exhibited cis effects on the expression of microtubule-associated protein tau (MAPT, 17q21.31) in 447 frontal-cortex samples obtained postmortem and profiled by RNA-seq (P < 1 × 10). Gene-based and pathway-enrichment analyses further implicated MAPT in regulating the sense of smell in older adults. Similar results were obtained after excluding participants who reported a physician-diagnosed PD or use of PD medications. In conclusion, we provide preliminary evidence that the MAPT locus may play a role in regulating the sense of smell in older adults and therefore offer a potential genetic link between poor sense of smell and major neurodegenerative diseases.

  6. Genome-Wide Analysis Reveals Novel Regulators of Growth in Drosophila melanogaster.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sibylle Chantal Vonesch

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Organismal size depends on the interplay between genetic and environmental factors. Genome-wide association (GWA analyses in humans have implied many genes in the control of height but suffer from the inability to control the environment. Genetic analyses in Drosophila have identified conserved signaling pathways controlling size; however, how these pathways control phenotypic diversity is unclear. We performed GWA of size traits using the Drosophila Genetic Reference Panel of inbred, sequenced lines. We find that the top associated variants differ between traits and sexes; do not map to canonical growth pathway genes, but can be linked to these by epistasis analysis; and are enriched for genes and putative enhancers. Performing GWA on well-studied developmental traits under controlled conditions expands our understanding of developmental processes underlying phenotypic diversity.

  7. Structural variation in two human genomes mapped at single-nucleotide resolution by whole genome de novo assembly

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Li, Yingrui; Zheng, Hancheng; Luo, Ruibang

    2011-01-01

    Here we use whole-genome de novo assembly of second-generation sequencing reads to map structural variation (SV) in an Asian genome and an African genome. Our approach identifies small- and intermediate-size homozygous variants (1-50 kb) including insertions, deletions, inversions and their precise...

  8. Genome-wide linkage analysis for human longevity

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Beekman, Marian; Blanché, Hélène; Perola, Markus

    2013-01-01

    Clear evidence exists for heritability of human longevity, and much interest is focused on identifying genes associated with longer lives. To identify such longevity alleles, we performed the largest genome-wide linkage scan thus far reported. Linkage analyses included 2118 nonagenarian Caucasian...

  9. Dissecting relative contributions of cis- and trans-determinants to nucleosome distribution by comparing Tetrahymena macronuclear and micronuclear chromatin.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xiong, Jie; Gao, Shan; Dui, Wen; Yang, Wentao; Chen, Xiao; Taverna, Sean D; Pearlman, Ronald E; Ashlock, Wendy; Miao, Wei; Liu, Yifan

    2016-12-01

    The ciliate protozoan Tetrahymena thermophila contains two types of structurally and functionally differentiated nuclei: the transcriptionally active somatic macronucleus (MAC) and the transcriptionally silent germ-line micronucleus (MIC). Here, we demonstrate that MAC features well-positioned nucleosomes downstream of transcription start sites and flanking splice sites. Transcription-associated trans-determinants promote nucleosome positioning in MAC. By contrast, nucleosomes in MIC are dramatically delocalized. Nucleosome occupancy in MAC and MIC are nonetheless highly correlated with each other, as well as with in vitro reconstitution and predictions based upon DNA sequence features, revealing unexpectedly strong contributions from cis-determinants. In particular, well-positioned nucleosomes are often matched with GC content oscillations. As many nucleosomes are coordinately accommodated by both cis- and trans-determinants, we propose that their distribution is shaped by the impact of these nucleosomes on the mutational and transcriptional landscape, and driven by evolutionary selection. © The Author(s) 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

  10. Genome-wide survey of allele-specific splicing in humans

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Scheffler Konrad

    2008-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Accurate mRNA splicing depends on multiple regulatory signals encoded in the transcribed RNA sequence. Many examples of mutations within human splice regulatory regions that alter splicing qualitatively or quantitatively have been reported and allelic differences in mRNA splicing are likely to be a common and important source of phenotypic diversity at the molecular level, in addition to their contribution to genetic disease susceptibility. However, because the effect of a mutation on the efficiency of mRNA splicing is often difficult to predict, many mutations that cause disease through an effect on splicing are likely to remain undiscovered. Results We have combined a genome-wide scan for sequence polymorphisms likely to affect mRNA splicing with analysis of publicly available Expressed Sequence Tag (EST and exon array data. The genome-wide scan uses published tools and identified 30,977 SNPs located within donor and acceptor splice sites, branch points and exonic splicing enhancer elements. For 1,185 candidate splicing polymorphisms the difference in splicing between alternative alleles was corroborated by publicly available exon array data from 166 lymphoblastoid cell lines. We developed a novel probabilistic method to infer allele-specific splicing from EST data. The method uses SNPs and alternative mRNA isoforms mapped to EST sequences and models both regulated alternative splicing as well as allele-specific splicing. We have also estimated heritability of splicing and report that a greater proportion of genes show evidence of splicing heritability than show heritability of overall gene expression level. Our results provide an extensive resource that can be used to assess the possible effect on splicing of human polymorphisms in putative splice-regulatory sites. Conclusion We report a set of genes showing evidence of allele-specific splicing from an integrated analysis of genomic polymorphisms, EST data and exon array

  11. Genome-wide mapping of Quantitative Trait Loci for fatness, fat cell characteristics and fat metabolism in three porcine F2 crosses

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Geldermann, H.; Čepica, Stanislav; Stratil, Antonín; Bartenschlager, H.; Preuss, S.

    2010-01-01

    Roč. 42, č. 31 (2010), s. 1-16 ISSN 0999-193X R&D Projects: GA ČR GA523/07/0353; GA ČR(CZ) GA523/06/1302 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z50450515 Keywords : fat metabolism * porcine * genome mapping Subject RIV: GI - Animal Husbandry ; Breeding Impact factor: 1.484, year: 2010

  12. Fine mapping of breast cancer genome-wide association studies loci in women of African ancestry identifies novel susceptibility markers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zheng, Yonglan; Ogundiran, Temidayo O; Falusi, Adeyinka G; Nathanson, Katherine L; John, Esther M; Hennis, Anselm J M; Ambs, Stefan; Domchek, Susan M; Rebbeck, Timothy R; Simon, Michael S; Nemesure, Barbara; Wu, Suh-Yuh; Leske, Maria Cristina; Odetunde, Abayomi; Niu, Qun; Zhang, Jing; Afolabi, Chibuzor; Gamazon, Eric R; Cox, Nancy J; Olopade, Christopher O; Olopade, Olufunmilayo I; Huo, Dezheng

    2013-07-01

    Numerous single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with breast cancer susceptibility have been identified by genome-wide association studies (GWAS). However, these SNPs were primarily discovered and validated in women of European and Asian ancestry. Because linkage disequilibrium is ancestry-dependent and heterogeneous among racial/ethnic populations, we evaluated common genetic variants at 22 GWAS-identified breast cancer susceptibility loci in a pooled sample of 1502 breast cancer cases and 1378 controls of African ancestry. None of the 22 GWAS index SNPs could be validated, challenging the direct generalizability of breast cancer risk variants identified in Caucasians or Asians to other populations. Novel breast cancer risk variants for women of African ancestry were identified in regions including 5p12 (odds ratio [OR] = 1.40, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.11-1.76; P = 0.004), 5q11.2 (OR = 1.22, 95% CI = 1.09-1.36; P = 0.00053) and 10p15.1 (OR = 1.22, 95% CI = 1.08-1.38; P = 0.0015). We also found positive association signals in three regions (6q25.1, 10q26.13 and 16q12.1-q12.2) previously confirmed by fine mapping in women of African ancestry. In addition, polygenic model indicated that eight best markers in this study, compared with 22 GWAS-identified SNPs, could better predict breast cancer risk in women of African ancestry (per-allele OR = 1.21, 95% CI = 1.16-1.27; P = 9.7 × 10(-16)). Our results demonstrate that fine mapping is a powerful approach to better characterize the breast cancer risk alleles in diverse populations. Future studies and new GWAS in women of African ancestry hold promise to discover additional variants for breast cancer susceptibility with clinical implications throughout the African diaspora.

  13. Genome-wide comparative analysis of four Indian Drosophila species.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mohanty, Sujata; Khanna, Radhika

    2017-12-01

    Comparative analysis of multiple genomes of closely or distantly related Drosophila species undoubtedly creates excitement among evolutionary biologists in exploring the genomic changes with an ecology and evolutionary perspective. We present herewith the de novo assembled whole genome sequences of four Drosophila species, D. bipectinata, D. takahashii, D. biarmipes and D. nasuta of Indian origin using Next Generation Sequencing technology on an Illumina platform along with their detailed assembly statistics. The comparative genomics analysis, e.g. gene predictions and annotations, functional and orthogroup analysis of coding sequences and genome wide SNP distribution were performed. The whole genome of Zaprionus indianus of Indian origin published earlier by us and the genome sequences of previously sequenced 12 Drosophila species available in the NCBI database were included in the analysis. The present work is a part of our ongoing genomics project of Indian Drosophila species.

  14. Genome-wide development and use of microsatellite markers for large-scale genotyping applications in foxtail millet [Setaria italica (L.)].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pandey, Garima; Misra, Gopal; Kumari, Kajal; Gupta, Sarika; Parida, Swarup Kumar; Chattopadhyay, Debasis; Prasad, Manoj

    2013-04-01

    The availability of well-validated informative co-dominant microsatellite markers and saturated genetic linkage map has been limited in foxtail millet (Setaria italica L.). In view of this, we conducted a genome-wide analysis and identified 28 342 microsatellite repeat-motifs spanning 405.3 Mb of foxtail millet genome. The trinucleotide repeats (∼48%) was prevalent when compared with dinucleotide repeats (∼46%). Of the 28 342 microsatellites, 21 294 (∼75%) primer pairs were successfully designed, and a total of 15 573 markers were physically mapped on 9 chromosomes of foxtail millet. About 159 markers were validated successfully in 8 accessions of Setaria sp. with ∼67% polymorphic potential. The high percentage (89.3%) of cross-genera transferability across millet and non-millet species with higher transferability percentage in bioenergy grasses (∼79%, Switchgrass and ∼93%, Pearl millet) signifies their importance in studying the bioenergy grasses. In silico comparative mapping of 15 573 foxtail millet microsatellite markers against the mapping data of sorghum (16.9%), maize (14.5%) and rice (6.4%) indicated syntenic relationships among the chromosomes of foxtail millet and target species. The results, thus, demonstrate the immense applicability of developed microsatellite markers in germplasm characterization, phylogenetics, construction of genetic linkage map for gene/quantitative trait loci discovery, comparative mapping in foxtail millet, including other millets and bioenergy grass species.

  15. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of adiposity

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Oskari Kilpeläinen, Tuomas; Ingelsson, Erik

    2016-01-01

    Adiposity is strongly heritable and one of the leading risk factors for type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and premature death. In the past 8 years, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have greatly increased our understanding of the genes and biological pathways that regulate...

  16. Meta-analysis of Genome-Wide Association Studies for Extraversion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    van den Berg, Stéphanie M; de Moor, Marleen H M; Verweij, K. J. H.

    2016-01-01

    small sample sizes of those studies. Here, we report on a large meta-analysis of GWA studies for extraversion in 63,030 subjects in 29 cohorts. Extraversion item data from multiple personality inventories were harmonized across inventories and cohorts. No genome-wide significant associations were found...... at the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) level but there was one significant hit at the gene level for a long non-coding RNA site (LOC101928162). Genome-wide complex trait analysis in two large cohorts showed that the additive variance explained by common SNPs was not significantly different from zero...

  17. Genome-wide association studies in an isolated founder population from the Pacific Island of Kosrae.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jennifer K Lowe

    2009-02-01

    Full Text Available It has been argued that the limited genetic diversity and reduced allelic heterogeneity observed in isolated founder populations facilitates discovery of loci contributing to both Mendelian and complex disease. A strong founder effect, severe isolation, and substantial inbreeding have dramatically reduced genetic diversity in natives from the island of Kosrae, Federated States of Micronesia, who exhibit a high prevalence of obesity and other metabolic disorders. We hypothesized that genetic drift and possibly natural selection on Kosrae might have increased the frequency of previously rare genetic variants with relatively large effects, making these alleles readily detectable in genome-wide association analysis. However, mapping in large, inbred cohorts introduces analytic challenges, as extensive relatedness between subjects violates the assumptions of independence upon which traditional association test statistics are based. We performed genome-wide association analysis for 15 quantitative traits in 2,906 members of the Kosrae population, using novel approaches to manage the extreme relatedness in the sample. As positive controls, we observe association to known loci for plasma cholesterol, triglycerides, and C-reactive protein and to a compelling candidate loci for thyroid stimulating hormone and fasting plasma glucose. We show that our study is well powered to detect common alleles explaining >/=5% phenotypic variance. However, no such large effects were observed with genome-wide significance, arguing that even in such a severely inbred population, common alleles typically have modest effects. Finally, we show that a majority of common variants discovered in Caucasians have indistinguishable effect sizes on Kosrae, despite the major differences in population genetics and environment.

  18. The Glyphosate-Based Herbicide Roundup Does not Elevate Genome-Wide Mutagenesis of Escherichia coli.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tincher, Clayton; Long, Hongan; Behringer, Megan; Walker, Noah; Lynch, Michael

    2017-10-05

    Mutations induced by pollutants may promote pathogen evolution, for example by accelerating mutations conferring antibiotic resistance. Generally, evaluating the genome-wide mutagenic effects of long-term sublethal pollutant exposure at single-nucleotide resolution is extremely difficult. To overcome this technical barrier, we use the mutation accumulation/whole-genome sequencing (MA/WGS) method as a mutagenicity test, to quantitatively evaluate genome-wide mutagenesis of Escherichia coli after long-term exposure to a wide gradient of the glyphosate-based herbicide (GBH) Roundup Concentrate Plus. The genome-wide mutation rate decreases as GBH concentration increases, suggesting that even long-term GBH exposure does not compromise the genome stability of bacteria. Copyright © 2017 Tincher et al.

  19. A meiotic linkage map of the silver fox, aligned and compared to the canine genome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kukekova, Anna V; Trut, Lyudmila N; Oskina, Irina N; Johnson, Jennifer L; Temnykh, Svetlana V; Kharlamova, Anastasiya V; Shepeleva, Darya V; Gulievich, Rimma G; Shikhevich, Svetlana G; Graphodatsky, Alexander S; Aguirre, Gustavo D; Acland, Gregory M

    2007-03-01

    A meiotic linkage map is essential for mapping traits of interest and is often the first step toward understanding a cryptic genome. Specific strains of silver fox (a variant of the red fox, Vulpes vulpes), which segregate behavioral and morphological phenotypes, create a need for such a map. One such strain, selected for docility, exhibits friendly dog-like responses to humans, in contrast to another strain selected for aggression. Development of a fox map is facilitated by the known cytogenetic homologies between the dog and fox, and by the availability of high resolution canine genome maps and sequence data. Furthermore, the high genomic sequence identity between dog and fox allows adaptation of canine microsatellites for genotyping and meiotic mapping in foxes. Using 320 such markers, we have constructed the first meiotic linkage map of the fox genome. The resulting sex-averaged map covers 16 fox autosomes and the X chromosome with an average inter-marker distance of 7.5 cM. The total map length corresponds to 1480.2 cM. From comparison of sex-averaged meiotic linkage maps of the fox and dog genomes, suppression of recombination in pericentromeric regions of the metacentric fox chromosomes was apparent, relative to the corresponding segments of acrocentric dog chromosomes. Alignment of the fox meiotic map against the 7.6x canine genome sequence revealed high conservation of marker order between homologous regions of the two species. The fox meiotic map provides a critical tool for genetic studies in foxes and identification of genetic loci and genes implicated in fox domestication.

  20. Genome-Wide Tuning of Protein Expression Levels to Rapidly Engineer Microbial Traits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freed, Emily F; Winkler, James D; Weiss, Sophie J; Garst, Andrew D; Mutalik, Vivek K; Arkin, Adam P; Knight, Rob; Gill, Ryan T

    2015-11-20

    The reliable engineering of biological systems requires quantitative mapping of predictable and context-independent expression over a broad range of protein expression levels. However, current techniques for modifying expression levels are cumbersome and are not amenable to high-throughput approaches. Here we present major improvements to current techniques through the design and construction of E. coli genome-wide libraries using synthetic DNA cassettes that can tune expression over a ∼10(4) range. The cassettes also contain molecular barcodes that are optimized for next-generation sequencing, enabling rapid and quantitative tracking of alleles that have the highest fitness advantage. We show these libraries can be used to determine which genes and expression levels confer greater fitness to E. coli under different growth conditions.

  1. Fine mapping of ZNF804A and genome-wide significant evidence for its involvement in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Williams, H.J.; Norton, N.; Dwyer, S.; Moskvina, V.; Nikolov, I.; Carroll, L.; Georgieva, L.; Williams, N.M.; Morris, D.W.; Quinn, E.M.; Giegling, I.; Ikeda, M.; Wood, J.; Lencz, T.; Hultman, C.; Lichtenstein, P.; Thiselton, D.; Maher, B.S.; Malhotra, A.K.; Riley, B.; Kendler, K.S.; Gill, M.; Sullivan, P.; Sklar, P.; Purcell, S.; Nimgaonkar, V.L.; Kirov, G.; Holmans, P.; Corvin, A.; Rujescu, D.; Craddock, N.; Owen, M.J.; O'Donovan, M.C.; GROUP investigators, [No Value

    2011-01-01

    A recent genome-wide association study (GWAS) reported evidence for association between rs1344706 within ZNF804A (encoding zinc-finger protein 804A) and schizophrenia (P = 1.61 x 10(-7)), and stronger evidence when the phenotype was broadened to include bipolar disorder (P = 9.96 x 10(-9)). In this

  2. Genome-wide distribution comparative and composition analysis of the SSRs in Poaceae.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Yi; Yang, Chao; Jin, Qiaojun; Zhou, Dongjie; Wang, Shuangshuang; Yu, Yuanjie; Yang, Long

    2015-02-15

    The Poaceae family is of great importance to human beings since it comprises the cereal grasses which are the main sources for human food and animal feed. With the rapid growth of genomic data from Poaceae members, comparative genomics becomes a convinent method to study genetics of diffierent species. The SSRs (Simple Sequence Repeats) are widely used markers in the studies of Poaceae for their high abundance and stability. In this study, using the genomic sequences of 9 Poaceae species, we detected 11,993,943 SSR loci and developed 6,799,910 SSR primer pairs. The results show that SSRs are distributed on all the genomic elements in grass. Hexamer is the most frequent motif and AT/TA is the most frequent motif in dimer. The abundance of the SSRs has a positive linear relationship with the recombination rate. SSR sequences in the coding regions involve a higher GC content in the Poaceae than that in the other species. SSRs of 70-80 bp in length showed the highest AT/GC base ratio among all of these loci. The result shows the highest polymorphism rate belongs to the SSRs ranged from 30 bp to 40 bp. Using all the SSR primers of Japonica, nineteen universal primers were selected and located on the genome of the grass family. The information of SSR loci, the SSR primers and the tools of mining and analyzing SSR are provided in the PSSRD (Poaceae SSR Database, http://biodb.sdau.edu.cn/pssrd/). Our study and the PSSRD database provide a foundation for the comparative study in the Poaceae and it will accelerate the study on markers application, gene mapping and molecular breeding.

  3. The UK Human Genome Mapping Project online computing service.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rysavy, F R; Bishop, M J; Gibbs, G P; Williams, G W

    1992-04-01

    This paper presents an overview of computing and networking facilities developed by the Medical Research Council to provide online computing support to the Human Genome Mapping Project (HGMP) in the UK. The facility is connected to a number of other computing facilities in various centres of genetics and molecular biology research excellence, either directly via high-speed links or through national and international wide-area networks. The paper describes the design and implementation of the current system, a 'client/server' network of Sun, IBM, DEC and Apple servers, gateways and workstations. A short outline of online computing services currently delivered by this system to the UK human genetics research community is also provided. More information about the services and their availability could be obtained by a direct approach to the UK HGMP-RC.

  4. Genome-Wide Association Studies of the Human Gut Microbiota.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emily R Davenport

    Full Text Available The bacterial composition of the human fecal microbiome is influenced by many lifestyle factors, notably diet. It is less clear, however, what role host genetics plays in dictating the composition of bacteria living in the gut. In this study, we examined the association of ~200K host genotypes with the relative abundance of fecal bacterial taxa in a founder population, the Hutterites, during two seasons (n = 91 summer, n = 93 winter, n = 57 individuals collected in both. These individuals live and eat communally, minimizing variation due to environmental exposures, including diet, which could potentially mask small genetic effects. Using a GWAS approach that takes into account the relatedness between subjects, we identified at least 8 bacterial taxa whose abundances were associated with single nucleotide polymorphisms in the host genome in each season (at genome-wide FDR of 20%. For example, we identified an association between a taxon known to affect obesity (genus Akkermansia and a variant near PLD1, a gene previously associated with body mass index. Moreover, we replicate a previously reported association from a quantitative trait locus (QTL mapping study of fecal microbiome abundance in mice (genus Lactococcus, rs3747113, P = 3.13 x 10-7. Finally, based on the significance distribution of the associated microbiome QTLs in our study with respect to chromatin accessibility profiles, we identified tissues in which host genetic variation may be acting to influence bacterial abundance in the gut.

  5. NSD1 mutations generate a genome-wide DNA methylation signature.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Choufani, S

    2015-12-22

    Sotos syndrome (SS) represents an important human model system for the study of epigenetic regulation; it is an overgrowth\\/intellectual disability syndrome caused by mutations in a histone methyltransferase, NSD1. As layered epigenetic modifications are often interdependent, we propose that pathogenic NSD1 mutations have a genome-wide impact on the most stable epigenetic mark, DNA methylation (DNAm). By interrogating DNAm in SS patients, we identify a genome-wide, highly significant NSD1(+\\/-)-specific signature that differentiates pathogenic NSD1 mutations from controls, benign NSD1 variants and the clinically overlapping Weaver syndrome. Validation studies of independent cohorts of SS and controls assigned 100% of these samples correctly. This highly specific and sensitive NSD1(+\\/-) signature encompasses genes that function in cellular morphogenesis and neuronal differentiation, reflecting cardinal features of the SS phenotype. The identification of SS-specific genome-wide DNAm alterations will facilitate both the elucidation of the molecular pathophysiology of SS and the development of improved diagnostic testing.

  6. Genome-wide divergence, haplotype distribution and population demographic histories for Gossypium hirsutum and Gossypium barbadense as revealed by genome-anchored SNPs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Use of 10,129 singleton SNPs of known genomic location in tetraploid cotton provided unique opportunities to characterize genome-wide diversity among 440 Gossypium hirsutum and 219 G. barbadense cultivars and landrace accessions of widespread origin. Using the SNPs distributed genome-wide, we exami...

  7. Meta-analysis of 32 genome-wide linkage studies of schizophrenia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ng, MYM; Levinson, DF; Faraone, SV; Suarez, BK; DeLisi, LE; Arinami, T; Riley, B; Paunio, T; Pulver, AE; Irmansyah; Holmans, PA; Escamilla, M; Wildenauer, DB; Williams, NM; Laurent, C; Mowry, BJ; Brzustowicz, LM; Maziade, M; Sklar, P; Garver, DL; Abecasis, GR; Lerer, B; Fallin, MD; Gurling, HMD; Gejman, PV; Lindholm, E; Moises, HW; Byerley, W; Wijsman, EM; Forabosco, P; Tsuang, MT; Hwu, H-G; Okazaki, Y; Kendler, KS; Wormley, B; Fanous, A; Walsh, D; O’Neill, FA; Peltonen, L; Nestadt, G; Lasseter, VK; Liang, KY; Papadimitriou, GM; Dikeos, DG; Schwab, SG; Owen, MJ; O’Donovan, MC; Norton, N; Hare, E; Raventos, H; Nicolini, H; Albus, M; Maier, W; Nimgaonkar, VL; Terenius, L; Mallet, J; Jay, M; Godard, S; Nertney, D; Alexander, M; Crowe, RR; Silverman, JM; Bassett, AS; Roy, M-A; Mérette, C; Pato, CN; Pato, MT; Roos, J Louw; Kohn, Y; Amann-Zalcenstein, D; Kalsi, G; McQuillin, A; Curtis, D; Brynjolfson, J; Sigmundsson, T; Petursson, H; Sanders, AR; Duan, J; Jazin, E; Myles-Worsley, M; Karayiorgou, M; Lewis, CM

    2009-01-01

    A genome scan meta-analysis (GSMA) was carried out on 32 independent genome-wide linkage scan analyses that included 3255 pedigrees with 7413 genotyped cases affected with schizophrenia (SCZ) or related disorders. The primary GSMA divided the autosomes into 120 bins, rank-ordered the bins within each study according to the most positive linkage result in each bin, summed these ranks (weighted for study size) for each bin across studies and determined the empirical probability of a given summed rank (PSR) by simulation. Suggestive evidence for linkage was observed in two single bins, on chromosomes 5q (142-168 Mb) and 2q (103-134 Mb). Genome-wide evidence for linkage was detected on chromosome 2q (119-152 Mb) when bin boundaries were shifted to the middle of the previous bins. The primary analysis met empirical criteria for ‘aggregate’ genome-wide significance, indicating that some or all of 10 bins are likely to contain loci linked to SCZ, including regions of chromosomes 1, 2q, 3q, 4q, 5q, 8p and 10q. In a secondary analysis of 22 studies of European-ancestry samples, suggestive evidence for linkage was observed on chromosome 8p (16-33 Mb). Although the newer genome-wide association methodology has greater power to detect weak associations to single common DNA sequence variants, linkage analysis can detect diverse genetic effects that segregate in families, including multiple rare variants within one locus or several weakly associated loci in the same region. Therefore, the regions supported by this meta-analysis deserve close attention in future studies. PMID:19349958

  8. CMS: a web-based system for visualization and analysis of genome-wide methylation data of human cancers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gu, Fei; Doderer, Mark S; Huang, Yi-Wen; Roa, Juan C; Goodfellow, Paul J; Kizer, E Lynette; Huang, Tim H M; Chen, Yidong

    2013-01-01

    DNA methylation of promoter CpG islands is associated with gene suppression, and its unique genome-wide profiles have been linked to tumor progression. Coupled with high-throughput sequencing technologies, it can now efficiently determine genome-wide methylation profiles in cancer cells. Also, experimental and computational technologies make it possible to find the functional relationship between cancer-specific methylation patterns and their clinicopathological parameters. Cancer methylome system (CMS) is a web-based database application designed for the visualization, comparison and statistical analysis of human cancer-specific DNA methylation. Methylation intensities were obtained from MBDCap-sequencing, pre-processed and stored in the database. 191 patient samples (169 tumor and 22 normal specimen) and 41 breast cancer cell-lines are deposited in the database, comprising about 6.6 billion uniquely mapped sequence reads. This provides comprehensive and genome-wide epigenetic portraits of human breast cancer and endometrial cancer to date. Two views are proposed for users to better understand methylation structure at the genomic level or systemic methylation alteration at the gene level. In addition, a variety of annotation tracks are provided to cover genomic information. CMS includes important analytic functions for interpretation of methylation data, such as the detection of differentially methylated regions, statistical calculation of global methylation intensities, multiple gene sets of biologically significant categories, interactivity with UCSC via custom-track data. We also present examples of discoveries utilizing the framework. CMS provides visualization and analytic functions for cancer methylome datasets. A comprehensive collection of datasets, a variety of embedded analytic functions and extensive applications with biological and translational significance make this system powerful and unique in cancer methylation research. CMS is freely accessible

  9. Integrated genome sequence and linkage map of physic nut (Jatropha curcas L.), a biodiesel plant.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Pingzhi; Zhou, Changpin; Cheng, Shifeng; Wu, Zhenying; Lu, Wenjia; Han, Jinli; Chen, Yanbo; Chen, Yan; Ni, Peixiang; Wang, Ying; Xu, Xun; Huang, Ying; Song, Chi; Wang, Zhiwen; Shi, Nan; Zhang, Xudong; Fang, Xiaohua; Yang, Qing; Jiang, Huawu; Chen, Yaping; Li, Meiru; Wang, Ying; Chen, Fan; Wang, Jun; Wu, Guojiang

    2015-03-01

    The family Euphorbiaceae includes some of the most efficient biomass accumulators. Whole genome sequencing and the development of genetic maps of these species are important components in molecular breeding and genetic improvement. Here we report the draft genome of physic nut (Jatropha curcas L.), a biodiesel plant. The assembled genome has a total length of 320.5 Mbp and contains 27,172 putative protein-coding genes. We established a linkage map containing 1208 markers and anchored the genome assembly (81.7%) to this map to produce 11 pseudochromosomes. After gene family clustering, 15,268 families were identified, of which 13,887 existed in the castor bean genome. Analysis of the genome highlighted specific expansion and contraction of a number of gene families during the evolution of this species, including the ribosome-inactivating proteins and oil biosynthesis pathway enzymes. The genomic sequence and linkage map provide a valuable resource not only for fundamental and applied research on physic nut but also for evolutionary and comparative genomics analysis, particularly in the Euphorbiaceae. © 2015 The Authors The Plant Journal © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  10. Genome-wide association study of Tourette Syndrome

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scharf, Jeremiah M.; Yu, Dongmei; Mathews, Carol A.; Neale, Benjamin M.; Stewart, S. Evelyn; Fagerness, Jesen A; Evans, Patrick; Gamazon, Eric; Edlund, Christopher K.; Service, Susan; Tikhomirov, Anna; Osiecki, Lisa; Illmann, Cornelia; Pluzhnikov, Anna; Konkashbaev, Anuar; Davis, Lea K; Han, Buhm; Crane, Jacquelyn; Moorjani, Priya; Crenshaw, Andrew T.; Parkin, Melissa A.; Reus, Victor I.; Lowe, Thomas L.; Rangel-Lugo, Martha; Chouinard, Sylvain; Dion, Yves; Girard, Simon; Cath, Danielle C; Smit, Jan H; King, Robert A.; Fernandez, Thomas; Leckman, James F.; Kidd, Kenneth K.; Kidd, Judith R.; Pakstis, Andrew J.; State, Matthew; Herrera, Luis Diego; Romero, Roxana; Fournier, Eduardo; Sandor, Paul; Barr, Cathy L; Phan, Nam; Gross-Tsur, Varda; Benarroch, Fortu; Pollak, Yehuda; Budman, Cathy L.; Bruun, Ruth D.; Erenberg, Gerald; Naarden, Allan L; Lee, Paul C; Weiss, Nicholas; Kremeyer, Barbara; Berrío, Gabriel Bedoya; Campbell, Desmond; Silgado, Julio C. Cardona; Ochoa, William Cornejo; Restrepo, Sandra C. Mesa; Muller, Heike; Duarte, Ana V. Valencia; Lyon, Gholson J; Leppert, Mark; Morgan, Jubel; Weiss, Robert; Grados, Marco A.; Anderson, Kelley; Davarya, Sarah; Singer, Harvey; Walkup, John; Jankovic, Joseph; Tischfield, Jay A.; Heiman, Gary A.; Gilbert, Donald L.; Hoekstra, Pieter J.; Robertson, Mary M.; Kurlan, Roger; Liu, Chunyu; Gibbs, J. Raphael; Singleton, Andrew; Hardy, John; Strengman, Eric; Ophoff, Roel; Wagner, Michael; Moessner, Rainald; Mirel, Daniel B.; Posthuma, Danielle; Sabatti, Chiara; Eskin, Eleazar; Conti, David V.; Knowles, James A.; Ruiz-Linares, Andres; Rouleau, Guy A.; Purcell, Shaun; Heutink, Peter; Oostra, Ben A.; McMahon, William; Freimer, Nelson; Cox, Nancy J.; Pauls, David L.

    2012-01-01

    Tourette Syndrome (TS) is a developmental disorder that has one of the highest familial recurrence rates among neuropsychiatric diseases with complex inheritance. However, the identification of definitive TS susceptibility genes remains elusive. Here, we report the first genome-wide association study (GWAS) of TS in 1285 cases and 4964 ancestry-matched controls of European ancestry, including two European-derived population isolates, Ashkenazi Jews from North America and Israel, and French Canadians from Quebec, Canada. In a primary meta-analysis of GWAS data from these European ancestry samples, no markers achieved a genome-wide threshold of significance (p<5 × 10−8); the top signal was found in rs7868992 on chromosome 9q32 within COL27A1 (p=1.85 × 10−6). A secondary analysis including an additional 211 cases and 285 controls from two closely-related Latin-American population isolates from the Central Valley of Costa Rica and Antioquia, Colombia also identified rs7868992 as the top signal (p=3.6 × 10−7 for the combined sample of 1496 cases and 5249 controls following imputation with 1000 Genomes data). This study lays the groundwork for the eventual identification of common TS susceptibility variants in larger cohorts and helps to provide a more complete understanding of the full genetic architecture of this disorder. PMID:22889924

  11. Genome-wide identification of the regulatory targets of a transcription factor using biochemical characterization and computational genomic analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jolly Emmitt R

    2005-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background A major challenge in computational genomics is the development of methodologies that allow accurate genome-wide prediction of the regulatory targets of a transcription factor. We present a method for target identification that combines experimental characterization of binding requirements with computational genomic analysis. Results Our method identified potential target genes of the transcription factor Ndt80, a key transcriptional regulator involved in yeast sporulation, using the combined information of binding affinity, positional distribution, and conservation of the binding sites across multiple species. We have also developed a mathematical approach to compute the false positive rate and the total number of targets in the genome based on the multiple selection criteria. Conclusion We have shown that combining biochemical characterization and computational genomic analysis leads to accurate identification of the genome-wide targets of a transcription factor. The method can be extended to other transcription factors and can complement other genomic approaches to transcriptional regulation.

  12. Maintaining Genome Stability: The Role of Helicases and Deaminases

    Science.gov (United States)

    2008-07-01

    Errors in duplicating DNA can result in genomic instability, leading to various human diseases, such as cancer, immune system disorder, muscle dystrophy ...as cancer, immune system disorder, muscle dystrophy , and neurodegenerations. Thus, maintaining genomic integrity is vital to the normal growth of...31–38. Eberharter, A., R. Ferreira and P. Becker , 2005 Dynamic chro- matin: concerted nucleosome remodelling and acetylation. Biol. Chem. 386: 745

  13. A Genome-Wide Methylation Study of Severe Vitamin D Deficiency in African American Adolescents

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zhu, Haidong; Wang, Xiaoling; Shi, Huidong; Su, Shaoyong; Harshfield, Gregory A.; Gutin, Bernard; Snieder, Harold; Dong, Yanbin

    Objectives To test the hypothesis that changes in DNA methylation are involved in vitamin D deficiency-related immune cell regulation using an unbiased genome-wide approach combined with a genomic and epigenomic integrative approach. Study design We performed a genome-wide methylation scan using the

  14. Increased Nucleosomes and Neutrophil Activation Link to Disease Progression in Patients with Scrub Typhus but Not Murine Typhus in Laos.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paris, Daniel H; Stephan, Femke; Bulder, Ingrid; Wouters, Diana; van der Poll, Tom; Newton, Paul N; Day, Nicholas P J; Zeerleder, Sacha

    2015-01-01

    Cell-mediated immunity is essential in protection against rickettsial illnesses, but the role of neutrophils in these intracellular vasculotropic infections remains unclear. This study analyzed the plasma levels of nucleosomes, FSAP-activation (nucleosome-releasing factor), and neutrophil activation, as evidenced by neutrophil-elastase (ELA) complexes, in sympatric Lao patients with scrub typhus and murine typhus. In acute scrub typhus elevated nucleosome levels correlated with lower GCS scores, raised respiratory rate, jaundice and impaired liver function, whereas neutrophil activation correlated with fibrinolysis and high IL-8 plasma levels, a recently identified predictor of severe disease and mortality. Nucleosome and ELA complex levels were associated with a 4.8-fold and 4-fold increased risk of developing severe scrub typhus, beyond cut off values of 1,040 U/ml for nucleosomes and 275 U/ml for ELA complexes respectively. In murine typhus, nucleosome levels associated with pro-inflammatory cytokines and the duration of illness, while ELA complexes correlated strongly with inflammation markers, jaundice and increased respiratory rates. This study found strong correlations between circulating nucleosomes and neutrophil activation in patients with scrub typhus, but not murine typhus, providing indirect evidence that nucleosomes could originate from neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) degradation. High circulating plasma nucleosomes and ELA complexes represent independent risk factors for developing severe complications in scrub typhus. As nucleosomes and histones exposed on NETs are highly cytotoxic to endothelial cells and are strongly pro-coagulant, neutrophil-derived nucleosomes could contribute to vascular damage, the pro-coagulant state and exacerbation of disease in scrub typhus, thus indicating a detrimental role of neutrophil activation. The data suggest that increased neutrophil activation relates to disease progression and severe complications, and

  15. The sea lamprey meiotic map improves resolution of ancient vertebrate genome duplications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Jeramiah J; Keinath, Melissa C

    2015-08-01

    It is generally accepted that many genes present in vertebrate genomes owe their origin to two whole-genome duplications that occurred deep in the ancestry of the vertebrate lineage. However, details regarding the timing and outcome of these duplications are not well resolved. We present high-density meiotic and comparative genomic maps for the sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus), a representative of an ancient lineage that diverged from all other vertebrates ∼550 million years ago. Linkage analyses yielded a total of 95 linkage groups, similar to the estimated number of germline chromosomes (1n ∼ 99), spanning a total of 5570.25 cM. Comparative mapping data yield strong support for the hypothesis that a single whole-genome duplication occurred in the basal vertebrate lineage, but do not strongly support a hypothetical second event. Rather, these comparative maps reveal several evolutionarily independent segmental duplications occurring over the last 600+ million years of chordate evolution. This refined history of vertebrate genome duplication should permit more precise investigations of vertebrate evolution. © 2015 Smith and Keinath; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

  16. Genome-wide association study of the four-constitution medicine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yin, Chang Shik; Park, Hi Joon; Chung, Joo-Ho; Lee, Hye-Jung; Lee, Byung-Cheol

    2009-12-01

    Four-constitution medicine (FCM), also known as Sasang constitutional medicine, and the heritage of the long history of individualized acupuncture medicine tradition, is one of the holistic and traditional systems of constitution to appraise and categorize individual differences into four major types. This study first reports a genome-wide association study on FCM, to explore the genetic basis of FCM and facilitate the integration of FCM with conventional individual differences research. Healthy individuals of the Korean population were classified into the four constitutional types (FCTs). A total of 353,202 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were typed using whole genome amplified samples, and six-way comparison of FCM types provided lists of significantly differential SNPs. In one-to-one FCT comparisons, 15,944 SNPs were significantly differential, and 5 SNPs were commonly significant in all of the three comparisons. In one-to-two FCT comparisons, 22,616 SNPs were significantly differential, and 20 SNPs were commonly significant in all of the three comparison groups. This study presents the association between genome-wide SNP profiles and the categorization of the FCM, and it could further provide a starting point of genome-based identification and research of the constitutions of FCM.

  17. Genome-wide identification of key modulators of gene-gene interaction networks in breast cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chiu, Yu-Chiao; Wang, Li-Ju; Hsiao, Tzu-Hung; Chuang, Eric Y; Chen, Yidong

    2017-10-03

    With the advances in high-throughput gene profiling technologies, a large volume of gene interaction maps has been constructed. A higher-level layer of gene-gene interaction, namely modulate gene interaction, is composed of gene pairs of which interaction strengths are modulated by (i.e., dependent on) the expression level of a key modulator gene. Systematic investigations into the modulation by estrogen receptor (ER), the best-known modulator gene, have revealed the functional and prognostic significance in breast cancer. However, a genome-wide identification of key modulator genes that may further unveil the landscape of modulated gene interaction is still lacking. We proposed a systematic workflow to screen for key modulators based on genome-wide gene expression profiles. We designed four modularity parameters to measure the ability of a putative modulator to perturb gene interaction networks. Applying the method to a dataset of 286 breast tumors, we comprehensively characterized the modularity parameters and identified a total of 973 key modulator genes. The modularity of these modulators was verified in three independent breast cancer datasets. ESR1, the encoding gene of ER, appeared in the list, and abundant novel modulators were illuminated. For instance, a prognostic predictor of breast cancer, SFRP1, was found the second modulator. Functional annotation analysis of the 973 modulators revealed involvements in ER-related cellular processes as well as immune- and tumor-associated functions. Here we present, as far as we know, the first comprehensive analysis of key modulator genes on a genome-wide scale. The validity of filtering parameters as well as the conservativity of modulators among cohorts were corroborated. Our data bring new insights into the modulated layer of gene-gene interaction and provide candidates for further biological investigations.

  18. Genome-Wide Association Study of Anthracnose Resistance in Andean Beans (Phaseolus vulgaris).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zuiderveen, Grady H; Padder, Bilal A; Kamfwa, Kelvin; Song, Qijian; Kelly, James D

    2016-01-01

    Anthracnose is a seed-borne disease of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) caused by the fungus Colletotrichum lindemuthianum, and the pathogen is cosmopolitan in distribution. The objectives of this study were to identify new sources of anthracnose resistance in a diverse panel of 230 Andean beans comprised of multiple seed types and market classes from the Americas, Africa, and Europe, and explore the genetic basis of this resistance using genome-wide association mapping analysis (GWAS). Twenty-eight of the 230 lines tested were resistant to six out of the eight races screened, but only one cultivar Uyole98 was resistant to all eight races (7, 39, 55, 65, 73, 109, 2047, and 3481) included in the study. Outputs from the GWAS indicated major quantitative trait loci (QTL) for resistance on chromosomes, Pv01, Pv02, and Pv04 and two minor QTL on Pv10 and Pv11. Candidate genes associated with the significant SNPs were detected on all five chromosomes. An independent QTL study was conducted to confirm the physical location of the Co-1 locus identified on Pv01 in an F4:6 recombinant inbred line (RIL) population. Resistance was determined to be conditioned by the single dominant gene Co-1 that mapped between 50.16 and 50.30 Mb on Pv01, and an InDel marker (NDSU_IND_1_50.2219) tightly linked to the gene was developed. The information reported will provide breeders with new and diverse sources of resistance and genomic regions to target in the development of anthracnose resistance in Andean beans.

  19. Genome-Wide Association Study of Anthracnose Resistance in Andean Beans (Phaseolus vulgaris.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Grady H Zuiderveen

    Full Text Available Anthracnose is a seed-borne disease of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L. caused by the fungus Colletotrichum lindemuthianum, and the pathogen is cosmopolitan in distribution. The objectives of this study were to identify new sources of anthracnose resistance in a diverse panel of 230 Andean beans comprised of multiple seed types and market classes from the Americas, Africa, and Europe, and explore the genetic basis of this resistance using genome-wide association mapping analysis (GWAS. Twenty-eight of the 230 lines tested were resistant to six out of the eight races screened, but only one cultivar Uyole98 was resistant to all eight races (7, 39, 55, 65, 73, 109, 2047, and 3481 included in the study. Outputs from the GWAS indicated major quantitative trait loci (QTL for resistance on chromosomes, Pv01, Pv02, and Pv04 and two minor QTL on Pv10 and Pv11. Candidate genes associated with the significant SNPs were detected on all five chromosomes. An independent QTL study was conducted to confirm the physical location of the Co-1 locus identified on Pv01 in an F4:6 recombinant inbred line (RIL population. Resistance was determined to be conditioned by the single dominant gene Co-1 that mapped between 50.16 and 50.30 Mb on Pv01, and an InDel marker (NDSU_IND_1_50.2219 tightly linked to the gene was developed. The information reported will provide breeders with new and diverse sources of resistance and genomic regions to target in the development of anthracnose resistance in Andean beans.

  20. Altered nucleosomes of active nucleolar chromatin contain accessible histone H3 in its hyperacetylated forms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Johnson, E.M.; Sterner, R.; Allfrey, V.G.

    1987-01-01

    Chromatin of the organism Physarum polycephalum contains a class of conformationally altered nucleosomes previously localized to the transcribing regions of ribosomal genes in nucleoli. When nuclei are treated with 2-iodo[2-tritium]acetate, the histone H3 sulfhydryl group of the altered nucleosomes is derivatized while that of folded nucleosomes is not, and the labeled histones can then be identified by autoradiography of gels that separate H3 isoforms. The H3 derivatized is predominantly of tri- and tetraacetylated forms. In contrast, total free histone reacted with iodoacetate shows no preferential labeling of isoforms. Selective reaction of acetylated H3 is prevalent in both nucleolar and non-nucleolar chromatin. The results link specific patterns of H3 acetylation to changes in nucleosome conformation that occur during transcription

  1. Time-Resolved Transposon Insertion Sequencing Reveals Genome-Wide Fitness Dynamics during Infection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Guanhua; Billings, Gabriel; Hubbard, Troy P; Park, Joseph S; Yin Leung, Ka; Liu, Qin; Davis, Brigid M; Zhang, Yuanxing; Wang, Qiyao; Waldor, Matthew K

    2017-10-03

    Transposon insertion sequencing (TIS) is a powerful high-throughput genetic technique that is transforming functional genomics in prokaryotes, because it enables genome-wide mapping of the determinants of fitness. However, current approaches for analyzing TIS data assume that selective pressures are constant over time and thus do not yield information regarding changes in the genetic requirements for growth in dynamic environments (e.g., during infection). Here, we describe structured analysis of TIS data collected as a time series, termed pattern analysis of conditional essentiality (PACE). From a temporal series of TIS data, PACE derives a quantitative assessment of each mutant's fitness over the course of an experiment and identifies mutants with related fitness profiles. In so doing, PACE circumvents major limitations of existing methodologies, specifically the need for artificial effect size thresholds and enumeration of bacterial population expansion. We used PACE to analyze TIS samples of Edwardsiella piscicida (a fish pathogen) collected over a 2-week infection period from a natural host (the flatfish turbot). PACE uncovered more genes that affect E. piscicida 's fitness in vivo than were detected using a cutoff at a terminal sampling point, and it identified subpopulations of mutants with distinct fitness profiles, one of which informed the design of new live vaccine candidates. Overall, PACE enables efficient mining of time series TIS data and enhances the power and sensitivity of TIS-based analyses. IMPORTANCE Transposon insertion sequencing (TIS) enables genome-wide mapping of the genetic determinants of fitness, typically based on observations at a single sampling point. Here, we move beyond analysis of endpoint TIS data to create a framework for analysis of time series TIS data, termed pattern analysis of conditional essentiality (PACE). We applied PACE to identify genes that contribute to colonization of a natural host by the fish pathogen

  2. Genome-wide association study of PR interval in Hispanics/Latinos identifies novel locus at ID2.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seyerle, Amanda A; Lin, Henry J; Gogarten, Stephanie M; Stilp, Adrienne; Méndez Giráldez, Raul; Soliman, Elsayed; Baldassari, Antoine; Graff, Mariaelisa; Heckbert, Susan; Kerr, Kathleen F; Kooperberg, Charles; Rodriguez, Carlos; Guo, Xiuqing; Yao, Jie; Sotoodehnia, Nona; Taylor, Kent D; Whitsel, Eric A; Rotter, Jerome I; Laurie, Cathy C; Avery, Christy L

    2017-11-10

    PR interval (PR) is a heritable electrocardiographic measure of atrial and atrioventricular nodal conduction. Changes in PR duration may be associated with atrial fibrillation, heart failure and all-cause mortality. Hispanic/Latino populations have high burdens of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, are highly admixed and represent exceptional opportunities for novel locus identification. However, they remain chronically understudied. We present the first genome-wide association study (GWAS) of PR in 14 756 participants of Hispanic/Latino ancestry from three studies. Study-specific summary results of the association between 1000 Genomes Phase 1 imputed single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and PR assumed an additive genetic model and were adjusted for global ancestry, study centre/region and clinical covariates. Results were combined using fixed-effects, inverse variance weighted meta-analysis. Sequential conditional analyses were used to identify independent signals. Replication of novel loci was performed in populations of Asian, African and European descent. ENCODE and RoadMap data were used to annotate results. We identified a novel genome-wide association (PPR at ID2 (rs6730558), which replicated in Asian and European populations (PPR loci to Hispanics/Latinos. Bioinformatics annotation provided evidence for regulatory function in cardiac tissue. Further, for six loci that generalised, the Hispanic/Latino index SNP was genome-wide significant and identical to (or in high linkage disequilibrium with) the previously identified GWAS lead SNP. Our results suggest that genetic determinants of PR are consistent across race/ethnicity, but extending studies to admixed populations can identify novel associations, underscoring the importance of conducting genetic studies in diverse populations. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise

  3. Genetic risk of extranodal natural killer T-cell lymphoma: a genome-wide association study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Zheng; Xia, Yi; Feng, Li-Na; Chen, Jie-Rong; Li, Hong-Min; Cui, Jing; Cai, Qing-Qing; Sim, Kar Seng; Nairismägi, Maarja-Liisa; Laurensia, Yurike; Meah, Wee Yang; Liu, Wen-Sheng; Guo, Yun-Miao; Chen, Li-Zhen; Feng, Qi-Sheng; Pang, Chi Pui; Chen, Li Jia; Chew, Soo Hong; Ebstein, Richard P; Foo, Jia Nee; Liu, Jianjun; Ha, Jeslin; Khoo, Lay Poh; Chin, Suk Teng; Zeng, Yi-Xin; Aung, Tin; Chowbay, Balram; Diong, Colin Phipps; Zhang, Fen; Liu, Yan-Hui; Tang, Tiffany; Tao, Miriam; Quek, Richard; Mohamad, Farid; Tan, Soo Yong; Teh, Bin Tean; Ng, Siok Bian; Chng, Wee Joo; Ong, Choon Kiat; Okada, Yukinori; Raychaudhuri, Soumya; Lim, Soon Thye; Tan, Wen; Peng, Rou-Jun; Khor, Chiea Chuen; Bei, Jin-Xin

    2016-09-01

    Extranodal natural killer T-cell lymphoma (NKTCL), nasal type, is a rare and aggressive malignancy that occurs predominantly in Asian and Latin American populations. Although Epstein-Barr virus infection is a known risk factor, other risk factors and the pathogenesis of NKTCL are not well understood. We aimed to identify common genetic variants affecting individual risk of NKTCL. We did a genome-wide association study of 189 patients with extranodal NKTCL, nasal type (WHO classification criteria; cases) and 957 controls from Guangdong province, southern China. We validated our findings in four independent case-control series, including 75 cases from Guangdong province and 296 controls from Hong Kong, 65 cases and 983 controls from Guangdong province, 125 cases and 1110 controls from Beijing (northern China), and 60 cases and 2476 controls from Singapore. We used imputation and conditional logistic regression analyses to fine-map the associations. We also did a meta-analysis of the replication series and of the entire dataset. Associations exceeding the genome-wide significance threshold (p<5 × 10(-8)) were seen at 51 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) mapping to the class II MHC region on chromosome 6, with rs9277378 (located in HLA-DPB1) having the strongest association with NKTCL susceptibility (p=4·21 × 10(-19), odds ratio [OR] 1·84 [95% CI 1·61-2·11] in meta-analysis of entire dataset). Imputation-based fine-mapping across the class II MHC region suggests that four aminoacid residues (Gly84-Gly85-Pro86-Met87) in near-complete linkage disequilibrium at the edge of the peptide-binding groove of HLA-DPB1 could account for most of the association between the rs9277378*A risk allele and NKTCL susceptibility (OR 2·38, p value for haplotype 2·32 × 10(-14)). This association is distinct from MHC associations with Epstein-Barr virus infection. To our knowledge, this is the first time that a genetic variant conferring an NKTCL risk is noted at

  4. Chapter 10: Mining genome-wide genetic markers.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiang Zhang

    Full Text Available Genome-wide association study (GWAS aims to discover genetic factors underlying phenotypic traits. The large number of genetic factors poses both computational and statistical challenges. Various computational approaches have been developed for large scale GWAS. In this chapter, we will discuss several widely used computational approaches in GWAS. The following topics will be covered: (1 An introduction to the background of GWAS. (2 The existing computational approaches that are widely used in GWAS. This will cover single-locus, epistasis detection, and machine learning methods that have been recently developed in biology, statistic, and computer science communities. This part will be the main focus of this chapter. (3 The limitations of current approaches and future directions.

  5. Asymmetric binding of histone H1 stabilizes MMTV nucleosomes and the interaction of progesterone receptor with the exposed HRE.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vicent, Guillermo P; Meliá, María J; Beato, Miguel

    2002-11-29

    Packaging of mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) promoter sequences in nucleosomes modulates access of DNA binding proteins and influences the interaction among DNA bound transcription factors. Here we analyze the binding of histone H1 to MMTV mononucleosomes assembled with recombinant histones and study its influence on nucleosome structure and stability as well as on progesterone receptor (PR) binding to the hormone responsive elements (HREs). The MMTV nucleosomes can be separated into three main populations, two of which exhibited precise translational positioning. Histone H1 bound preferentially to the 5' distal nucleosomal DNA protecting additional 27-28 nt from digestion by micrococcal nuclease. Binding of histone H1 was unaffected by prior crosslinking of protein and DNA in nucleosomes with formaldehyde. Neither the translational nor the rotational nucleosome positioning was altered by histone H1 binding, but the nucleosomes were stabilized as judged by the kinetics of nuclease cleavage. Unexpectedly, binding of recombinant PR to the exposed distal HRE-I in nucleosomes was enhanced in the presence of histone H1, as demonstrated by band shift and footprinting experiments. This enhanced PR affinity may contribute to the reported positive effect of histone H1 on the hormonal activation of MMTV reporter genes.

  6. Comprehensive genome-wide survey, genomic constitution and expression profiling of the NAC transcription factor family in foxtail millet (Setaria italica L..

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Swati Puranik

    Full Text Available The NAC proteins represent a major plant-specific transcription factor family that has established enormously diverse roles in various plant processes. Aided by the availability of complete genomes, several members of this family have been identified in Arabidopsis, rice, soybean and poplar. However, no comprehensive investigation has been presented for the recently sequenced, naturally stress tolerant crop, Setaria italica (foxtail millet that is famed as a model crop for bioenergy research. In this study, we identified 147 putative NAC domain-encoding genes from foxtail millet by systematic sequence analysis and physically mapped them onto nine chromosomes. Genomic organization suggested that inter-chromosomal duplications may have been responsible for expansion of this gene family in foxtail millet. Phylogenetically, they were arranged into 11 distinct sub-families (I-XI, with duplicated genes fitting into one cluster and possessing conserved motif compositions. Comparative mapping with other grass species revealed some orthologous relationships and chromosomal rearrangements including duplication, inversion and deletion of genes. The evolutionary significance as duplication and divergence of NAC genes based on their amino acid substitution rates was understood. Expression profiling against various stresses and phytohormones provides novel insights into specific and/or overlapping expression patterns of SiNAC genes, which may be responsible for functional divergence among individual members in this crop. Further, we performed structure modeling and molecular simulation of a stress-responsive protein, SiNAC128, proffering an initial framework for understanding its molecular function. Taken together, this genome-wide identification and expression profiling unlocks new avenues for systematic functional analysis of novel NAC gene family candidates which may be applied for improvising stress adaption in plants.

  7. Comprehensive genome-wide survey, genomic constitution and expression profiling of the NAC transcription factor family in foxtail millet (Setaria italica L.).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Puranik, Swati; Sahu, Pranav Pankaj; Mandal, Sambhu Nath; B, Venkata Suresh; Parida, Swarup Kumar; Prasad, Manoj

    2013-01-01

    The NAC proteins represent a major plant-specific transcription factor family that has established enormously diverse roles in various plant processes. Aided by the availability of complete genomes, several members of this family have been identified in Arabidopsis, rice, soybean and poplar. However, no comprehensive investigation has been presented for the recently sequenced, naturally stress tolerant crop, Setaria italica (foxtail millet) that is famed as a model crop for bioenergy research. In this study, we identified 147 putative NAC domain-encoding genes from foxtail millet by systematic sequence analysis and physically mapped them onto nine chromosomes. Genomic organization suggested that inter-chromosomal duplications may have been responsible for expansion of this gene family in foxtail millet. Phylogenetically, they were arranged into 11 distinct sub-families (I-XI), with duplicated genes fitting into one cluster and possessing conserved motif compositions. Comparative mapping with other grass species revealed some orthologous relationships and chromosomal rearrangements including duplication, inversion and deletion of genes. The evolutionary significance as duplication and divergence of NAC genes based on their amino acid substitution rates was understood. Expression profiling against various stresses and phytohormones provides novel insights into specific and/or overlapping expression patterns of SiNAC genes, which may be responsible for functional divergence among individual members in this crop. Further, we performed structure modeling and molecular simulation of a stress-responsive protein, SiNAC128, proffering an initial framework for understanding its molecular function. Taken together, this genome-wide identification and expression profiling unlocks new avenues for systematic functional analysis of novel NAC gene family candidates which may be applied for improvising stress adaption in plants.

  8. A High Resolution Genetic Map Anchoring Scaffolds of the Sequenced Watermelon Genome

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kou, Qinghe; Jiang, Jiao; Guo, Shaogui; Zhang, Haiying; Hou, Wenju; Zou, Xiaohua; Sun, Honghe; Gong, Guoyi; Levi, Amnon; Xu, Yong

    2012-01-01

    As part of our ongoing efforts to sequence and map the watermelon (Citrullus spp.) genome, we have constructed a high density genetic linkage map. The map positioned 234 watermelon genome sequence scaffolds (an average size of 1.41 Mb) that cover about 330 Mb and account for 93.5% of the 353 Mb of the assembled genomic sequences of the elite Chinese watermelon line 97103 (Citrullus lanatus var. lanatus). The genetic map was constructed using an F8 population of 103 recombinant inbred lines (RILs). The RILs are derived from a cross between the line 97103 and the United States Plant Introduction (PI) 296341-FR (C. lanatus var. citroides) that contains resistance to fusarium wilt (races 0, 1, and 2). The genetic map consists of eleven linkage groups that include 698 simple sequence repeat (SSR), 219 insertion-deletion (InDel) and 36 structure variation (SV) markers and spans ∼800 cM with a mean marker interval of 0.8 cM. Using fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) with 11 BACs that produced chromosome-specifc signals, we have depicted watermelon chromosomes that correspond to the eleven linkage groups constructed in this study. The high resolution genetic map developed here should be a useful platform for the assembly of the watermelon genome, for the development of sequence-based markers used in breeding programs, and for the identification of genes associated with important agricultural traits. PMID:22247776

  9. Analysis of Genome-Wide Copy Number Variations in Chinese Indigenous and Western Pig Breeds by 60 K SNP Genotyping Arrays

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Yaqi; Wang, Hongyang; Wang, Chao; Yu, Shaobo; Liu, Jing; Zhang, Yu; Fan, Bin; Li, Kui; Liu, Bang

    2014-01-01

    Copy number variations (CNVs) represent a substantial source of structural variants in mammals and contribute to both normal phenotypic variability and disease susceptibility. Although low-resolution CNV maps are produced in many domestic animals, and several reports have been published about the CNVs of porcine genome, the differences between Chinese and western pigs still remain to be elucidated. In this study, we used Porcine SNP60 BeadChip and PennCNV algorithm to perform a genome-wide CNV detection in 302 individuals from six Chinese indigenous breeds (Tongcheng, Laiwu, Luchuan, Bama, Wuzhishan and Ningxiang pigs), three western breeds (Yorkshire, Landrace and Duroc) and one hybrid (Tongcheng×Duroc). A total of 348 CNV Regions (CNVRs) across genome were identified, covering 150.49 Mb of the pig genome or 6.14% of the autosomal genome sequence. In these CNVRs, 213 CNVRs were found to exist only in the six Chinese indigenous breeds, and 60 CNVRs only in the three western breeds. The characters of CNVs in four Chinese normal size breeds (Luchuan, Tongcheng and Laiwu pigs) and two minipig breeds (Bama and Wuzhishan pigs) were also analyzed in this study. Functional annotation suggested that these CNVRs possess a great variety of molecular function and may play important roles in phenotypic and production traits between Chinese and western breeds. Our results are important complementary to the CNV map in pig genome, which provide new information about the diversity of Chinese and western pig breeds, and facilitate further research on porcine genome CNVs. PMID:25198154

  10. Genome-Wide Identification and Expression Analysis of WRKY Gene Family in Capsicum annuum L.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diao, Wei-Ping; Snyder, John C; Wang, Shu-Bin; Liu, Jin-Bing; Pan, Bao-Gui; Guo, Guang-Jun; Wei, Ge

    2016-01-01

    The WRKY family of transcription factors is one of the most important families of plant transcriptional regulators with members regulating multiple biological processes, especially in regulating defense against biotic and abiotic stresses. However, little information is available about WRKYs in pepper (Capsicum annuum L.). The recent release of completely assembled genome sequences of pepper allowed us to perform a genome-wide investigation for pepper WRKY proteins. In the present study, a total of 71 WRKY genes were identified in the pepper genome. According to structural features of their encoded proteins, the pepper WRKY genes (CaWRKY) were classified into three main groups, with the second group further divided into five subgroups. Genome mapping analysis revealed that CaWRKY were enriched on four chromosomes, especially on chromosome 1, and 15.5% of the family members were tandemly duplicated genes. A phylogenetic tree was constructed depending on WRKY domain' sequences derived from pepper and Arabidopsis. The expression of 21 selected CaWRKY genes in response to seven different biotic and abiotic stresses (salt, heat shock, drought, Phytophtora capsici, SA, MeJA, and ABA) was evaluated by quantitative RT-PCR; Some CaWRKYs were highly expressed and up-regulated by stress treatment. Our results will provide a platform for functional identification and molecular breeding studies of WRKY genes in pepper.

  11. Transcription facilitated genome-wide recruitment of topoisomerase I and DNA gyrase.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ahmed, Wareed; Sala, Claudia; Hegde, Shubhada R; Jha, Rajiv Kumar; Cole, Stewart T; Nagaraja, Valakunja

    2017-05-01

    Movement of the transcription machinery along a template alters DNA topology resulting in the accumulation of supercoils in DNA. The positive supercoils generated ahead of transcribing RNA polymerase (RNAP) and the negative supercoils accumulating behind impose severe topological constraints impeding transcription process. Previous studies have implied the role of topoisomerases in the removal of torsional stress and the maintenance of template topology but the in vivo interaction of functionally distinct topoisomerases with heterogeneous chromosomal territories is not deciphered. Moreover, how the transcription-induced supercoils influence the genome-wide recruitment of DNA topoisomerases remains to be explored in bacteria. Using ChIP-Seq, we show the genome-wide occupancy profile of both topoisomerase I and DNA gyrase in conjunction with RNAP in Mycobacterium tuberculosis taking advantage of minimal topoisomerase representation in the organism. The study unveils the first in vivo genome-wide interaction of both the topoisomerases with the genomic regions and establishes that transcription-induced supercoils govern their recruitment at genomic sites. Distribution profiles revealed co-localization of RNAP and the two topoisomerases on the active transcriptional units (TUs). At a given locus, topoisomerase I and DNA gyrase were localized behind and ahead of RNAP, respectively, correlating with the twin-supercoiled domains generated. The recruitment of topoisomerases was higher at the genomic loci with higher transcriptional activity and/or at regions under high torsional stress compared to silent genomic loci. Importantly, the occupancy of DNA gyrase, sole type II topoisomerase in Mtb, near the Ter domain of the Mtb chromosome validates its function as a decatenase.

  12. Genome-wide association analyses of expression phenotypes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Gary K; Zheng, Tian; Witte, John S; Goode, Ellen L; Gao, Lei; Hu, Pingzhao; Suh, Young Ju; Suktitipat, Bhoom; Szymczak, Silke; Woo, Jung Hoon; Zhang, Wei

    2007-01-01

    A number of issues arise when analyzing the large amount of data from high-throughput genotype and expression microarray experiments, including design and interpretation of genome-wide association studies of expression phenotypes. These issues were considered by contributions submitted to Group 1 of the Genetic Analysis Workshop 15 (GAW15), which focused on the association of quantitative expression data. These contributions evaluated diverse hypotheses, including those relevant to cancer and obesity research, and used various analytic techniques, many of which were derived from information theory. Several observations from these reports stand out. First, one needs to consider the genetic model of the trait of interest and carefully select which single nucleotide polymorphisms and individuals are included early in the design stage of a study. Second, by targeting specific pathways when analyzing genome-wide data, one can generate more interpretable results than agnostic approaches. Finally, for datasets with small sample sizes but a large number of features like the Genetic Analysis Workshop 15 dataset, machine learning approaches may be more practical than traditional parametric approaches. (c) 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  13. Genome-wide analysis of tandem repeats in plants and green algae

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhixin Zhao; Cheng Guo; Sreeskandarajan Sutharzan; Pei Li; Craig Echt; Jie Zhang; Chun Liang

    2014-01-01

    Tandem repeats (TRs) extensively exist in the genomes of prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Based on the sequenced genomes and gene annotations of 31 plant and algal species in Phytozome version 8.0 (http://www.phytozome.net/), we examined TRs in a genome-wide scale, characterized their distributions and motif features, and explored their putative biological functions. Among...

  14. Investigation of common, low-frequency and rare genome-wide variation in anorexia nervosa

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huckins, L M; Hatzikotoulas, K; Southam, L; Thornton, L M; Steinberg, J; Aguilera-McKay, F; Treasure, J; Schmidt, U; Gunasinghe, C; Romero, A; Curtis, C; Rhodes, D; Moens, J; Kalsi, G; Dempster, D; Leung, R; Keohane, A; Burghardt, R; Ehrlich, S; Hebebrand, J; Hinney, A; Ludolph, A; Walton, E; Deloukas, P; Hofman, A; Palotie, A; Palta, P; van Rooij, F J A; Stirrups, K; Adan, R; Boni, C; Cone, R; Dedoussis, G; van Furth, E; Gonidakis, F; Gorwood, P; Hudson, J; Kaprio, J; Kas, M; Keski-Rahonen, A; Kiezebrink, K; Knudsen, G-P; Slof-Op 't Landt, M C T; Maj, M; Monteleone, A M; Monteleone, P; Raevuori, A H; Reichborn-Kjennerud, T; Tozzi, F; Tsitsika, A; van Elburg, A; Adan, R A H; Alfredsson, L; Ando, T; Andreassen, O A; Aschauer, H; Baker, J H; Barrett, J C; Bencko, V; Bergen, A W; Berrettini, W H; Birgegard, A; Boni, C; Boraska Perica, V; Brandt, H; Breen, G; Bulik, C M; Carlberg, L; Cassina, M; Cichon, S; Clementi, M; Cohen-Woods, S; Coleman, J; Cone, R D; Courtet, P; Crawford, S; Crow, S; Crowley, J; Danner, U N; Davis, O S P; de Zwaan, M; Dedoussis, G; Degortes, D; DeSocio, J E; Dick, D M; Dikeos, D; Dina, C; Ding, B; Dmitrzak-Weglarz, M; Docampo, E; Duncan, L; Egberts, K; Ehrlich, S; Escaramís, G; Esko, T; Espeseth, T; Estivill, X; Favaro, A; Fernández-Aranda, F; Fichter, M M; Finan, C; Fischer, K; Floyd, J A B; Foretova, L; Forzan, M; Franklin, C S; Gallinger, S; Gambaro, G; Gaspar, H A; Giegling, I; Gonidakis, F; Gorwood, P; Gratacos, M; Guillaume, S; Guo, Y; Hakonarson, H; Halmi, K A; Hatzikotoulas, K; Hauser, J; Hebebrand, J; Helder, S; Herms, S; Herpertz-Dahlmann, B; Herzog, W; Hilliard, C E; Hinney, A; Hübel, C; Huckins, L M; Hudson, J I; Huemer, J; Inoko, H; Janout, V; Jiménez-Murcia, S; Johnson, C; Julià, A; Juréus, A; Kalsi, G; Kaminska, D; Kaplan, A S; Kaprio, J; Karhunen, L; Karwautz, A; Kas, M J H; Kaye, W; Kennedy, J L; Keski-Rahkonen, A; Kiezebrink, K; Klareskog, L; Klump, K L; Knudsen, G P S; Koeleman, B P C; Koubek, D; La Via, M C; Landén, M; Le Hellard, S; Levitan, R D; Li, D; Lichtenstein, P; Lilenfeld, L; Lissowska, J; Lundervold, A; Magistretti, P; Maj, M; Mannik, K; Marsal, S; Martin, N; Mattingsdal, M; McDevitt, S; McGuffin, P; Merl, E; Metspalu, A; Meulenbelt, I; Micali, N; Mitchell, J; Mitchell, K; Monteleone, P; Monteleone, A M; Mortensen, P; Munn-Chernoff, M A; Navratilova, M; Nilsson, I; Norring, C; Ntalla, I; Ophoff, R A; O'Toole, J K; Palotie, A; Pante, J; Papezova, H; Pinto, D; Rabionet, R; Raevuori, A; Rajewski, A; Ramoz, N; Rayner, N W; Reichborn-Kjennerud, T; Ripatti, S; Roberts, M; Rotondo, A; Rujescu, D; Rybakowski, F; Santonastaso, P; Scherag, A; Scherer, S W; Schmidt, U; Schork, N J; Schosser, A; Slachtova, L; Sladek, R; Slagboom, P E; Slof-Op 't Landt, M C T; Slopien, A; Soranzo, N; Southam, L; Steen, V M; Strengman, E; Strober, M; Sullivan, P F; Szatkiewicz, J P; Szeszenia-Dabrowska, N; Tachmazidou, I; Tenconi, E; Thornton, L M; Tortorella, A; Tozzi, F; Treasure, J; Tsitsika, A; Tziouvas, K; van Elburg, A A; van Furth, E F; Wagner, G; Walton, E; Watson, H; Wichmann, H-E; Widen, E; Woodside, D B; Yanovski, J; Yao, S; Yilmaz, Z; Zeggini, E; Zerwas, S; Zipfel, S; Collier, D A; Sullivan, P F; Breen, G; Bulik, C M; Zeggini, E

    2018-01-01

    Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a complex neuropsychiatric disorder presenting with dangerously low body weight, and a deep and persistent fear of gaining weight. To date, only one genome-wide significant locus associated with AN has been identified. We performed an exome-chip based genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in 2158 cases from nine populations of European origin and 15 485 ancestrally matched controls. Unlike previous studies, this GWAS also probed association in low-frequency and rare variants. Sixteen independent variants were taken forward for in silico and de novo replication (11 common and 5 rare). No findings reached genome-wide significance. Two notable common variants were identified: rs10791286, an intronic variant in OPCML (P=9.89 × 10−6), and rs7700147, an intergenic variant (P=2.93 × 10−5). No low-frequency variant associations were identified at genome-wide significance, although the study was well-powered to detect low-frequency variants with large effect sizes, suggesting that there may be no AN loci in this genomic search space with large effect sizes. PMID:29155802

  15. AID/APOBEC cytosine deaminase induces genome-wide kataegis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lada Artem G

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Clusters of localized hypermutation in human breast cancer genomes, named “kataegis” (from the Greek for thunderstorm, are hypothesized to result from multiple cytosine deaminations catalyzed by AID/APOBEC proteins. However, a direct link between APOBECs and kataegis is still lacking. We have sequenced the genomes of yeast mutants induced in diploids by expression of the gene for PmCDA1, a hypermutagenic deaminase from sea lamprey. Analysis of the distribution of 5,138 induced mutations revealed localized clusters very similar to those found in tumors. Our data provide evidence that unleashed cytosine deaminase activity is an evolutionary conserved, prominent source of genome-wide kataegis events. Reviewers This article was reviewed by: Professor Sandor Pongor, Professor Shamil R. Sunyaev, and Dr Vladimir Kuznetsov.

  16. Arabidopsis transcription factors: genome-wide comparative analysis among eukaryotes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riechmann, J L; Heard, J; Martin, G; Reuber, L; Jiang, C; Keddie, J; Adam, L; Pineda, O; Ratcliffe, O J; Samaha, R R; Creelman, R; Pilgrim, M; Broun, P; Zhang, J Z; Ghandehari, D; Sherman, B K; Yu, G

    2000-12-15

    The completion of the Arabidopsis thaliana genome sequence allows a comparative analysis of transcriptional regulators across the three eukaryotic kingdoms. Arabidopsis dedicates over 5% of its genome to code for more than 1500 transcription factors, about 45% of which are from families specific to plants. Arabidopsis transcription factors that belong to families common to all eukaryotes do not share significant similarity with those of the other kingdoms beyond the conserved DNA binding domains, many of which have been arranged in combinations specific to each lineage. The genome-wide comparison reveals the evolutionary generation of diversity in the regulation of transcription.

  17. A High-Density Genetic Linkage Map and QTL Fine Mapping for Body Weight in Crucian Carp (Carassius auratus Using 2b-RAD Sequencing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Haiyang Liu

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available A high-resolution genetic linkage map is essential for a wide range of genetics and genomics studies such as comparative genomics analysis and QTL fine mapping. Crucian carp (Carassius auratus is widely distributed in Eurasia, and is an important aquaculture fish worldwide. In this study, a high-density genetic linkage map was constructed for crucian carp using 2b-RAD technology. The consensus map contains 8487 SNP markers, assigning to 50 linkage groups (LGs and spanning 3762.88 cM, with an average marker interval of 0.44 cM and genome coverage of 98.8%. The female map had 4410 SNPs, and spanned 3500.42 cM (0.79 cM/marker, while the male map had 4625 SNPs and spanned 3346.33 cM (0.72 cM/marker. The average recombination ratio of female to male was 2.13:1, and significant male-biased recombination suppressions were observed in LG47 and LG49. Comparative genomics analysis revealed a clear 2:1 syntenic relationship between crucian carp LGs and chromosomes of zebrafish and grass carp, and a 1:1 correspondence, but extensive chromosomal rearrangement, between crucian carp and common carp, providing evidence that crucian carp has experienced a fourth round of whole genome duplication (4R-WGD. Eight chromosome-wide QTL for body weight at 2 months after hatch were detected on five LGs, explaining 10.1–13.2% of the phenotypic variations. Potential candidate growth-related genes, such as an EGF-like domain and TGF-β, were identified within the QTL intervals. This high-density genetic map and QTL analysis supplies a basis for genome evolutionary studies in cyprinid fishes, genome assembly, and QTL fine mapping for complex traits in crucian carp.

  18. A genome-wide map of aberrantly expressed chromosomal islands in colorectal cancer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Castanos-Velez Esmeralda

    2006-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Cancer development is accompanied by genetic phenomena like deletion and amplification of chromosome parts or alterations of chromatin structure. It is expected that these mechanisms have a strong effect on regional gene expression. Results We investigated genome-wide gene expression in colorectal carcinoma (CRC and normal epithelial tissues from 25 patients using oligonucleotide arrays. This allowed us to identify 81 distinct chromosomal islands with aberrant gene expression. Of these, 38 islands show a gain in expression and 43 a loss of expression. In total, 7.892 genes (25.3% of all human genes are located in aberrantly expressed islands. Many chromosomal regions that are linked to hereditary colorectal cancer show deregulated expression. Also, many known tumor genes localize to chromosomal islands of misregulated expression in CRC. Conclusion An extensive comparison with published CGH data suggests that chromosomal regions known for frequent deletions in colon cancer tend to show reduced expression. In contrast, regions that are often amplified in colorectal tumors exhibit heterogeneous expression patterns: even show a decrease of mRNA expression. Because for several islands of deregulated expression chromosomal aberrations have never been observed, we speculate that additional mechanisms (like abnormal states of regional chromatin also have a substantial impact on the formation of co-expression islands in colorectal carcinoma.

  19. Genome-wide identification and characterisation of human DNA replication origins by initiation site sequencing (ini-seq).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Langley, Alexander R; Gräf, Stefan; Smith, James C; Krude, Torsten

    2016-12-01

    Next-generation sequencing has enabled the genome-wide identification of human DNA replication origins. However, different approaches to mapping replication origins, namely (i) sequencing isolated small nascent DNA strands (SNS-seq); (ii) sequencing replication bubbles (bubble-seq) and (iii) sequencing Okazaki fragments (OK-seq), show only limited concordance. To address this controversy, we describe here an independent high-resolution origin mapping technique that we call initiation site sequencing (ini-seq). In this approach, newly replicated DNA is directly labelled with digoxigenin-dUTP near the sites of its initiation in a cell-free system. The labelled DNA is then immunoprecipitated and genomic locations are determined by DNA sequencing. Using this technique we identify >25,000 discrete origin sites at sub-kilobase resolution on the human genome, with high concordance between biological replicates. Most activated origins identified by ini-seq are found at transcriptional start sites and contain G-quadruplex (G4) motifs. They tend to cluster in early-replicating domains, providing a correlation between early replication timing and local density of activated origins. Origins identified by ini-seq show highest concordance with sites identified by SNS-seq, followed by OK-seq and bubble-seq. Furthermore, germline origins identified by positive nucleotide distribution skew jumps overlap with origins identified by ini-seq and OK-seq more frequently and more specifically than do sites identified by either SNS-seq or bubble-seq. © The Author(s) 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

  20. Molecular mapping and genomics of soybean seed protein: a review and perspective for the future.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patil, Gunvant; Mian, Rouf; Vuong, Tri; Pantalone, Vince; Song, Qijian; Chen, Pengyin; Shannon, Grover J; Carter, Tommy C; Nguyen, Henry T

    2017-10-01

    Genetic improvement of soybean protein meal is a complex process because of negative correlation with oil, yield, and temperature. This review describes the progress in mapping and genomics, identifies knowledge gaps, and highlights the need of integrated approaches. Meal protein derived from soybean [Glycine max (L) Merr.] seed is the primary source of protein in poultry and livestock feed. Protein is a key factor that determines the nutritional and economical value of soybean. Genetic improvement of soybean seed protein content is highly desirable, and major quantitative trait loci (QTL) for soybean protein have been detected and repeatedly mapped on chromosomes (Chr.) 20 (LG-I), and 15 (LG-E). However, practical breeding progress is challenging because of seed protein content's negative genetic correlation with seed yield, other seed components such as oil and sucrose, and interaction with environmental effects such as temperature during seed development. In this review, we discuss rate-limiting factors related to soybean protein content and nutritional quality, and potential control factors regulating seed storage protein. In addition, we describe advances in next-generation sequencing technologies for precise detection of natural variants and their integration with conventional and high-throughput genotyping technologies. A syntenic analysis of QTL on Chr. 15 and 20 was performed. Finally, we discuss comprehensive approaches for integrating protein and amino acid QTL, genome-wide association studies, whole-genome resequencing, and transcriptome data to accelerate identification of genomic hot spots for allele introgression and soybean meal protein improvement.

  1. Citalopram and escitalopram plasma drug and metabolite concentrations: genome-wide associations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ji, Yuan; Schaid, Daniel J; Desta, Zeruesenay; Kubo, Michiaki; Batzler, Anthony J; Snyder, Karen; Mushiroda, Taisei; Kamatani, Naoyuki; Ogburn, Evan; Hall-Flavin, Daniel; Flockhart, David; Nakamura, Yusuke; Mrazek, David A; Weinshilboum, Richard M

    2014-08-01

    Citalopram (CT) and escitalopram (S-CT) are among the most widely prescribed selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors used to treat major depressive disorder (MDD). We applied a genome-wide association study to identify genetic factors that contribute to variation in plasma concentrations of CT or S-CT and their metabolites in MDD patients treated with CT or S-CT. Our genome-wide association study was performed using samples from 435 MDD patients. Linear mixed models were used to account for within-subject correlations of longitudinal measures of plasma drug/metabolite concentrations (4 and 8 weeks after the initiation of drug therapy), and single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were modelled as additive allelic effects. Genome-wide significant associations were observed for S-CT concentration with SNPs in or near the CYP2C19 gene on chromosome 10 (rs1074145, P = 4.1 × 10(-9) ) and with S-didesmethylcitalopram concentration for SNPs near the CYP2D6 locus on chromosome 22 (rs1065852, P = 2.0 × 10(-16) ), supporting the important role of these cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes in biotransformation of citalopram. After adjustment for the effect of CYP2C19 functional alleles, the analyses also identified novel loci that will require future replication and functional validation. In vitro and in vivo studies have suggested that the biotransformation of CT to monodesmethylcitalopram and didesmethylcitalopram is mediated by CYP isozymes. The results of our genome-wide association study performed in MDD patients treated with CT or S-CT have confirmed those observations but also identified novel genomic loci that might play a role in variation in plasma levels of CT or its metabolites during the treatment of MDD patients with these selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. © 2014 The British Pharmacological Society.

  2. FACT, the Bur kinase pathway, and the histone co-repressor HirC have overlapping nucleosome-related roles in yeast transcription elongation.

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    Jennifer R Stevens

    Full Text Available Gene transcription is constrained by the nucleosomal nature of chromosomal DNA. This nucleosomal barrier is modulated by FACT, a conserved histone-binding heterodimer. FACT mediates transcription-linked nucleosome disassembly and also nucleosome reassembly in the wake of the RNA polymerase II transcription complex, and in this way maintains the repression of 'cryptic' promoters found within some genes. Here we focus on a novel mutant version of the yeast FACT subunit Spt16 that supplies essential Spt16 activities but impairs transcription-linked nucleosome reassembly in dominant fashion. This Spt16 mutant protein also has genetic effects that are recessive, which we used to show that certain Spt16 activities collaborate with histone acetylation and the activities of a Bur-kinase/Spt4-Spt5/Paf1C pathway that facilitate transcription elongation. These collaborating activities were opposed by the actions of Rpd3S, a histone deacetylase that restores a repressive chromatin environment in a transcription-linked manner. Spt16 activity paralleling that of HirC, a co-repressor of histone gene expression, was also found to be opposed by Rpd3S. Our findings suggest that Spt16, the Bur/Spt4-Spt5/Paf1C pathway, and normal histone abundance and/or stoichiometry, in mutually cooperative fashion, facilitate nucleosome disassembly during transcription elongation. The recessive nature of these effects of the mutant Spt16 protein on transcription-linked nucleosome disassembly, contrasted to its dominant negative effect on transcription-linked nucleosome reassembly, indicate that mutant FACT harbouring the mutant Spt16 protein competes poorly with normal FACT at the stage of transcription-linked nucleosome disassembly, but effectively with normal FACT for transcription-linked nucleosome reassembly. This functional difference is consistent with the idea that FACT association with the transcription elongation complex depends on nucleosome disassembly, and that the

  3. Genomic rearrangements and signatures of breeding in the allo-octoploid strawberry as revealed through an allele dose based SSR linkage map

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dijk, van T.; Pagliarani, G.; Pikunova, A.; Noordijk, Y.; Yilmaz-Temel, H.; Meulenbroek, B.; Visser, R.G.F.; Weg, van de W.E.

    2014-01-01

    Background Breeders in the allo-octoploid strawberry currently make little use of molecular marker tools. As a first step of a QTL discovery project on fruit quality traits and resistance to soil-borne pathogens such as Phytophthora cactorum and Verticillium we built a genome-wide SSR linkage map

  4. From human monocytes to genome-wide binding sites--a protocol for small amounts of blood: monocyte isolation/ChIP-protocol/library amplification/genome wide computational data analysis.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sebastian Weiterer

    Full Text Available Chromatin immunoprecipitation in combination with a genome-wide analysis via high-throughput sequencing is the state of the art method to gain genome-wide representation of histone modification or transcription factor binding profiles. However, chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis in the context of human experimental samples is limited, especially in the case of blood cells. The typically extremely low yields of precipitated DNA are usually not compatible with library amplification for next generation sequencing. We developed a highly reproducible protocol to present a guideline from the first step of isolating monocytes from a blood sample to analyse the distribution of histone modifications in a genome-wide manner.The protocol describes the whole work flow from isolating monocytes from human blood samples followed by a high-sensitivity and small-scale chromatin immunoprecipitation assay with guidance for generating libraries compatible with next generation sequencing from small amounts of immunoprecipitated DNA.

  5. Genome-wide QTL and bulked transcriptomic analysis reveals new candidate genes for the control of tuber carotenoid content in potato (Solanum tuberosum L.).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Campbell, Raymond; Pont, Simon D A; Morris, Jenny A; McKenzie, Gaynor; Sharma, Sanjeev Kumar; Hedley, Pete E; Ramsay, Gavin; Bryan, Glenn J; Taylor, Mark A

    2014-09-01

    Genome-wide QTL analysis of potato tuber carotenoid content was investigated in populations of Solanum tuberosum Group Phureja that segregate for flesh colour, revealing a novel major QTL on chromosome 9. The carotenoid content of edible plant storage organs is a key nutritional and quality trait. Although the structural genes that encode the biosynthetic enzymes are well characterised, much less is known about the factors that determine overall storage organ content. In this study, genome-wide QTL mapping, in concert with an efficient 'genetical genomics' analysis using bulked samples, has been employed to investigate the genetic architecture of potato tuber carotenoid content. Two diploid populations of Solanum tuberosum Group Phureja were genotyped (AFLP, SSR and DArT markers) and analysed for their tuber carotenoid content over two growing seasons. Common to both populations were QTL that explained relatively small proportions of the variation in constituent carotenoids and a major QTL on chromosome 3 explaining up to 71 % of the variation in carotenoid content. In one of the populations (01H15), a second major carotenoid QTL was identified on chromosome 9, explaining up to 20 % of the phenotypic variation. Whereas the major chromosome 3 QTL was likely to be due to an allele of a gene encoding β-carotene hydroxylase, no known carotenoid biosynthetic genes are located in the vicinity of the chromosome 9 QTL. A unique expression profiling strategy using phenotypically distinct bulks comprised individuals with similar carotenoid content provided further support for the QTL mapping to chromosome 9. This study shows the potential of using the potato genome sequence to link genetic maps to data arising from eQTL approaches to enhance the discovery of candidate genes underlying QTLs.

  6. Reference Genome-Directed Resolution of Homologous and Homeologous Relationships within and between Different Oat Linkage Maps

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juan J. Gutierrez-Gonzalez

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available Genome research on oat ( L. has received less attention than wheat ( L. and barley ( L. because it is a less prominent component of the human food system. To assess the potential of the model grass (L P. Beauv. as a surrogate for oat genome research, the whole genome sequence (WGS of was employed for comparative analysis with oat genetic linkage maps. Sequences of mapped molecular markers from one diploid spp. and two hexaploid oat maps were aligned to the WGS to infer syntenic relationships. Diploid and exhibit a high degree of synteny with 18 syntenic blocks covering 87% of the oat genome, which permitted postulation of an ancestral spp. chromosome structure. Synteny between oat and was also prevalent, with 50 syntenic blocks covering 76.6% of the ‘Kanota’ × ‘Ogle’ linkage map. Coalignment of diploid and hexaploid maps to helped resolve homeologous relationships between different oat linkage groups but also revealed many major rearrangements in oat subgenomes. Extending the analysis to a second oat linkage map (Ogle × ‘TAM O-301’ allowed identification of several putative homologous linkage groups across the two oat populations. These results indicate that the genome sequence will be a useful resource to assist genetics and genomics research in oat. The analytical strategy employed here should be applicable for genome research in other temperate grass crops with modest amounts of genomic data.

  7. Genome-Wide Distribution, Organisation and Functional Characterization of Disease Resistance and Defence Response Genes across Rice Species

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, Sangeeta; Chand, Suresh; Singh, N. K.; Sharma, Tilak Raj

    2015-01-01

    The resistance (R) genes and defense response (DR) genes have become very important resources for the development of disease resistant cultivars. In the present investigation, genome-wide identification, expression, phylogenetic and synteny analysis was done for R and DR-genes across three species of rice viz: Oryza sativa ssp indica cv 93-11, Oryza sativa ssp japonica and wild rice species, Oryza brachyantha. We used the in silico approach to identify and map 786 R -genes and 167 DR-genes, 672 R-genes and 142 DR-genes, 251 R-genes and 86 DR-genes in the japonica, indica and O. brachyanth a genomes, respectively. Our analysis showed that 60.5% and 55.6% of the R-genes are tandemly repeated within clusters and distributed over all the rice chromosomes in indica and japonica genomes, respectively. The phylogenetic analysis along with motif distribution shows high degree of conservation of R- and DR-genes in clusters. In silico expression analysis of R-genes and DR-genes showed more than 85% were expressed genes showing corresponding EST matches in the databases. This study gave special emphasis on mechanisms of gene evolution and duplication for R and DR genes across species. Analysis of paralogs across rice species indicated 17% and 4.38% R-genes, 29% and 11.63% DR-genes duplication in indica and Oryza brachyantha, as compared to 20% and 26% duplication of R-genes and DR-genes in japonica respectively. We found that during the course of duplication only 9.5% of R- and DR-genes changed their function and rest of the genes have maintained their identity. Syntenic relationship across three genomes inferred that more orthology is shared between indica and japonica genomes as compared to brachyantha genome. Genome wide identification of R-genes and DR-genes in the rice genome will help in allele mining and functional validation of these genes, and to understand molecular mechanism of disease resistance and their evolution in rice and related species. PMID:25902056

  8. A genome-wide association study implicates the APOE locus in nonpathological cognitive ageing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davies, G; Harris, S E; Reynolds, C A; Payton, A; Knight, H M; Liewald, D C; Lopez, L M; Luciano, M; Gow, A J; Corley, J; Henderson, R; Murray, C; Pattie, A; Fox, H C; Redmond, P; Lutz, M W; Chiba-Falek, O; Linnertz, C; Saith, S; Haggarty, P; McNeill, G; Ke, X; Ollier, W; Horan, M; Roses, A D; Ponting, C P; Porteous, D J; Tenesa, A; Pickles, A; Starr, J M; Whalley, L J; Pedersen, N L; Pendleton, N; Visscher, P M; Deary, I J

    2014-01-01

    Cognitive decline is a feared aspect of growing old. It is a major contributor to lower quality of life and loss of independence in old age. We investigated the genetic contribution to individual differences in nonpathological cognitive ageing in five cohorts of older adults. We undertook a genome-wide association analysis using 549 692 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 3511 unrelated adults in the Cognitive Ageing Genetics in England and Scotland (CAGES) project. These individuals have detailed longitudinal cognitive data from which phenotypes measuring each individual's cognitive changes were constructed. One SNP--rs2075650, located in TOMM40 (translocase of the outer mitochondrial membrane 40 homolog)--had a genome-wide significant association with cognitive ageing (P=2.5 × 10(-8)). This result was replicated in a meta-analysis of three independent Swedish cohorts (P=2.41 × 10(-6)). An Apolipoprotein E (APOE) haplotype (adjacent to TOMM40), previously associated with cognitive ageing, had a significant effect on cognitive ageing in the CAGES sample (P=2.18 × 10(-8); females, P=1.66 × 10(-11); males, P=0.01). Fine SNP mapping of the TOMM40/APOE region identified both APOE (rs429358; P=3.66 × 10(-11)) and TOMM40 (rs11556505; P=2.45 × 10(-8)) as loci that were associated with cognitive ageing. Imputation and conditional analyses in the discovery and replication cohorts strongly suggest that this effect is due to APOE (rs429358). Functional genomic analysis indicated that SNPs in the TOMM40/APOE region have a functional, regulatory non-protein-coding effect. The APOE region is significantly associated with nonpathological cognitive ageing. The identity and mechanism of one or multiple causal variants remain unclear.

  9. Genome-wide search for gene-gene interactions in colorectal cancer.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shuo Jiao

    Full Text Available Genome-wide association studies (GWAS have successfully identified a number of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs associated with colorectal cancer (CRC risk. However, these susceptibility loci known today explain only a small fraction of the genetic risk. Gene-gene interaction (GxG is considered to be one source of the missing heritability. To address this, we performed a genome-wide search for pair-wise GxG associated with CRC risk using 8,380 cases and 10,558 controls in the discovery phase and 2,527 cases and 2,658 controls in the replication phase. We developed a simple, but powerful method for testing interaction, which we term the Average Risk Due to Interaction (ARDI. With this method, we conducted a genome-wide search to identify SNPs showing evidence for GxG with previously identified CRC susceptibility loci from 14 independent regions. We also conducted a genome-wide search for GxG using the marginal association screening and examining interaction among SNPs that pass the screening threshold (p<10(-4. For the known locus rs10795668 (10p14, we found an interacting SNP rs367615 (5q21 with replication p = 0.01 and combined p = 4.19×10(-8. Among the top marginal SNPs after LD pruning (n = 163, we identified an interaction between rs1571218 (20p12.3 and rs10879357 (12q21.1 (nominal combined p = 2.51×10(-6; Bonferroni adjusted p = 0.03. Our study represents the first comprehensive search for GxG in CRC, and our results may provide new insight into the genetic etiology of CRC.

  10. Genome Wide Association Mapping in Arabidopsis thaliana Identifies Novel Genes Involved in Linking Allyl Glucosinolate to Altered Biomass and Defense.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Francisco, Marta; Joseph, Bindu; Caligagan, Hart; Li, Baohua; Corwin, Jason A; Lin, Catherine; Kerwin, Rachel E; Burow, Meike; Kliebenstein, Daniel J

    2016-01-01

    A key limitation in modern biology is the ability to rapidly identify genes underlying newly identified complex phenotypes. Genome wide association studies (GWAS) have become an increasingly important approach for dissecting natural variation by associating phenotypes with genotypes at a genome wide level. Recent work is showing that the Arabidopsis thaliana defense metabolite, allyl glucosinolate (GSL), may provide direct feedback regulation, linking defense metabolism outputs to the growth, and defense responses of the plant. However, there is still a need to identify genes that underlie this process. To start developing a deeper understanding of the mechanism(s) that modulate the ability of exogenous allyl GSL to alter growth and defense, we measured changes in plant biomass and defense metabolites in a collection of natural 96 A. thaliana accessions fed with 50 μM of allyl GSL. Exogenous allyl GSL was introduced exclusively to the roots and the compound transported to the leaf leading to a wide range of heritable effects upon plant biomass and endogenous GSL accumulation. Using natural variation we conducted GWAS to identify a number of new genes which potentially control allyl responses in various plant processes. This is one of the first instances in which this approach has been successfully utilized to begin dissecting a novel phenotype to the underlying molecular/polygenic basis.

  11. Genome wide association mapping in Arabidopsis thaliana identifies novel genes involved in linking allyl glucosinolate to altered biomass and defense

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marta Francisco

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available A key limitation in modern biology is the ability to rapidly identify genes underlying newly identified complex phenotypes. Genome wide association studies (GWAS have become an increasingly important approach for dissecting natural variation by associating phenotypes with genotypes at a genome wide level. Recent work is showing that the Arabidopsis thaliana defense metabolite, allyl glucosinolate (GSL, may provide direct feedback regulation, linking defense metabolism outputs to the growth and defense responses of the plant. However, there is still a need to identify genes that underlie this process. To start developing a deeper understanding of the mechanism(s that modulate the ability of exogenous allyl GSL to alter growth and defense, we measured changes in plant biomass and defense metabolites in a collection of natural 96 A. thaliana accessions fed with 50 µM of allyl GSL. Exogenous allyl GSL was introduced exclusively to the roots and the compound transported to the leaf leading to a wide range of heritable effects upon plant biomass and endogenous GSL accumulation. Using natural variation we conducted GWAS to identify a number of new genes which potentially control allyl responses in various plant processes. This is one of the first instances in which this approach has been successfully utilized to begin dissecting a novel phenotype to the underlying molecular/polygenic basis.

  12. Genetic relationship between five psychiatric disorders estimated from genome-wide SNPs

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lee, S.H.; Ripke, S.; Neale, B.; Faraone, S.V.; Purcell, S.M.; Perlis, R.H.; Mowry, B. J.; Thapar, A.; Goddard, M.E.; Witte, J.S.; Absher, D.; Agartz, I.; Akil, H.; Amin, F.; Andreassen, O.A.; Anjorin, A.; Anney, R.; Anttila, V.; Arking, D.E.; Asherson, P.; Azevedo, M.H.; Backlund, L.; Badner, J.A.; Bailey, A.J.; Banaschewski, T.; Barchas, J.D.; Barnes, M.R.; Barrett, T.B.; Bass, N.; Battaglia, A.; Bauer, M.; Bayés, M.; Bellivier, F.; Bergen, S.E.; Berrettini, W.; Betancur, C.; Bettecken, T.; Biederman, J; Binder, E.B.; Black, D.W.; Blackwood, D.H.; Bloss, C.S.; Boehnke, M.; Boomsma, D.I.; Breen, G.; Breuer, R.; Bruggeman, R.; Cormican, P.; Buccola, N.G.; Buitelaar, J.K.; Bunney, W.E.; Buxbaum, J.D.; Byerley, W. F.; Byrne, E.M.; Caesar, S.; Cahn, W.; Cantor, R.M.; Casas, M.; Chakravarti, A.; Chambert, K.; Choudhury, K.; Cichon, S.; Cloninger, C. R.; Collier, D.A.; Cook, E.H.; Coon, H.; Corman, B.; Corvin, A.; Coryell, W.H.; Craig, D.W.; Craig, I.W.; Crosbie, J.; Cuccaro, M.L.; Curtis, D.; Czamara, D.; Datta, S.; Dawson, G.; Day, R.; de Geus, E.J.C.; Degenhardt, F.; Djurovic, S.; Donohoe, G.; Doyle, A.E.; Duan, J.; Dudbridge, F.; Duketis, E.; Ebstein, R.P.; Edenberg, H.J.; Elia, J.; Ennis, S.; Etain, B.; Fanous, A.; Farmer, A.E.; Ferrier, I.N.; Flickinger, M.; Fombonne, E.; Foroud, T.; Frank, J.; Franke, B.; Fraser, C.; Freedman, R.; Freimer, N.B.; Freitag, C.; Friedl, M.; Frisén, L.; Gallagher, L.; Gejman, P.V.; Georgieva, L.; Gershon, E.S.; Geschwind, D.H.; Giegling, I.; Gill, M.; Gordon, S.D.; Gordon-Smith, K.; Green, E.K.; Greenwood, T.A.; Grice, D.E.; Gross, M.; Grozeva, D.; Guan, W.; Gurling, H.; de Haan, L.; Haines, J.L.; Hakonarson, H.; Hallmayer, J.; Hamilton, S.P.; Hamshere, M.L.; Hansen, T.F.; Hartmann, A.M.; Hautzinger, M.; Heath, A.C.; Henders, A.K.; Herms, S.; Hickie, I.B.; Hipolito, M.; Hoefels, S.; Holmans, P.A.; Holsboer, F.; Hoogendijk, W.J.G.; Hottenga, J.J.; Hultman, C. M.; Hus, V.; Ingason, A.; Ising, M.; Jamain, S.; Jones, E.G.; Jones, I.; Jones, L.; Tzeng, J.Y.; Kähler, A.K.; Kahn, R.S.; Kandaswamy, R.; Keller, M.C.; Kennedy, J.L.; Kenny, E.; Kent, L.; Kim, Y.; Kirov, G. K.; Klauck, S.M.; Klei, L.; Knowles, J.A.; Kohli, M.A.; Koller, D.L.; Konte, B.; Korszun, A.; Krabbendam, L.; Krasucki, R.; Kuntsi, J.; Kwan, P.; Landén, M.; Langstrom, N.; Lathrop, M.; Lawrence, J.; Lawson, W.B.; Leboyer, M.; Ledbetter, D.H.; Lee, P.H.; Lencz, T.; Lesch, K.P.; Levinson, D.F.; Lewis, C.M.; Li, J.; Lichtenstein, P.; Lieberman, J. A.; Lin, D.Y.; Linszen, D.H.; Liu, C.; Lohoff, F.W.; Loo, S.K.; Lord, C.; Lowe, J.K.; Lucae, S.; MacIntyre, D.J.; Madden, P.A.F.; Maestrini, E.; Magnusson, P.K.E.; Mahon, P.B.; Maier, W.; Malhotra, A.K.; Mane, S.M.; Martin, C.L.; Martin, N.G.; Mattheisen, M.; Matthews, K.; Mattingsdal, M.; McCarroll, S.A.; McGhee, K.A.; McGough, J.J.; McGrath, P.J.; McGuffin, P.; McInnis, M.G.; McIntosh, A.; McKinney, R.; McLean, A.W.; McMahon, F.J.; McMahon, W.M.; McQuillin, A.; Medeiros, H.; Medland, S.E.; Meier, S.; Melle, I.; Meng, F.; Meyer, J.; Middeldorp, C.M.; Middleton, L.; Milanova, V.; Miranda, A.; Monaco, A.P.; Montgomery, G.W.; Moran, J.L.; Moreno-De Luca, D.; Morken, G.; Morris, D.W.; Morrow, E.M.; Moskvina, V.; Muglia, P.; Mühleisen, T.W.; Muir, W.J.; Müller-Myhsok, B.; Murtha, M.; Myers, R.M.; Myin-Germeys, I.; Neale, M.C.; Nelson, S.F.; Nievergelt, C.M.; Nikolov, I.; Nimgaonkar, V.L.; Nolen, W.A.; Nöthen, M.M.; Nurnberger, J.I.; Nwulia, E.A.; Nyholt, DR; O'Dushlaine, C.; Oades, R.D.; Olincy, A.; Oliveira, G.; Olsen, L.; Ophoff, R.A.; Osby, U.; Owen, M.J.; Palotie, A.; Parr, J.R.; Paterson, A.D.; Pato, C.N.; Pato, M.T.; Penninx, B.W.J.H.; Pergadia, M.L.; Pericak-Vance, M.A.; Pickard, B.S.; Pimm, J.; Piven, J.; Posthuma, D.; Potash, J.B.; Poustka, F.; Propping, P.; Puri, V.; Quested, D.; Quinn, E.M.; Ramos-Quiroga, J.A.; Rasmussen, H.B.; Raychaudhuri, S.; Rehnström, K.; Reif, A.; Ribasés, M.; Rice, J.P.; Rietschel, M.; Roeder, K.; Roeyers, H.; Rossin, L.; Rothenberger, A.; Rouleau, G.; Ruderfer, D.; Rujescu, D.; Sanders, A.R.; Sanders, S.J.; Santangelo, S.; Sergeant, J.A.; Schachar, R.; Schalling, M.; Schatzberg, A.F.; Scheftner, W.A.; Schellenberg, G.D.; Scherer, S.W.; Schork, N.J.; Schulze, T.G.; Schumacher, J.; Schwarz, M.; Scolnick, E.; Scott, L.J.; Shi, J.; Shilling, P.D.; Shyn, S.I.; Silverman, J.M.; Slager, S.L.; Smalley, S.L.; Smit, J.H.; Smith, E.N.; Sonuga-Barke, E.J.; St Clair, D.; State, M.; Steffens, M; Steinhausen, H.C.; Strauss, J.; Strohmaier, J.; Stroup, T.S.; Sutcliffe, J.; Szatmari, P.; Szelinger, S.; Thirumalai, S.; Thompson, R.C.; Todorov, A.A.; Tozzi, F.; Treutlein, J.; Uhr, M.; van den Oord, E.J.C.G.; Grootheest, G.; van Os, J.; Vicente, A.; Vieland, V.; Vincent, J.B.; Visscher, P.M.; Walsh, C.A.; Wassink, T.H.; Watson, S.J.; Weissman, M.M.; Werge, T.; Wienker, T.F.; Wijsman, E.M.; Willemsen, G.; Williams, N.; Willsey, A.J.; Witt, S.H.; Xu, W.; Young, A.H.; Yu, T.W.; Zammit, S.; Zandi, P.P.; Zhang, P.; Zitman, F.G.; Zöllner, S.; Devlin, B.; Kelsoe, J.; Sklar, P.; Daly, M.J.; O'Donovan, M.C.; Craddock, N.; Sullivan, P.F.; Smoller, J.W.; Kendler, K.S.; Wray, N.R.

    2013-01-01

    Most psychiatric disorders are moderately to highly heritable. The degree to which genetic variation is unique to individual disorders or shared across disorders is unclear. To examine shared genetic etiology, we use genome-wide genotype data from the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC) for cases

  13. Genome Wide Association Analysis Reveals New Production Trait Genes in a Male Duroc Population.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kejun Wang

    Full Text Available In this study, 796 male Duroc pigs were used to identify genomic regions controlling growth traits. Three production traits were studied: food conversion ratio, days to 100 KG, and average daily gain, using a panel of 39,436 single nucleotide polymorphisms. In total, we detected 11 genome-wide and 162 chromosome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism trait associations. The Gene ontology analysis identified 14 candidate genes close to significant single nucleotide polymorphisms, with growth-related functions: six for days to 100 KG (WT1, FBXO3, DOCK7, PPP3CA, AGPAT9, and NKX6-1, seven for food conversion ratio (MAP2, TBX15, IVL, ARL15, CPS1, VWC2L, and VAV3, and one for average daily gain (COL27A1. Gene ontology analysis indicated that most of the candidate genes are involved in muscle, fat, bone or nervous system development, nutrient absorption, and metabolism, which are all either directly or indirectly related to growth traits in pigs. Additionally, we found four haplotype blocks composed of suggestive single nucleotide polymorphisms located in the growth trait-related quantitative trait loci and further narrowed down the ranges, the largest of which decreased by ~60 Mb. Hence, our results could be used to improve pig production traits by increasing the frequency of favorable alleles via artificial selection.

  14. Imputation of variants from the 1000 Genomes Project modestly improves known associations and can identify low-frequency variant-phenotype associations undetected by HapMap based imputation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wood, Andrew R; Perry, John R B; Tanaka, Toshiko; Hernandez, Dena G; Zheng, Hou-Feng; Melzer, David; Gibbs, J Raphael; Nalls, Michael A; Weedon, Michael N; Spector, Tim D; Richards, J Brent; Bandinelli, Stefania; Ferrucci, Luigi; Singleton, Andrew B; Frayling, Timothy M

    2013-01-01

    Genome-wide association (GWA) studies have been limited by the reliance on common variants present on microarrays or imputable from the HapMap Project data. More recently, the completion of the 1000 Genomes Project has provided variant and haplotype information for several million variants derived from sequencing over 1,000 individuals. To help understand the extent to which more variants (including low frequency (1% ≤ MAF 1000 Genomes imputation, respectively, and 9 and 11 that reached a stricter, likely conservative, threshold of P1000 Genomes genotype data modestly improved the strength of known associations. Of 20 associations detected at P1000 Genomes imputed data and one was nominally more strongly associated in HapMap imputed data. We also detected an association between a low frequency variant and phenotype that was previously missed by HapMap based imputation approaches. An association between rs112635299 and alpha-1 globulin near the SERPINA gene represented the known association between rs28929474 (MAF = 0.007) and alpha1-antitrypsin that predisposes to emphysema (P = 2.5×10(-12)). Our data provide important proof of principle that 1000 Genomes imputation will detect novel, low frequency-large effect associations.

  15. A Secure Alignment Algorithm for Mapping Short Reads to Human Genome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Yongan; Wang, Xiaofeng; Tang, Haixu

    2018-05-09

    The elastic and inexpensive computing resources such as clouds have been recognized as a useful solution to analyzing massive human genomic data (e.g., acquired by using next-generation sequencers) in biomedical researches. However, outsourcing human genome computation to public or commercial clouds was hindered due to privacy concerns: even a small number of human genome sequences contain sufficient information for identifying the donor of the genomic data. This issue cannot be directly addressed by existing security and cryptographic techniques (such as homomorphic encryption), because they are too heavyweight to carry out practical genome computation tasks on massive data. In this article, we present a secure algorithm to accomplish the read mapping, one of the most basic tasks in human genomic data analysis based on a hybrid cloud computing model. Comparing with the existing approaches, our algorithm delegates most computation to the public cloud, while only performing encryption and decryption on the private cloud, and thus makes the maximum use of the computing resource of the public cloud. Furthermore, our algorithm reports similar results as the nonsecure read mapping algorithms, including the alignment between reads and the reference genome, which can be directly used in the downstream analysis such as the inference of genomic variations. We implemented the algorithm in C++ and Python on a hybrid cloud system, in which the public cloud uses an Apache Spark system.

  16. A clone-free, single molecule map of the domestic cow (Bos taurus) genome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Shiguo; Goldstein, Steve; Place, Michael; Bechner, Michael; Patino, Diego; Potamousis, Konstantinos; Ravindran, Prabu; Pape, Louise; Rincon, Gonzalo; Hernandez-Ortiz, Juan; Medrano, Juan F; Schwartz, David C

    2015-08-28

    The cattle (Bos taurus) genome was originally selected for sequencing due to its economic importance and unique biology as a model organism for understanding other ruminants, or mammals. Currently, there are two cattle genome sequence assemblies (UMD3.1 and Btau4.6) from groups using dissimilar assembly algorithms, which were complemented by genetic and physical map resources. However, past comparisons between these assemblies revealed substantial differences. Consequently, such discordances have engendered ambiguities when using reference sequence data, impacting genomic studies in cattle and motivating construction of a new optical map resource--BtOM1.0--to guide comparisons and improvements to the current sequence builds. Accordingly, our comprehensive comparisons of BtOM1.0 against the UMD3.1 and Btau4.6 sequence builds tabulate large-to-immediate scale discordances requiring mediation. The optical map, BtOM1.0, spanning the B. taurus genome (Hereford breed, L1 Dominette 01449) was assembled from an optical map dataset consisting of 2,973,315 (439 X; raw dataset size before assembly) single molecule optical maps (Rmaps; 1 Rmap = 1 restriction mapped DNA molecule) generated by the Optical Mapping System. The BamHI map spans 2,575.30 Mb and comprises 78 optical contigs assembled by a combination of iterative (using the reference sequence: UMD3.1) and de novo assembly techniques. BtOM1.0 is a high-resolution physical map featuring an average restriction fragment size of 8.91 Kb. Comparisons of BtOM1.0 vs. UMD3.1, or Btau4.6, revealed that Btau4.6 presented far more discordances (7,463) vs. UMD3.1 (4,754). Overall, we found that Btau4.6 presented almost double the number of discordances than UMD3.1 across most of the 6 categories of sequence vs. map discrepancies, which are: COMPLEX (misassembly), DELs (extraneous sequences), INSs (missing sequences), ITs (Inverted/Translocated sequences), ECs (extra restriction cuts) and MCs (missing restriction cuts

  17. Mapping world-wide science at the paper level.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Klavans, Richard (SciTech Strategies, Inc., Berwyn, PA); Boyack, Kevin W.

    2005-01-01

    This article describes recent improvements in mapping a highly representative set of the world-wide scientific literature. The process described in this article extends existing work in this area in three major ways. First, we argue that a separate structural analysis of current literature vs. reference literature is required for R&D planning. Second, visualization software is used to improve coverage of the literature while maintaining structural integrity. Third, quantitative techniques for measuring the structural integrity of a map are introduced. Maps with high structural integrity, covering far more of the available literature, are presented.

  18. Genome-wide association for plant height and flowering time across 15 tropical maize populations under managed drought stress and well-watered conditions in sub-Saharan Africa

    Science.gov (United States)

    Genotyping breeding materials is now relatively inexpensive but phenotyping costs have remained the same. One method to increase gene mapping power is to use genome-wide genetic markers to combine existing phenotype data for multiple populations into a unified analysis. We combined data from 15 bipa...

  19. Genome-wide approaches towards identification of susceptibility genes in complex diseases

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Franke, L.H.

    2008-01-01

    Throughout the human genome millions of places exist where humans differ gentically. The aim of this PhD thesis was to systematically assess this genetic variation and its biological consequences in a genome-wide way, through the utilization of DNA oligonucleotide arrays that assess hundres of

  20. Genome-wide Association Analysis of Kernel Weight in Hard Winter Wheat

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wheat kernel weight is an important and heritable component of wheat grain yield and a key predictor of flour extraction. Genome-wide association analysis was conducted to identify genomic regions associated with kernel weight and kernel weight environmental response in 8 trials of 299 hard winter ...

  1. Genome-Wide Analysis of Seed Acid Detergent Lignin (ADL) and Hull Content in Rapeseed (Brassica napus L.)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wei, Lijuan; Qu, Cunmin; Xu, Xinfu; Lu, Kun; Qian, Wei; Li, Jiana; Li, Maoteng; Liu, Liezhao

    2015-01-01

    A stable yellow-seeded variety is the breeding goal for obtaining the ideal rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) plant, and the amount of acid detergent lignin (ADL) in the seeds and the hull content (HC) are often used as yellow-seeded rapeseed screening indices. In this study, a genome-wide association analysis of 520 accessions was performed using the Q + K model with a total of 31,839 single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) sites. As a result, three significant associations on the B. napus chromosomes A05, A09, and C05 were detected for seed ADL content. The peak SNPs were within 9.27, 14.22, and 20.86 kb of the key genes BnaA.PAL4, BnaA.CAD2/BnaA.CAD3, and BnaC.CCR1, respectively. Further analyses were performed on the major locus of A05, which was also detected in the seed HC examination. A comparison of our genome-wide association study (GWAS) results and previous linkage mappings revealed a common chromosomal region on A09, which indicates that GWAS can be used as a powerful complementary strategy for dissecting complex traits in B. napus. Genomic selection (GS) utilizing the significant SNP markers based on the GWAS results exhibited increased predictive ability, indicating that the predictive ability of a given model can be substantially improved by using GWAS and GS. PMID:26673885

  2. Association Mapping and the Genomic Consequences of Selection in Sunflower

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mandel, Jennifer R.; Nambeesan, Savithri; Bowers, John E.; Marek, Laura F.; Ebert, Daniel; Rieseberg, Loren H.; Knapp, Steven J.; Burke, John M.

    2013-01-01

    The combination of large-scale population genomic analyses and trait-based mapping approaches has the potential to provide novel insights into the evolutionary history and genome organization of crop plants. Here, we describe the detailed genotypic and phenotypic analysis of a sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) association mapping population that captures nearly 90% of the allelic diversity present within the cultivated sunflower germplasm collection. We used these data to characterize overall patterns of genomic diversity and to perform association analyses on plant architecture (i.e., branching) and flowering time, successfully identifying numerous associations underlying these agronomically and evolutionarily important traits. Overall, we found variable levels of linkage disequilibrium (LD) across the genome. In general, islands of elevated LD correspond to genomic regions underlying traits that are known to have been targeted by selection during the evolution of cultivated sunflower. In many cases, these regions also showed significantly elevated levels of differentiation between the two major sunflower breeding groups, consistent with the occurrence of divergence due to strong selection. One of these regions, which harbors a major branching locus, spans a surprisingly long genetic interval (ca. 25 cM), indicating the occurrence of an extended selective sweep in an otherwise recombinogenic interval. PMID:23555290

  3. Trans-ethnic meta-regression of genome-wide association studies accounting for ancestry increases power for discovery and improves fine-mapping resolution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mägi, Reedik; Horikoshi, Momoko; Sofer, Tamar; Mahajan, Anubha; Kitajima, Hidetoshi; Franceschini, Nora; McCarthy, Mark I; Morris, Andrew P

    2017-09-15

    Trans-ethnic meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) across diverse populations can increase power to detect complex trait loci when the underlying causal variants are shared between ancestry groups. However, heterogeneity in allelic effects between GWAS at these loci can occur that is correlated with ancestry. Here, a novel approach is presented to detect SNP association and quantify the extent of heterogeneity in allelic effects that is correlated with ancestry. We employ trans-ethnic meta-regression to model allelic effects as a function of axes of genetic variation, derived from a matrix of mean pairwise allele frequency differences between GWAS, and implemented in the MR-MEGA software. Through detailed simulations, we demonstrate increased power to detect association for MR-MEGA over fixed- and random-effects meta-analysis across a range of scenarios of heterogeneity in allelic effects between ethnic groups. We also demonstrate improved fine-mapping resolution, in loci containing a single causal variant, compared to these meta-analysis approaches and PAINTOR, and equivalent performance to MANTRA at reduced computational cost. Application of MR-MEGA to trans-ethnic GWAS of kidney function in 71,461 individuals indicates stronger signals of association than fixed-effects meta-analysis when heterogeneity in allelic effects is correlated with ancestry. Application of MR-MEGA to fine-mapping four type 2 diabetes susceptibility loci in 22,086 cases and 42,539 controls highlights: (i) strong evidence for heterogeneity in allelic effects that is correlated with ancestry only at the index SNP for the association signal at the CDKAL1 locus; and (ii) 99% credible sets with six or fewer variants for five distinct association signals. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press.

  4. Meta-analysis and genome-wide interpretation of genetic susceptibility to drug addiction

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-01

    Background Classical genetic studies provide strong evidence for heritable contributions to susceptibility to developing dependence on addictive substances. Candidate gene and genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have sought genes, chromosomal regions and allelic variants likely to contribute to susceptibility to drug addiction. Results Here, we performed a meta-analysis of addiction candidate gene association studies and GWAS to investigate possible functional mechanisms associated with addiction susceptibility. From meta-data retrieved from 212 publications on candidate gene association studies and 5 GWAS reports, we linked a total of 843 haplotypes to addiction susceptibility. We mapped the SNPs in these haplotypes to functional and regulatory elements in the genome and estimated the magnitude of the contributions of different molecular mechanisms to their effects on addiction susceptibility. In addition to SNPs in coding regions, these data suggest that haplotypes in gene regulatory regions may also contribute to addiction susceptibility. When we compared the lists of genes identified by association studies and those identified by molecular biological studies of drug-regulated genes, we observed significantly higher participation in the same gene interaction networks than expected by chance, despite little overlap between the two gene lists. Conclusions These results appear to offer new insights into the genetic factors underlying drug addiction. PMID:21999673

  5. Genome-Wide Association Mapping Reveals Multiple QTLs Governing Tolerance Response for Seedling Stage Chilling Stress in Indica Rice

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sharat K. Pradhan

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available Rice crop is sensitive to cold stress at seedling stage. A panel of population representing 304 shortlisted germplasm lines was studied for seedling stage chilling tolerance in indica rice. Six phenotypic classes were exposed to six low temperature stress regimes under control phenotyping facility to investigate response pattern. A panel of 66 genotypes representing all phenotypic classes was used for ensuring genetic diversity, population structure and association mapping for the trait using 58 simple sequence repeat (SSR and 2 direct trait linked markers. A moderate level of genetic diversity was detected in the panel population for the trait. Deviation of Hardy-Weinberg's expectation was detected in the studied population using Wright's F statistic. The panel showed 30% variation among population and 70% among individuals. The entire population was categorized into three sub-populations through STRUCTURE analysis. This revealed tolerance for the trait had a common primary ancestor for each sub-population with few admix individuals. The panel population showed the presence of many QTLs for cold stress tolerance in the individuals representing like genome-wide expression of the trait. Nineteen SSR markers were significantly associated at chilling stress of 8°C to 4°C for 7–21 days duration. Thus, the primers linked to the seedling stage cold tolerance QTLs namely qCTS9, qCTS-2, qCTS6.1, qSCT2, qSCT11, qSCT1a, qCTS-3.1, qCTS11.1, qCTS12.1, qCTS-1b, and CTB2 need to be pyramided for development of strongly chilling tolerant variety.

  6. Sequence based polymorphic (SBP marker technology for targeted genomic regions: its application in generating a molecular map of the Arabidopsis thaliana genome

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sahu Binod B

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Molecular markers facilitate both genotype identification, essential for modern animal and plant breeding, and the isolation of genes based on their map positions. Advancements in sequencing technology have made possible the identification of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs for any genomic regions. Here a sequence based polymorphic (SBP marker technology for generating molecular markers for targeted genomic regions in Arabidopsis is described. Results A ~3X genome coverage sequence of the Arabidopsis thaliana ecotype, Niederzenz (Nd-0 was obtained by applying Illumina's sequencing by synthesis (Solexa technology. Comparison of the Nd-0 genome sequence with the assembled Columbia-0 (Col-0 genome sequence identified putative single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs throughout the entire genome. Multiple 75 base pair Nd-0 sequence reads containing SNPs and originating from individual genomic DNA molecules were the basis for developing co-dominant SBP markers. SNPs containing Col-0 sequences, supported by transcript sequences or sequences from multiple BAC clones, were compared to the respective Nd-0 sequences to identify possible restriction endonuclease enzyme site variations. Small amplicons, PCR amplified from both ecotypes, were digested with suitable restriction enzymes and resolved on a gel to reveal the sequence based polymorphisms. By applying this technology, 21 SBP markers for the marker poor regions of the Arabidopsis map representing polymorphisms between Col-0 and Nd-0 ecotypes were generated. Conclusions The SBP marker technology described here allowed the development of molecular markers for targeted genomic regions of Arabidopsis. It should facilitate isolation of co-dominant molecular markers for targeted genomic regions of any animal or plant species, whose genomic sequences have been assembled. This technology will particularly facilitate the development of high density molecular marker maps, essential for

  7. Genome-wide analysis of disease progression in age-related macular degeneration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yan, Qi; Ding, Ying; Liu, Yi; Sun, Tao; Fritsche, Lars G; Clemons, Traci; Ratnapriya, Rinki; Klein, Michael L; Cook, Richard J; Liu, Yu; Fan, Ruzong; Wei, Lai; Abecasis, Gonçalo R; Swaroop, Anand; Chew, Emily Y; Weeks, Daniel E; Chen, Wei

    2018-03-01

    Family- and population-based genetic studies have successfully identified multiple disease-susceptibility loci for Age-related macular degeneration (AMD), one of the first batch and most successful examples of genome-wide association study. However, most genetic studies to date have focused on case-control studies of late AMD (choroidal neovascularization or geographic atrophy). The genetic influences on disease progression are largely unexplored. We assembled unique resources to perform a genome-wide bivariate time-to-event analysis to test for association of time-to-late-AMD with ∼9 million variants on 2721 Caucasians from a large multi-center randomized clinical trial, the Age-Related Eye Disease Study. To our knowledge, this is the first genome-wide association study of disease progression (bivariate survival outcome) in AMD genetic studies, thus providing novel insights to AMD genetics. We used a robust Cox proportional hazards model to appropriately account for between-eye correlation when analyzing the progression time in the two eyes of each participant. We identified four previously reported susceptibility loci showing genome-wide significant association with AMD progression: ARMS2-HTRA1 (P = 8.1 × 10-43), CFH (P = 3.5 × 10-37), C2-CFB-SKIV2L (P = 8.1 × 10-10) and C3 (P = 1.2 × 10-9). Furthermore, we detected association of rs58978565 near TNR (P = 2.3 × 10-8), rs28368872 near ATF7IP2 (P = 2.9 × 10-8) and rs142450006 near MMP9 (P = 0.0006) with progression to choroidal neovascularization but not geographic atrophy. Secondary analysis limited to 34 reported risk variants revealed that LIPC and CTRB2-CTRB1 were also associated with AMD progression (P < 0.0015). Our genome-wide analysis thus expands the genetics in both development and progression of AMD and should assist in early identification of high risk individuals.

  8. Genome-Wide Association Study of Short-Acting beta(2)-Agonists A Novel Genome-Wide Significant Locus on Chromosome 2 near ASB3

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Israel, Elliot; Lasky-Su, Jessica; Markezich, Amy; Damask, Amy; Szefler, Stanley J.; Schuemann, Brooke; Klanderman, Barbara; Sylvia, Jody; Kazani, Shamsah; Wu, Rongling; Martinez, Fernando; Boushey, Homer A.; Chinchilli, Vernon M.; Mauger, Dave; Weiss, Scott T.; Tantisira, Kelan G.; de Zeeuw, Dick; Navis, Gerjan J.

    2015-01-01

    Rationale: [beta(2)-Agonists are the most common form of treatment of asthma, but there is significant variability in response to these medications. A significant proportion of this responsiveness may be heritable. Objectives: To investigate whether a genome-wide association study (GWAS) could

  9. Genome-wide analysis in Brazilian Xavante Indians reveals low degree of admixture.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuhn, Patricia C; Horimoto, Andréa R V Russo; Sanches, José Maurício; Vieira Filho, João Paulo B; Franco, Luciana; Fabbro, Amaury Dal; Franco, Laercio Joel; Pereira, Alexandre C; Moises, Regina S

    2012-01-01

    Characterization of population genetic variation and structure can be used as tools for research in human genetics and population isolates are of great interest. The aim of the present study was to characterize the genetic structure of Xavante Indians and compare it with other populations. The Xavante, an indigenous population living in Brazilian Central Plateau, is one of the largest native groups in Brazil. A subset of 53 unrelated subjects was selected from the initial sample of 300 Xavante Indians. Using 86,197 markers, Xavante were compared with all populations of HapMap Phase III and HGDP-CEPH projects and with a Southeast Brazilian population sample to establish its population structure. Principal Components Analysis showed that the Xavante Indians are concentrated in the Amerindian axis near other populations of known Amerindian ancestry such as Karitiana, Pima, Surui and Maya and a low degree of genetic admixture was observed. This is consistent with the historical records of bottlenecks experience and cultural isolation. By calculating pair-wise F(st) statistics we characterized the genetic differentiation between Xavante Indians and representative populations of the HapMap and from HGDP-CEPH project. We found that the genetic differentiation between Xavante Indians and populations of Ameridian, Asian, European, and African ancestry increased progressively. Our results indicate that the Xavante is a population that remained genetically isolated over the past decades and can offer advantages for genome-wide mapping studies of inherited disorders.

  10. Toward mapping the biology of the genome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chanock, Stephen

    2012-09-01

    This issue of Genome Research presents new results, methods, and tools from The ENCODE Project (ENCyclopedia of DNA Elements), which collectively represents an important step in moving beyond a parts list of the genome and promises to shape the future of genomic research. This collection sheds light on basic biological questions and frames the current debate over the optimization of tools and methodological challenges necessary to compare and interpret large complex data sets focused on how the genome is organized and regulated. In a number of instances, the authors have highlighted the strengths and limitations of current computational and technical approaches, providing the community with useful standards, which should stimulate development of new tools. In many ways, these papers will ripple through the scientific community, as those in pursuit of understanding the "regulatory genome" will heavily traverse the maps and tools. Similarly, the work should have a substantive impact on how genetic variation contributes to specific diseases and traits by providing a compendium of functional elements for follow-up study. The success of these papers should not only be measured by the scope of the scientific insights and tools but also by their ability to attract new talent to mine existing and future data.

  11. Applied Genetics and Genomics in Alfalfa Breeding

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    E. Charles Brummer

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L., a perennial and outcrossing species, is a widely planted forage legume for hay, pasture and silage throughout the world. Currently, alfalfa breeding relies on recurrent phenotypic selection, but alternatives incorporating molecular marker assisted breeding could enhance genetic gain per unit time and per unit cost, and accelerate alfalfa improvement. Many major quantitative trait loci (QTL related to agronomic traits have been identified by family-based QTL mapping, but in relatively large genomic regions. Candidate genes elucidated from model species have helped to identify some potential causal loci in alfalfa mapping and breeding population for specific traits. Recently, high throughput sequencing technologies, coupled with advanced bioinformatics tools, have been used to identify large numbers of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP in alfalfa, which are being developed into markers. These markers will facilitate fine mapping of quantitative traits and genome wide association mapping of agronomic traits and further advanced breeding strategies for alfalfa, such as marker-assisted selection and genomic selection. Based on ideas from the literature, we suggest several ways to improve selection in alfalfa including (1 diversity selection and paternity testing, (2 introgression of QTL and (3 genomic selection.

  12. Genome-wide association study of classical Hodgkin lymphoma identifies key regulators of disease susceptibility

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sud, A. (Amit); Thomsen, H. (Hauke); Law, P.J. (Philip J.); A. Försti (Asta); Filho, M.I.D.S. (Miguel Inacio Da Silva); Holroyd, A. (Amy); P. Broderick (Peter); Orlando, G. (Giulia); Lenive, O. (Oleg); Wright, L. (Lauren); R. Cooke (Rosie); D.F. Easton (Douglas); P.D.P. Pharoah (Paul); A.M. Dunning (Alison); J. Peto (Julian); F. Canzian (Federico); Eeles, R. (Rosalind); Z. Kote-Jarai; K.R. Muir (K.); Pashayan, N. (Nora); B.E. Henderson (Brian); C.A. Haiman (Christopher); S. Benlloch (Sara); F.R. Schumacher (Fredrick R); Olama, A.A.A. (Ali Amin Al); S.I. Berndt (Sonja); G. Conti (Giario); F. Wiklund (Fredrik); S.J. Chanock (Stephen); Stevens, V.L. (Victoria L.); C.M. Tangen (Catherine M.); Batra, J. (Jyotsna); Clements, J. (Judith); H. Grönberg (Henrik); Schleutker, J. (Johanna); D. Albanes (Demetrius); Weinstein, S. (Stephanie); K. Wolk (Kerstin); West, C. (Catharine); Mucci, L. (Lorelei); Cancel-Tassin, G. (Géraldine); Koutros, S. (Stella); Sorensen, K.D. (Karina Dalsgaard); L. Maehle; D. Neal (David); S.P.L. Travis (Simon); Hamilton, R.J. (Robert J.); S.A. Ingles (Sue); B.S. Rosenstein (Barry S.); Lu, Y.-J. (Yong-Jie); Giles, G.G. (Graham G.); A. Kibel (Adam); Vega, A. (Ana); M. Kogevinas (Manolis); Penney, K.L. (Kathryn L.); Park, J.Y. (Jong Y.); Stanford, J.L. (Janet L.); C. Cybulski (Cezary); B.G. Nordestgaard (Børge); Brenner, H. (Hermann); Maier, C. (Christiane); Kim, J. (Jeri); E.M. John (Esther); P.J. Teixeira; Neuhausen, S.L. (Susan L.); De Ruyck, K. (Kim); Razack, A. (Azad); Newcomb, L.F. (Lisa F.); Lessel, D. (Davor); Kaneva, R. (Radka); N. Usmani (Nawaid); F. Claessens; Townsend, P.A. (Paul A.); Dominguez, M.G. (Manuela Gago); Roobol, M.J. (Monique J.); F. Menegaux (Florence); P. Hoffmann (Per); M.M. Nöthen (Markus); K.-H. JöCkel (Karl-Heinz); Strandmann, E.P.V. (Elke Pogge Von); Lightfoot, T. (Tracy); Kane, E. (Eleanor); Roman, E. (Eve); Lake, A. (Annette); Montgomery, D. (Dorothy); Jarrett, R.F. (Ruth F.); A.J. Swerdlow (Anthony ); A. Engert (Andreas); N. Orr (Nick); K. Hemminki (Kari); Houlston, R.S. (Richard S.)

    2017-01-01

    textabstractSeveral susceptibility loci for classical Hodgkin lymphoma have been reported. However, much of the heritable risk is unknown. Here, we perform a meta-analysis of two existing genome-wide association studies, a new genome-wide association study, and replication totalling 5,314 cases and

  13. Deposition of nucleosomal antigens (histones and DNA) in the epidermal basement membrane in human lupus nephritis.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Grootscholten, C.; Bruggen, M.C.J. van; Pijl, J.W. van der; Jong, E.M.G.J. de; Ligtenberg, G.; Derksen, R.H.W.M.; Berden, J.H.M.

    2003-01-01

    OBJECTIVE: Antinuclear autoantibodies complexed to nucleosomes can bind to heparan sulfate (HS) in the glomerular basement membrane. This binding is due to the binding of the positively charged histones to the strongly anionic HS. Nucleosomes and histones have been identified in glomerular deposits

  14. Genome-wide identification of breed-informative single-nucleotide ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This is because the SNPs on BovineSNP50 and GGP-80K assays were ascertained as being common in European taurine breeds. Lower MAF and SNP informativeness observed in this study limits the application of these assays in breed assignment, and could have other implications for genome-wide studies in South ...

  15. A physical map for the Amborella trichopoda genome sheds light on the evolution of angiosperm genome structure

    OpenAIRE

    Zuccolo, Andrea; Bowers, John E; Estill, James C; Xiong, Zhiyong; Luo, Meizhong; Sebastian, Aswathy; Goicoechea, Jos? Luis; Collura, Kristi; Yu, Yeisoo; Jiao, Yuannian; Duarte, Jill; Tang, Haibao; Ayyampalayam, Saravanaraj; Rounsley, Steve; Kudrna, Dave

    2011-01-01

    Background Recent phylogenetic analyses have identified Amborella trichopoda, an understory tree species endemic to the forests of New Caledonia, as sister to a clade including all other known flowering plant species. The Amborella genome is a unique reference for understanding the evolution of angiosperm genomes because it can serve as an outgroup to root comparative analyses. A physical map, BAC end sequences and sample shotgun sequences provide a first view of the 870 Mbp Amborella genome....

  16. It's fun to transcribe with Fun30: A model for nucleosome dynamics during RNA polymerase II-mediated elongation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Junwoo; Choi, Eun Shik; Lee, Daeyoup

    2018-01-01

    The ability of elongating RNA polymerase II (RNAPII) to regulate the nucleosome barrier is poorly understood because we do not know enough about the involved factors and we lack a conceptual framework to model this process. Our group recently identified the conserved Fun30/SMARCAD1 family chromatin-remodeling factor, Fun30 Fft3 , as being critical for relieving the nucleosome barrier during RNAPII-mediated elongation, and proposed a model illustrating how Fun30 Fft3 may contribute to nucleosome disassembly during RNAPII-mediated elongation. Here, we present a model that describes nucleosome dynamics during RNAPII-mediated elongation in mathematical terms and addresses the involvement of Fun30 Fft3 in this process.

  17. Genome-wide detection of selection and other evolutionary forces

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Xu, Zhuofei; Zhou, Rui

    2015-01-01

    As is well known, pathogenic microbes evolve rapidly to escape from the host immune system and antibiotics. Genetic variations among microbial populations occur frequently during the long-term pathogen–host evolutionary arms race, and individual mutation beneficial for the fitness can be fixed...... to scan genome-wide alignments for evidence of positive Darwinian selection, recombination, and other evolutionary forces operating on the coding regions. In this chapter, we describe an integrative analysis pipeline and its application to tracking featured evolutionary trajectories on the genome...

  18. Quantifying the underestimation of relative risks from genome-wide association studies.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chris Spencer

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available Genome-wide association studies (GWAS have identified hundreds of associated loci across many common diseases. Most risk variants identified by GWAS will merely be tags for as-yet-unknown causal variants. It is therefore possible that identification of the causal variant, by fine mapping, will identify alleles with larger effects on genetic risk than those currently estimated from GWAS replication studies. We show that under plausible assumptions, whilst the majority of the per-allele relative risks (RR estimated from GWAS data will be close to the true risk at the causal variant, some could be considerable underestimates. For example, for an estimated RR in the range 1.2-1.3, there is approximately a 38% chance that it exceeds 1.4 and a 10% chance that it is over 2. We show how these probabilities can vary depending on the true effects associated with low-frequency variants and on the minor allele frequency (MAF of the most associated SNP. We investigate the consequences of the underestimation of effect sizes for predictions of an individual's disease risk and interpret our results for the design of fine mapping experiments. Although these effects mean that the amount of heritability explained by known GWAS loci is expected to be larger than current projections, this increase is likely to explain a relatively small amount of the so-called "missing" heritability.

  19. SNPpy--database management for SNP data from genome wide association studies.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Faheem Mitha

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: We describe SNPpy, a hybrid script database system using the Python SQLAlchemy library coupled with the PostgreSQL database to manage genotype data from Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS. This system makes it possible to merge study data with HapMap data and merge across studies for meta-analyses, including data filtering based on the values of phenotype and Single-Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP data. SNPpy and its dependencies are open source software. RESULTS: The current version of SNPpy offers utility functions to import genotype and annotation data from two commercial platforms. We use these to import data from two GWAS studies and the HapMap Project. We then export these individual datasets to standard data format files that can be imported into statistical software for downstream analyses. CONCLUSIONS: By leveraging the power of relational databases, SNPpy offers integrated management and manipulation of genotype and phenotype data from GWAS studies. The analysis of these studies requires merging across GWAS datasets as well as patient and marker selection. To this end, SNPpy enables the user to filter the data and output the results as standardized GWAS file formats. It does low level and flexible data validation, including validation of patient data. SNPpy is a practical and extensible solution for investigators who seek to deploy central management of their GWAS data.

  20. Genome-wide transcription analyses in rice using tiling microarrays

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Li, Lei; Wang, Xiangfeng; Stolc, Viktor

    2006-01-01

    . We report here a full-genome transcription analysis of the indica rice subspecies using high-density oligonucleotide tiling microarrays. Our results provided expression data support for the existence of 35,970 (81.9%) annotated gene models and identified 5,464 unique transcribed intergenic regions...... that share similar compositional properties with the annotated exons and have significant homology to other plant proteins. Elucidating and mapping of all transcribed regions revealed an association between global transcription and cytological chromosome features, and an overall similarity of transcriptional......Sequencing and computational annotation revealed several features, including high gene numbers, unusual composition of the predicted genes and a large number of genes lacking homology to known genes, that distinguish the rice (Oryza sativa) genome from that of other fully sequenced model species...

  1. Genome-wide association study of classical Hodgkin lymphoma identifies key regulators of disease susceptibility

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sud, Amit; Thomsen, Hauke; Law, Philip J.

    2017-01-01

    Several susceptibility loci for classical Hodgkin lymphoma have been reported. However, much of the heritable risk is unknown. Here, we perform a meta-analysis of two existing genome-wide association studies, a new genome-wide association study, and replication totalling 5,314 cases and 16,749 co...

  2. Genome-wide population-based association study of extremely overweight young adults--the GOYA study

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Paternoster, Lavinia; Evans, David M; Nohr, Ellen Aagaard

    2011-01-01

    Thirty-two common variants associated with body mass index (BMI) have been identified in genome-wide association studies, explaining ∼1.45% of BMI variation in general population cohorts. We performed a genome-wide association study in a sample of young adults enriched for extremely overweight...

  3. HIV Genome-Wide Protein Associations: a Review of 30 Years of Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-01-01

    SUMMARY The HIV genome encodes a small number of viral proteins (i.e., 16), invariably establishing cooperative associations among HIV proteins and between HIV and host proteins, to invade host cells and hijack their internal machineries. As a known example, the HIV envelope glycoprotein GP120 is closely associated with GP41 for viral entry. From a genome-wide perspective, a hypothesis can be worked out to determine whether 16 HIV proteins could develop 120 possible pairwise associations either by physical interactions or by functional associations mediated via HIV or host molecules. Here, we present the first systematic review of experimental evidence on HIV genome-wide protein associations using a large body of publications accumulated over the past 3 decades. Of 120 possible pairwise associations between 16 HIV proteins, at least 34 physical interactions and 17 functional associations have been identified. To achieve efficient viral replication and infection, HIV protein associations play essential roles (e.g., cleavage, inhibition, and activation) during the HIV life cycle. In either a dispensable or an indispensable manner, each HIV protein collaborates with another viral protein to accomplish specific activities that precisely take place at the proper stages of the HIV life cycle. In addition, HIV genome-wide protein associations have an impact on anti-HIV inhibitors due to the extensive cross talk between drug-inhibited proteins and other HIV proteins. Overall, this study presents for the first time a comprehensive overview of HIV genome-wide protein associations, highlighting meticulous collaborations between all viral proteins during the HIV life cycle. PMID:27357278

  4. Assessing Predictive Properties of Genome-Wide Selection in Soybeans

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    Alencar Xavier

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Many economically important traits in plant breeding have low heritability or are difficult to measure. For these traits, genomic selection has attractive features and may boost genetic gains. Our goal was to evaluate alternative scenarios to implement genomic selection for yield components in soybean (Glycine max L. merr. We used a nested association panel with cross validation to evaluate the impacts of training population size, genotyping density, and prediction model on the accuracy of genomic prediction. Our results indicate that training population size was the factor most relevant to improvement in genome-wide prediction, with greatest improvement observed in training sets up to 2000 individuals. We discuss assumptions that influence the choice of the prediction model. Although alternative models had minor impacts on prediction accuracy, the most robust prediction model was the combination of reproducing kernel Hilbert space regression and BayesB. Higher genotyping density marginally improved accuracy. Our study finds that breeding programs seeking efficient genomic selection in soybeans would best allocate resources by investing in a representative training set.

  5. Assessing Predictive Properties of Genome-Wide Selection in Soybeans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xavier, Alencar; Muir, William M; Rainey, Katy Martin

    2016-08-09

    Many economically important traits in plant breeding have low heritability or are difficult to measure. For these traits, genomic selection has attractive features and may boost genetic gains. Our goal was to evaluate alternative scenarios to implement genomic selection for yield components in soybean (Glycine max L. merr). We used a nested association panel with cross validation to evaluate the impacts of training population size, genotyping density, and prediction model on the accuracy of genomic prediction. Our results indicate that training population size was the factor most relevant to improvement in genome-wide prediction, with greatest improvement observed in training sets up to 2000 individuals. We discuss assumptions that influence the choice of the prediction model. Although alternative models had minor impacts on prediction accuracy, the most robust prediction model was the combination of reproducing kernel Hilbert space regression and BayesB. Higher genotyping density marginally improved accuracy. Our study finds that breeding programs seeking efficient genomic selection in soybeans would best allocate resources by investing in a representative training set. Copyright © 2016 Xavie et al.

  6. Genome-wide association study of prostate cancer-specific survival

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Szulkin, Robert; Karlsson, Robert; Whitington, Thomas

    2015-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Unnecessary intervention and overtreatment of indolent disease are common challenges in clinical management of prostate cancer. Improved tools to distinguish lethal from indolent disease are critical. METHODS: We performed a genome-wide survival analysis of cause-specific death in 24,...

  7. Genome-Wide Association Study of Antiphospholipid Antibodies

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    M. Ilyas Kamboh

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Background. The persistent presence of antiphospholipid antibodies (APA may lead to the development of primary or secondary antiphospholipid syndrome. Although the genetic basis of APA has been suggested, the identity of the underlying genes is largely unknown. In this study, we have performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS in an effort to identify susceptibility loci/genes for three main APA: anticardiolipin antibodies (ACL, lupus anticoagulant (LAC, and anti-β2 glycoprotein I antibodies (anti-β2GPI. Methods. DNA samples were genotyped using the Affymetrix 6.0 array containing 906,600 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs. Association of SNPs with the antibody status (positive/negative was tested using logistic regression under the additive model. Results. We have identified a number of suggestive novel loci with Pgenome-wide significance, many of the suggestive loci are potential candidates for the production of APA. We have replicated the previously reported associations of HLA genes and APOH with APA but these were not the top loci. Conclusions. We have identified a number of suggestive novel loci for APA that will stimulate follow-up studies in independent and larger samples to replicate our findings.

  8. Genome-wide variation in recombination rate in Eucalyptus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gion, Jean-Marc; Hudson, Corey J; Lesur, Isabelle; Vaillancourt, René E; Potts, Brad M; Freeman, Jules S

    2016-08-09

    Meiotic recombination is a fundamental evolutionary process. It not only generates diversity, but influences the efficacy of natural selection and genome evolution. There can be significant heterogeneity in recombination rates within and between species, however this variation is not well understood outside of a few model taxa, particularly in forest trees. Eucalypts are forest trees of global economic importance, and dominate many Australian ecosystems. We studied recombination rate in Eucalyptus globulus using genetic linkage maps constructed in 10 unrelated individuals, and markers anchored to the Eucalyptus reference genome. This experimental design provided the replication to study whether recombination rate varied between individuals and chromosomes, and allowed us to study the genomic attributes and population genetic parameters correlated with this variation. Recombination rate varied significantly between individuals (range = 2.71 to 3.51 centimorgans/megabase [cM/Mb]), but was not significantly influenced by sex or cross type (F1 vs. F2). Significant differences in recombination rate between chromosomes were also evident (range = 1.98 to 3.81 cM/Mb), beyond those which were due to variation in chromosome size. Variation in chromosomal recombination rate was significantly correlated with gene density (r = 0.94), GC content (r = 0.90), and the number of tandem duplicated genes (r = -0.72) per chromosome. Notably, chromosome level recombination rate was also negatively correlated with the average genetic diversity across six species from an independent set of samples (r = -0.75). The correlations with genomic attributes are consistent with findings in other taxa, however, the direction of the correlation between diversity and recombination rate is opposite to that commonly observed. We argue this is likely to reflect the interaction of selection and specific genome architecture of Eucalyptus. Interestingly, the differences amongst

  9. DNA Breaks and End Resection Measured Genome-wide by End Sequencing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Canela, Andres; Sridharan, Sriram; Sciascia, Nicholas; Tubbs, Anthony; Meltzer, Paul; Sleckman, Barry P; Nussenzweig, André

    2016-09-01

    DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) arise during physiological transcription, DNA replication, and antigen receptor diversification. Mistargeting or misprocessing of DSBs can result in pathological structural variation and mutation. Here we describe a sensitive method (END-seq) to monitor DNA end resection and DSBs genome-wide at base-pair resolution in vivo. We utilized END-seq to determine the frequency and spectrum of restriction-enzyme-, zinc-finger-nuclease-, and RAG-induced DSBs. Beyond sequence preference, chromatin features dictate the repertoire of these genome-modifying enzymes. END-seq can detect at least one DSB per cell among 10,000 cells not harboring DSBs, and we estimate that up to one out of 60 cells contains off-target RAG cleavage. In addition to site-specific cleavage, we detect DSBs distributed over extended regions during immunoglobulin class-switch recombination. Thus, END-seq provides a snapshot of DNA ends genome-wide, which can be utilized for understanding genome-editing specificities and the influence of chromatin on DSB pathway choice. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  10. Genome-Wide Identification and Expression Analysis of WRKY Transcription Factors under Multiple Stresses in Brassica napus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, Yajun; Mao, Shaoshuai; Gao, Yulong; Zhu, Liying; Wu, Daoming; Cui, Yixin; Li, Jiana; Qian, Wei

    2016-01-01

    WRKY transcription factors play important roles in responses to environmental stress stimuli. Using a genome-wide domain analysis, we identified 287 WRKY genes with 343 WRKY domains in the sequenced genome of Brassica napus, 139 in the A sub-genome and 148 in the C sub-genome. These genes were classified into eight groups based on phylogenetic analysis. In the 343 WRKY domains, a total of 26 members showed divergence in the WRKY domain, and 21 belonged to group I. This finding suggested that WRKY genes in group I are more active and variable compared with genes in other groups. Using genome-wide identification and analysis of the WRKY gene family in Brassica napus, we observed genome duplication, chromosomal/segmental duplications and tandem duplication. All of these duplications contributed to the expansion of the WRKY gene family. The duplicate segments that were detected indicated that genome duplication events occurred in the two diploid progenitors B. rapa and B. olearecea before they combined to form B. napus. Analysis of the public microarray database and EST database for B. napus indicated that 74 WRKY genes were induced or preferentially expressed under stress conditions. According to the public QTL data, we identified 77 WRKY genes in 31 QTL regions related to various stress tolerance. We further evaluated the expression of 26 BnaWRKY genes under multiple stresses by qRT-PCR. Most of the genes were induced by low temperature, salinity and drought stress, indicating that the WRKYs play important roles in B. napus stress responses. Further, three BnaWRKY genes were strongly responsive to the three multiple stresses simultaneously, which suggests that these 3 WRKY may have multi-functional roles in stress tolerance and can potentially be used in breeding new rapeseed cultivars. We also found six tandem repeat pairs exhibiting similar expression profiles under the various stress conditions, and three pairs were mapped in the stress related QTL regions

  11. Genome-Wide Identification and Expression Analysis of WRKY Transcription Factors under Multiple Stresses in Brassica napus.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yajun He

    Full Text Available WRKY transcription factors play important roles in responses to environmental stress stimuli. Using a genome-wide domain analysis, we identified 287 WRKY genes with 343 WRKY domains in the sequenced genome of Brassica napus, 139 in the A sub-genome and 148 in the C sub-genome. These genes were classified into eight groups based on phylogenetic analysis. In the 343 WRKY domains, a total of 26 members showed divergence in the WRKY domain, and 21 belonged to group I. This finding suggested that WRKY genes in group I are more active and variable compared with genes in other groups. Using genome-wide identification and analysis of the WRKY gene family in Brassica napus, we observed genome duplication, chromosomal/segmental duplications and tandem duplication. All of these duplications contributed to the expansion of the WRKY gene family. The duplicate segments that were detected indicated that genome duplication events occurred in the two diploid progenitors B. rapa and B. olearecea before they combined to form B. napus. Analysis of the public microarray database and EST database for B. napus indicated that 74 WRKY genes were induced or preferentially expressed under stress conditions. According to the public QTL data, we identified 77 WRKY genes in 31 QTL regions related to various stress tolerance. We further evaluated the expression of 26 BnaWRKY genes under multiple stresses by qRT-PCR. Most of the genes were induced by low temperature, salinity and drought stress, indicating that the WRKYs play important roles in B. napus stress responses. Further, three BnaWRKY genes were strongly responsive to the three multiple stresses simultaneously, which suggests that these 3 WRKY may have multi-functional roles in stress tolerance and can potentially be used in breeding new rapeseed cultivars. We also found six tandem repeat pairs exhibiting similar expression profiles under the various stress conditions, and three pairs were mapped in the stress related

  12. Genome-wide prediction of cis-regulatory regions using supervised deep learning methods.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Yifeng; Shi, Wenqiang; Wasserman, Wyeth W

    2018-05-31

    In the human genome, 98% of DNA sequences are non-protein-coding regions that were previously disregarded as junk DNA. In fact, non-coding regions host a variety of cis-regulatory regions which precisely control the expression of genes. Thus, Identifying active cis-regulatory regions in the human genome is critical for understanding gene regulation and assessing the impact of genetic variation on phenotype. The developments of high-throughput sequencing and machine learning technologies make it possible to predict cis-regulatory regions genome wide. Based on rich data resources such as the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) and the Functional Annotation of the Mammalian Genome (FANTOM) projects, we introduce DECRES based on supervised deep learning approaches for the identification of enhancer and promoter regions in the human genome. Due to their ability to discover patterns in large and complex data, the introduction of deep learning methods enables a significant advance in our knowledge of the genomic locations of cis-regulatory regions. Using models for well-characterized cell lines, we identify key experimental features that contribute to the predictive performance. Applying DECRES, we delineate locations of 300,000 candidate enhancers genome wide (6.8% of the genome, of which 40,000 are supported by bidirectional transcription data), and 26,000 candidate promoters (0.6% of the genome). The predicted annotations of cis-regulatory regions will provide broad utility for genome interpretation from functional genomics to clinical applications. The DECRES model demonstrates potentials of deep learning technologies when combined with high-throughput sequencing data, and inspires the development of other advanced neural network models for further improvement of genome annotations.

  13. Genome-Wide DNA Methylation in Mixed Ancestry Individuals with Diabetes and Prediabetes from South Africa

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pheiffer, Carmen; Humphries, Stephen E.; Gamieldien, Junaid; Erasmus, Rajiv T.

    2016-01-01

    Aims. To conduct a genome-wide DNA methylation in individuals with type 2 diabetes, individuals with prediabetes, and control mixed ancestry individuals from South Africa. Methods. We used peripheral blood to perform genome-wide DNA methylation analysis in 3 individuals with screen detected diabetes, 3 individuals with prediabetes, and 3 individuals with normoglycaemia from the Bellville South Community, Cape Town, South Africa, who were age-, gender-, body mass index-, and duration of residency-matched. Methylated DNA immunoprecipitation (MeDIP) was performed by Arraystar Inc. (Rockville, MD, USA). Results. Hypermethylated DMRs were 1160 (81.97%) and 124 (43.20%), respectively, in individuals with diabetes and prediabetes when both were compared to subjects with normoglycaemia. Our data shows that genes related to the immune system, signal transduction, glucose transport, and pancreas development have altered DNA methylation in subjects with prediabetes and diabetes. Pathway analysis based on the functional analysis mapping of genes to KEGG pathways suggested that the linoleic acid metabolism and arachidonic acid metabolism pathways are hypomethylated in prediabetes and diabetes. Conclusions. Our study suggests that epigenetic changes are likely to be an early process that occurs before the onset of overt diabetes. Detailed analysis of DMRs that shows gradual methylation differences from control versus prediabetes to prediabetes versus diabetes in a larger sample size is required to confirm these findings. PMID:27555869

  14. The perennial ryegrass GenomeZipper: targeted use of genome resources for comparative grass genomics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pfeifer, Matthias; Martis, Mihaela; Asp, Torben; Mayer, Klaus F X; Lübberstedt, Thomas; Byrne, Stephen; Frei, Ursula; Studer, Bruno

    2013-02-01

    Whole-genome sequences established for model and major crop species constitute a key resource for advanced genomic research. For outbreeding forage and turf grass species like ryegrasses (Lolium spp.), such resources have yet to be developed. Here, we present a model of the perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) genome on the basis of conserved synteny to barley (Hordeum vulgare) and the model grass genome Brachypodium (Brachypodium distachyon) as well as rice (Oryza sativa) and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor). A transcriptome-based genetic linkage map of perennial ryegrass served as a scaffold to establish the chromosomal arrangement of syntenic genes from model grass species. This scaffold revealed a high degree of synteny and macrocollinearity and was then utilized to anchor a collection of perennial ryegrass genes in silico to their predicted genome positions. This resulted in the unambiguous assignment of 3,315 out of 8,876 previously unmapped genes to the respective chromosomes. In total, the GenomeZipper incorporates 4,035 conserved grass gene loci, which were used for the first genome-wide sequence divergence analysis between perennial ryegrass, barley, Brachypodium, rice, and sorghum. The perennial ryegrass GenomeZipper is an ordered, information-rich genome scaffold, facilitating map-based cloning and genome assembly in perennial ryegrass and closely related Poaceae species. It also represents a milestone in describing synteny between perennial ryegrass and fully sequenced model grass genomes, thereby increasing our understanding of genome organization and evolution in the most important temperate forage and turf grass species.

  15. Genome-wide association studies on HIV susceptibility, pathogenesis and pharmacogenomics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    van Manen Daniëlle

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Susceptibility to HIV-1 and the clinical course after infection show a substantial heterogeneity between individuals. Part of this variability can be attributed to host genetic variation. Initial candidate gene studies have revealed interesting host factors that influence HIV infection, replication and pathogenesis. Recently, genome-wide association studies (GWAS were utilized for unbiased searches at a genome-wide level to discover novel genetic factors and pathways involved in HIV-1 infection. This review gives an overview of findings from the GWAS performed on HIV infection, within different cohorts, with variable patient and phenotype selection. Furthermore, novel techniques and strategies in research that might contribute to the complete understanding of virus-host interactions and its role on the pathogenesis of HIV infection are discussed.

  16. Rapid scoring of genes in microbial pan-genome-wide association studies with Scoary.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brynildsrud, Ola; Bohlin, Jon; Scheffer, Lonneke; Eldholm, Vegard

    2016-11-25

    Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have become indispensable in human medicine and genomics, but very few have been carried out on bacteria. Here we introduce Scoary, an ultra-fast, easy-to-use, and widely applicable software tool that scores the components of the pan-genome for associations to observed phenotypic traits while accounting for population stratification, with minimal assumptions about evolutionary processes. We call our approach pan-GWAS to distinguish it from traditional, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-based GWAS. Scoary is implemented in Python and is available under an open source GPLv3 license at https://github.com/AdmiralenOla/Scoary .

  17. Genome-wide identification of significant aberrations in cancer genome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yuan, Xiguo; Yu, Guoqiang; Hou, Xuchu; Shih, Ie-Ming; Clarke, Robert; Zhang, Junying; Hoffman, Eric P; Wang, Roger R; Zhang, Zhen; Wang, Yue

    2012-07-27

    Somatic Copy Number Alterations (CNAs) in human genomes are present in almost all human cancers. Systematic efforts to characterize such structural variants must effectively distinguish significant consensus events from random background aberrations. Here we introduce Significant Aberration in Cancer (SAIC), a new method for characterizing and assessing the statistical significance of recurrent CNA units. Three main features of SAIC include: (1) exploiting the intrinsic correlation among consecutive probes to assign a score to each CNA unit instead of single probes; (2) performing permutations on CNA units that preserve correlations inherent in the copy number data; and (3) iteratively detecting Significant Copy Number Aberrations (SCAs) and estimating an unbiased null distribution by applying an SCA-exclusive permutation scheme. We test and compare the performance of SAIC against four peer methods (GISTIC, STAC, KC-SMART, CMDS) on a large number of simulation datasets. Experimental results show that SAIC outperforms peer methods in terms of larger area under the Receiver Operating Characteristics curve and increased detection power. We then apply SAIC to analyze structural genomic aberrations acquired in four real cancer genome-wide copy number data sets (ovarian cancer, metastatic prostate cancer, lung adenocarcinoma, glioblastoma). When compared with previously reported results, SAIC successfully identifies most SCAs known to be of biological significance and associated with oncogenes (e.g., KRAS, CCNE1, and MYC) or tumor suppressor genes (e.g., CDKN2A/B). Furthermore, SAIC identifies a number of novel SCAs in these copy number data that encompass tumor related genes and may warrant further studies. Supported by a well-grounded theoretical framework, SAIC has been developed and used to identify SCAs in various cancer copy number data sets, providing useful information to study the landscape of cancer genomes. Open-source and platform-independent SAIC software is

  18. Genome-wide analysis of the human Alu Yb-lineage

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    Carter Anthony B

    2004-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract The Alu Yb-lineage is a 'young' primarily human-specific group of short interspersed element (SINE subfamilies that have integrated throughout the human genome. In this study, we have computationally screened the draft sequence of the human genome for Alu Yb-lineage subfamily members present on autosomal chromosomes. A total of 1,733 Yb Alu subfamily members have integrated into human autosomes. The average ages of Yb-lineage subfamilies, Yb7, Yb8 and Yb9, are estimated as 4.81, 2.39 and 2.32 million years, respectively. In order to determine the contribution of the Alu Yb-lineage to human genomic diversity, 1,202 loci were analysed using polymerase chain reaction (PCR-based assays, which amplify the genomic regions containing individual Yb-lineage subfamily members. Approximately 20 per cent of the Yb-lineage Alu elements are polymorphic for insertion presence/absence in the human genome. Fewer than 0.5 per cent of the Yb loci also demonstrate insertions at orthologous positions in non-human primate genomes. Genomic sequencing of these unusual loci demonstrates that each of the orthologous loci from non-human primate genomes contains older Y, Sg and Sx Alu family members that have been altered, through various mechanisms, into Yb8 sequences. These data suggest that Alu Yb-lineage subfamily members are largely restricted to the human genome. The high copy number, level of insertion polymorphism and estimated age indicate that members of the Alu Yb elements will be useful in a wide range of genetic analyses.

  19. Controversy and debate on clinical genomics sequencing-paper 2: clinical genome-wide sequencing: don't throw out the baby with the bathwater!

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adam, Shelin; Friedman, Jan M

    2017-12-01

    Genome-wide (exome or whole genome) sequencing with appropriate genetic counseling should be considered for any patient with a suspected Mendelian disease that has not been identified by conventional testing. Clinical genome-wide sequencing provides a powerful and effective means of identifying specific genetic causes of serious disease and improving clinical care. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  20. High Resolution Typing by Whole Genome Mapping Enables Discrimination of LA-MRSA (CC398) Strains and Identification of Transmission Events

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bosch, Thijs; Verkade, Erwin; van Luit, Martijn; Pot, Bruno; Vauterin, Paul; Burggrave, Ronald; Savelkoul, Paul; Kluytmans, Jan; Schouls, Leo

    2013-01-01

    After its emergence in 2003, a livestock-associated (LA-)MRSA clade (CC398) has caused an impressive increase in the number of isolates submitted for the Dutch national MRSA surveillance and now comprises 40% of all isolates. The currently used molecular typing techniques have limited discriminatory power for this MRSA clade, which hampers studies on the origin and transmission routes. Recently, a new molecular analysis technique named whole genome mapping was introduced. This method creates high-resolution, ordered whole genome restriction maps that may have potential for strain typing. In this study, we assessed and validated the capability of whole genome mapping to differentiate LA-MRSA isolates. Multiple validation experiments showed that whole genome mapping produced highly reproducible results. Assessment of the technique on two well-documented MRSA outbreaks showed that whole genome mapping was able to confirm one outbreak, but revealed major differences between the maps of a second, indicating that not all isolates belonged to this outbreak. Whole genome mapping of LA-MRSA isolates that were epidemiologically unlinked provided a much higher discriminatory power than spa-typing or MLVA. In contrast, maps created from LA-MRSA isolates obtained during a proven LA-MRSA outbreak were nearly indistinguishable showing that transmission of LA-MRSA can be detected by whole genome mapping. Finally, whole genome maps of LA-MRSA isolates originating from two unrelated veterinarians and their household members showed that veterinarians may carry and transmit different LA-MRSA strains at the same time. No such conclusions could be drawn based spa-typing and MLVA. Although PFGE seems to be suitable for molecular typing of LA-MRSA, WGM provides a much higher discriminatory power. Furthermore, whole genome mapping can provide a comparison with other maps within 2 days after the bacterial culture is received, making it suitable to investigate transmission events and

  1. Genome-wide data-mining of candidate human splice translational efficiency polymorphisms (STEPs and an online database.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christopher A Raistrick

    2010-10-01

    Full Text Available Variation in pre-mRNA splicing is common and in some cases caused by genetic variants in intronic splicing motifs. Recent studies into the insulin gene (INS discovered a polymorphism in a 5' non-coding intron that influences the likelihood of intron retention in the final mRNA, extending the 5' untranslated region and maintaining protein quality. Retention was also associated with increased insulin levels, suggesting that such variants--splice translational efficiency polymorphisms (STEPs--may relate to disease phenotypes through differential protein expression. We set out to explore the prevalence of STEPs in the human genome and validate this new category of protein quantitative trait loci (pQTL using publicly available data.Gene transcript and variant data were collected and mined for candidate STEPs in motif regions. Sequences from transcripts containing potential STEPs were analysed for evidence of splice site recognition and an effect in expressed sequence tags (ESTs. 16 publicly released genome-wide association data sets of common diseases were searched for association to candidate polymorphisms with HapMap frequency data. Our study found 3324 candidate STEPs lying in motif sequences of 5' non-coding introns and further mining revealed 170 with transcript evidence of intron retention. 21 potential STEPs had EST evidence of intron retention or exon extension, as well as population frequency data for comparison.Results suggest that the insulin STEP was not a unique example and that many STEPs may occur genome-wide with potentially causal effects in complex disease. An online database of STEPs is freely accessible at http://dbstep.genes.org.uk/.

  2. Deciphering RNA regulatory elements in trypanosomatids: one piece at a time or genome-wide?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gazestani, Vahid H; Lu, Zhiquan; Salavati, Reza

    2014-05-01

    Morphological and metabolic changes in the life cycle of Trypanosoma brucei are accomplished by precise regulation of hundreds of genes. In the absence of transcriptional control, RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) shape the structure of gene regulatory maps in this organism, but our knowledge about their target RNAs, binding sites, and mechanisms of action is far from complete. Although recent technological advances have revolutionized the RBP-based approaches, the main framework for the RNA regulatory element (RRE)-based approaches has not changed over the last two decades in T. brucei. In this Opinion, after highlighting the current challenges in RRE inference, we explain some genome-wide solutions that can significantly boost our current understanding about gene regulatory networks in T. brucei. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Context based computational analysis and characterization of ARS consensus sequences (ACS of Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vinod Kumar Singh

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Genome-wide experimental studies in Saccharomyces cerevisiae reveal that autonomous replicating sequence (ARS requires an essential consensus sequence (ACS for replication activity. Computational studies identified thousands of ACS like patterns in the genome. However, only a few hundreds of these sites act as replicating sites and the rest are considered as dormant or evolving sites. In a bid to understand the sequence makeup of replication sites, a content and context-based analysis was performed on a set of replicating ACS sequences that binds to origin-recognition complex (ORC denoted as ORC-ACS and non-replicating ACS sequences (nrACS, that are not bound by ORC. In this study, DNA properties such as base composition, correlation, sequence dependent thermodynamic and DNA structural profiles, and their positions have been considered for characterizing ORC-ACS and nrACS. Analysis reveals that ORC-ACS depict marked differences in nucleotide composition and context features in its vicinity compared to nrACS. Interestingly, an A-rich motif was also discovered in ORC-ACS sequences within its nucleosome-free region. Profound changes in the conformational features, such as DNA helical twist, inclination angle and stacking energy between ORC-ACS and nrACS were observed. Distribution of ACS motifs in the non-coding segments points to the locations of ORC-ACS which are found far away from the adjacent gene start position compared to nrACS thereby enabling an accessible environment for ORC-proteins. Our attempt is novel in considering the contextual view of ACS and its flanking region along with nucleosome positioning in the S. cerevisiae genome and may be useful for any computational prediction scheme.

  4. The detailed 3D multi-loop aggregate/rosette chromatin architecture and functional dynamic organization of the human and mouse genomes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Knoch, Tobias A; Wachsmuth, Malte; Kepper, Nick

    2016-01-01

    BACKGROUND: The dynamic three-dimensional chromatin architecture of genomes and its co-evolutionary connection to its function-the storage, expression, and replication of genetic information-is still one of the central issues in biology. Here, we describe the much debated 3D architecture...... of the human and mouse genomes from the nucleosomal to the megabase pair level by a novel approach combining selective high-throughput high-resolution chromosomal interaction capture (T2C), polymer simulations, and scaling analysis of the 3D architecture and the DNA sequence. RESULTS: The genome is compacted...... into a chromatin quasi-fibre with ~5 ± 1 nucleosomes/11 nm, folded into stable ~30-100 kbp loops forming stable loop aggregates/rosettes connected by similar sized linkers. Minor but significant variations in the architecture are seen between cell types and functional states. The architecture and the DNA sequence...

  5. Efficient genome-wide genotyping strategies and data integration in crop plants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Torkamaneh, Davoud; Boyle, Brian; Belzile, François

    2018-03-01

    Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has revolutionized plant and animal research by providing powerful genotyping methods. This review describes and discusses the advantages, challenges and, most importantly, solutions to facilitate data processing, the handling of missing data, and cross-platform data integration. Next-generation sequencing technologies provide powerful and flexible genotyping methods to plant breeders and researchers. These methods offer a wide range of applications from genome-wide analysis to routine screening with a high level of accuracy and reproducibility. Furthermore, they provide a straightforward workflow to identify, validate, and screen genetic variants in a short time with a low cost. NGS-based genotyping methods include whole-genome re-sequencing, SNP arrays, and reduced representation sequencing, which are widely applied in crops. The main challenges facing breeders and geneticists today is how to choose an appropriate genotyping method and how to integrate genotyping data sets obtained from various sources. Here, we review and discuss the advantages and challenges of several NGS methods for genome-wide genetic marker development and genotyping in crop plants. We also discuss how imputation methods can be used to both fill in missing data in genotypic data sets and to integrate data sets obtained using different genotyping tools. It is our hope that this synthetic view of genotyping methods will help geneticists and breeders to integrate these NGS-based methods in crop plant breeding and research.

  6. Mapping of fertility traits in Finnish Ayrshire by genome-wide association analysis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schulmann, Nina F; Sahana, Goutam; Iso-Touru, T

    2011-01-01

    A whole-genome scan using single marker association was used to detect chromosome regions associated with seven female fertility traits in Finnish Ayrshire dairy cattle. The phenotypic data consisted of de-regressed estimated breeding values for 340 bulls which were estimated using a single trait...

  7. Genome-wide comparative analysis of phylogenetic trees: the prokaryotic forest of life.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Puigbò, Pere; Wolf, Yuri I; Koonin, Eugene V

    2012-01-01

    Genome-wide comparison of phylogenetic trees is becoming an increasingly common approach in evolutionary genomics, and a variety of approaches for such comparison have been developed. In this article, we present several methods for comparative analysis of large numbers of phylogenetic trees. To compare phylogenetic trees taking into account the bootstrap support for each internal branch, the Boot-Split Distance (BSD) method is introduced as an extension of the previously developed Split Distance method for tree comparison. The BSD method implements the straightforward idea that comparison of phylogenetic trees can be made more robust by treating tree splits differentially depending on the bootstrap support. Approaches are also introduced for detecting tree-like and net-like evolutionary trends in the phylogenetic Forest of Life (FOL), i.e., the entirety of the phylogenetic trees for conserved genes of prokaryotes. The principal method employed for this purpose includes mapping quartets of species onto trees to calculate the support of each quartet topology and so to quantify the tree and net contributions to the distances between species. We describe the application of these methods to analyze the FOL and the results obtained with these methods. These results support the concept of the Tree of Life (TOL) as a central evolutionary trend in the FOL as opposed to the traditional view of the TOL as a "species tree."

  8. Pooled genome wide association detects association upstream of FCRL3 with Graves' disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khong, Jwu Jin; Burdon, Kathryn P; Lu, Yi; Laurie, Kate; Leonardos, Lefta; Baird, Paul N; Sahebjada, Srujana; Walsh, John P; Gajdatsy, Adam; Ebeling, Peter R; Hamblin, Peter Shane; Wong, Rosemary; Forehan, Simon P; Fourlanos, Spiros; Roberts, Anthony P; Doogue, Matthew; Selva, Dinesh; Montgomery, Grant W; Macgregor, Stuart; Craig, Jamie E

    2016-11-18

    Graves' disease is an autoimmune thyroid disease of complex inheritance. Multiple genetic susceptibility loci are thought to be involved in Graves' disease and it is therefore likely that these can be identified by genome wide association studies. This study aimed to determine if a genome wide association study, using a pooling methodology, could detect genomic loci associated with Graves' disease. Nineteen of the top ranking single nucleotide polymorphisms including HLA-DQA1 and C6orf10, were clustered within the Major Histo-compatibility Complex region on chromosome 6p21, with rs1613056 reaching genome wide significance (p = 5 × 10 -8 ). Technical validation of top ranking non-Major Histo-compatablity complex single nucleotide polymorphisms with individual genotyping in the discovery cohort revealed four single nucleotide polymorphisms with p ≤ 10 -4 . Rs17676303 on chromosome 1q23.1, located upstream of FCRL3, showed evidence of association with Graves' disease across the discovery, replication and combined cohorts. A second single nucleotide polymorphism rs9644119 downstream of DPYSL2 showed some evidence of association supported by finding in the replication cohort that warrants further study. Pooled genome wide association study identified a genetic variant upstream of FCRL3 as a susceptibility locus for Graves' disease in addition to those identified in the Major Histo-compatibility Complex. A second locus downstream of DPYSL2 is potentially a novel genetic variant in Graves' disease that requires further confirmation.

  9. Genome-wide association analysis implicates dysregulation of immunity genes in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Law, Philip J; Berndt, Sonja I; Speedy, Helen E; Camp, Nicola J; Sava, Georgina P; Skibola, Christine F; Holroyd, Amy; Joseph, Vijai; Sunter, Nicola J; Nieters, Alexandra; Bea, Silvia; Monnereau, Alain; Martin-Garcia, David; Goldin, Lynn R; Clot, Guillem; Teras, Lauren R; Quintela, Inés; Birmann, Brenda M; Jayne, Sandrine; Cozen, Wendy; Majid, Aneela; Smedby, Karin E; Lan, Qing; Dearden, Claire; Brooks-Wilson, Angela R; Hall, Andrew G; Purdue, Mark P; Mainou-Fowler, Tryfonia; Vajdic, Claire M; Jackson, Graham H; Cocco, Pierluigi; Marr, Helen; Zhang, Yawei; Zheng, Tongzhang; Giles, Graham G; Lawrence, Charles; Call, Timothy G; Liebow, Mark; Melbye, Mads; Glimelius, Bengt; Mansouri, Larry; Glenn, Martha; Curtin, Karen; Diver, W Ryan; Link, Brian K; Conde, Lucia; Bracci, Paige M; Holly, Elizabeth A; Jackson, Rebecca D; Tinker, Lesley F; Benavente, Yolanda; Boffetta, Paolo; Brennan, Paul; Maynadie, Marc; McKay, James; Albanes, Demetrius; Weinstein, Stephanie; Wang, Zhaoming; Caporaso, Neil E; Morton, Lindsay M; Severson, Richard K; Riboli, Elio; Vineis, Paolo; Vermeulen, Roel C H; Southey, Melissa C; Milne, Roger L; Clavel, Jacqueline; Topka, Sabine; Spinelli, John J; Kraft, Peter; Ennas, Maria Grazia; Summerfield, Geoffrey; Ferri, Giovanni M; Harris, Robert J; Miligi, Lucia; Pettitt, Andrew R; North, Kari E; Allsup, David J; Fraumeni, Joseph F; Bailey, James R; Offit, Kenneth; Pratt, Guy; Hjalgrim, Henrik; Pepper, Chris; Chanock, Stephen J; Fegan, Chris; Rosenquist, Richard; de Sanjose, Silvia; Carracedo, Angel; Dyer, Martin J S; Catovsky, Daniel; Campo, Elias; Cerhan, James R; Allan, James M; Rothman, Nathanial; Houlston, Richard; Slager, Susan

    2017-02-06

    Several chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) susceptibility loci have been reported; however, much of the heritable risk remains unidentified. Here we perform a meta-analysis of six genome-wide association studies, imputed using a merged reference panel of 1,000 Genomes and UK10K data, totalling 6,200 cases and 17,598 controls after replication. We identify nine risk loci at 1p36.11 (rs34676223, P=5.04 × 10 -13 ), 1q42.13 (rs41271473, P=1.06 × 10 -10 ), 4q24 (rs71597109, P=1.37 × 10 -10 ), 4q35.1 (rs57214277, P=3.69 × 10 -8 ), 6p21.31 (rs3800461, P=1.97 × 10 -8 ), 11q23.2 (rs61904987, P=2.64 × 10 -11 ), 18q21.1 (rs1036935, P=3.27 × 10 -8 ), 19p13.3 (rs7254272, P=4.67 × 10 -8 ) and 22q13.33 (rs140522, P=2.70 × 10 -9 ). These new and established risk loci map to areas of active chromatin and show an over-representation of transcription factor binding for the key determinants of B-cell development and immune response.

  10. Genome-wide dissection of hybrid sterility in Drosophila confirms a polygenic threshold architecture.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morán, Tomás; Fontdevila, Antonio

    2014-01-01

    To date, different studies about the genetic basis of hybrid male sterility (HMS), a postzygotic reproductive barrier thoroughly investigated using Drosophila species, have demonstrated that no single major gene can produce hybrid sterility without the cooperation of several genetic factors. Early work using hybrids between Drosophila koepferae (Dk) and Drosophila buzzatii (Db) was consistent with the idea that HMS requires the cooperation of several genetic factors, supporting a polygenic threshold (PT) model. Here we present a genome-wide mapping strategy to test the PT model, analyzing serially backcrossed fertile and sterile males in which the Dk genome was introgressed into the Db background. We identified 32 Dk-specific markers significantly associated with hybrid sterility. Our results demonstrate 1) a strong correlation between the number of segregated sterility markers and males' degree of sterility, 2) the exchangeability among markers, 3) their tendency to cluster into low-recombining chromosomal regions, and 4) the requirement for a minimum number (threshold) of markers to elicit sterility. Although our findings do not contradict a role for occasional major hybrid-sterility genes, they conform more to the view that HMS primarily evolves by the cumulative action of many interacting genes of minor effect in a complex PT architecture.

  11. Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for personality

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    M.H.M. de Moor; P.T. Costa Jr; A. Terracciano; R.F. Krueger; E.J.C. de Geus (Eco); T. Toshiko; B.W.J.H. Penninx (Brenda); T. Esko; P.A.F. Madden (Pamela); J. Derringer; N. Amin (Najaf); G.A.H.M. Willemsen (Gonneke); J.J. Hottenga (Jouke Jan); M.A. Distel (Marijn); M. Uda (Manuela); S. Sanna (Serena); P. Spinhoven; C.A. Hartman; P.F. Sullivan (Patrick); A. Realo; J. Allik; A.C. Heath; M.L. Pergadia; P. Lin; R. Grucza; T. Nutile; M. Ciullo; D. Rujescu (Dan); I. Giegling (Ina); B. Konte; E. Widen (Elisabeth); D.L. Cousminer (Diana); J.G. Eriksson; A. Palotie; L. Peltonen; M. Luciano (Michelle); A. Tenesa (Albert); G. Davies; L.M. Lopez; N.K. Hansell (Narelle); S.E. Medland (Sarah Elizabeth); L. Ferrucci; D. Schlessinger; G.W. Montgomery; M.J. Wright (Margaret); Y.S. Aulchenko (Yurii); A.C.J.W. Janssens (Cécile); B.A. Oostra (Ben); A. Metspalu (Andres); I.J. Deary; K. Räikkönen (Katri); L.J. Bierut (Laura); N.G. Martin; C.M. van Duijn (Cornelia); D.I. Boomsma (Dorret); G.R. Abecasis (Gonçalo); A. Agrawal (Arpana)

    2012-01-01

    textabstractPersonality can be thought of as a set of characteristics that influence people's thoughts, feelings and behavior across a variety of settings. Variation in personality is predictive of many outcomes in life, including mental health. Here we report on a meta-analysis of genome-wide

  12. The European sea bass Dicentrarchus labrax genome puzzle: comparative BAC-mapping and low coverage shotgun sequencing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Volckaert Filip AM

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Food supply from the ocean is constrained by the shortage of domesticated and selected fish. Development of genomic models of economically important fishes should assist with the removal of this bottleneck. European sea bass Dicentrarchus labrax L. (Moronidae, Perciformes, Teleostei is one of the most important fishes in European marine aquaculture; growing genomic resources put it on its way to serve as an economic model. Results End sequencing of a sea bass genomic BAC-library enabled the comparative mapping of the sea bass genome using the three-spined stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus genome as a reference. BAC-end sequences (102,690 were aligned to the stickleback genome. The number of mappable BACs was improved using a two-fold coverage WGS dataset of sea bass resulting in a comparative BAC-map covering 87% of stickleback chromosomes with 588 BAC-contigs. The minimum size of 83 contigs covering 50% of the reference was 1.2 Mbp; the largest BAC-contig comprised 8.86 Mbp. More than 22,000 BAC-clones aligned with both ends to the reference genome. Intra-chromosomal rearrangements between sea bass and stickleback were identified. Size distributions of mapped BACs were used to calculate that the genome of sea bass may be only 1.3 fold larger than the 460 Mbp stickleback genome. Conclusions The BAC map is used for sequencing single BACs or BAC-pools covering defined genomic entities by second generation sequencing technologies. Together with the WGS dataset it initiates a sea bass genome sequencing project. This will allow the quantification of polymorphisms through resequencing, which is important for selecting highly performing domesticated fish.

  13. QTL mapping in white spruce: gene maps and genomic regions underlying adaptive traits across pedigrees, years and environments

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-01

    Background The genomic architecture of bud phenology and height growth remains poorly known in most forest trees. In non model species, QTL studies have shown limited application because most often QTL data could not be validated from one experiment to another. The aim of our study was to overcome this limitation by basing QTL detection on the construction of genetic maps highly-enriched in gene markers, and by assessing QTLs across pedigrees, years, and environments. Results Four saturated individual linkage maps representing two unrelated mapping populations of 260 and 500 clonally replicated progeny were assembled from 471 to 570 markers, including from 283 to 451 gene SNPs obtained using a multiplexed genotyping assay. Thence, a composite linkage map was assembled with 836 gene markers. For individual linkage maps, a total of 33 distinct quantitative trait loci (QTLs) were observed for bud flush, 52 for bud set, and 52 for height growth. For the composite map, the corresponding numbers of QTL clusters were 11, 13, and 10. About 20% of QTLs were replicated between the two mapping populations and nearly 50% revealed spatial and/or temporal stability. Three to four occurrences of overlapping QTLs between characters were noted, indicating regions with potential pleiotropic effects. Moreover, some of the genes involved in the QTLs were also underlined by recent genome scans or expression profile studies. Overall, the proportion of phenotypic variance explained by each QTL ranged from 3.0 to 16.4% for bud flush, from 2.7 to 22.2% for bud set, and from 2.5 to 10.5% for height growth. Up to 70% of the total character variance could be accounted for by QTLs for bud flush or bud set, and up to 59% for height growth. Conclusions This study provides a basic understanding of the genomic architecture related to bud flush, bud set, and height growth in a conifer species, and a useful indicator to compare with Angiosperms. It will serve as a basic reference to functional and

  14. A genome-wide investigation of SNPs and CNVs in schizophrenia.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anna C Need

    2009-02-01

    Full Text Available We report a genome-wide assessment of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs and copy number variants (CNVs in schizophrenia. We investigated SNPs using 871 patients and 863 controls, following up the top hits in four independent cohorts comprising 1,460 patients and 12,995 controls, all of European origin. We found no genome-wide significant associations, nor could we provide support for any previously reported candidate gene or genome-wide associations. We went on to examine CNVs using a subset of 1,013 cases and 1,084 controls of European ancestry, and a further set of 60 cases and 64 controls of African ancestry. We found that eight cases and zero controls carried deletions greater than 2 Mb, of which two, at 8p22 and 16p13.11-p12.4, are newly reported here. A further evaluation of 1,378 controls identified no deletions greater than 2 Mb, suggesting a high prior probability of disease involvement when such deletions are observed in cases. We also provide further evidence for some smaller, previously reported, schizophrenia-associated CNVs, such as those in NRXN1 and APBA2. We could not provide strong support for the hypothesis that schizophrenia patients have a significantly greater "load" of large (>100 kb, rare CNVs, nor could we find common CNVs that associate with schizophrenia. Finally, we did not provide support for the suggestion that schizophrenia-associated CNVs may preferentially disrupt genes in neurodevelopmental pathways. Collectively, these analyses provide the first integrated study of SNPs and CNVs in schizophrenia and support the emerging view that rare deleterious variants may be more important in schizophrenia predisposition than common polymorphisms. While our analyses do not suggest that implicated CNVs impinge on particular key pathways, we do support the contribution of specific genomic regions in schizophrenia, presumably due to recurrent mutation. On balance, these data suggest that very few schizophrenia patients

  15. A map of recent positive selection in the human genome.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Benjamin F Voight

    2006-03-01

    Full Text Available The identification of signals of very recent positive selection provides information about the adaptation of modern humans to local conditions. We report here on a genome-wide scan for signals of very recent positive selection in favor of variants that have not yet reached fixation. We describe a new analytical method for scanning single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP data for signals of recent selection, and apply this to data from the International HapMap Project. In all three continental groups we find widespread signals of recent positive selection. Most signals are region-specific, though a significant excess are shared across groups. Contrary to some earlier low resolution studies that suggested a paucity of recent selection in sub-Saharan Africans, we find that by some measures our strongest signals of selection are from the Yoruba population. Finally, since these signals indicate the existence of genetic variants that have substantially different fitnesses, they must indicate loci that are the source of significant phenotypic variation. Though the relevant phenotypes are generally not known, such loci should be of particular interest in mapping studies of complex traits. For this purpose we have developed a set of SNPs that can be used to tag the strongest approximately 250 signals of recent selection in each population.

  16. Mapping and annotating obesity-related genes in pig and human genomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martelli, Pier Luigi; Fontanesi, Luca; Piovesan, Damiano; Fariselli, Piero; Casadio, Rita

    2014-01-01

    Background. Obesity is a major health problem in both developed and emerging countries. Obesity is a complex disease whose etiology involves genetic factors in strong interplay with environmental determinants and lifestyle. The discovery of genetic factors and biological pathways underlying human obesity is hampered by the difficulty in controlling the genetic background of human cohorts. Animal models are then necessary to further dissect the genetics of obesity. Pig has emerged as one of the most attractive models, because of the similarity with humans in the mechanisms regulating the fat deposition. Results. We collected the genes related to obesity in humans and to fat deposition traits in pig. We localized them on both human and pig genomes, building a map useful to interpret comparative studies on obesity. We characterized the collected genes structurally and functionally with BAR+ and mapped them on KEGG pathways and on STRING protein interaction network. Conclusions. The collected set consists of 361 obesity related genes in human and pig genomes. All genes were mapped on the human genome, and 54 could not be localized on the pig genome (release 2012). Only for 3 human genes there is no counterpart in pig, confirming that this animal is a good model for human obesity studies. Obesity related genes are mostly involved in regulation and signaling processes/pathways and relevant connection emerges between obesity-related genes and diseases such as cancer and infectious diseases.

  17. Microbial genome-wide association studies: lessons from human GWAS.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Power, Robert A; Parkhill, Julian; de Oliveira, Tulio

    2017-01-01

    The reduced costs of sequencing have led to whole-genome sequences for a large number of microorganisms, enabling the application of microbial genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Given the successes of human GWAS in understanding disease aetiology and identifying potential drug targets, microbial GWAS are likely to further advance our understanding of infectious diseases. These advances include insights into pressing global health problems, such as antibiotic resistance and disease transmission. In this Review, we outline the methodologies of GWAS, the current state of the field of microbial GWAS, and how lessons from human GWAS can direct the future of the field.

  18. Genome-wide association study identifies novel breast cancer susceptibility loci

    Science.gov (United States)

    Easton, Douglas F.; Pooley, Karen A.; Dunning, Alison M.; Pharoah, Paul D. P.; Thompson, Deborah; Ballinger, Dennis G.; Struewing, Jeffery P.; Morrison, Jonathan; Field, Helen; Luben, Robert; Wareham, Nicholas; Ahmed, Shahana; Healey, Catherine S.; Bowman, Richard; Meyer, Kerstin B.; Haiman, Christopher A.; Kolonel, Laurence K.; Henderson, Brian E.; Marchand, Loic Le; Brennan, Paul; Sangrajrang, Suleeporn; Gaborieau, Valerie; Odefrey, Fabrice; Shen, Chen-Yang; Wu, Pei-Ei; Wang, Hui-Chun; Eccles, Diana; Evans, D. Gareth; Peto, Julian; Fletcher, Olivia; Johnson, Nichola; Seal, Sheila; Stratton, Michael R.; Rahman, Nazneen; Chenevix-Trench, Georgia; Bojesen, Stig E.; Nordestgaard, Børge G.; Axelsson, Christen K.; Garcia-Closas, Montserrat; Brinton, Louise; Chanock, Stephen; Lissowska, Jolanta; Peplonska, Beata; Nevanlinna, Heli; Fagerholm, Rainer; Eerola, Hannaleena; Kang, Daehee; Yoo, Keun-Young; Noh, Dong-Young; Ahn, Sei-Hyun; Hunter, David J.; Hankinson, Susan E.; Cox, David G.; Hall, Per; Wedren, Sara; Liu, Jianjun; Low, Yen-Ling; Bogdanova, Natalia; Schürmann, Peter; Dörk, Thilo; Tollenaar, Rob A. E. M.; Jacobi, Catharina E.; Devilee, Peter; Klijn, Jan G. M.; Sigurdson, Alice J.; Doody, Michele M.; Alexander, Bruce H.; Zhang, Jinghui; Cox, Angela; Brock, Ian W.; MacPherson, Gordon; Reed, Malcolm W. R.; Couch, Fergus J.; Goode, Ellen L.; Olson, Janet E.; Meijers-Heijboer, Hanne; van den Ouweland, Ans; Uitterlinden, André; Rivadeneira, Fernando; Milne, Roger L.; Ribas, Gloria; Gonzalez-Neira, Anna; Benitez, Javier; Hopper, John L.; McCredie, Margaret; Southey, Melissa; Giles, Graham G.; Schroen, Chris; Justenhoven, Christina; Brauch, Hiltrud; Hamann, Ute; Ko, Yon-Dschun; Spurdle, Amanda B.; Beesley, Jonathan; Chen, Xiaoqing; Mannermaa, Arto; Kosma, Veli-Matti; Kataja, Vesa; Hartikainen, Jaana; Day, Nicholas E.; Cox, David R.; Ponder, Bruce A. J.; Luccarini, Craig; Conroy, Don; Shah, Mitul; Munday, Hannah; Jordan, Clare; Perkins, Barbara; West, Judy; Redman, Karen; Driver, Kristy; Aghmesheh, Morteza; Amor, David; Andrews, Lesley; Antill, Yoland; Armes, Jane; Armitage, Shane; Arnold, Leanne; Balleine, Rosemary; Begley, Glenn; Beilby, John; Bennett, Ian; Bennett, Barbara; Berry, Geoffrey; Blackburn, Anneke; Brennan, Meagan; Brown, Melissa; Buckley, Michael; Burke, Jo; Butow, Phyllis; Byron, Keith; Callen, David; Campbell, Ian; Chenevix-Trench, Georgia; Clarke, Christine; Colley, Alison; Cotton, Dick; Cui, Jisheng; Culling, Bronwyn; Cummings, Margaret; Dawson, Sarah-Jane; Dixon, Joanne; Dobrovic, Alexander; Dudding, Tracy; Edkins, Ted; Eisenbruch, Maurice; Farshid, Gelareh; Fawcett, Susan; Field, Michael; Firgaira, Frank; Fleming, Jean; Forbes, John; Friedlander, Michael; Gaff, Clara; Gardner, Mac; Gattas, Mike; George, Peter; Giles, Graham; Gill, Grantley; Goldblatt, Jack; Greening, Sian; Grist, Scott; Haan, Eric; Harris, Marion; Hart, Stewart; Hayward, Nick; Hopper, John; Humphrey, Evelyn; Jenkins, Mark; Jones, Alison; Kefford, Rick; Kirk, Judy; Kollias, James; Kovalenko, Sergey; Lakhani, Sunil; Leary, Jennifer; Lim, Jacqueline; Lindeman, Geoff; Lipton, Lara; Lobb, Liz; Maclurcan, Mariette; Mann, Graham; Marsh, Deborah; McCredie, Margaret; McKay, Michael; McLachlan, Sue Anne; Meiser, Bettina; Milne, Roger; Mitchell, Gillian; Newman, Beth; O'Loughlin, Imelda; Osborne, Richard; Peters, Lester; Phillips, Kelly; Price, Melanie; Reeve, Jeanne; Reeve, Tony; Richards, Robert; Rinehart, Gina; Robinson, Bridget; Rudzki, Barney; Salisbury, Elizabeth; Sambrook, Joe; Saunders, Christobel; Scott, Clare; Scott, Elizabeth; Scott, Rodney; Seshadri, Ram; Shelling, Andrew; Southey, Melissa; Spurdle, Amanda; Suthers, Graeme; Taylor, Donna; Tennant, Christopher; Thorne, Heather; Townshend, Sharron; Tucker, Kathy; Tyler, Janet; Venter, Deon; Visvader, Jane; Walpole, Ian; Ward, Robin; Waring, Paul; Warner, Bev; Warren, Graham; Watson, Elizabeth; Williams, Rachael; Wilson, Judy; Winship, Ingrid; Young, Mary Ann; Bowtell, David; Green, Adele; deFazio, Anna; Chenevix-Trench, Georgia; Gertig, Dorota; Webb, Penny

    2009-01-01

    Breast cancer exhibits familial aggregation, consistent with variation in genetic susceptibility to the disease. Known susceptibility genes account for less than 25% of the familial risk of breast cancer, and the residual genetic variance is likely to be due to variants conferring more moderate risks. To identify further susceptibility alleles, we conducted a two-stage genome-wide association study in 4,398 breast cancer cases and 4,316 controls, followed by a third stage in which 30 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were tested for confirmation in 21,860 cases and 22,578 controls from 22 studies. We used 227,876 SNPs that were estimated to correlate with 77% of known common SNPs in Europeans at r2>0.5. SNPs in five novel independent loci exhibited strong and consistent evidence of association with breast cancer (P<10−7). Four of these contain plausible causative genes (FGFR2, TNRC9, MAP3K1 and LSP1). At the second stage, 1,792 SNPs were significant at the P<0.05 level compared with an estimated 1,343 that would be expected by chance, indicating that many additional common susceptibility alleles may be identifiable by this approach. PMID:17529967

  19. Fine definition of the pedigree haplotypes of closely related rice cultivars by means of genome-wide discovery of single-nucleotide polymorphisms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamamoto, Toshio; Nagasaki, Hideki; Yonemaru, Jun-ichi; Ebana, Kaworu; Nakajima, Maiko; Shibaya, Taeko; Yano, Masahiro

    2010-04-27

    To create useful gene combinations in crop breeding, it is necessary to clarify the dynamics of the genome composition created by breeding practices. A large quantity of single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data is required to permit discrimination of chromosome segments among modern cultivars, which are genetically related. Here, we used a high-throughput sequencer to conduct whole-genome sequencing of an elite Japanese rice cultivar, Koshihikari, which is closely related to Nipponbare, whose genome sequencing has been completed. Then we designed a high-throughput typing array based on the SNP information by comparison of the two sequences. Finally, we applied this array to analyze historical representative rice cultivars to understand the dynamics of their genome composition. The total 5.89-Gb sequence for Koshihikari, equivalent to 15.7 x the entire rice genome, was mapped using the Pseudomolecules 4.0 database for Nipponbare. The resultant Koshihikari genome sequence corresponded to 80.1% of the Nipponbare sequence and led to the identification of 67,051 SNPs. A high-throughput typing array consisting of 1917 SNP sites distributed throughout the genome was designed to genotype 151 representative Japanese cultivars that have been grown during the past 150 years. We could identify the ancestral origin of the pedigree haplotypes in 60.9% of the Koshihikari genome and 18 consensus haplotype blocks which are inherited from traditional landraces to current improved varieties. Moreover, it was predicted that modern breeding practices have generally decreased genetic diversity Detection of genome-wide SNPs by both high-throughput sequencer and typing array made it possible to evaluate genomic composition of genetically related rice varieties. With the aid of their pedigree information, we clarified the dynamics of chromosome recombination during the historical rice breeding process. We also found several genomic regions decreasing genetic diversity which might be

  20. Assembly of the Genome of the Disease Vector Aedes aegypti onto a Genetic Linkage Map Allows Mapping of Genes Affecting Disease Transmission

    KAUST Repository

    Juneja, Punita

    2014-01-30

    The mosquito Aedes aegypti transmits some of the most important human arboviruses, including dengue, yellow fever and chikungunya viruses. It has a large genome containing many repetitive sequences, which has resulted in the genome being poorly assembled - there are 4,758 scaffolds, few of which have been assigned to a chromosome. To allow the mapping of genes affecting disease transmission, we have improved the genome assembly by scoring a large number of SNPs in recombinant progeny from a cross between two strains of Ae. aegypti, and used these to generate a genetic map. This revealed a high rate of misassemblies in the current genome, where, for example, sequences from different chromosomes were found on the same scaffold. Once these were corrected, we were able to assign 60% of the genome sequence to chromosomes and approximately order the scaffolds along the chromosome. We found that there are very large regions of suppressed recombination around the centromeres, which can extend to as much as 47% of the chromosome. To illustrate the utility of this new genome assembly, we mapped a gene that makes Ae. aegypti resistant to the human parasite Brugia malayi, and generated a list of candidate genes that could be affecting the trait. © 2014 Juneja et al.

  1. A genome-wide association study of cognitive function in Chinese adult twins

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Xu, Chunsheng; Zhang, Dongfeng; Wu, Yili

    2017-01-01

    Multiple loci or genes have been identified using genome-wide association studies mainly in western countries but with inconsistent results. No similar studies have been conducted in the world's largest and rapidly aging Chinese population. The paper aimed to identify the specific genetic variants....... Gene-based analysis was performed on VEGAS2. The statistically significant genes were then subject to gene set enrichment analysis to further identify the specific biological pathways associated with cognitive function. No SNPs reached genome-wide significance although there were 13 SNPs of suggestive...

  2. An Expanded Genome-Wide Association Study of Type 2 Diabetes in Europeans

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Scott, Robert A; Scott, Laura J; Mägi, Reedik; Marullo, Letizia; Gaulton, Kyle J; Kaakinen, Marika; Pervjakova, Natalia; Pers, Tune H; Johnson, Andrew D; Eicher, John D; Jackson, Anne U; Ferreira, Teresa; Lee, Yeji; Ma, Clement; Steinthorsdottir, Valgerdur; Thorleifsson, Gudmar; Qi, Lu; Van Zuydam, Natalie R; Mahajan, Anubha; Chen, Han; Almgren, Peter; Voight, Ben F; Grallert, Harald; Müller-Nurasyid, Martina; Ried, Janina S; Rayner, William N; Robertson, Neil; Karssen, Lennart C; van Leeuwen, Elisabeth M; Willems, Sara M; Fuchsberger, Christian; Kwan, Phoenix; Teslovich, Tanya M; Chanda, Pritam; Li, Man; Lu, Yingchang; Dina, Christian; Thuillier, Dorothee; Yengo, Loic; Jiang, Longda; Sparso, Thomas; Kestler, Hans A; Chheda, Himanshu; Eisele, Lewin; Gustafsson, Stefan; Frånberg, Mattias; Strawbridge, Rona J; Benediktsson, Rafn; Hreidarsson, Astradur B; Kong, Augustine; Sigurðsson, Gunnar; Kerrison, Nicola D; Luan, Jian'an; Liang, Liming; Meitinger, Thomas; Roden, Michael; Thorand, Barbara; Esko, Tõnu; Mihailov, Evelin; Fox, Caroline; Liu, Ching-Ti; Rybin, Denis; Isomaa, Bo; Lyssenko, Valeriya; Tuomi, Tiinamaija; Couper, David J; Pankow, James S; Grarup, Niels; Have, Christian T; Jørgensen, Marit E; Jørgensen, Torben; Linneberg, Allan; Cornelis, Marilyn C; van Dam, Rob M; Hunter, David J; Kraft, Peter; Sun, Qi; Edkins, Sarah; Owen, Katharine R; Perry, John Rb; Wood, Andrew R; Zeggini, Eleftheria; Tajes-Fernandes, Juan; Abecasis, Goncalo R; Bonnycastle, Lori L; Chines, Peter S; Stringham, Heather M; Koistinen, Heikki A; Kinnunen, Leena; Sennblad, Bengt; Mühleisen, Thomas W; Nöthen, Markus M; Pechlivanis, Sonali; Baldassarre, Damiano; Gertow, Karl; Humphries, Steve E; Tremoli, Elena; Klopp, Norman; Meyer, Julia; Steinbach, Gerald; Wennauer, Roman; Eriksson, Johan G; Mӓnnistö, Satu; Peltonen, Leena; Tikkanen, Emmi; Charpentier, Guillaume; Eury, Elodie; Lobbens, Stéphane; Gigante, Bruna; Leander, Karin; McLeod, Olga; Bottinger, Erwin P; Gottesman, Omri; Ruderfer, Douglas; Blüher, Matthias; Kovacs, Peter; Tonjes, Anke; Maruthur, Nisa M; Scapoli, Chiara; Erbel, Raimund; Jöckel, Karl-Heinz; Moebus, Susanne; de Faire, Ulf; Hamsten, Anders; Stumvoll, Michael; Deloukas, Panagiotis; Donnelly, Peter J; Frayling, Timothy M; Hattersley, Andrew T; Ripatti, Samuli; Salomaa, Veikko; Pedersen, Nancy L; Boehm, Bernhard O; Bergman, Richard N; Collins, Francis S; Mohlke, Karen L; Tuomilehto, Jaakko; Hansen, Torben; Pedersen, Oluf; Barroso, Inês; Lannfelt, Lars; Ingelsson, Erik; Lind, Lars; Lindgren, Cecilia M; Cauchi, Stephane; Froguel, Philippe; Loos, Ruth Jf; Balkau, Beverley; Boeing, Heiner; Franks, Paul W; Gurrea, Aurelio Barricarte; Palli, Domenico; van der Schouw, Yvonne T; Altshuler, David; Groop, Leif C; Langenberg, Claudia; Wareham, Nicholas J; Sijbrands, Eric; van Duijn, Cornelia M; Florez, Jose C; Meigs, James B; Boerwinkle, Eric; Gieger, Christian; Strauch, Konstantin; Metspalu, Andres; Morris, Andrew D; Palmer, Colin Na; Hu, Frank B; Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur; Stefansson, Kari; Dupuis, Josée; Morris, Andrew P; Boehnke, Michael; McCarthy, Mark I; Prokopenko, Inga

    2017-01-01

    To characterise type 2 diabetes (T2D) associated variation across the allele frequency spectrum, we conducted a meta-analysis of genome-wide association data from 26,676 T2D cases and 132,532 controls of European ancestry after imputation using the 1000 Genomes multi-ethnic reference panel.

  3. Genome-Wide Association Study Reveals Genetic Architecture of Eating Behaviors in Pigs and its Implications for Humans Obesity by Comparative Genome Mapping

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Do, Duy Ngoc; Strathe, Anders Bjerring; Ostersen, Tage

    2013-01-01

    per visit (TPV), mean feed intake per visit(FPV) and mean feed intake rate (FR) were available on 1130 boars. All boars weregenotyped using the Illumina Porcine SNP60 BeadChip. The association analyseswere performed using the GenABEL package in R. Sixteen SNPs had moderategenome-wide significant (p...... association with feeding behavior traits. Locus M1GA0016584 located close to theMSI2 gene on chromosome (SSC) 14 was very strongly associated with NVD (p =9.6E-07). Thirty six SNPs were located in genome regions where QTLs havepreviously been reported......, dephosphorylation and positive regulation of peptide secretiongenes were found highly significantly associated with feeding behavior traits byfunctional annotation. This is the first GWAS to identify genetic variants and biologicalmechanisms for feeding behavior in pigs and these results are important...

  4. A review of genome-wide approaches to study the genetic basis for spermatogenic defects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aston, Kenneth I; Conrad, Donald F

    2013-01-01

    Rapidly advancing tools for genetic analysis on a genome-wide scale have been instrumental in identifying the genetic bases for many complex diseases. About half of male infertility cases are of unknown etiology in spite of tremendous efforts to characterize the genetic basis for the disorder. Advancing our understanding of the genetic basis for male infertility will require the application of established and emerging genomic tools. This chapter introduces many of the tools available for genetic studies on a genome-wide scale along with principles of study design and data analysis.

  5. Genome-Wide Divergence in the West-African Malaria Vector Anopheles melas

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kevin C. Deitz

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Anopheles melas is a member of the recently diverged An. gambiae species complex, a model for speciation studies, and is a locally important malaria vector along the West-African coast where it breeds in brackish water. A recent population genetic study of An. melas revealed species-level genetic differentiation between three population clusters. An. melas West extends from The Gambia to the village of Tiko, Cameroon. The other mainland cluster, An. melas South, extends from the southern Cameroonian village of Ipono to Angola. Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea An. melas populations are genetically isolated from mainland populations. To examine how genetic differentiation between these An. melas forms is distributed across their genomes, we conducted a genome-wide analysis of genetic differentiation and selection using whole genome sequencing data of pooled individuals (Pool-seq from a representative population of each cluster. The An. melas forms exhibit high levels of genetic differentiation throughout their genomes, including the presence of numerous fixed differences between clusters. Although the level of divergence between the clusters is on a par with that of other species within the An. gambiae complex, patterns of genome-wide divergence and diversity do not provide evidence for the presence of pre- and/or postmating isolating mechanisms in the form of speciation islands. These results are consistent with an allopatric divergence process with little or no introgression.

  6. Identification, characterization, and utilization of genome-wide simple sequence repeats to identify a QTL for acidity in apple

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-01

    Background Apple is an economically important fruit crop worldwide. Developing a genetic linkage map is a critical step towards mapping and cloning of genes responsible for important horticultural traits in apple. To facilitate linkage map construction, we surveyed and characterized the distribution and frequency of perfect microsatellites in assembled contig sequences of the apple genome. Results A total of 28,538 SSRs have been identified in the apple genome, with an overall density of 40.8 SSRs per Mb. Di-nucleotide repeats are the most frequent microsatellites in the apple genome, accounting for 71.9% of all microsatellites. AT/TA repeats are the most frequent in genomic regions, accounting for 38.3% of all the G-SSRs, while AG/GA dimers prevail in transcribed sequences, and account for 59.4% of all EST-SSRs. A total set of 310 SSRs is selected to amplify eight apple genotypes. Of these, 245 (79.0%) are found to be polymorphic among cultivars and wild species tested. AG/GA motifs in genomic regions have detected more alleles and higher PIC values than AT/TA or AC/CA motifs. Moreover, AG/GA repeats are more variable than any other dimers in apple, and should be preferentially selected for studies, such as genetic diversity and linkage map construction. A total of 54 newly developed apple SSRs have been genetically mapped. Interestingly, clustering of markers with distorted segregation is observed on linkage groups 1, 2, 10, 15, and 16. A QTL responsible for malic acid content of apple fruits is detected on linkage group 8, and accounts for ~13.5% of the observed phenotypic variation. Conclusions This study demonstrates that di-nucleotide repeats are prevalent in the apple genome and that AT/TA and AG/GA repeats are the most frequent in genomic and transcribed sequences of apple, respectively. All SSR motifs identified in this study as well as those newly mapped SSRs will serve as valuable resources for pursuing apple genetic studies, aiding the apple breeding

  7. High resolution linkage maps of the model organism Petunia reveal substantial synteny decay with the related genome of tomato.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bossolini, Eligio; Klahre, Ulrich; Brandenburg, Anna; Reinhardt, Didier; Kuhlemeier, Cris

    2011-04-01

    Two linkage maps were constructed for the model plant Petunia. Mapping populations were obtained by crossing the wild species Petunia axillaris subsp. axillaris with Petunia inflata, and Petunia axillaris subsp. parodii with Petunia exserta. Both maps cover the seven chromosomes of Petunia, and span 970 centimorgans (cM) and 700 cM of the genomes, respectively. In total, 207 markers were mapped. Of these, 28 are multilocus amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers and 179 are gene-derived markers. For the first time we report on the development and mapping of 83 Petunia microsatellites. The two maps retain the same marker order, but display significant differences of recombination frequencies at orthologous mapping intervals. A complex pattern of genomic rearrangements was detected with the related genome of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), indicating that synteny between Petunia and other Solanaceae crops has been considerably disrupted. The newly developed markers will facilitate the genetic characterization of mutants and ecological studies on genetic diversity and speciation within the genus Petunia. The maps will provide a powerful tool to link genetic and genomic information and will be useful to support sequence assembly of the Petunia genome.

  8. Genome to Phenome Mapping in Apple Using Historical Data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zoë Migicovsky

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Apple ( X Borkh. is one of the world’s most valuable fruit crops. Its large size and long juvenile phase make it a particularly promising candidate for marker-assisted selection (MAS. However, advances in MAS in apple have been limited by a lack of phenotype and genotype data from sufficiently large samples. To establish genotype-phenotype relationships and advance MAS in apple, we extracted over 24,000 phenotype scores from the USDA-Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN database and linked them with over 8000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs from 689 apple accessions from the USDA apple germplasm collection clonally preserved in Geneva, NY. We find significant genetic differentiation between Old World and New World cultivars and demonstrate that the genetic structure of the domesticated apple also reflects the time required for ripening. A genome-wide association study (GWAS of 36 phenotypes confirms the association between fruit color and the MYB1 locus, and we also report a novel association between the transcription factor, NAC18.1, and harvest date and fruit firmness. We demonstrate that harvest time and fruit size can be predicted with relatively high accuracies ( > 0.46 using genomic prediction. Rapid decay of linkage disequilibrium (LD in apples means millions of SNPs may be required for well-powered GWAS. However, rapid LD decay also promises to enable extremely high resolution mapping of causal variants, which holds great potential for advancing MAS.

  9. Genome-wide investigation reveals high evolutionary rates in annual model plants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yue, Jia-Xing; Li, Jinpeng; Wang, Dan; Araki, Hitoshi; Tian, Dacheng; Yang, Sihai

    2010-11-09

    Rates of molecular evolution vary widely among species. While significant deviations from molecular clock have been found in many taxa, effects of life histories on molecular evolution are not fully understood. In plants, annual/perennial life history traits have long been suspected to influence the evolutionary rates at the molecular level. To date, however, the number of genes investigated on this subject is limited and the conclusions are mixed. To evaluate the possible heterogeneity in evolutionary rates between annual and perennial plants at the genomic level, we investigated 85 nuclear housekeeping genes, 10 non-housekeeping families, and 34 chloroplast genes using the genomic data from model plants including Arabidopsis thaliana and Medicago truncatula for annuals and grape (Vitis vinifera) and popular (Populus trichocarpa) for perennials. According to the cross-comparisons among the four species, 74-82% of the nuclear genes and 71-97% of the chloroplast genes suggested higher rates of molecular evolution in the two annuals than those in the two perennials. The significant heterogeneity in evolutionary rate between annuals and perennials was consistently found both in nonsynonymous sites and synonymous sites. While a linear correlation of evolutionary rates in orthologous genes between species was observed in nonsynonymous sites, the correlation was weak or invisible in synonymous sites. This tendency was clearer in nuclear genes than in chloroplast genes, in which the overall evolutionary rate was small. The slope of the regression line was consistently lower than unity, further confirming the higher evolutionary rate in annuals at the genomic level. The higher evolutionary rate in annuals than in perennials appears to be a universal phenomenon both in nuclear and chloroplast genomes in the four dicot model plants we investigated. Therefore, such heterogeneity in evolutionary rate should result from factors that have genome-wide influence, most likely those

  10. Genome-wide association study of antisocial personality disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rautiainen, M-R; Paunio, T; Repo-Tiihonen, E; Virkkunen, M; Ollila, H M; Sulkava, S; Jolanki, O; Palotie, A; Tiihonen, J

    2016-09-06

    The pathophysiology of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) remains unclear. Although the most consistent biological finding is reduced grey matter volume in the frontal cortex, about 50% of the total liability to developing ASPD has been attributed to genetic factors. The contributing genes remain largely unknown. Therefore, we sought to study the genetic background of ASPD. We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) and a replication analysis of Finnish criminal offenders fulfilling DSM-IV criteria for ASPD (N=370, N=5850 for controls, GWAS; N=173, N=3766 for controls and replication sample). The GWAS resulted in suggestive associations of two clusters of single-nucleotide polymorphisms at 6p21.2 and at 6p21.32 at the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) region. Imputation of HLA alleles revealed an independent association with DRB1*01:01 (odds ratio (OR)=2.19 (1.53-3.14), P=1.9 × 10(-5)). Two polymorphisms at 6p21.2 LINC00951-LRFN2 gene region were replicated in a separate data set, and rs4714329 reached genome-wide significance (OR=1.59 (1.37-1.85), P=1.6 × 10(-9)) in the meta-analysis. The risk allele also associated with antisocial features in the general population conditioned for severe problems in childhood family (β=0.68, P=0.012). Functional analysis in brain tissue in open access GTEx and Braineac databases revealed eQTL associations of rs4714329 with LINC00951 and LRFN2 in cerebellum. In humans, LINC00951 and LRFN2 are both expressed in the brain, especially in the frontal cortex, which is intriguing considering the role of the frontal cortex in behavior and the neuroanatomical findings of reduced gray matter volume in ASPD. To our knowledge, this is the first study showing genome-wide significant and replicable findings on genetic variants associated with any personality disorder.

  11. Genome-wide association study of antisocial personality disorder

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rautiainen, M-R; Paunio, T; Repo-Tiihonen, E; Virkkunen, M; Ollila, H M; Sulkava, S; Jolanki, O; Palotie, A; Tiihonen, J

    2016-01-01

    The pathophysiology of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) remains unclear. Although the most consistent biological finding is reduced grey matter volume in the frontal cortex, about 50% of the total liability to developing ASPD has been attributed to genetic factors. The contributing genes remain largely unknown. Therefore, we sought to study the genetic background of ASPD. We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) and a replication analysis of Finnish criminal offenders fulfilling DSM-IV criteria for ASPD (N=370, N=5850 for controls, GWAS; N=173, N=3766 for controls and replication sample). The GWAS resulted in suggestive associations of two clusters of single-nucleotide polymorphisms at 6p21.2 and at 6p21.32 at the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) region. Imputation of HLA alleles revealed an independent association with DRB1*01:01 (odds ratio (OR)=2.19 (1.53–3.14), P=1.9 × 10-5). Two polymorphisms at 6p21.2 LINC00951–LRFN2 gene region were replicated in a separate data set, and rs4714329 reached genome-wide significance (OR=1.59 (1.37–1.85), P=1.6 × 10−9) in the meta-analysis. The risk allele also associated with antisocial features in the general population conditioned for severe problems in childhood family (β=0.68, P=0.012). Functional analysis in brain tissue in open access GTEx and Braineac databases revealed eQTL associations of rs4714329 with LINC00951 and LRFN2 in cerebellum. In humans, LINC00951 and LRFN2 are both expressed in the brain, especially in the frontal cortex, which is intriguing considering the role of the frontal cortex in behavior and the neuroanatomical findings of reduced gray matter volume in ASPD. To our knowledge, this is the first study showing genome-wide significant and replicable findings on genetic variants associated with any personality disorder. PMID:27598967

  12. Genome-wide association study identifies five new schizophrenia loci

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ripke, S.; Sanders, A. R.; Kendler, K. S.; Levinson, D. F.; Sklar, P.; Holmans, P. A.; Lin, D. Y.; Duan, J.; Ophoff, R. A.; Andreassen, O. A.; Scolnick, E.; Cichon, S.; St Clair, D.; Corvin, A.; Gurling, H.; Werge, T.; Rujescu, D.; Blackwood, D. H.; Pato, C. N.; Malhotra, A. K.; Purcell, S.; Dudbridge, F.; Neale, B. M.; Rossin, L.; Visscher, P. M.; Posthuma, D.; Ruderfer, D. M.; Fanous, A.; Stefansson, H.; Steinberg, S.; Mowry, B. J.; Golimbet, V.; de Hert, M.; Jonsson, E. G.; Bitter, I.; Pietilainen, O. P.; Collier, D. A.; Tosato, S.; Agartz, I.; Albus, M.; Alexander, M.; Amdur, R. L.; Amin, F.; Bass, N.; Bergen, S. E.; Black, D. W.; Borglum, A. D.; Brown, M. A.; Bruggeman, R.; Buccola, N. G.; Byerley, W. F.; Cahn, W.; Cantor, R. M.; Carr, V. J.; Catts, S. V.; Choudhury, K.; Cloninger, C. R.; Cormican, P.; Craddock, N.; Danoy, P. A.; Datta, S.; de Haan, L.; Demontis, D.; Dikeos, D.; Djurovic, S.; Donnely, P.; Donohoe, G.; Duong, L.; Dwyer, S.; Fink-Jensen, A.; Freedman, R.; Freimer, N. B.; Friedl, M.; Georgieva, L.; Giegling, I.; Gill, M.; Glenthoj, B.; Godard, S.; Hamshere, M.; Hansen, M.; Hartmann, A. M.; Henskens, F. A.; Hougaard, D. M.; Hultman, C. M.; Ingason, A.; Jablensky, A. V.; Jakobsen, K. D.; Jay, M.; Jurgens, G.; Kahn, R. S.; Keller, M. C.; Kenis, G.; Kenny, E.; Kim, Y.; Kirov, G. K.; Konnerth, H.; Konte, B.; Krabbendam, L.; Krasucki, R.; Lasseter, V. K.; Laurent, C.; Lawrence, J.; Lencz, T.; Lerer, F. B.; Liang, K. Y.; Lichtenstein, P.; Lieberman, J. A.; Linszen, D. H.; Lonnqvist, J.; Loughland, C. M.; Maclean, A. W.; Maher, B. S.; Maier, W.; Mallet, J.; Malloy, P.; Mattheisen, M.; Mattingsdal, M.; McGhee, K. A.; McGrath, J. J.; McIntosh, A.; McLean, D. E.; McQuillin, A.; Melle, I.; Michie, P. T.; Milanova, V.; Morris, D. W.; Mors, O.; Mortensen, P. B.; Moskvina, V.; Muglia, P.; Myin-Germeys, I.; Nertney, D. A.; Nestadt, G.; Nielsen, J.; Nikolov, I.; Nordentoft, M.; Norton, N.; Nothen, M. M.; O'Dushlaine, C. T.; Olincy, A.; Olsen, L.; O'Neill, F. A.; Orntoft, T. F.; Owen, M. J.; Pantelis, C.; Papadimitriou, G.; Pato, M. T.; Peltonen, L.; Petursson, H.; Pickard, B.; Pimm, J.; Pulver, A. E.; Puri, V.; Quested, D.; Quinn, E. M.; Rasmussen, H. B.; Rethelyi, J. M.; Ribble, R.; Rietschel, M.; Riley, B. P.; Ruggeri, M.; Schall, U.; Schulze, T. G.; Schwab, S. G.; Scott, R. J.; Shi, J.; Sigurdsson, E.; Silvermann, J. M.; Spencer, C. C.; Stefansson, K.; Strange, A.; Strengman, E.; Stroup, T. S.; Suvisaari, J.; Terenius, L.; Thirumalai, S.; Thygesen, J. H.; Timm, S.; Toncheva, D.; van den Oord, E.; van Os, J.; van Winkel, R.; Veldink, J.; Walsh, D.; Wang, A. G.; Wiersma, D.; Wildenauer, D. B.; Williams, H. J.; Williams, N. M.; Wormley, B.; Zammit, S.; Sullivan, P. F.; O'Donovan, M. C.; Daly, M. J.; Gejman, P. V.

    2011-01-01

    We examined the role of common genetic variation in schizophrenia in a genome-wide association study of substantial size: a stage 1 discovery sample of 21,856 individuals of European ancestry and a stage 2 replication sample of 29,839 independent subjects. The combined stage 1 and 2 analysis yielded

  13. Genome-wide identification of significant aberrations in cancer genome

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuan Xiguo

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Somatic Copy Number Alterations (CNAs in human genomes are present in almost all human cancers. Systematic efforts to characterize such structural variants must effectively distinguish significant consensus events from random background aberrations. Here we introduce Significant Aberration in Cancer (SAIC, a new method for characterizing and assessing the statistical significance of recurrent CNA units. Three main features of SAIC include: (1 exploiting the intrinsic correlation among consecutive probes to assign a score to each CNA unit instead of single probes; (2 performing permutations on CNA units that preserve correlations inherent in the copy number data; and (3 iteratively detecting Significant Copy Number Aberrations (SCAs and estimating an unbiased null distribution by applying an SCA-exclusive permutation scheme. Results We test and compare the performance of SAIC against four peer methods (GISTIC, STAC, KC-SMART, CMDS on a large number of simulation datasets. Experimental results show that SAIC outperforms peer methods in terms of larger area under the Receiver Operating Characteristics curve and increased detection power. We then apply SAIC to analyze structural genomic aberrations acquired in four real cancer genome-wide copy number data sets (ovarian cancer, metastatic prostate cancer, lung adenocarcinoma, glioblastoma. When compared with previously reported results, SAIC successfully identifies most SCAs known to be of biological significance and associated with oncogenes (e.g., KRAS, CCNE1, and MYC or tumor suppressor genes (e.g., CDKN2A/B. Furthermore, SAIC identifies a number of novel SCAs in these copy number data that encompass tumor related genes and may warrant further studies. Conclusions Supported by a well-grounded theoretical framework, SAIC has been developed and used to identify SCAs in various cancer copy number data sets, providing useful information to study the landscape of cancer genomes

  14. Genome-wide analysis of wild-type Epstein-Barr virus genomes derived from healthy individuals of the 1,000 Genomes Project.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Santpere, Gabriel; Darre, Fleur; Blanco, Soledad; Alcami, Antonio; Villoslada, Pablo; Mar Albà, M; Navarro, Arcadi

    2014-04-01

    Most people in the world (∼90%) are infected by the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), which establishes itself permanently in B cells. Infection by EBV is related to a number of diseases including infectious mononucleosis, multiple sclerosis, and different types of cancer. So far, only seven complete EBV strains have been described, all of them coming from donors presenting EBV-related diseases. To perform a detailed comparative genomic analysis of EBV including, for the first time, EBV strains derived from healthy individuals, we reconstructed EBV sequences infecting lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) from the 1000 Genomes Project. As strain B95-8 was used to transform B cells to obtain LCLs, it is always present, but a specific deletion in its genome sets it apart from natural EBV strains. After studying hundreds of individuals, we determined the presence of natural EBV in at least 10 of them and obtained a set of variants specific to wild-type EBV. By mapping the natural EBV reads into the EBV reference genome (NC007605), we constructed nearly complete wild-type viral genomes from three individuals. Adding them to the five disease-derived EBV genomic sequences available in the literature, we performed an in-depth comparative genomic analysis. We found that latency genes harbor more nucleotide diversity than lytic genes and that six out of nine latency-related genes, as well as other genes involved in viral attachment and entry into host cells, packaging, and the capsid, present the molecular signature of accelerated protein evolution rates, suggesting rapid host-parasite coevolution.

  15. Nucleosome mediated crosstalk between transcription factors at eukaryotic enhancers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Teif, Vladimir B; Rippe, Karsten

    2011-01-01

    A recent study of transcription regulation in Drosophila embryonic development revealed a complex non-monotonic dependence of gene expression on the distance between binding sites of repressor and activator proteins at the corresponding enhancer cis-regulatory modules (Fakhouri et al 2010 Mol. Syst. Biol. 6 341). The repressor efficiency was high at small separations, low around 30 bp, reached a maximum at 50–60 bp, and decreased at larger distances to the activator binding sites. Here, we propose a straightforward explanation for the distance dependence of repressor activity by considering the effect of the presence of a nucleosome. Using a method that considers partial unwrapping of nucleosomal DNA from the histone octamer core, we calculated the dependence of activator binding on the repressor–activator distance and found a quantitative agreement with the distance dependence reported for the Drosophila enhancer element. In addition, the proposed model offers explanations for other distance-dependent effects at eukaryotic enhancers. (communication)

  16. Large meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies identifies five loci for lean body mass

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zillikens, M Carola; Demissie, Serkalem; Hsu, Yi-Hsiang

    2017-01-01

    Lean body mass, consisting mostly of skeletal muscle, is important for healthy aging. We performed a genome-wide association study for whole body (20 cohorts of European ancestry with n = 38,292) and appendicular (arms and legs) lean body mass (n = 28,330) measured using dual energy X-ray absorpt...... a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for whole body lean body mass and find five novel genetic loci to be significantly associated.......-ray absorptiometry or bioelectrical impedance analysis, adjusted for sex, age, height, and fat mass. Twenty-one single-nucleotide polymorphisms were significantly associated with lean body mass either genome wide (p 

  17. In vitro molecular magnetic resonance imaging detection and measurement of apoptosis using superparamagnetic iron oxide + antibody as ligands for nucleosomes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rapley, P. L.; Witiw, C.; Rich, K.; Niccoli, S.; Tassotto, M. L.; Th'ng, J.

    2012-11-01

    Recent research in cell biology as well as oncology research has focused on apoptosis or programmed cell death as a means of quantifying the induced effects of treatment. A hallmark of late-stage apoptosis is nuclear fragmentation in which DNA is degraded to release nucleosomes with their associated histones. In this work, a method was developed for detecting and measuring nucleosome concentration in vitro with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The indirect procedure used a commercially available secondary antibody-superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) particle complex as a contrast agent that bound to primary antibodies against nucleosomal histones H4, H2A and H2B. Using a multiple-echo spin-echo sequence on a 1.5 T clinical MRI scanner, significant T2 relaxation enhancement as a function of in vitro nucleosomal concentration was measured. In addition, clustering or aggregation of the contrast agent was demonstrated with its associated enhancement in T2 effects. The T2 clustering enhancement showed a complex dependence on relative concentrations of nucleosomes, primary antibody and secondary antibody + SPIO. The technique supports the feasibility of using MRI measurements of nucleosome concentration in blood as a diagnostic, prognostic and predictive tool in the management of cancer.

  18. GST-PRIME: an algorithm for genome-wide primer design.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leister, Dario; Varotto, Claudio

    2007-01-01

    The profiling of mRNA expression based on DNA arrays has become a powerful tool to study genome-wide transcription of genes in a number of organisms. GST-PRIME is a software package created to facilitate large-scale primer design for the amplification of probes to be immobilized on arrays for transcriptome analyses, even though it can be also applied in low-throughput approaches. GST-PRIME allows highly efficient, direct amplification of gene-sequence tags (GSTs) from genomic DNA (gDNA), starting from annotated genome or transcript sequences. GST-PRIME provides a customer-friendly platform for automatic primer design, and despite the relative simplicity of the algorithm, experimental tests in the model plant species Arabidopsis thaliana confirmed the reliability of the software. This chapter describes the algorithm used for primer design, its input and output files, and the installation of the standalone package and its use.

  19. Genome-wide sequencing for the identification of rearrangements associated with Tourette syndrome and obsessive-compulsive disorder

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hooper Sean D

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Tourette Syndrome (TS is a neuropsychiatric disorder in children characterized by motor and verbal tics. Although several genes have been suggested in the etiology of TS, the genetic mechanisms remain poorly understood. Methods Using cytogenetics and FISH analysis, we identified an apparently balanced t(6,22(q16.2;p13 in a male patient with TS and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD. In order to map the breakpoints and to identify additional submicroscopic rearrangements, we performed whole genome mate-pair sequencing and CGH-array analysis on DNA from the proband. Results Sequence and CGH array analysis revealed a 400 kb deletion located 1.3 Mb telomeric of the chromosome 6q breakpoint, which has not been reported in controls. The deletion affects three genes (GPR63, NDUFA4 and KLHL32 and overlaps a region previously found deleted in a girl with autistic features and speech delay. The proband’s mother, also a carrier of the translocation, was diagnosed with OCD and shares the deletion. We also describe a further potentially related rearrangement which, while unmapped in Homo sapiens, was consistent with the chimpanzee genome. Conclusions We conclude that genome-wide sequencing at relatively low resolution can be used for the identification of submicroscopic rearrangements. We also show that large rearrangements may escape detection using standard analysis of whole genome sequencing data. Our findings further provide a candidate region for TS and OCD on chromosome 6q16.

  20. The Perennial Ryegrass GenomeZipper: Targeted Use of Genome Resources for Comparative Grass Genomics1[C][W

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pfeifer, Matthias; Martis, Mihaela; Asp, Torben; Mayer, Klaus F.X.; Lübberstedt, Thomas; Byrne, Stephen; Frei, Ursula; Studer, Bruno

    2013-01-01

    Whole-genome sequences established for model and major crop species constitute a key resource for advanced genomic research. For outbreeding forage and turf grass species like ryegrasses (Lolium spp.), such resources have yet to be developed. Here, we present a model of the perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) genome on the basis of conserved synteny to barley (Hordeum vulgare) and the model grass genome Brachypodium (Brachypodium distachyon) as well as rice (Oryza sativa) and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor). A transcriptome-based genetic linkage map of perennial ryegrass served as a scaffold to establish the chromosomal arrangement of syntenic genes from model grass species. This scaffold revealed a high degree of synteny and macrocollinearity and was then utilized to anchor a collection of perennial ryegrass genes in silico to their predicted genome positions. This resulted in the unambiguous assignment of 3,315 out of 8,876 previously unmapped genes to the respective chromosomes. In total, the GenomeZipper incorporates 4,035 conserved grass gene loci, which were used for the first genome-wide sequence divergence analysis between perennial ryegrass, barley, Brachypodium, rice, and sorghum. The perennial ryegrass GenomeZipper is an ordered, information-rich genome scaffold, facilitating map-based cloning and genome assembly in perennial ryegrass and closely related Poaceae species. It also represents a milestone in describing synteny between perennial ryegrass and fully sequenced model grass genomes, thereby increasing our understanding of genome organization and evolution in the most important temperate forage and turf grass species. PMID:23184232